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Data Recovery
Quick Start
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Back to FAQ and Technical Articles
Do not swap hard disk drive HDD printed circuit boards PCB.
Under no circumstances should you attempt to swap the controller board on damaged / faulty drive with one from a functional drive. Replacing the controller board may very well cause a mechanical failure and render your salvagable data unrecoverable.
Switching boards won't work in most cases. The reason for this is that the drive information carried on it's controller board is unique.
We are well equipped to change any microchip on drive PCB, re-program ROM chip and restore disk bootable microcode. Even one damaged microchip may cause the drive failure or damage to the data. Normally, the chip replacement or reprogramming will fix the problem.
PCB flash memory chip contains a part of booting software, commonly known as a firmware. The disk service zone carries the other part of the booting code. Both parts are required by BIOS to properly identify and boot the drive. There are many firmware available. Therefore, the printed circuit board replacement may very well cause unrecoverable damage to the disk and the data when the replacement code doesn't match the original one. Please don't try to fix the drive yourself by replacing the PCB unless you really know what you are doing.
Before shipping your hard drive for data recovery be sure the failed /damaged hard drive has its original PCB on it. Regardless the condition of the PCB, e.g. missed/burned elements on it, the hard drive must have its own original one. |
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From customer's correspondence
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Roberto R. M.
M & N Lambretta
Oakland, CA USA
Fujitsu MHT2060AT 60 GB laptop
From Customer's order
drive is not in BIOS, clicking on booting.
After recovery:
Hello Everyone,
You have made my day and save my butt !!! Thank you. Roberto
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Mary V.
IBM, Inc.
Waldwick, NJ USA
Fujitsu MHT2080AH 80 GB laptop
From Customer's order
HD was damaged when a liquid was spilled on the keyboard. Laptop failed to operate and when HD was swapped into a new laptop the OS was not recognized and laptop failed to boot.
After recovery:
Thank you for your excellent support and I'll be sure to recommend you to our customer support team in IBM.
Mary V.
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Tom H.
Rockwall, TX USA
IBM IC35L120AVVA07 120 GB
From Customer's order
I had to reboot the system after not using for awhile. When the PC rebooted, the HDD that I am sending you was not recognized. I checked in the BIOS setup and the IDE channel is still active, but it reports no drive is attached. The only thing I've done is checking the drive in BIOS and powered up the drive without the IDE connection. The drive spun up and didn't make any unusual noises. I stopped at that point from trying to do anything after I read your web site warning about trying to change the electronics.
After recovery:
Dear Databe,
It looks like you are able to access all my files and save the data. Thank you for your quick, professional approach to my problem.
Thank you,
Tom H.
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