Mini USB port fell into external HD

[GCat11]

Hello,

I have an external hard drive from 5-6 years ago which my brother stepped on and broke the usb port off of. It fell into the shell and it's just rattling around. I'd really love to get a look at everything I had on there. At the time it was all my music and pictures and pretty much everything since the computer I had had basically no memory so I used it all on programs. It really drove me nuts then and I had someone take it to work with them to ask someone there if she could fix it but no dice.

So now years later I'm wondering if there's any way to fix this or get the data somehow? I'll try anything if someone just has directions I can follow. I'm having a hard time finding them. It looks just like this. http://www.amazon.com/Cirago-CST1250-250-Portable-Storage/dp/B001CBNH4C

I have small screwdrivers and a laptop with windows 7.
Thanks!

 

[R4lNM4N]

This drive is essentially an internal hard drive with a USB adapter built into the casing. Take the case apart. Inside it should just be a regular hard drive with a SATA connector. The SATA connector has an adapter to the external USB. These adapters usually just pull off. You can then connect the drive via the SATA connector as if it where an internal drive.

 

[mjslakeridge]

Are there any external screws on the case? I couldn't tell from the pictures on the link you provided. If so, try opening the case just to get access to the usb port and try to connect it to your computer. If there is important data on the device, take it to a local computer repair shop, as I don't want to give you advice that destroys any chance of recovering the data. Of course if it has been stepped on, that may be the end of it.

You could also remove the drive from the case and try installing it into another computer directly to see if it still works. Some external drives use hardware encription which means the drive will only work in its case, I am not sure about that model.