Data Recovery - Seagate hard disk drives - PCB Compatibility

Swapping PCB controller boards on Seagate hard disk drives for data recovery purposes

> For Seagate hard disk drives (except Barracuda V, 7200.7, and U7 families)

Match the following

• The Firmware
• The Configuration Code

Often this will be enough but in some cases matching the above will not result in a working drive. This is due to incompatibilities in the extended ROM. When this happens it's necessary to match the code (shown below) on the ROM chip from both drives, or if an identical spare can not be found - transplant it from the faulty drive's PCB onto the new PCB.

> For Seagate hard disk drive families - Barracuda V, 7200.7 and U7

The code architecture of these drives means that in order to find a compatible PCB, it's necessary to interrogate the data output by the hard drive during its POST and match the ROM versions. Finding this information is possible using a tool such as EMAK

For PCB faults, match the Configuration Code and the Firmware: often this will be sufficient

Sometimes matching the extended ROM is necessary too.

Links
>> Hard disk drive HDA internal parts compatibility

>> Controller board (PCB) swaps on Fujitsu hard disk drives
>> Controller board (PCB) swaps on IBM / Hitachi hard disk drives
>> Controller board (PCB) swaps on Hitachi DK23 hard disk drives
>> More about EMAK – Data Clinic's hard disk repair and data recovery tool

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