[RESOLVED] No Power - SATA Drives

[Falcon Speed]

I can't believe I just did this.

My Gigbabyte X58a-UD5 is configured to take in 2 external SATA drives at AHCI mode. It would pickup sometime.

Anyway, I have a molex run out of my computer to power these drives with a Y adapter. While in Windows 7, I stupidly and accidentally unplugged and plugged the molex backward. It restarted the computer immediately. Smoke started to come out from both eSata port drives.

Now, I cannot get both of them up.

1. Will this harm any other parts of my new computer?
2. No power to the sata drives and I have alot of data on it. I plugged in another drive and it worked. How can I get power into these drives to salvage my data?

Yeah, it was stupid.

[Steve R Jones]

1. Will this harm any other parts of my new computer? -> If the pc is up and running and you've tested everyting - consider yourself luck.


2. No power to the sata drives and I have alot of data on it. I plugged in another drive and it worked. How can I get power into these drives to salvage my data? -> Pretty sure you know you fried the drives. In theory, you could purchase identical drives and replace the circut boards and Maybe get them to work again.

[Falcon Speed]

1. If the pc is up and running and you've tested everyting - consider yourself luck.

Doesn't the PSU have a fault switch that protects overload? If this is true, could it STILL harm anything else? I am thinking because the polarity was opposite so the PSU reset itself, causing Windows to reboot.

My PSU does said it has protection so I am not too concerned.http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0301550

2. In theory, you could purchase identical drives and replace the circut boards and Maybe get them to work again.

That is what they said here too. http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/638691 Could it be the same brand but different drive size? Thanks

This sucks! I cannot believe within 2 months, things like this are happening to me.

What is the story with the eSata? It picks up the drives some time and not consistently all the time.

[Steve R Jones]

Overload to the PSU is different then shorting out hard drives But had you walked away while they were frying - other devices might have also fried.

Could it be the same brand but different drive size? Thanks -> If the circut borads are IDENTICAL it would work. (in theory) I have no idea how to tell if the boards are the same.

[SpywareDr]

... 2 external SATA drives at AHCI mode. It would pickup sometime.

Anyway, I have a molex run out of my computer to power these drives with a Y adapter.

What is the story with the eSata? It picks up the drives some time and not consistently all the time.

They may not have been getting enough power through your "Y adapter".

[SuperSparks]

You won't have harmed anything else, the reset was because the short in the external drives caused a voltage drop, which in turn makes the Power_Good line reset the PC.

If you want to try changing the circuit boards, you have to get the exact model and capacity of drive, and you will also need the same firmware revision. There is a fair amount of info on those circuit boards that tells the derive electronics how to find the individual tracks and sectors, and that is written on a batch by batch basis. To be certain of success you really want a board from the same batch, though obtaining one will be near impossible But that doesn't mean it won't work with a board from a different batch.

[Falcon Speed]

You won't have harmed anything else, the reset was because the short in the external drives caused a voltage drop, which in turn makes the Power_Good line reset the PC.

Thanks Nick. That is what I thought because my PSU said it is also short-protected on the URL that I supplied. I sthe Power_Good line in the PSU? If that is correct, then what I described above is pretty close right? That the PSU has a fault switch.

If you want to try changing the circuit boards, you have to get the exact model and capacity of drive, and you will also need the same firmware revision.

Both drives were bought years ago. One is a samsung and the other is a seagate. Crap.

Hi Spyware, I don't think that is it because those two drives are the only thing on the rail. I do notice that if I unplugged the drives and replugged the sata and the POWER to them, then they are picked up, but never in DOS and only in Windows. Once picked up in Windows, then in DOS will pick up too.

[SuperSparks]

Good quality PSUs have overload protection, some cheap ones don't (or what they do have is ineffectual). The Power_Good line runs from the power supply to the motherboard and will continually reset the CPU until the voltages are all stable.

[Falcon Speed]

OK, here is an update on this thread. About a month ago, I shorted two hard drives because I was stupid. I woke up in the middle of the night and was so tired. I plugged the molex in backward while the computer was on. The molex was connected to two external eSata hard drives, set at AHCI. Boom, both drives fried and rebooted my computer.

I was able to recover both drive. One was a Samsung and the other was a Seagate.

For the Seagate, I did try to put another PCB of the exact same model but it did not work. The freezer trick did not work either. I had to do some soldering but was pretty easy. That did the trick.

As for the Samsung, the soldering did not work and I think I messed it up even more. However, another PCB board did work but needs to be close to the same batch date. Samsung no longer make that model and I was sweating looking for it. I got lucky and found it on BareBoneKit.Net. Awesome customer service and they went out of their way to get the drive closes to my original drive date. Delivery time was a bit long compared to NewEgg.

Anyway, I am happy camper. I thought I had to spend a 1k to recover data but really endup spending $30 because the new drive will also be a backup drive.

[SuperSparks]

That's great news, I'm glad you were able to recover your data