What causes PCB failure on a HDD?

[1031982]

What causes then when the drive has always been secured in the case. There was no power issue, and I don't know of a single thing that would stress the components past the specs. I got a fan in my case just for the HDD's.

The reason for the question is my Raptor went and decided to die on me. After checking a lot of things, it's been verified. Thing is, it seems to be the PCB that went bad because it powers up, and I can hear the platters spin. Everything else in my system is fine. (Unless I connect the HDD, then no SATA devices are found because of an ID issue.) Obviously I am not going to unscrew and look at the PCB, but a HDD saying it's constantly reading/writing, can't be ID'd in the BIOS, and spins up tells me something with the PCB went.


On a side note, it IS under warranty, and I already got the RMA process started. Also, for the use of my PC I got a Linux Live OS running. The 500GB drive is kinda filled.

[Adrian Wong]

That has happened to me a couple of times so far. The HDD spins up and appears to be working but even the BIOS cannot detect it.

Had my data "rescued" once and the guy who did the repair told me that the PCB was fried. He replaced the PCB and extracted the data out for me. Cost me a fortune though.

If you have a similar HDD, you can always give that a try. Otherwise, an RMA can get you a replacement HDD but the data's lost.

[1031982]

That's just it, I realise the data is gone.
I am wondering the cause of PCB failure.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by 1031982

That's just it, I realise the data is gone.
I am wondering the cause of PCB failure.

Where's mikegas whenever you need someone to answer this kind of question?

IMHO, it could be a faulty component on the PCB... or a bad power supply. Static electricity could also be a culprit if you have a habit of taking it out of the case, and touching the drive without first grounding yourself.

[1031982]

Well, I find it odd that I had the drive for about 2 years with no issues, good power supply, and the only time it's been moved around was when I did my system rebuild with new case. I kept grounded for everything then. Last thing I would want would be to fry a new C2D CPU. lol
That, and the fact it is supposed to be an enterprise drive I would think the PCB would be something put under some additional testing.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by 1031982

Well, I find it odd that I had the drive for about 2 years with no issues, good power supply, and the only time it's been moved around was when I did my system rebuild with new case. I kept grounded for everything then. Last thing I would want would be to fry a new C2D CPU. lol
That, and the fact it is supposed to be an enterprise drive I would think the PCB would be something put under some additional testing.

That's the thing about HDD warranty. They may give you a warranty of 5 years but that doesn't help your data.

They should offer customers the option of having their technician transfer data from the dead HDD to the replacement HDD if the damage is merely to the PCB.

Of course, there is the issue of data confidentiality. Some people may prefer that their data is lost for good than have someone poke through it while trying to retrieve it from the dead HDD.

[zy]

Another culprit could be heat.
The PCB would suffer heat stress under prolonged use.
My internal hard disk are placed in front of the fan, keeping it cool all the time. So far no problem yet. (touch wood)

My previous external hard disk failed (WD MyBook) probably due to overheating (no airflow) as well as abuse from travelling It was usually on for most of the time. Got it replaced, and now I am keeping it off all the time except to backup data.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by zy

Another culprit could be heat.
The PCB would suffer heat stress under prolonged use.
My internal hard disk are placed in front of the fan, keeping it cool all the time. So far no problem yet. (touch wood)

My previous external hard disk failed (WD MyBook) probably due to overheating (no airflow) as well as abuse from travelling It was usually on for most of the time. Got it replaced, and now I am keeping it off all the time except to backup data.

I also believe heat is a contributor to HDD death and I have a fan blowing on all my HDDs. However, the Google study says that heat doesn't affect HDD reliability...

[mikegas]

Originally Posted by Adrian Wong

I also believe heat is a contributor to HDD death and I have a fan blowing on all my HDDs. However, the Google study says that heat doesn't affect HDD reliability...

Mikegas is here ... been slumbering ..

Ok I'll give you some facts:-

1) heat does play a part on realibility in terms of MTTF (means time to fail)
2) cooler is better. Spec drives is usually under 60C ambient
3) Care when putting fan near drives as rotation of fan would rotation vibration to drives. This would cause of track write and then fake relocation (soft errors).
4) PCBA failure usually cause by power spike, so get a regulator if really kiasi
5) At times, even drive spin-up but not detected by BIOS, maybe the firmware already corrupted or some reserve cyclinder corrupted make it unsuable. This case is bubai .. RMA it.

That's all folks ... internet kinda slow ...

[zy]

Originally Posted by mikegas

3) Care when putting fan near drives as rotation of fan would rotation vibration to drives. This would cause of track write and then fake relocation (soft errors).

5) At times, even drive spin-up but not detected by BIOS, maybe the firmware already corrupted or some reserve cyclinder corrupted make it unsuable. This case is bubai .. RMA it.

3. the fan and hard disk is not directly connected, separated by hard disk cage though. but in that case, having another hard disk nearby would have greater effect. hard disk itself tends to vibrate more than the fan.

5. hard disk might be failing or there was a power interruption. had this one before.. hmm.