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broken SATA data connector

B

bjlockie

Member
The plastic of the SATA data connector on my drive broke.
I can still get data off the drive by connecting the cable directly to the pins but the connection is very fragile.
Tape didn't work.
I am hesitant to try glue in case the glue dries but the cable and pins on the drive are not connected.
The drive is an Hitachi Deskstar.

Any suggestions?
 
the obvious answer is.... back it up while you still can.

Try for a warranty replacement.

I really hate the sata connector. Of course, IDE had its problems as well. I wish we had an HDMI-style cable.
 
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drizek said:
I really hate the sata connector. Of course, I DE had its problems as well. I wish we had an HDMI-style cable.
Click to expand...
The eSATA connector, which is pretty similar to the HDMI connector, is even worse. Well, the HDMI connector is probably a bit better than eSATA.

eSATA has no latch (at least I've never seen one with a latch) and many times, on several eSATA motherboards and add-in controller cards, I've had a hard time getting a good connection. I'll push in the eSATA connector "all the way" and find that I have no connection. Then I'll push REALLY hard and it'll go a last tiny bit and the eSATA disk will show up in Disk Management. I've also had eSATA connectors come loose once connected if a cable is bumped wrong.

Compared to IDE, I've had a LOT more problems with SATA and eSATA connections.
 
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USB/HDMI connections have been teh most reliable for me. RJ45, VGA, SATA have all given me trouble.

Something I feel should absolutely be implemented on everything is that the point of failure should ALWAYS be on teh cable itself. in SATA, the first thing that breaks is the hard drive, arguably the most valuable component in a computer(depending on how useful your data is).

IDE is terrible on laptops. My old Dells had a little adapter that you would have to put over the IDE pins to get it to go into the motherboard. I was never once able to take that damn adapter off without bendingthe pins on the sides of the drive.
 
2SATA4.jpg
 
So I am not the only one who doesn't like the SATA connectors? 😛
So much for the "thin" cable hype.
 
I did this once. I managed to get the plastic L bracket out of the data cable. I then glued it on and placed a piece of cardboard on top of the L bracket and let it dry for a bit. I then snugged the cable on nice and slow (leaving the small piece or cardboard in there) to add some support. It's been working fine ever since, and I'm much more careful now..
 
Seagate replaced a drive for me that got broken during shipping (don't ask). Perhaps Hitachi will do the same for you?
 
In DR, usually if I get a case like this I first try:

I have a specially "broken" SATA cable that I solder the connectors together.


Pull the data off, and RMA/Toss the drive.



The other option is replace the PCB, but for Hitachi it isn't as simple as replace and done, you will need to move at least 1 SOIC Chip to the new PCB, the NVRAM.


Regards,
 
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