| WD PCB's |
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| Tech Notes - Data Recovery |
| Written by Rick |
| Tuesday, 10 April 2007 00:00 |
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Western Digital (WD) uses a combination of model/part number and a DCM number on the drive cover as well as a part number on the PCB.
Second you'll need to match the PCB part number as shown in the next image. The base part number is obviously important. The dash level is equally important, they must match to stand a chance of a PCB swap working. Lastly as hard drives get larger the revision (in the case of the example shown "D") becomes more critical. The physical design of the model shown in this example uses a flat or non-molded cover. The older style WD drive uses a molded (rounded edge) cover that requires tape to complete the seal. On the older style drives, in most cases, one can simply match a PCB with the same part number. Even if the PCB is from a different model you can generally expect to get acceptable results. As with any PCB swap, doing so is a temporary solution intended to permit the imaging of a hard drive. In some cases one may be able to extract data from a drive with a replacement PCB, however imaging is strongly recommended. |
Matching a PCB is relatively straight forward. First you'll need to match the drive model/part number. The entire number needs to match including the information after the dash. In the case of the drive shown, we need to match WD1200BB-00DAA3. The DCM is related to the firmware writen to the drive. (Read the 
These types of component swaps are not long-term permanent solutions to a drive failure. 