Sunday, November 20, 2011

Explaining What a Hard Drive PCB is

By Jason Sloan


This article explains the significance of a PCB (printed circuit board) and the job it plays with the running of your drive. A PCB is the electronic part attached the the hard drive and is sensitive to power surges and dusty environments. Many hard drive recovery issues concern the PCB and needs a good experience of the different types of PCBs and ability to repair issues like this.

What is a Hard Disk Drive PCB?

A PCB or a printed circuit board, often referred to as a printed wiring board or etched wiring board, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect parts in an electronic device. The mechanical support and electrical connection is performed by means of conductive paths, conductive tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets and laminated onto non-conductive substrate.

PCB's are rather more dependable and less expensive than the older wire-wrap and point-to-point construction technologies. The primary assembly and cost with PCB layout may be high but for high-volume production, PCB's are quicker and cheaper.

PCB fabrication is a multiple process involving etching, photograph engraving, multi-layer processing, drilling, masking and finishing. Eventually, there's electrical testing to final-check its efficiency. If the PCB fails the final electric testing, it is replaced or corrected appropriately.

Where is the PCB located in my computer?

If you've tried installing a disk drive, you have already seen the PCB as that green board on the bottom of the hard drive. When the drive fails with no power, it is most likely due to a PCB malfunction. Many common computer problems cause the PCB to fail such as power surges and even dust contamination.

What does a Hard Disk Drive PCB do?



The PCB contains the firmware of the drive and lets the drive know how to operate and the way to read data from the platters. Its particular functions include storing data about how many heads there are in the drive and the way to access continue microcode for successful drive start-up.

The information is put into each PCB right at the factory level and is designed to be particularly precise to a specific drive.

What are the indicators of PCB failure?

When a hard drive fails due to PCB failure, the drive typically can't boot up or there might be an incorrect display in the BIOS of the hard drive's info. Also power may not get to the hard drive and as a result it won't spin up.

Am I Able To just replace the Hard Drive PCB?



The narrow customisation of the PCB to its drive makes finding the correct PCB replacement very tricky. Sometimes you have to find a donor hard drive with the same firmware, model number, PCB part number and manufactured within just a few weeks of your faulty hard drive; it can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Additionally, because of the unique adaptives, replacing of the PCB may result in further damages to the hard drive, eg its heads and the platters.

Information on Hard Drive PCB issues

If you suspect you're experiencing a hard disk drive PCB failure, do not attempt to operate the drive any longer and never switch the PCB with that of another drive. Get your hard drive to a professional data recovery company.




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