Faulty molex -> HDD connection solder fix, is THIS a bad idea?

[zomboy]

So one of the molex pin heads fell out my HDD (the yellow 12v one) marooning all my data etc... I'm a rookie at electronics so this could be a terrible idea but I want to solder the yellow molex wire (part of a molex extension) directly (or whatever) to the point on the HDD circuit board that the pin was / is connected to (and connect the rest of the molex as usual).

It's an old pc and there isn't anything precious in the HDD, which is otherwise lost to me anyway.

I have done some soldering in the past and the connection on the CB looks wide and large and isolated enough that it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I am aware however that I don't want to be changing the dynamics of the system by adding or reducing resistance etc... and I know that the connection might not be as "good" as a standard molex connection.

Is this a terrible idea? I have had some terrible ideas before.

=> Alternatively, can I just switch the yellow wire for the adjacent grounding wire?

 

[MarkTheMorose]

Well, since you say it's an old PC and there's nothing precious on the hard drive, I'd say in principle there's no real harm in trying to bypass the damaged connector pin. That bit about switching the yellow wire for a ground wire doesn't sound safe, though it's not clear what you mean exactly.

 

[Paperdoc]

Switching wires is definitely a NO NO!

On a Molex supply connector, the Red wire is +5 VDC, the Yellow is +12 VDC, and both black wires are Ground. You could not possibly supply the required 12 VDC from a Ground wire or any other!