just brew it! wrote:The worry is that if the PCB got hot enough to get discolored, there may be an underlying mechanical issue that caused it (like say a burned out motor or seized spindle bearings).
DING DING DING! Cooooorect! What do we have for him Johnny! (Jim Carey Voice), sorry, just had my morning brew (coffee, not beer)
The other route you can do is attempting to clean off those contact with something none-abrasive to try to make them make good contact again. If you look at the PCB in the second picture, the chips themselves (this doesn't mean everything) aren't burnt up at first glance. You can usually tell if SOME chips are burnt up if the white writing on them start to fad out. I'm not sure if this is dependent on how the manufacturer wrote the lettering on (etched, laser, ink.. ect). But I've seen all kinds of the lettering fading or blending in with the black portion of the chip once they get to hot. If you see that its a sure sign of overheating of the chip.
My point is that if the chips themselves are fine, and assuming no other components are damaged, you may be able to clean up those contacts a bit and revive the drive long enough to recover your data. I'd try the pencil eraser method first mentioned here. You can also try other things like rubbing alcohol, vinegar, ect. Last resort (might be one of my first) you can take a soldering iron to the surface if its got a slight bit of solder on top of it and attempt to re-solder the contact. Similar to a "cold" solder, this may bring back that shiny clean surface you want on a contact. If there is no solder on it, you can also try melting a very small amount of solder onto the contact, then removing it. This may apply heat and fresh solder + resin to the contact, sort of refreshing it. I've used that method on other contacts and it works great. But its completely dependent on the material used in that contact, Gold, Silver, Tin, ect.