Default HDD: Broken SATA power connector. Alternatives to data recovery?

J

JRizEJ6

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 28, 2009
Messages
105
Hi [H]. Ive been lurking here for months now and finally decided to register because im in need of some help.

Long story short, I was moving stuff around in my case and accidentally ripped off the sata power connector from my hdd. I googled some fixes and some came up as simply shoving the connector back into the hdd. i did and it worked fine. like a dumbass, i didnt back up the important things (pictures of my son/family) when it booted up fine. so i shut down and tried to mount the HDD and reconenct it. booted up and no hdd detected. did that a few times before i tried disconnecting and reconnecting. booted up, detected, small popping noise followed by smoke from my hdd, blue screen before getting into windows. now theres black shit on the gold connectors and i cant get the connector back on.

so any other way to work around this? i read that i could just buy the same exact hdd, and swap the interface card. but before i go wasting money i want to know if that will indeed fix it or if my hdd is completley fubar and my only option is to spend a ridiculous amount of money at a data recovery center.

heres the broken sata
Picture185.jpg


heres the gold connectors before the pop+smoke

Picture183.jpg

and after the smoke
Picture186.jpg


i have already ordered another drive of the same model and im going to attempt a pcb swap once it gets here on monday. are there any other options for me?
 
You had a short circuit across the SATA power pins. All you can do is hope that the short circuit didn't damage the drive mechanics itself. Swapping the PCB is probably your best shot.
 
Yep, just find a used drive that matches all the specs of your current one and buy it.

I helped a similar member with a 750GB drive, we had every part matched, including chipset I believe... I just sent him the board..

PCB swap is real easy though... :)
 
Damn JRizEJ6, you got that one good.

PCB swap is really your only "at home" option.

If the contents are super, really important, or like my wife will castrate me kind of important. Then there are data recovery people, but it will cost you.
 
Yea but PCB swap is easier/cheaper and it doesn't hurt anything.

I swapped boards on 750 drives just to test and they worked just fine with either board...
 
one of my concerns is potentially screwing up the new drive. are pcb swaps really that harmless? i guess i should have mentioned what kind of hdd it is in the OP. its a 500gb western digital drive, wd5000aaks to be exact. the data im trying to recover is pretty important to me and my gf since its our sons pictures. all other things on the drive can be replaced. anyway ill post up the results on the pcb swap on monday.if it doesnt work out ill be on the lookout for a closer matching pcb card.

but id like to thank you guys for you quick replies. i got more replies here than the other tech sites I posted this on. thanks [H]!
 
Not just a "matching" circuit board, but the exact same drive, down to the specific model number you mentioned, actually. Call around till you can find one as that's going to be your only hope - else you'll be sending it off to a data recovery service which will do exactly the same thing. Replace the circuit board with a working one from the exact same model drive and do the recovery, then put the busted one back on and send the drive with the data probably on DVD media to you...

And charge a hefty sum in the process. :)
 
WD's are generally fairly easy to board swap as they don't write drive calibration to the rom on the board but rather on the platters. There is a specific set of numbers on the board (the revision code I believe its called) that you need to match up to guarantee your board swap will actually work. Within the same model number there can be a lot of change in design so if you purchased the failed drive 2 years ago (which is plausible with a 500Gb drive) one you buy today may have a completely different head stack and controller on the board. Check out hddguru forums for more specific info: http://hddguru.com/
 
yeah thats also what im worried about. i bought this hdd august of last year with a manufacture date of February 08, so depending on if i get a brand new drive from newegg theres a whole year in between.
 
Wait, did you simply break the connector or burn the pcb in the process?
 
both. broke the connector off, got it back on and was able to boot into windows. but like a fool, didnt back up the data i needed before shutting it down and trying to re-mount the hdd. while trying to remount the hdd i must have shorted the pcb causing the smoke. after the smoke and while the hdd was still plugged in, i was not able to get into windows. itll get to the loading bar the BSoD. i tried safe mode and got in but when i tried accessing my computer, it BSoD again. my new hdd should be here later today ill report back on my results. heres hoping for the best :(
 
well the pcb swap didnt work. my bios recognizes it but it doesnt state what kind of drive (ie wd5000aaks) it just says sata II drive. any other suggestions?
 
I'd give it shot with a soldering iron. Desolder the pins and remove them. I'd get pinouts of the SATA power, most are grounds from what I believe. Get a flux pen to help clean out the oxidation on the pinouts and solder a short length of wire to each and connect to power/breadboard, what ever. Power it up and hopefully you didn't short any components/chips/circuits on the board and begin the recovery process.

I'd suggest that a experienced person that can solder do this. Not the most difficult job I've seen, but not something a beginner can learn on - considering the value.

I noticed a while back Mouser has started carrying SATA components a couple months back.
 
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