hdd on fire? :(

[stu006]

I hav had an 80gb MAXTOR dimondmax plus 9 for about a year now in an external enclosure for about a year now. today, when trying to access sum media from it i smelt and then discovered smoke. WTF!!! lol. one of the small square chips is completly melted and now the hdd is jus completely broken. Is there perhaps any method of recasing hdd disks or replacing individual chips? N e Info as to the resolution to my problem would b much appreciated.

MANYTHANKS STU.

 

[Frank4d]

Assuming whatever caused the part to fail in the first place isn't still an issue... you could replace the chip if you know what the burned part is with the same or equivalent... if you have the tools to do so. It would be easier to just replace the drive unless the data on the drive is super important.

 

[garebo]

Or replace the whole pcb board on the hard drive. Maybe that was what Frand4d meant, i dont know.
Anyway, if you can get another hard drive the same as the broken one, you can sometimes change the pcb board from the good one to the bad one and get your data back.
Personally i wouldnt do anything. I would fear damage to my other hardware. I would just replace the drive and do a real good check of the power supply. If its an older,cheap power supply i wouldnt even bother to check it out, i would just replace it with a decent one, not one that came with a case or a system, they are usually cheap junk.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[Auger282]

I would call the manufacturer and ask if they know about their HD setting fire.. I'm sure they'll be happy to help..

things can break, but not spontaneously combust

 

[edfair]

I've had 2 or 3 chips blaze up. If they can get access to enough current and a low enough resistance path they can generate enough heat to combust without causing a power supply shutdown.
It can be a real surprise to look at a card that is failing and see a flame.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[garebo]

Auger282, i dont think that would work too well. The reason is that as soon as you put a hard drive inside an external usb or firewire box, the hard drive is then subjected to another layer of electronics in the pcb board inside the external box. They arent just boxes with connectors, they have a pcb board and loads of parts in or on them. That kind of lets the hard drive mfgr off the hook i would say.
Matter of fact, i would think the issue may lie more with the maker of the external box.
At this point its hard to say for sure, though.

I saw a nice flame when i tried hooking a pci usb connector to the mobo via the wiring diagram that was provided. That was when the usb connectors first came out. Didnt kill my mobo, the Abit VT6X4, if i recall, but it killed the usb port on the mobo for sure. Coulda roasted a marshmallow!








Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[Frank4d]

I had fairly good luck a couple of times with these kinds of things at work by calling tech support (not regular customer service). One time I had a 208 pin PCI bridge chip that failed on a backplane (good thing the company I work for has facilities for replacing them). Another time I had four power supplies that failed due to installing screws that were too long which ripped the voltage adjust potentiometer off of the boards. Both times the manufacturers sent free replacement parts.

The down side of this is if you have a condition that caused the part to fry in the first place and it hasn't been corrected... the new part will also fry.

 

[micker377]

All this assumes you mean that a chip on the hard drive failed. Is the problem on the hard drive, or on the interface board mounted in the external case?

 

[firewolfrl]

garebo is Right

I have seen a few miss wired USB Ports.

Was the drive connected to a new or changed computer?
Was the drive’s HD enclosure fan working? (Cooling is a big issue with some of the cheap enclosures)
STATIC ELECTRICITY is a component killer.

In a nutshell. I have rarely seen a chip failure (that you described) that did not have a primary cause or origin to create a short event and/or redirected voltage path.

Before you find a mainboard for the HD you need to find out why it fried.
And the way you described the failure “one of the small square chips is completly melted”
Depending on where in the circuit that chip is and how far the short back fed. And, whether the chip was a symptom of a different failure in the HD. (Or external source) If your motor in the drive locked up … That chip may have been one of the power regulator chips to the motor.
Vice versa your HD enclosure or MB may have shorted the drive

Your best bet maybe for the drive:
• Call as a complete lost
• Data recovery options at a Lab
• Or try the replacement board
• Check your insurance company

Hey good luck