Hard Drive Boo Boo

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KeeganX

n00b
Joined
Dec 8, 2005
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I was taking out my hard drive and I bent a pin so I was like I'll just make it straight again. Well in the process of that I broke it off. So now I have this perfectly hard drive missing on pin for the IDE cable. Am I screwed or is there anyway I can get it to work again, or atleast get the data off of it?
 
I've actually heard of someone soldering a pin back on and having it work----worth a shot if your feeling brave :p
 
Towards the bottom of this page: http://www.interfacebus.com/Design_Connector_IDE.html
is an ATA pin out list. There is a *small* chance the pin you broke didn't do anything important.
I have used small bits of paper clips (snipped off to the right lengthm, about 5-6mm and stuck one end in the cable so a little bit was hanging out to plug into the drive. Made contact and worked long enough to get the data off.
Other than that, you could try a PCB swap.

Edit: ^ I type slow :)
 
i broke off one of the in corner of mine about a year ago and I'm still using the drive perfectly fine. Matches my 938 pin cpu nicely.
 
Its the very last pin on the bottom right, I believe that is ground if I read the chart right. Is that a bad thing to lose? Also if I do a PCB switch isn't my data still on the harddrive?
 
KeeganX said:
Also if I do a PCB switch isn't my data still on the harddrive?
Click to expand...
Yes, but you'll have intact PCB = intact pins. According to here, and following the 40-pin male pinout, you broke the LED driver pin. The direction chart seems to say that the signal is destined one-way from mobo to HDD...I don't think you'd nuke your HDD if you tried running it without that pin.
 
I tried plugging it in and just blinks a _ and thats it. Then after awhile it says operating system not found. When I do a PCB switch do I need the exact PCB or can it be different?
 
KeeganX said:
I tried plugging it in and just blinks a _ and thats it. Then after awhile it says operating system not found. When I do a PCB switch do I need the exact PCB or can it be different?
Click to expand...

It needs to be the same brand, model, capacity and revision.
 
Try a cd-rom boot disk like Knoppix and see if it sees the drive. There could be damage to the boot sector or something that would cause that kind of thing. Or try soldering a bit of paperclip in where the pin is.

 
I assume the pin fell off completely, and isn't stuck inside the ATA cable...I think one of my drives is still running fine with a certain cable since one of the pins is stuck in it :D
 
I've never soldered in my life, so thats out of the question. I guess I'll just let the drive go :( It was just my moms, just had her resume..she can do another one.
 
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