Western Digital IDE Hard Drive Controller Board  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: pyromaniac4382
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2015, 01:58:10 am
content: My external Hard Drive went pop. I plugged in a cord that I thought was the cord for it and.Any way it is a Western Digital WD5000AAKB WD Caviar SE16 500GBI have taken photos of what I believe is the problem, but I cannot identify the part. If I can identify the part it might be an easy fix, if not I would not be opposed to buying a new controller board if it doesn't work out. It has the symbol for a diode so I am guessing it was an input protection diode but I am not sure. Thanks for the help.http://wp.me/a4jmbx-3ahttp://wp.me/a4jmbx-3bhttp://wp.me/a4jmbx-3c

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2015, 02:05:19 am
content: Might be less painful to find a replacement board.There's quite a few available on Ebay ...

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2015, 02:18:14 am
content: thats the 12 volt rail TVS diode.desolder that diode.power up the drive and copy all the data off. then scrap drive.

author: pyromaniac4382
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2015, 02:33:45 am
content: That simple huh. After the pop I took the HDD to a friend's house and I tested the HDD itself in a friend's HDD->USB enclosure before taking off the controller board, and it says the device has malfunctioned, guessing it meant the HDD.I then took off my HDD's controller board and saw the failure.We then tested a known working HDD in his HDD->USB enclosure and that drive works so the enclosure is good.So you are saying just de-solder that component and test it in my friend's HDD->USB enclosure once more?PS. Yes all I want at this point is the data off the drive if there is any, then it goes to the scrap heap.

author: aargee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2015, 04:27:51 am
content: Yes - Pretty much what Free Electron said.Trying to figure out what sort of power lead you could have used? Looks like it was reverse polarised. I'd scrap the offending power lead as well.

author: SparkyBruce
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2015, 02:26:23 pm
content: I have a 2TB drive from my old company where the chap plugged the caddy into a 24V PSU rather than 12.The 12V diode went short circuit and protected everything else so once I had desoldered it the drive worked (and still does) as my trash 2TB drive (for things I don't mind loosing).Bruce

author: pyromaniac4382
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2015, 06:02:10 pm
content: @aargee - Yes I believe that the offending power brick was reverse from what it would normally want for the device. Yes I immediately trashed the sucker. The problem with WD's old external HDDs (5-10 years old) is that the power packs were not labeled Western Digital. Some generic company brand, not sure of the name. I have a few of them from over the years and they all look the same, they take a two input jack from mains, goes into a black box with a green light, and comes to a two wire cord with a power jack termination. This could have all been avoided if the power supply was just built into the monstrosity.Anyway I am looking forward to doing the fix, and will report back with the results.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2015, 10:58:59 pm
content: Any power connector I have thatdoesn't follow the usual standardofcentre-positivegets labeled with bright red paint, as do the device(s) that use it. The very few (i.e. two) devices I have with an AC output on their adapter getyellowpaint.

author: Falcon69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 06:12:29 am
content: The same thing happened to me. The barrel connector for my laptop is the same size as the barrel connector for the external harddrive. Before I realized what I was doing, I sent 19.2 volts to the harddrive, and POP!Will never do that again.I replaced the Diode, the same one that went pop in yours (you can see it damaged in your pictures) and the harddrive fired up again. Not sure if I was lucky, but it worked again.I can't remember the size of that diode, sorry I'm no help.

author: pyromaniac4382
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 10:08:53 pm
content: De-soldered the TVS diode. Came right up after plugging in, and got all of my data off of the HDD and now it is headed for the dumpster. Thank you for all the help!