OK, did a few searches on this and before I go on, THIS WAS PROBABLY all my fault!!
-The mybook was fine but while traveling I misplaced the power supply, and while attempting to rig up a temporary I POSSIBLY RP’ed it (reverse polarity). Took the HD out of the mybook enclosure & tried a docking station.
Same problem as when I located the proper power supply: the power up light flashes off and on - obviously it’s detecting a short or some such.
Just want to know if there’s a fix for this, even temporary - it’s a back up drive, but there were a few files I’d like to recover.
Tried freezing it even just for laughs…Probably not worth submitting for data recovery, but it’s important for me to know: Is the failure mode for a RP to toast the drive? Seems like the motor would have a diode or some such, and I’m exposing my ignorance here!
Thanks to anyone for info - otherwise quite happy with these as backup drives…
I can’t speak for older drives, but certainly newer drives have sacrificial components on the voltage inputs, designed to protect the rest of the circuitry.
Your best bet is to either hope fzabkar sees your post, or send him a private message.
He’s helped several folks who have fried their drive by connecting it to a 17V source. I’d assume that if your older drive had similar sacrificial components, the reverse-polarity would have blown them just as well as over-voltage does.
If I’m remembering correctly, with the newer drives usually the damage is limited to a diode and/or a zero-ohm resistor, so snipping the shorted diode and/or shorting the blown zero-ohm with a blob of solder is all that necessary for a temporary fix. But fzabkar should be able to help you diagnose it and locate any damage.
bitrat, it sounds like the drive’s 12V TVS diode may be shorted. The simple solution is just to remove it. If you upload a detailed photo of the component side of the PCB on the hard drive, then one of us will be able to identify the component for you. Otherwise search for “TVS diode”. The usual circuit reference is D4, near the SATA power connector.
