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GHZpc
 
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Default * Computer Hardware Question * - Broken pin on Hard Drive

I accidently broke Pin #1 on my Maxtor hard drive. Unfortunately, I had very important data that was not backed up. Yes, I have already learned my lesson.

The pin broke off so deep that there is almost no metal visible to make contact with. I tried a safety pin and attempted to use my average soldering skills to solder a new pin in place. I have still had no luck up to this pont.

I think my best bet (besides buying a new hard drive), would be to remove the daughterboard on the outside of the hard drive and then have more access to where pin #1 is located. Does this sound like a safe thing to do? I would have to be aware of any small thin cables sticking out of the hard drive so that they do not get broke too.

If you have any other suggestions, they would be greatly greatly greatly appreciated. And please, please tell me that there is still hope. After all, it's only one pin. I refuse to believe that an entire hard drive can be useless just because one pin broke.


Thanks for your replies.


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Cliff Hartle
 
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If the data is truly important, you can send it to a company that will open
up the hard drive and copy the data for 500 to 2,000 dollars.

I just heard a radio story about this company concerning all the computers
that are under water right now. The one thing they said not to do was to
try to fix it themselves. It only makes it harder to get the data.

I think even if you can jury rig something I wouldn't trust the drive so you
are going to have to get a new drive. The cost of data is generally much
higher than the cost of a drive.



"GHZpc" wrote in message
...
I accidently broke Pin #1 on my Maxtor hard drive. Unfortunately, I had
very important data that was not backed up. Yes, I have already learned my
lesson.

The pin broke off so deep that there is almost no metal visible to make
contact with. I tried a safety pin and attempted to use my average
soldering skills to solder a new pin in place. I have still had no luck
up to this pont.

I think my best bet (besides buying a new hard drive), would be to remove
the daughterboard on the outside of the hard drive and then have more
access to where pin #1 is located. Does this sound like a safe thing to
do? I would have to be aware of any small thin cables sticking out of the
hard drive so that they do not get broke too.

If you have any other suggestions, they would be greatly greatly greatly
appreciated. And please, please tell me that there is still hope. After
all, it's only one pin. I refuse to believe that an entire hard drive can
be useless just because one pin broke.


Thanks for your replies.


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------= Binary Usenet downloading made easy =---------
-= Get GrabIt for free from http://www.shemes.com/ =-



  #3   Report Post  
Sherman
 
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On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 07:25:46 GMT, "GHZpc" wrote:

I accidently broke Pin #1 on my Maxtor hard drive. Unfortunately, I had very important data that was not backed up. Yes, I have already learned my lesson.

The pin broke off so deep that there is almost no metal visible to make contact with. I tried a safety pin and attempted to use my average soldering skills to solder a new pin in place. I have still had no luck up to this pont.

I think my best bet (besides buying a new hard drive), would be to remove the daughterboard on the outside of the hard drive and then have more access to where pin #1 is located. Does this sound like a safe thing to do? I would have to be aware of any small thin cables sticking out of the hard drive so that they do not get broke too.

If you have any other suggestions, they would be greatly greatly greatly appreciated. And please, please tell me that there is still hope. After all, it's only one pin. I refuse to believe that an entire hard drive can be useless just because one pin broke.


Thanks for your replies.


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------= Binary Usenet downloading made easy =---------
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Get an ohmmeter and measure the resistance from pin 1 to the other
pins. Often, many pins are tied together(inside the drive).
If it is, then you simply jumper the cable and it should work fine.


  #4   Report Post  
Percival P. Cassidy
 
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This is something I've never done, but I'm thinking that it could work:

1. Figure out which wire in the cable corresponds to the missing pin.

2. Either (a) cut that wire close to the connector, strip a little of
the insulation, and solder a "bridge" connection from that wire to the
circuit-board side of the broken pin; or (b) stick a thin pin or needle
into that wire and connect from it to the circuit-board side of the
broken pin.

This is going to take a great deal of care, and if you get the
conenction wrong you may be in BIG trouble.


If you are utterly unable to reestablish a contact for that broken pin,
*and* you are able to find an identical drive, you *might* be able to
recover the data by removing the old board and substituting the board
from the good drive.

This may not work, because people tell me that a board could have been
"tuned" to compensate for the manufacturing tolerances of a particular
drive (unscientific explanation).

Perce


On 09/09/05 03:25 am GHZpc tossed the following ingredients into the
ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

I accidently broke Pin #1 on my Maxtor hard drive. Unfortunately, I had very important data that was not backed up. Yes, I have already learned my lesson.

The pin broke off so deep that there is almost no metal visible to make contact with. I tried a safety pin and attempted to use my average soldering skills to solder a new pin in place. I have still had no luck up to this pont.

I think my best bet (besides buying a new hard drive), would be to remove the daughterboard on the outside of the hard drive and then have more access to where pin #1 is located. Does this sound like a safe thing to do? I would have to be aware of any small thin cables sticking out of the hard drive so that they do not get broke too.

If you have any other suggestions, they would be greatly greatly greatly appreciated. And please, please tell me that there is still hope. After all, it's only one pin. I refuse to believe that an entire hard drive can be useless just because one pin broke.

  #5   Report Post  
Jerry Albro
 
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See if you can obtain an identical drive, including checking the
firmware version numbers. If so, you may be able to swap the controller
board on the hard drives.

- Jerry


GHZpc wrote:
I accidently broke Pin #1 on my Maxtor hard drive. Unfortunately, I had very important data that was not backed up. Yes, I have already learned my lesson.

The pin broke off so deep that there is almost no metal visible to make contact with. I tried a safety pin and attempted to use my average soldering skills to solder a new pin in place. I have still had no luck up to this pont.

I think my best bet (besides buying a new hard drive), would be to remove the daughterboard on the outside of the hard drive and then have more access to where pin #1 is located. Does this sound like a safe thing to do? I would have to be aware of any small thin cables sticking out of the hard drive so that they do not get broke too.

If you have any other suggestions, they would be greatly greatly greatly appreciated. And please, please tell me that there is still hope. After all, it's only one pin. I refuse to believe that an entire hard drive can be useless just because one pin broke.


Thanks for your replies.


--------------= Posted using GrabIt =----------------
------= Binary Usenet downloading made easy =---------
-= Get GrabIt for free from http://www.shemes.com/ =-



  #6   Report Post  
Charlie Bress
 
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Pin 1 is listed as "reset" and does not share this with any other pin.

If the drive has data on it worth trying to save, I would try contacting
Maxtor and seeing if they can and would replace the connector.

A real drop dead plan is this. Find a local geek or a willing repair man.
Get another cable, cut free the pin 1 line. Now with the drive plugged into
this connector tack solder the loose line that went to pin 1 directly to the
Maxtor circuit board. Now you should be able to do a bunch of things
depending on how much you want to save. Burn a CD-ROM, dump to a flash
drive, or transfer to a second drive that is installed as a slave and will
be the new drive after all is done.

Good luck

Charlie



"GHZpc" wrote in message
...
I accidently broke Pin #1 on my Maxtor hard drive. Unfortunately, I had
very important data that was not backed up. Yes, I have already learned my
lesson.

The pin broke off so deep that there is almost no metal visible to make
contact with. I tried a safety pin and attempted to use my average
soldering skills to solder a new pin in place. I have still had no luck
up to this pont.

I think my best bet (besides buying a new hard drive), would be to remove
the daughterboard on the outside of the hard drive and then have more
access to where pin #1 is located. Does this sound like a safe thing to
do? I would have to be aware of any small thin cables sticking out of the
hard drive so that they do not get broke too.

If you have any other suggestions, they would be greatly greatly greatly
appreciated. And please, please tell me that there is still hope. After
all, it's only one pin. I refuse to believe that an entire hard drive can
be useless just because one pin broke.


Thanks for your replies.


--------------= Posted using GrabIt =----------------
------= Binary Usenet downloading made easy =---------
-= Get GrabIt for free from http://www.shemes.com/ =-



  #7   Report Post  
Dave Baker
 
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On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 07:25:46 GMT, "GHZpc" wrote:

I accidently broke Pin #1 on my Maxtor hard drive. Unfortunately, I had very important data that was not backed up. Yes, I have already learned my lesson.

The pin broke off so deep that there is almost no metal visible to make contact with. I tried a safety pin and attempted to use my average soldering skills to solder a new pin in place. I have still had no luck up to this pont.

I think my best bet (besides buying a new hard drive), would be to remove the daughterboard on the outside of the hard drive and then have more access to where pin #1 is located. Does this sound like a safe thing to do? I would have to be aware of any small thin cables sticking out of the hard drive so that they do not get broke too.

If you have any other suggestions, they would be greatly greatly greatly appreciated. And please, please tell me that there is still hope. After all, it's only one pin. I refuse to believe that an entire hard drive can be useless just because one pin broke.


Thanks for your replies.

I believe you can access the spot where the pin is soldered to the PC
board attached th the underside of the drive. Solder a thinish wire
to this spot. Do this carefully, do not over heat the solder
connection or accidently mess up the other solder spots that will be
close by. If the solder connection is dull in shine, it is a bad
connection. If it is shiny, it is good. I stress, do not over heat
the area.

Take the ribbon cable that connects the drive to the computer
mainboard. Find the wire that goes to the pin in question and cut it.
Cut just that one wire and no others. Solder the other end of the
wire that you soldered to the HDD to this cut wire. Plug in the ribbon
cable to the HDD and go to town. Once the drive is up and running,
do nothing else except back up your data.
This will trash the ribbon cable but it is a small price to pay. Once
you know you have your data retrieved, smash the old HDD with a hammer
to totally safeguard your data when you throw it away.

I have never tried this but in theory it will work. Just be very
meticulous in the bridge you make. Be meticulous and do one step at a
time carefully. You can do this. It will require a steady hand and a
fine tipped soldering iron.
I think it will work, I really do.
  #8   Report Post  
no mail
 
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Here is what I would try:

Get a couple yeards of CAT5 cable (Home Depot, 1 or 2 dollars). Strip
off. Cut into segments of 2 feet. Loop one ends of individual small
cables. Connect the drive and controller cable with the CAT5 wires.

May take some efforts.

GHZpc wrote:
I accidently broke Pin #1 on my Maxtor hard drive. Unfortunately, I had very important data that was not backed up. Yes, I have already learned my lesson.

The pin broke off so deep that there is almost no metal visible to make contact with. I tried a safety pin and attempted to use my average soldering skills to solder a new pin in place. I have still had no luck up to this pont.

I think my best bet (besides buying a new hard drive), would be to remove the daughterboard on the outside of the hard drive and then have more access to where pin #1 is located. Does this sound like a safe thing to do? I would have to be aware of any small thin cables sticking out of the hard drive so that they do not get broke too.

If you have any other suggestions, they would be greatly greatly greatly appreciated. And please, please tell me that there is still hope. After all, it's only one pin. I refuse to believe that an entire hard drive can be useless just because one pin broke.


Thanks for your replies.


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Michael Nickolas
 
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Jerry Albro wrote:

See if you can obtain an identical drive, including checking the
firmware version numbers. If so, you may be able to swap the controller
board on the hard drives.


FWIW, I've heard this to work for a couple of different people and
would definitely give it a try if it were me.

  #10   Report Post  
 
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Find a pin or sewing needle. Cut it slightly longer than the dept of
the socket.
Put the cable back on and hope the extending pin/needle that will make
contact with Pin 1 on the hard disk

If it works, send me a $1.29 (via paypal) so I can treat myself to a
slurpee.

kubie



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Eric
 
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GHZpc wrote:

I accidently broke Pin #1 on my Maxtor hard drive. Unfortunately, I had
very important data that was not backed up. Yes, I have already learned
my lesson.

The pin broke off so deep that there is almost no metal visible to make
contact with. I tried a safety pin and attempted to use my average
soldering skills to solder a new pin in place. I have still had no luck
up to this pont.

I think my best bet (besides buying a new hard drive), would be to remove
the daughterboard on the outside of the hard drive and then have more
access to where pin #1 is located. Does this sound like a safe thing to
do? I would have to be aware of any small thin cables sticking out of the
hard drive so that they do not get broke too.

If you have any other suggestions, they would be greatly greatly greatly
appreciated. And please, please tell me that there is still hope. After
all, it's only one pin. I refuse to believe that an entire hard drive can
be useless just because one pin broke.


Thanks for your replies.


--------------= Posted using GrabIt =----------------
------= Binary Usenet downloading made easy =---------
-= Get GrabIt for free from http://www.shemes.com/ =-

Pin 1 is reset, have you tried ignoring it? (just plug it in and try the
drive) Reset will happen at power on anyway so as long as another reset
isnt required (and it may not be) you might be able to use it "as-is"
Try it, shouldnt hurt anything.
2nd option is to find the trace on the circuit board corresponding to
pin one and solder a small wire to it, connect other end to wire in cable or
just plug it in to other connector on cable, pin one is common to both
connectors.
Eric

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keith
 
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On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 09:42:14 -0400, Charlie Bress wrote:

Pin 1 is listed as "reset" and does not share this with any other pin.

If the drive has data on it worth trying to save, I would try contacting
Maxtor and seeing if they can and would replace the connector.


This sounds expensive too.

A real drop dead plan is this. Find a local geek or a willing repair man.
Get another cable, cut free the pin 1 line. Now with the drive plugged into
this connector tack solder the loose line that went to pin 1 directly to the
Maxtor circuit board. Now you should be able to do a bunch of things
depending on how much you want to save. Burn a CD-ROM, dump to a flash
drive, or transfer to a second drive that is installed as a slave and will
be the new drive after all is done.


This is exactly what I'd do. Since it is the "reset" pin, there is not
likely and critical timing involved. Take a cable, snip out the #1
conductor (should be the one with the red tracer), and solder it to the
connector on the board side. Then copy the contents of the drive (PQMagic
is my tool of choice) to the new drive.

Good luck


Indeed.

--
Keith

P.S. Top posting sucks.
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