• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Is my Hard Drive dead?

T

Trackr

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 10, 2011
Messages
1,786
Okay, so this one pisses me off quite a bit.

Apparently, a the little piece of plastic that makes up the end of the 'L' SATA power connector broke off my HDD.

Now, the pins are still there, and there is no reason they wouldn't be making contact with the SATA power cable.

But.. the HDD won't start up! Doesn't matter which cable or in what way I connect it.

Here's a pic:

photonov1444646pm.jpg


So, is it dead? Can I fix it somehow? Please don't tell me my data is lost!
 
I feel that just missing the notch wouldn't kill the drive. All SATA power connectors that I've seen have only had contacts on one side, so flipping it shouldn't make any contact.

It could be that if the missing notch allows the power connector to not line up right, like it's pushed further to the right in your pic.

Also, are you just giving it power or is it completely connected to a PC or external enclosure? I've got a couple of drives that don't even try to spinup when they've only got power and no data connection.
 
AaronGant said:
I feel that just missing the notch wouldn't kill the drive. All SATA power connectors that I've seen have only had contacts on one side, so flipping it shouldn't make any contact.

It could be that if the missing notch allows the power connector to not line up right, like it's pushed further to the right in your pic.

Also, are you just giving it power or is it completely connected to a PC or external enclosure? I've got a couple of drives that don't even try to spinup when they've only got power and no data connection.
Click to expand...

That hasn't been my case - if a drive isn't spinning, it's not hooked up properly.

I've tried connecting the power cable every which way, I've also used an external enclosure..

What am I supposed to do - remove the platters and fit them in another drive?
 
Trackr said:
What am I supposed to do - remove the platters and fit them in another drive?
Click to expand...

I'd not attempt that, since I'm pretty sure the platters shouldn't be moved, relative to each other, if they're out of line so is your data.

But seriously, if you are sure the cables, enclosures, etc have all been ruled out as the problem, next thing I would do in your place would be to check where those connectors are attached to the PCB. Perhaps whatever caused the notch to brake off also pulled up some of the solder points. If so solder them back down, or just press them down good till you get your data off.

On a drive that I knew had a bad PCB, I was able to pull one off another drive of the same model and attach it and the drive is still working years later with the pcb from the other.

Other then that, right now I cannot think of anything else to tell you to try.
 
AaronGant said:
I'd not attempt that, since I'm pretty sure the platters shouldn't be moved, relative to each other, if they're out of line so is your data.

But seriously, if you are sure the cables, enclosures, etc have all been ruled out as the problem, next thing I would do in your place would be to check where those connectors are attached to the PCB. Perhaps whatever caused the notch to brake off also pulled up some of the solder points. If so solder them back down, or just press them down good till you get your data off.

On a drive that I knew had a bad PCB, I was able to pull one off another drive of the same model and attach it and the drive is still working years later with the pcb from the other.

Other then that, right now I cannot think of anything else to tell you to try.
Click to expand...

Well, good and bad news.

Good news, I can stop trying to fix this.

Bad news, I burnt the connectors. I froze the drive, then re-connected it. There.. must have been some water on the connector, due to the condensation, and it short-circuited and singed the connector.

So now, whether the platters still contain the data or not, there is no way to retrieve it.

I actually don't know if there was data on that drive. I'd say 50/50?

I'm just going to leave it be for now. Maybe I'll eventually figure out something else I can do..
 
If you really care, you can find a compatible PCB from an identical drive and fit that. Much more straightforward than platter swapping.

EDIT: The freezer trick isn't for PCB problems, it's for mechanical issues.
 
The freezer trick is a last resort for a mechanically failing drive. It isn't recommended to put a healthy drive in a freezer.
 
I'm just going to leave it be for now. Maybe I'll eventually figure out something else I can do..
Click to expand...
LOL!

Have a little bit of the hoarder syndrome in ya? :)
 
Well at least you were patient and didnt do something rash like put it in the freezer....o wait:p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top