Date   : Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:29:21 +0100
From   : kortink@... (John Kortink)
Subject: Harddisc fakery using a microcontroller

On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:05:22 +0000, Jim Hearne <jim@...>
wrote:

>[...]
>
>Sounds like you must have been hot swapping the power lead to kill the 
>drive like that.
>We did have a batch of 'Y' power cable spliters with some of the outputs 
>wired up mirrored, cost us a few replacement drives when we sold some 
>before we found out ourselves.

Don't ditch hard drives that seem to have died just because of
a powering error (e.g. 12V on the 5V line).

Many drives are protected against this with a 'transil', which
very quickly shorts the power line to ground if it exceeds the
expected voltage. Unfortunately, this is a permanent condition.
But when the transil is removed, the drive will most likely be
fine. Replacing the transil is sort-of optional, since the drive
itself will function fine without it.


John Kortink

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