PCB Failure Recovery
The Board Is Dead. Your Data Isn't.
A fried circuit board doesn't mean your data is gone. The platters inside the drive are untouched by electrical damage. We swap the board and transfer the ROM chip that contains your drive's unique calibration data.
PCB failure recovery: $300-$600. No data, no charge. Mail-in from all 50 states.
Do not try a simple board swap: Modern hard drives store unique calibration data in a ROM chip on the PCB. Swapping boards without transferring the ROM will not work - the drive needs its specific calibration data to read its own platters.
What Causes PCB Failure
Power Surges
Lightning strikes, brownouts, or plugging in after an outage. Power strips without surge protection. Cheap or failing power supplies that send unstable voltage. The most common cause of PCB failure.
TVS Diode Failure
TVS diodes protect the board from voltage spikes. When they fail, they often short and prevent the drive from powering on. Sometimes the diode can be removed and the drive will work - until the next surge.
Motor Controller
The large chip that controls the spindle motor. When this fails, the drive won't spin. Sometimes visible as a cracked or burned chip. Requires board replacement.
Physical Damage
Dropped drives can crack the PCB. Liquid damage corrodes traces and components. Improper handling can cause static discharge that damages chips invisibly.
Manufacturing Defects
Some drives ship with marginal components that fail early. Cold solder joints that crack over time. Capacitors that degrade. These often fail within the first year.
Age and Heat
Electrolytic capacitors dry out over time. Heat accelerates component degradation. Drives in hot environments or poor ventilation cases fail earlier.
Signs of PCB Failure
Likely PCB Issue
- +Drive doesn't spin at all - completely dead
- +Burning smell from the circuit board
- +Visible burn marks or damaged components
- +Failed immediately after power surge or outage
- +Drive worked fine for years, then suddenly dead
Probably Not PCB
- -Drive clicks - usually head failure
- -Drive beeps - usually seized motor or stuck heads
- -Drive spins but not detected - likely firmware
- -Drive detected but shows wrong size - partition issue
- -Drive grinds - active head crash
The Recovery Process
Diagnosis
We examine the PCB for visible damage and test components. Check for shorted TVS diodes, failed motor controllers, and damaged ROM chips. Determine exactly what failed.
Find Donor
We locate a matching donor board. Same model, same revision, same firmware version. The board must be compatible with your drive's head configuration.
ROM Transfer
We desolder the ROM chip from your original board and transfer it to the donor, or read the ROM contents and program them to the new board. This contains your drive's unique calibration.
Image Drive
With the new board installed, we image the drive using PC-3000. If the platters are undamaged (which they usually are after PCB failure), recovery is typically 100%.
PCB Recovery Pricing
| Scenario | What's Involved | Price |
|---|---|---|
| TVS Diode Short | Remove shorted diode, test drive | $150-$300 |
| Standard PCB Swap | Donor board + ROM chip transfer | $300-$450 |
| PCB + ROM Damage | Board swap with firmware reconstruction | $400-$600 |
| PCB + Head Failure | Board swap + head swap (surge caused both) | $1,000-$1,500 |
PCB-only failures are among the most straightforward recoveries. If the platters are undamaged, success rates approach 100%. No data, no charge applies to all cases.
Professional Oversight and Verified Standards
Our Austin lab operates on a transparency-first model. We use industry-standard recovery tools, including PC-3000 and DeepSpar, combined with strict environmental controls to make sure your hard drive is handled safely and properly. This approach allows us to serve clients nationwide with consistent technical standards.
Open-drive work is performed in a laminar-flow bench filtered to 0.02 µm, verified using TSI P-Trak instrumentation.
Transparent History
Serving clients nationwide via mail-in service since 2008.
Media Coverage
Our repair work has been covered by The Wall Street Journal and Business Insider, with CBC News reporting on our pricing transparency. Louis Rossmann has testified in Right to Repair hearings in multiple states and founded the Repair Preservation Group.
Aligned Incentives
Our "No Data, No Charge" policy means we assume the risk of the recovery attempt, not the client.
Technical Oversight
Louis Rossmann
Louis Rossmann's well trained staff review our lab protocols to ensure technical accuracy and honest service. Since 2008, his focus has been on clear technical communication and accurate diagnostics rather than sales-driven explanations.
We believe in proving standards rather than just stating them. We use TSI P-Trak instrumentation to verify that clean-air benchmarks are met before any drive is opened.
See our clean bench validation data and particle test videoCommon Questions
Can I buy a matching PCB and swap it myself?
You can buy the board, but you'll need to transfer the ROM chip. This requires desoldering equipment and skill. If you damage the ROM chip, recovery becomes much more difficult and expensive. If the data is important, don't risk it.
The drive smells burned. Is my data gone?
Probably not. The burned smell is from the PCB, not the platters. The magnetic coating on the platters that stores your data is physically separate from the electronics. As long as the platters weren't spinning during the surge, they're usually fine.
My drive has visible burn marks. Can you still recover it?
Usually yes. Burn marks show you where the failure occurred. We assess what components were damaged and whether the ROM chip is intact. Even with significant board damage, the data on the platters is typically recoverable.
How do I prevent PCB failure?
Use a quality surge protector or UPS. Avoid cheap power supplies. Don't plug the drive in immediately after a power outage - wait a few minutes for the grid to stabilize. Keep the drive cool with good ventilation.
The power surge killed multiple drives. Can you recover all of them?
Yes, we handle multi-drive recoveries. Each drive gets evaluated individually. We can often share donor parts across multiple similar drives, which can reduce costs. Contact us for multi-drive pricing.
Dead Board, Live Data
Free evaluation. We'll tell you exactly what failed and what recovery costs. No data, no charge.