[SOLVED] Pins broken on HDD

[ndirishkmk]

I was trying to add an old HDD to my new build as a second hard drive. Unfortunately, I found that there is a broken pin (possibly 2). Is there any way to fix this? Or at least rig something to get the data off?

For reference, this is a Hitachi 2TB HDD Part Number 0F10629

Thanks!

 

[USAFRet]

This is actually 2 questions.

1. Can it be somehow fixed for temporary data retrieval? Probably, yes.
2. Can you do it? How are your DIY soldering skills?

 

[ndirishkmk]

That doesn't sound promising. Never soldered before in my life!

 

[ndirishkmk]

Just out of curiosity any way it might work without all the pins?

 

[USAFRet]

That doesn't sound promising. Never soldered before in my life!

What I would do is take the SATA connection block off an old busted drive. Like the one sitting on my desk right now.

Then, pin for pin, a wire between the drive in question and this sacrificial SATA connection block. Careful soldering.

SATA cables to this block should cause the drive to be readable. Power up and copy off what data you can.

(actually, I would just recover the data from my backup and not worry about "fixing" this busted drive)

 

[USAFRet]

Just out of curiosity any way it might work without all the pins?

Depends what pins are missing. The wrong one not being connected may fry the whole PCB.

 

[ndirishkmk]

Depends what pins are missing. The wrong one not being connected may fry the whole PCB.

Okay thank you! It is the first and last pins that are missing. The inner ones are intact. I don't think there's much on there as it was from an old computer that just was used for my taxes (which are backed up in the cloud.. phew!). Debating on plugging it back into that old computer to see if I can find anything else on there that I need though!

 

[SkyNetRising]

I found that there is a broken pin (possibly 2). Is there any way to fix this?

Can we see photo of the damage?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

 

[ndirishkmk]

here you go!

https://imgur.com/1dRNqAe

View: https://imgur.com/1dRNqAe

https://imgur.com/a/ESo11do

View: https://imgur.com/a/ESo11do

 

[fzabkar]

The end pins are grounds. The data should still be accessible, but you might see a lot of interface errors in SMART (UDMA CRC Error Count). Pins 2,3,5, and 6 are the Tx/Rx pairs. Don't break them.

 

[SkyNetRising]

here you go!

You'll have to find somebody, who can do this type of operation:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmXRkULNAWk