Anyway to save HD from my newbie mistake

Steve Burgess · Mar 4, 2014

Trying to work on some case fans and needed to install better psu, then one the Sparkle 350 watt psu installed from Cyberpowerpc. I snapped off the plastic little "L" shaped where psu plugs into Toshiba 1TB HD. All the metal pins are still there, but of course wont stay plugged into hd. I don't want to add to my problem by trying to glue on or force onto pins and fry my motherboard.

Thoughts or two cents I would greatly appreciate.

drtweak · Mar 4, 2014

I've had this issue with the SATA port before. You can try to glue that black piece back on. Or put the black piece in the power connector itself and carefully try to get the pings between the plastic piece and the power terminals. The only other thing would be to buy the PCB board for that same exact hard drive or buy the same exact hard drive and swap the PCB and get your data off.

TyrOd · Mar 4, 2014

drtweak :

DO NOT swap the PCB. This does not work on modern hard drives and can corrupt the system area of the drive.

Repairing a broken SATA connector is a much more simple process which can be done inexpensively by a reputable data recovery lab.

Steve Burgess · Mar 4, 2014

drtweak :

Doing Goggle search on this issue, I found the following posting. But its good five years old. But would it apply or tech changed......see below. This is where psu plugs in, not the sata cable running to motherboard.

You can also do that with a molex to SATA power adapter to make it non-permanent for the PSU.

drtweak · Mar 4, 2014

No link attached??

Also TryOd I have done that with modern 2TB drives without issue as long as they are the same exact make and model.

kenrivers · Mar 5, 2014

I'm not saying this is the best solution but I broke off a plastic piece of an SSD (not sure whether it was the power or data connection) and the pins were exposed. I managed to super glue the plastic piece back in place and amazingly enough the drive worked and still does. I realize this was already suggested by drtweak. I only mention it because it worked for me as well.

TyrOd · Mar 5, 2014

drtweak :

Purely anecdotal. I get the same response from people who say they've done platter swaps successfully on their own too.
It's not impossible, but all modern drives have service area data on a chip on the Logic board with specific "adaptives" information

If you get 2 same-model drives that have the same heads(they don't always) and similar adaptives data, then you can swap the PCB without any immediate problems, but you will always have problems with stability long-term.

In the vast majority of cases, doing a PCB swap just won't work. In some small number of cases it will, but in just as many cases that it works on modern drives, it will lead to service area corruption.

Edited for clarity/accuracy.

Steve Burgess · Mar 5, 2014

drtweak :

TyrOd :

TyrOd · Mar 5, 2014

Steve Burgess :

drtweak :

TyrOd :

The preferable method would be to fix it by soldering it back into place, but obviously if you don't have experience doing that I wouldn't suggest trying. You could try glue, but that may leave a mess of glue for someone who can solder it back on to clean up later.

If you can find someone you trust that has experience with electronics repair to resolder it back on, that would be much preferred to doing it yourself.

Steve Burgess · Mar 6, 2014

TyrOd :

Steve Burgess :

drtweak :

TyrOd :

The preferable method would be to fix it by soldering it back into place, but obviously if you don't have experience doing that I wouldn't suggest trying. You could try glue, but that may leave a mess of glue for someone who can solder it back on to clean up later.

If you can find someone you trust that has experience with electronics repair to resolder it back on, that would be much preferred to doing it yourself.

Success: I broke off just right that took some jiggle to get onto pins. I bought some Loctite for plastics epoxy, but didn't use any of it. Of course not as tight if didn't break am sure. Sure the finale to the solution is to still have sodered.

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