Manual data recovery from a broken hard drive...:(

[wishblade]

The removal of the TVS is the only possible DIY. The problem is that if 18V has been put through it, it's often enough to short the TVS and also damage the board beyond this. TVS can only soak up so much punishment.

Best the OP uploads a high-res photo of the PCB, component side up.

Well, as I said before, exact same thing happened to me - had the laptop cable plugged into the HDD enclosure for quite a while (a good couple of minutes before I even booted the laptop on, realized that the laptop battery was flat, and then went looking for the laptop power cable). I simply removed the TVS and all was good... In fact, from what I remember, the TVS didn't even look damaged when I gave a quick look over the PCB. But I thought "what the hell", and removed it anyway - couldn't really have gotten worse (unless I removed the wrong piece). Only when I removed it I actually ssaw that it was slightly "burnt out". Anyway, removing the TVS just nulls any future overvoltage protection, and the HD will still work generally without it.

I'm just saying it may be worth a shot, if all else fails... Much worse can be done...

[wishblade]

Dj... can you unscrew the PCB on the drive and then post a picture of the other side of it...

EDIT: once the screws come out be careful... there should be tiny wires that need to be unplugged as well... you don't want to be ripping them

[DJ...]

Here are some other pics. Do I maybe need to unscrew it to look at the actual board, perhaps?

[DJ...]

Dj... can you unscrew the PCB on the drive and then post a picture of the other side of it...

I don't have any tools here with me. Let me dig around the condo and see what I can find...

[SouthBit]

Here are some other pics. Do I maybe need to unscrew it to look at the actual board, perhaps?

Yes, remove the PCB so and post a pic of the component side. You'll need a T6 to remove it.

[DJ...]

Without the proper tool I'm just going to land up stripping the screws, and I don't want to do that...

[DJ...]

Okay so I will head off to the shops and buy a few tools for this delicate operations. Hypothetically, let's say I did remove the TVS, what tools should I have at my disposal? So I can at least be prepared...

[SouthBit]

Get yourself a T6 to remove the PCB screws, a multimeter, and some small sidecutters.

[DJ...]

Get yourself a T6 to remove the PCB screws, a multimeter, and some small sidecutters.

Thanks South Bit. Much appreciated. Seems a delicate operation. Should I maybe hire a nurse for the day? Or just someone in a nurse's uniform?

Regarding the sidecutters, how small are we talking here?

[SouthBit]

If the TVS are fried, they are easy to get off. Even some small blunt nose pliers. When they short they turn brittle and come off very easily. Don't worry too much about anything else just get a T6 and a multimeter, we can go from there.

[xumwun]

How much have you put on the laptop drive since you formatted it?
You could try your luck with some data recovery software on it.

[DJ...]

Great stuff. Thanks for the help here South Bit. I'm going to link this thread to a certain forumite here who needs to learn how a company should handle its online persona.

Really, thank you. And to everyone else who has given their input. Much appreciated. I know there is no guarantee here but it sure beats the cesspool I had in my heart before I started the thread...

[DJ...]

How much have you put on the laptop drive since you formatted it?
You could try your luck with some data recovery software on it.

Not sure I understand the question. Here's what happened. My laptop was playing up so I backed everything up to the backup drive and reformatted the laptop. I then decided to use the backup as the main drive and to keep the laptop "clean." And then this happened. So I don't think there is anything software related that I can do now. Besides, some of the volumes on the external were backups of other external drives I had...

[xumwun]

Not sure I understand the question. Here's what happened. My laptop was playing up so I backed everything up to the backup drive and reformatted the laptop. I then decided to use the backup as the main drive and to keep the laptop "clean." And then this happened. So I don't think there is anything software related that I can do now. Besides, some of the volumes on the external were backups of other external drives I had...

What i meant is you might still be able to get some stuff back from the laptop.
Some of your data might still be in the free space on your laptop drive.

[iAmThePope]

What i meant is you might still be able to get some stuff back from the laptop.
Some of your data might still be in the free space on your laptop drive.

Well that depends on how long ago this happened and also how much new data the OP has put on. But it might be worth a try tho, I have recently done recovery after an accidental format for a client and found that documents and pictures are easier to recover than say applications.