About Firmware Transfers

What does firmware transfer really mean?

You can see a PCB board's hardware, however, there is also a set of instructions written into certain chips on the PCB board, which you can not see or read without special equipment. We call these instructions "firmware", the PCB needs this to control the hard drive correctly.

Sometimes PCB boards look exactly the same, but they have different firmwares. This is when a firmware transfer becomes necessary. We offer firmware transfer services. Basically we will copy the firmware from your old damaged board onto a new board. The new board is then a completely identical clone of the old board.

A frequently asked question is, if my board is very fried, can you still read the firmware from it? The answer is almost always yes. Occasionally the firmware is damaged, but this is very rare, even if some big chips on the PCB has completely melted.

If you choose to let us do a firmware transfer for you, you will have to send the damaged PCB board to our location. We have two locations that you can send to, below are further instructions for sending to both locations:

Sending to our Canadian headquaters (faster turnaround) - please allow 1-2 business days for handling time. Cost is $20.

Sending to our U.S. retail location - please allow 2-4 business days for handling time. Cost is $20.