www.deadharddrive.com

[adeon]

I've got a little story of my own to share with you guys:


A couple of days ago I fried the PCB of my HDD which is a Seagate ST3320620AS. Parts number (P/N) is 9BJ14G-308 and firmware (f/w) is 3.AAK. Product of China.
The PCB fried in a friend's computer, just as I installed my HDD in there. I'm guessing it is of little importance my use of an HDD cooler (I believe all HDDs should have one). Since I wasn't 100% sure that the PCB actually fried, I also tried it on my PC back home, where it caught fire (literally).


After thoroughly reading the entirety of this forum (took me a while), I understood I must get my hands on a new HDD with not only the same firmware but also the same parts number (at least the "-308" ending). Is this correct? Please post any inadvertences, as I'd like to know every detail (no matter how insignificant) before I embark on the quest of ordering via phone a new HDD. As always the biggest problem will be getting through all the n00bs working in retail stores, since they must understand the specificity of what I'm searching.

Other question:

If this should work, and I succeed in getting my data back, would you recommend that I switch the PCB back to the new drive and continue using it (provided I make all physical switches wih extreme care), or should I no longer consider the new drive as reliable ?

I also read another forum in which a pretty knowledgeable user had observed this particular firmware (3.AAK) to operate below Seagate-stated parameters, after having benchmarked it with a bunch of tools. I believe it was "jeeka" on xtremesystems.org. He posted a beta firmware (3.AAM) that he had received from Seagate themselves, which applies specifically to this model (with original 3.AAK and parts number ending in -308). I downloaded that.
I intend on applying the new firmware after reinstalling the working PCB into the new HDD.
I need input on that as well. Is this ok?

I would much appreciate every opinion from you guys.

[harddrivespecialist]

Hi!

I doubt that you would be able to find specific hdd in stores, regardless what information you will provide. They just won't open boxes to find a drive with your specifications.

I would recommend you to find a data recovery company to retreave your data, because your drive might have another problem besides PCB and by simply replacing PCB you can fry it again and again.

You have to find a drive with same specifications as yours, except a Serial number, unless you have have knowledge and ability to modify new board to necessary specifications.
I can assure you that it won't be easy to find that board.
Check how many people on this forum have been looking for it.
_________________
www.datarecoveryne.com

[adeon]

Somehow I doubt that my drive has another problem. It was working normally and besides, with only two days prior to cooking I had done a long DST test with SeaTools in DOS, and everything was ok, not to mention defrag which I also ran regularly. I am gonna try to find a similar HDD first, basically because I hate being ripped off. Paying around 1000$ for data recovery is nothing short of a rip-off.

In all fairness though I must say I do not know whether this accident also caused damage to other parts of the HDD except the PCB. I silently accept the (albeit small) possibility of automatically wrecking a new PCB, should I happen to find one.

[akse]

My ST3320620AS also fried about a week ago.. now I've been trying to find a solution all days long.. A recovery company could do it for 450euros and they have some kind of student discount. I asked how much the discount is, if it is large enough and I don't get a hand on any same type of disks I might go on and pay it.

Anyways, I was trying to startup the computer and it didn't start.. after a few more power button presses there was a TZZZTT sound and something burned. So it was either both my PSU and HDD, or just the HDD.. but I didn't dare to use the old PSU anymore and bought a new one and tried to startup the computer again and yes bios didn't find my HDD.

I had windows on that HDD + some pictures that I hadn't backed up in some months.

I found a used ST3320620AS for 25 euros bid atm... When I get the account to that site where it is being sold I will try to contact the guy and ask more details about the disk.. if it matches I definately try to buy it and try to change the PCB(and I hope it works!).

If it works I change the PCB's back to where they were.. send my broken HDD back to seagate for warranty and probably use the new disk as a backup disk, which won't be spinning a lot but just holding data incase of another failure.