Seagate burning

[johndi]

This Seagate ST3160023AS HDD (160GB, 7200rpm) has a clearly burned part (which I don't know what it is).
I would be grateful if someone could tell me if the HDD can be repaired by replacing the part, and if so were can I obtain such part.
TIA

[willawake]

Re: Seagate burning

doesnt look burnt

[Spacedye69]

Re: Seagate burning

What is wrong with it(what is it doing, or not doing)?

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Seagate burning

That looks like an epoxy sealed inductor. What you see is just the epoxy around the top lid. You'd have to try pretty hard to melt one of those before your power supply shuts down.

What is wrong with the drive? If it still spins up and does not make any clanking noises, check it for bad sectors with HDAT2. You can get it at www.hdat2.com. You can also use this program to check the SMART log and other things. I use it at work quite a bit and have fixed many drives with it.

Also, Seagate usually has 5 year warranties, so send it in if it is not that old

[johndi]

Re: Seagate burning

Something has burned in the drive on account of the smoke and smell it produced.
After that the drive went dead without noticeable spin.
I examined it carefully and the only part apparently burned was the one I have indicated.
I suspect the problem was caused by trying to power it up by mistake with a 5V line instead of 12V, but don't understand how that could burn the drive.
Thanks

[willawake]

Re: Seagate burning

I suspect the problem was caused by trying to power it up by mistake with a 5V line instead of 12V

how did you do that?
maybe you reversed polarity?

there might be other stuff on the rear of that board

[johndi]

Re: Seagate burning

The (probable) mistake was caused by a mess of cables and fans in a crowded case.

What do you mean by “there might be other stuff on the rear of that board” ? Should I try to screw out the HDD's board?

[willawake]

Re: Seagate burning

these guys are the hdd experts http://forum.hddguru.com/

[Per Hansson]

Re: Seagate burning

If you had data you needed on the drive you can always buy a new PCB (well, an exactly the same drive, firmware and all) and then just swap the PCB...

Note that the drives list of bad sectors will be invalid so it will not be safe to use the drive after this, only to get the data off it...

That is if the motor was not damaged of course...

[johndi]

Re: Seagate burning

these guys are the hdd experts http://forum.hddguru.com/

Thanks, posted there and already got a helpful answer.

[johndi]

Re: Seagate burning

[QUOTE=Per Hansson]If you had data you needed on the drive you can always buy a new PCB (well, an exactly the same drive, firmware and all) and then just swap the PCB...

Forgive me to ask but what is a PCB, where can I buy one and what can I do with it?

[Per Hansson]

Re: Seagate burning

I mean the circuit board on the harddrive itself

If it's dead it can be swapped for another one...

PCB=Printed Circuit Board

[Tom41]

Re: Seagate burning

I suspect the problem was caused by trying to power it up by mistake with a 5V line instead of 12V, but don't understand how that could burn the drive.
Thanks

Were you trying to put the molex connector into the drive and feeling if it had gone in? I often do that if the socket is in such a position that it's hard to look at while inserting the connector. If it doesn't want to go in, I turn it round so that it does fit.

However, if you are doing that while the PSU is on, the pins on the molex will be live with DC current from the PSU, and the pins may make contact briefly when you are trying to put it in upside down.
Unfortunately, even a split second of having 12v pumped into the 5v line is enough to blow components or fuses - this happened to me with a very old 2X CD-ROM drive that I was testing

[johndi]

Re: Seagate burning

The bad news is that on http://forum.hddguru.com/dead-seagate-vt7018.html I've found that the problem may go way beyond the burned inductor, so replacing it won't probably do.
The good news is that Seagate has confirmed that the HDD is still under their 5 year warranty (thanks Maxxarcade), so I am sending it for RMA.