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Thread ID: 114768	2010-12-16 05:39:00	Replacing a HDD part.	Nomad (952)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1162455	2010-12-19 08:16:00	Hot air rework? Oh and if you don't want the drive, you can always give it to me....	Agent_24 (57)
1162456	2010-12-19 08:23:00	I'm going to try to swap the PCB unit, I bought 3 the same drives before at one go when I built my PC. 1 went dead so got a replacement - diff revision and model. 2 are the same so I do that. If that works, prob hunt down a broken Seagate on TM using a Favourite search notification. HD security - I'm not giving that away if I cannot nuke it :D	Nomad (952)
1162457	2010-12-19 08:39:00	I wouldn't recommend swapping PCBs. It might have worked in the old days, but now I think it would be a bit risky. Another warning since I've been asked so many times about it...you CANNOT simply swap the PCB (logic board) of a working drive with your defective one. Apart from the fact that they'd have to be identical in every respect (model, board revision, firmware, etc. - not likely), they have information stored on them unique to each individual drive (things like bad sector maps and data allocation tables) and you will almost certainly scramble your data doing so. An analogy...just because you and your neighbour have the same model car, doesn't mean you can use each other's keys to start them. Plus this misguided swap won't fix your other drive and you'd be left with at least one brick. Don't even try it. (www.mapleleafmountain.com) Just saying. New connector, or soldering a SATA cable directly to the drive is probably a better idea if you actually want the drive(s) to work. (because you may screw up the board from the donor drive)	Agent_24 (57)
1162458	2010-12-19 10:03:00	Thanks for that. I will try to take off the connectors apart keeping the PCB. Then I could maybe get a broken HD off TM maybe same brand, diff model. Looking at that piece of plastic with the PCB, might need to take off both the data and powe connector unless one is good at hack-sawing..	Nomad (952)
1162459	2010-12-19 10:44:00	I have no idea how accurate that person's information is but I wouldn't try a PCB swap without getting some verifiable facts or if I had nothing to lose. Actually these guys: http://forum.hddguru.com/ should know if it's true or not.	Agent_24 (57)
1162460	2010-12-20 06:40:00	I wouldn't recommend swapping PCBs . It might have worked in the old days, but now I think it would be a bit risky . ( . mapleleafmountain . com/seagatebrick . html" target="_blank">www . mapleleafmountain . com) Just saying . New connector, or soldering a SATA cable directly to the drive is probably a better idea if you actually want the drive(s) to work . (because you may screw up the board from the donor drive) Thanks for the link :) Can you shed some light - I noticed you were successfully able to connect the HDD using the 4 legacy pins - the set next to the SATA connector . How fast is that? It needs other bulky bits right? I have taken half the plastic strip off it . I have access to the 4 legacy pins (still attached) but unfortunately most of the pins were ripped off the SATA, I could of used my solder iron and slowly melt the plastic out and kept the wires I guess :(	Nomad (952)
1162461	2010-12-20 06:50:00	Yes it requires a RS232-TTL adapter to hook up (cheap to buy or easy to build) But I don't think you can transfer data off the drive with it. You can only access the firmware's command-line interface etc (I am guessing anyway) You might be able to tell the drive to reformat itself, but I have no idea what the commands are.	Agent_24 (57)
1162462	2010-12-20 06:52:00	So it's a data port technically? I been reading on the net and they tend to call it a "legacy 4 pin power connector"? :)	Nomad (952)
1162463	2010-12-20 07:00:00	I think those people may not know what it does, then. If you put a jumper on two of the pins, it limits to SATA1 mode. If you hook up the RS232-TTL adapter, you can communicate to the firmware at low level. That website gives instructions on how to recover the bricked drives, as you can see. The 4th pin may supply 5v to power an adapter, but I am not sure. Maybe that is where they get "power connector" from?	Agent_24 (57)
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