The PCB

The 320 GB Western Digital Scorpio Black has a large 16 MB SDRAM buffer. In line with their trend to keep the PCB "clean" of surface-mounted components, Western Digital placed the SDRAM chip and controller chips on the reverse side of the PCB.

You can see the solder points on the PCB. Unfortunately, we still do not have a sufficiently small Torx screwdriver to remove the PCB. Hence, we cannot read the chips' details and tell you more about them.

On the other hand, such a layout is good at preventing physical damage (albeit not static damage) to the surface-mounted components. The use of Torx screws, of course, prevents curious users (like us!) from taking apart the drive and unnecessarily increasing Western Digital's RMA rate.

Note : The "burnt" marks on the solder points are actually silver tarnish or discolouration due to the Pb-free process. It is a purely cosmetic defect and does not have any effect on performance or reliability.

The Breather Hole

The Western Digital 320 GB Scorpio Black has a single breather hole on the top plate. You can see it circled in red in the picture below.

The breather hole allows condensation inside the hard drive to escape. It also equalizes the hard drive's internal pressure with the ambient pressure. The hard drive needs it to function properly, so please make sure you do not occlude the hole!

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