Is it possible to reset WD hard drive control board's firmware chip for use with a different, but identical-model, drive?

WD Internal Drives Desktop & Mobile Drives
1

Hello, I own a Western Digital GreenPower 3TB internal 3.5" SATA hard drive (model WD30EURS-63R8UY0). A few weeks ago, the SATA power connector’s thin plastic tab broke off, and although I did manage to connect it long enough to offload ALL the data (whew), a couple of pins broke off the drive connector.

I found a deal on a couple of replacement control boards of the same model and revision (A), but only recently did I find out that to make it work I’d normally have to swap the U12 IC (firmware chip) from the old board to the “donor” board. This would be no problem as I can solder, BUT unfortunately I threw away the broken board, so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Physically the drive was fine the last time I successfully accessed it. Is there any way to somehow “reset” the firmware on the donor board so that it’ll automagically reinitialize itself and get cozy with what to it is a “new” drive, or is this drive basically a lost cause because the firmware from the old board was “tuned” to work with this drive at the factory?

Thanks in advance for any help. :confused:

2

Hello,

I haven’t try that. Not sure if that’s possible.

Have you tried contacting WD Support to check the warranty of the drive?

3

Hi and thanks for replying!

Unfortunately I did, the drive is out of warranty; if it turns out to be unrecoverable I’ll probably just scavenge the magnets and destroy / toss it.

4

its possible if you want drive to work only (caution you cant get your data back) you need to buy online tool or better find someone around your place who does Hard Drive repair he will connect new PCB & Reprogram it with new firmware drive will work but you will loose all your Data.

5

Either by purchasing tool online or finding someone for Hard Drive Repair so that they connect new PCB & Repogram its new fimware drive that works without reovering any data.