Sata connector broke off my drive :( Please HELP!

R

rkd29980

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 19, 2015
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I some how pulled the SATA connector off of one of my drives. The pins are intact but a little bent. Please tell me I can save my data.

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Best solution would be to solder on a new connector, but that's outta my league. Next best reliable way would be to cut the end off a cable and solder the wires direct (assuming you're good with a iron, or know someone who is), then transfer the data. Option 3, which would be less reliable, but much easier. See if you can stick the broken end (the plastic in your second pic) into a sata cable, then push the cable onto the pins (making sure they're lined up). No idea if it'd work, but I'm just kinda tossing you some ideas that I'd personally try. Might be too loose to have much of a connection, and DEFINITELY wouldn't be permanent, but hey, that's about all I've got, and if the data was important enough I can see someone sitting there holding the connector to the HDD while everything transfers over. GL
 
Buy a SATA extention cable, cut the cable and solder the wires.
If you do it carefully, the drive will work fine for years that way.

And once it's repaired, the first task is to start doing backups correct?

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can you slide the plastic part that broke off back on to the pins?

if so then you can superglue a cable on to the connector and never worry about it again.

soldering should be your last resort.
 
You didn't damage the pins from the picture, just the plastic shroud. I would just (carefully) attempt the superglue solution suggested above and get the data off the drive. You can then decide what to do with the drive if the fix doesn't hold long-term, but at least you will have your data.
 
If you know how to solder, that is the preferred fix for something like this.
I've done electronic repair professionally for many years.

Super glue and duct tape type fixes are not reliable long term. You could
even potentially start trashing data on the drive with intermittent connections.

My little brother used to do all the wiring for stereos and radar detectors
in his cars by twisting the wires together and taping them. Then he always
wondered why his cars always had electrical problems. lol

ETA: Super glue is a good insulator material..... not a good thing to squirt
into an electrical connector that you want to be reliable.

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I thought about trying the glue option but my biggest worry is corrupt and unusable files due to a poor connection so I am going to take it to my local TV repair place.

And believe me, I understand the importance of backups, it's just that my backup servers are currently a work in progress.
 
This happened to me with a brand-new Raptor back in the day (when they were $250 for 36GB). My only solution was to use WD's SATA cable that had the data and power connectors on one big connector. I doubt they make them anymore though. Pity since they decided to make SATA connectors so cheap.
 
Buy an identical drive off ebay and swap the logic board since the connectors are mounted to it.
 
You'll be fine in the short term. As mwroobel said, it's only the plastic frame. just find the other bit and glue them back on. Then copy all your data off that drive.
 
OK

So I had a local computer shop solder a SATA cable onto the SATA pins of the drive. It all seems to work just fine. Windows sees the drive, I can access it and I am not getting any errors. Windows did want to run check disk on it but I canceled that.

Now I am readyto copy the files over to a new drive but I am still worried about data corruption during the transfer. Does Windows correct for that, like ask the drive to resend any data that differs from the original or do I need a special program to copy my files and make sure that they are copied correctly?
 
Windows will throw fits if there are errors during the copy. Although that file check you canceled is probably a decent enough idea.
 
I've seen this before with a customer. Whatever idiot told you to use superglue ... block that person.

Here is the 1 - 2 punch to knock out the problem.

Get an extender, tack it in with a glue gun. One you test the connect and it works. Apple additional glue. 1 - 2 ... your done and case closed.

The metal bits are what's important. The surrounding plastic is the structure. Once this is compromised with grubby dirty little impatient fingers that break this shit somehow, only god knows .... then a glue gun will suffice until you clear off the drive, wipe it and sell it to a friend or craigslist.
 
rkd29980 said:
OK

So I had a local computer shop solder a SATA cable onto the SATA pins of the drive. It all seems to work just fine. Windows sees the drive, I can access it and I am not getting any errors. Windows did want to run check disk on it but I canceled that.

Now I am readyto copy the files over to a new drive but I am still worried about data corruption during the transfer. Does Windows correct for that, like ask the drive to resend any data that differs from the original or do I need a special program to copy my files and make sure that they are copied correctly?
Click to expand...

I recommend teracopy. You can set it for data verification after copy.
 
rkd29980 said:
OK

So I had a local computer shop solder a SATA cable onto the SATA pins of the drive. It all seems to work just fine. Windows sees the drive, I can access it and I am not getting any errors. Windows did want to run check disk on it but I canceled that.

Now I am readyto copy the files over to a new drive but I am still worried about data corruption during the transfer. Does Windows correct for that, like ask the drive to resend any data that differs from the original or do I need a special program to copy my files and make sure that they are copied correctly?
Click to expand...


Let it run the CHKDSK.
You want to let it clean up any problems that it can.

I use Robocopy when I want to copy large amounts of data.
There are a ton of options and will log and continue on any errors instead of just quitting.

There is a GUI for it now too so you don't have to deal with the command line.

ETA: Robocopy can also copy NTFS security settings which can be handy on servers.


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My main drive has had a broken clip for over a year now.

Carefully slide the cable back on, and gently put it back in the case and make sure the cable is still in, it takes very little force to have it come loose.

Then, simply don't bump or move the computer ever again unless you want a quick reboot!
 
ZeqOBpf6 said:
My main drive has had a broken clip for over a year now.

Carefully slide the cable back on, and gently put it back in the case and make sure the cable is still in, it takes very little force to have it come loose.

Then, simply don't bump or move the computer ever again unless you want a quick reboot!
Click to expand...


Uh.... no.

You're the guy who holds his broken muffler on his car with a coat hanger too right?

Duct tape on leaky pipes in the house?


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Super glue will eliminate any chance of repairing the plastic, which is probably polyester, maybe a polyamide (something like nylon) and can't be glued.
 
....really seems like this is being made more complicated than needed.

I had the same issue...
I inserted the plastic bit from the drive I to a data cable, slipped it back overy the metal contacts and super glued it in place.

That was 5 years ago for the main drive in my media server.
 
Angry said:
....really seems like this is being made more complicated than needed.

I had the same issue...
I inserted the plastic bit from the drive I to a data cable, slipped it back overy the metal contacts and super glued it in place.

That was 5 years ago for the main drive in my media server.
Click to expand...


Good for you, but it may not work out that way every time.

Once the plastic breaks, the specs and dimensions of the connector are all wrong.
It's very likely to get intermittent connections like that.

I would never repair a drive for a customer like that or for anything that mattered.
Plus, I just have a problem with using superglue on electrical connectors.

As I said in my first post, I'd get a SATA extension cable and clip it, then solder the wires.
That would give you a short pig tail connector with the correct SATA connector to be able
to still use a standard SATA cable.

Tell me this.... next time you are on an airplane flight, ask yourself if you'd be ok with the
aircraft techs using superglue to repair broken critical electrical connections like you are suggesting.
You'd be ok with that?

Some people may value their data more than you do.

.
 
I would glue the piece back, pull data and get a new drive. If replacing the drive is not an option or it is very expensive, I would replace the whole PCB, you will need to transfer the FW chips off the old board however, so if you don't have a hot air soldering station that will be hard to do. There are a number of places that will replace the board and transfer the chip for you for $60-80, that includes the price of the new PCB as well.
 
As Spartacus just reiterated, I had a local computer repair shop solder a SATA cable onto the exposed pins and then hotglue it into place for extra strength. I was able to copy my data to a spare drive and there doesn't seem to be any data corruption.

Thanks for all the help guys.
 
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