Re: [tlug] Possibility to recover a hard disk by swapping control board

[jep200404@example.com]

On Fri, 16 Sep 2011 22:51:54 +0900, Zev <zev@example.com> wrote:

> I have a 2.5" SATA hard disk that I setup with an external usb drive case.
> The case is a bit odd in that it requires 2 usb connections, probably for power.

That is very common. It usually involves cheating with the USB 
specification. 

> I then tried to mount the disk by replacing the hard disk in my laptop with it.
> Cutting out the usb middle man.
> Alas, it still would not mount or be recognized by the system.

Did it have a bootable OS on it? 

What do you mean by "not ... recognized by the system"? 
Does the BIOS recognize it? 

> So I figure I have fried something on the disk. 

Perhaps. 

> But I was thinking would it be possible to buy a similar hard disk and swap the
> controller board (or what ever you call it) and see if it would mount then? 

_Sometimes_. It's premature to do such an experiment. 

> Thanks for any advice

First, figure out if you have a hardware problem, 
or just undesirable data on the hard drive. 

Boot a live CD, such as but not limited to Knoppix, 
in a desktop computer (_not_ a laptop), 
connect the suspect hard drive 
and run the following command for your hard drive, 
and post the results. 

   smartctl -a /dev/foo | tee log

where foo is sda, sdb ... as appropriate for your hard drive.