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

[heyjb]

One of the kids knocked over my hubbys Iomega LDHD-UP external hard drive. I could hear something rolling around so I opened and found this piece. What is it and where does it goes , it had
12.000H8G on it...
http://imageshack.com/a/img856/9333/fz84.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img35/5351/q7dp.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img822/7643/hv1c.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img819/4636/wov3.jpg (hard drive)
thanks for any help!!!

 

[jrgray93]

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

 

[heyjb]

Is that something that can be soldered on???

 

[jrgray93]

Yes, if you knew where it went. Perhaps if you find an image of the exact same HDD you can compare to see where it is missing from.

 

[USAFRet]

Is that something that can be soldered on???

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.

 

[heyjb]

ok, Thank you, it still lights up and I can hear it, but can't access info....

 

[spellfire]

I don't think it is off the hd itself..It looks like a pwr button or some other switch or whatever from the enclousre for hd

 

[fzabkar]

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.