Can you identify this broken piece from external hard drive????

Solution


Possibly. All depends on how exactly it is 'broken'.

However, this being an external drive that was dropped, fixing that may not actually fix things.
The actual drive may be toast from the fall.

I'd suggest taking the actual drive out, and seeing if it will work either connected to a PC internally, or in a different USB dock or cable.

jrgray93

Honorable
Aug 4, 2012
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10,860
I believe it is either a crystal / oscillator or a transistor. It's a part that belongs on the circuit board.

As to where it goes? I haven't the slightest idea. You would need a professional with the right equipment to fix it, either way.

Sorry for the bad news :S
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


Possibly. All depends on how exactly it is 'broken'.

However, this being an external drive that was dropped, fixing that may not actually fix things.
The actual drive may be toast from the fall.

I'd suggest taking the actual drive out, and seeing if it will work either connected to a PC internally, or in a different USB dock or cable.
 
Solution
As has already been mentioned, the part is a 12MHz crystal. The HDD PCB has its own different crystal, so the subject crystal would belong on the USB-SATA bridge PCB at the RHS of the photo. To the right of the "832" sticker are two capacitors (C31 and C32), plus a resistor (R19). The two large round solder pads immediately to the right of the capacitors are the pins of the dislodged crystal. This crystal would be mounted on the other side of the PCB.

The fact that the HDD spins up is a good sign. However, the fact that the crystal was dislodged suggests that the impact was severe. Therefore don't be surprised if the drive has sustained head and/or media damage.

I would shake the crystal close to your ear. If you hear rattling, this would indicate that the quartz has shattered and that the crystal is damaged. In any case, it does appear that the crystal's pins have sheared off at the base, so resoldering it may not be feasible. That said, this crystal is very common and should be easy to find. Moreoever, assuming that the drive is not encrypted by the bridge board, then you should be able to attach it to a SATA port inside your computer and gain access to your data.