Broken sata connector plastic part

[grannieokie]

Hello
I have broken the plastic enclosure around a sata connector on the hard drive. The pins are in tact and the hard drive will boot if I stand it on end and hold the cable in. Otherwise, the cable simply falls out. I no longer have the plastic piece because it has been broken for a couple of months. I changed cases, now the HD sits horizontal, whereas before it was vertical. Any help?

 

[vvhocare5]

Cmon, go replace the cable.

Do you seriously want it to fall off when you need that drive the most?Corrupt your OS and lose everything on that drive? Really??
Do not skimp on things that will affect reliability.

Its $5 at Radio Shack for a new one

 

[sminlal]

If it's really the plastic piece on the drive (as opposed to the connector on the end of the cable) then the only thing I could suggest is to solder the cable to the drive PCB so that you have a solid connection. Tricky to do, though...

 

[grannieokie]

Yes, it is the plastic surrounding enclosure on the drive that is broken and missing. I'm not much on soldering, but I may use my old case and try taping the cable in place. It will stand vertical and is out of the way so it won't be bumped. It broke about three months ago, and stayed in place, so I did not know it was broken until I changed cases. Any other thoughts? Does anyone know of a hard drive enclosure that doesn't use a cable? Thanks for your help.

 

[sminlal]

Some of my VanTec enclosures have a non-cable connection, but I'm not sure how well it would work in your instance. Taping a cable onto the broken connector seems like an invitation for data corruption...

 

[r_manic]

Best answer selected by r_manic.

 

[rew82]

Use duct tape! Just tape the cable in place. Be sure to use enough, as it get's warm and may not stay fix forever. You could use a combination of zip ties and duct tape, just to be sure. (All tribute goes to MacGyver.)

 

[rustycat]

Here's what I did: I carefully loosened the plug end of the sata cable, then pried it open with an X-acto knife to retrieve the broken piece of the HDD sata connector.

Then with tweezers and gel superglue, carefully reattached the broken piece to the HDD connector. Let the bond set overnight, and it's good to go again!

Good luck!

 

[sarink]

Here's how I solved this problem:

True MacGyver style...floss pick, rubber band, super glue.

I had a floss pick, I used a razor blade to cut out an L shape in the plastic handle of the floss pick. I stuck that back inside of the connector (if you cut it right/small enough, it will kind of "fall" into place back there, and actually be pretty damn hard to get out). This will help to reduce the "play" inside the connector and help the pins make better contact.

Next, I found a rubber band. I tied several loops around the cable, then strung it around the hard drive.

By now, the cable is somewhat solid and making good contact. So lastly, add a dab of super glue to adhere the connector to the drive itself. Make sure to squeeze and hold it really tight and keep doing so until the glue dries. By the end, it should be pretty good construction.

Here's a photo: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v601/zoned019/IMAG0042_zpsc1683ef9.jpg

It's been working wonderfully :-D