Fixing a failed HD

My PC HD failed and I was advised to get a similar one and get the circuit board and a chip swap. Has anybody got an experience with this or else could recommend somewhere I could get it done at a reasonable price?

Hi Helen,

I’ve never tried it myself, but as long as the drive isn’t making any mechanical noises (clicking, scraping, squeaking etc) then you may be able to replace the control board and fix the drive. You’d need to get an exactly identical drive (ideally same capacity) and hardware revision to make sure the control board is identical.

If you have two identical drives the swap should be pretty simple as the board is on the outside of the drive and is connected usually connected with a few security screws.

No, it’s not making any noises. It was a sudden failure.

This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn2eL4o-6Eo shows how to do it and it looks pretty complicated to me. I understand a BIOS change might be needed (moving a chip or two from the old drive to the new drive.)

Here’s a comment from someone who has seen my drive: To use that guy’s jargon, it’s a category 2 drive, a more recent Hitachi. I say that because it does have a small 8-pin chip, which according to him would need to be unsoldered and swapped over. So whoever attempts this will need to be comfortable with removal/installation of surface mount components.

The board is held with 4 rather small torx screws and the motor connection is via a 4-wire flat cable connected to the board by a little connector.