I have a WD2500KS Sata drive that stopped working recently and I would like to get some data(docs) from it. The PCB doesn’t have any apparent burn marks. I can hear it spin up, then it slows down and spins back up, etc . I can hear the arm moving( the click of death).
I have priced data recover services but their prices are a BIT HIGH relative to the data that I would like to recover.
I have done some research regarding board replacement and ROM programming. I don’t know if this is a viable option.
My question is: Is this drive dead? Does the “click of death” mean that the drive is non-repairable, even temporarily, just to retrieve data?
Thanks for responding. The board is similar. It does have a U12 chip. The PCB is 2061-701444-700 AD; I will attempt to order another PCB that exactly matches the original.
Regarding the U12 chip, do I just lift it off the board and CAREFULLY insert it to the new board or is there soldering involved?
The IC must be desoldered. Your local TV/AV repair shop should be able to do this for you. You must not damage this chip , otherwise the cost of data recovery will be much higher.