* 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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important data that was not backed up. Yes, I have already learned my lesson.

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.

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.

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.

If your soldering skills are good enough, I would replace the entire connector with one from a dead drive. If there aren't, don't even think about trying it. I could do it when I had a stereo microscope for close-up work, but I haven't done any surface mount rework in four years now, and I don't have much feeling in my hands so I doubt that I could still do it.

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Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Have you tried it in your PC? Sometimes it's hard to distinguish pin 1 and pin 2. You care about this because pin 2 is a ground and there are several other ground pins on the cable - probably enough for it to work just fine. Looking at the back of the hard drive, you should see something like this - use a fixed width font:

Pin 1 | IDE connector V Jumpers Power connector .___________________ ___________________ _____________________. | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | . . . . . | | | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | . . . . . | O O O O |

+---------------------------------------------------------------+ ^ | Pin 2

If pin 2 is really the one that's broken, just hook up the drive and if it works, use it. Pin 1 is a reset signal, which probably needs to be hooked up.

You might get a straight pin or some other piece of metal that's about the same diameter as the pins on the hard drive. Stick it into the hole for pin 1 in the connector on the end of the IDE cable as far as you can get it. Then, cut it off so that maybe 1 or 2 mm (1/16") or so is sticking out. Then plug the cable onto the hard drive as normal. You might use a piece of electrical tape between the connector and the hard drive to make sure your new pin stays in contact, or sit the hard drive with the connector facing down so gravity makes the pin stay in contact. Then try it in your PC. This isn't a "long term" fix, but if it works it'll last long enough to copy off your important data.

If you can't get that to work, then I agree that soldering a wire to the connection for pin 1 on the drive's circuit board may be the way to go. Getting to the circuit board connection for pin 1 might be entertaining. I have a couple of older (~1998) Maxtors here and on both of them, all of the even pins (2, 4, 6...) are soldered on the bottom of the circuit board - the side you can see when you hold the drive in your hand. The odd pins are soldered on the top. If yours is like this, you'll have to take the circuit board off the drive, as you described. I have some other makes of drives here and there are solder spots for pin 1 on the bottom of the board, so you might not have to remove the circuit board.

The circuit board may have small Torx (six-pointed star, _not_ just a hexagon) screws holding it on. You might be able to fake it with the right size flat-bladed screwdriver. If not, Radio Shack might have the right screwdriver and Sears definitely does. It's smaller than a T10 Torx - something like a T6 or so.

Good point. Lots of drives have a flexible cable to the head and maybe the spindle motor. These cables look like a sheet of plastic (often orange) with lines on it. They will unplug from the circuit board, but gently.

If you have a junk IDE hard drive or can get one, you might practice on it (both unplugging cables and soldering) before you start on your good one.

Once you're ready, get some small-gauge solid wire, like 24 gauge or less. One of the individual wires from an Ethernet cable might work well. Get a nice long piece, like 30 cm (1 ft) - you can always make it shorter. Strip maybe 3 mm (1/8") of insulation from the end of the wire. Find the back side of pin 1, and solder the wire to there. Use as little solder as you can so as not to make a "bridge" (solder blob) to a nearby pin. Figure out a routing for the new wire, lay it carefully in place, and put the board back on the drive (if needed).

Now, get a flat 40-conductor IDE cable. You really don't care if you mess up the Ultra ATA 5 Billion - you just want your data back. If you don't know the difference between 40 and 80, get a strong light and start counting the wires (ridges) in the cable. The pin 1 wire on the cable will be handily striped. First use a sharp razor blade or pocketknife to slice down the little valley between the wire for pin 1 and the wire for pin 2. Once you have an inch or so cut, put down the razor blade and pull on the pin 1 wire - it should keep separating by itself. Once you've got a couple of inches of wire free, cut that one wire as close to the hard drive connector as you can. Strip a bit of the long end of the wire, and solder it to the wire you added to the hard drive. Put a little electrical tape around the solder joint so it doesn't short out. Hook the drive back up to your PC, face Armonk, New York, say "Winchester!" three times, and fire up the PC.

If this works, and you don't mind the flat cable, you can probably keep on using the drive this way. Or, you might want to take it out and keep it on your desk (with cable attached) as a reminder.

You can cut one wire on a car and turn it into a 1000 kg doorstop. If it didn't need that pin, they would have left it out...

I am sure that this has been succesfully done before. If you decide it needs a wire soldered and you don't think your soldering skills are up to it or you can't find the right place to solder to, take a flat 40- conductor IDE cable and your drive to a TV shop and explain what you need - someone there should be able to solder it up for a reasonable charge. A computer shop may not know how to do this, but somebody at the TV shop is soldering fine connections every day.

Good luck!

Matt Roberds

I wouldn't. I'd plug in an IDE cable, and separate off the wire that goes to pin 1, and jumper around the connectors with a single wire onto the PCB. Backup the data, and when you get around to it, replace the drive. Much simpler, and only two solder joints to make.

Do whatever you want. I have higher standards for my work.

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Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Whoa, the issue is data rescue, not lasting repairs.

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JosephKK

Let's see, cable maybe $5 for medium quality, hard disk at least $50, the data on it maybe $5000. in this scenario even i could afford to waste a cable to save the data, or even the drive.

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JosephKK