I have a hard drive that failed the other day, I suspect its the pcb that broken. The disc it self sounds like it starts up fine and there are no weird clicking sounds or other abnormal sounds. The computer just won't detect it. The computer is just really long booting up then goes on as normal. I've tested the drive on two computers and with an external case.
The HDD is btw Seagate barracuda 2TB
Anyhow, there are some data I like to get off it. And I've been wondering that maybe if the PCB is the problem. Then maybe bake it like they do with the GPU's might work? Btw I've already taken it off and there are no visible damage on the PCB, no burns or anything like that.
Anyway, is this idea just stupid or is it maybe stupid enough it might actually work?
It's not simply "baking it", it's a solder reflow. It's possible that it'll work, but I wouldn't do it unless you don't want the data on it. There is no guarantee that it will work, and most likely it'll just kill the entire thing. I would send it to one of the data recovery places and have them take care of it if the data is important.
Solder reflow in GPUs (iirc) is because GPUs can get hot enough (think back to the Fermi days) to put the solder in a liquid state and have it shift over time. The reflow attempts to put it back where it came from.
Many years ago I had a drive do this. Just up and quit. So I turned to ebay. I found a working drive that was the same model, was even made the same month as mine. It was a working pull, and that was good enough I just needed the controller from the drive anyway. Performed surgery and got my data off the drive.
Since you said the drive doesn't have the CoD (Click of Death) I'd consider going this route. Sure it costs more than free, but it's a whole lot less risky.
The only problem with changing the pcb out is I've heard you have to take the rom chip from the old pcb and put it on the new one as it stores unique and vital information.
I had no issues when I did it. Granted this was circa 2005(ish) so your mileage will vary. If you've suffered a component failure baking the PCB won't resolve that.
It's certainly worth your time to try baking it though. You've got nothing to lose.
So, not that this will help you now, but it may save you in the future. Seagate drives are usually a little cheaper when you're shopping around. In my life I have owned two Seagate drives. After the first failed, I didn't buy another Seagate for a few years. However, a few years later I snagged a good deal on a Seagate drive and sure enough just over a year of use the drive failed. I've owned close to a dozen WD drives and none of them have failed. I'm running some that are IDE and old as hell and they are still humming away soundly. The lesson here is don't learn your lesson twice like I did. Stick with WD, they know what they are doing.
There is the freezer trick as well. May work - deep freeze it, plug it in, may work for a few minutes. If you need the data, either use something like SpinRite or send the drive in for data recovery.
@wendell once mentioned Gillware Data recovery if the data is important enough for you to spend a healthy amount. I've always heard that clicking means very bad things. I've also heard the freezer trick has worked just long enough to clone the data, but that may have just been a lucky shot. If you do it, try and use a anti static bag and typically another one for moisture. Good luck.