Broke the SATA connection on my hard drive!

sharingan_sasuk · 2 Dec 2008 at 19:56

Hello.

Earlier in the day when I was trying to sort out some of the hardware inside my PC, I accidently broken the SATA connection to my main hard drive. The model is the Hitachi Deskstar P7K500 320GB SATA-II OEM, which I bought from OCUK back in July.

Basically the extremely important plastic bit that sticks out along the 7 pins of the SATA connection got broken off and as you can tell, the SATA cable will be unable to connect. Even the pins are slightly bent which makes it more troublesome. I frustratingly tried to find a few ways to make sure a SATA cable is able to stick on somehow (i.e. electrical tape) but obviously it just won't work.

So I guess now my only option is to RMA the drive back to Hitachi? I don't know what their policy is concerning any slight damages to the drive, especially when its my own stupid fault, so I just wanted to know if I can RMA to replace it or not?

The drive only has the Windows O/S and games installed and nothing important so I'm not to worried about losing all that. I'm just really angry at how crap SATA connections really are.

PhillyDee · 2 Dec 2008 at 19:58

Ive not had a problem before . . . . Should be so ham-fisted

You never know. You will have lost all data though.

MikeHunt79 · 2 Dec 2008 at 19:58

You can still get IDE hard drives if you don't get on with SATA connections...

Nethesem · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:09

I've seen this happen to quite a few drives.

I've fixed it on all occasions like so:

1. Straighten the SATA pins, and then bend them down slightly (toward the pins on the plug)
2. Put a SATA plug in place, make sure it's lined up perfectly
3. Glue it in place with a hot glue gun
4. Loop the SATA lead to somewhere else on the drive and either glue it there with the glue gun or tape it there, this will relieve stress on the connector so you can freely connect and disconnect the drive without disturbing the repair.

Glue Guns are great for bodge repairs like this, they dry fast enough to hold temporary connections in place, and strong enough to hold it indefinitely.

It's not pretty, but I've done this a few times, and those drives are still going strong.

SlyReaper · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:20

Possibly related: is it possible to remove the platters from a mechanically damaged drive such as the OPs, and put them into a different hard drive case like a "disk transplant"? Assuming of course both drives have the same interface, spin speed, etc.

helmutcheese · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:24

SlyReaper said:
Possibly related: is it possible to remove the platters from a mechanically damaged drive such as the OPs, and put them into a different hard drive case like a "disk transplant"? Assuming of course both drives have the same interface, spin speed, etc.

If you have a clean room that's cleaner than a hospitals operating theatre like NASA/Intel/HDD Manu's etc etc have.

sharingan_sasuk · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:26

MikeHunt79 said:
You can still get IDE hard drives if you don't get on with SATA connections...

I still use IDE drives, but they are mainly for important data storage/backup. I specifically want to use SATA for the main O/S drive and games.

Nethesem said:
I've seen this happen to quite a few drives.

I've fixed it on all occasions like so:

1. Straighten the SATA pins, and then bend them down slightly (toward the pins on the plug)
2. Put a SATA plug in place, make sure it's lined up perfectly
3. Glue it in place with a hot glue gun
4. Loop the SATA lead to somewhere else on the drive and either glue it there with the glue gun or tape it there, this will relieve stress on the connector so you can freely connect and disconnect the drive without disturbing the repair.

Glue Guns are great for bodge repairs like this, they dry fast enough to hold temporary connections in place, and strong enough to hold it indefinitely.

It's not pretty, but I've done this a few times, and those drives are still going strong.

Unfortunately I don't have a glue gun and it probably looks like too much hassle. Cause of my fiddling about trying to fix it, some of the pins are now too bent that I doubt it will even line up properly with the SATA plug. If anything, I will just make things worse i.e. probably short circuit or something.

So am I able to just RMA it for a replacement? I've never RMA'd a hard drive before so I just wanted to check what the policies are to be able to do so.

Nethesem · 3 Dec 2008 at 10:06

You won't get a free replacement... it's accidental damage, not failure.

You're stuck I'm afraid... But for what it's worth, I agree that the SATA connector isn't strong enough, and is badly designed.

Stonedofmoo · 3 Dec 2008 at 10:13

PhillyDee said:
You never know. You will have lost all data though.

No he won't. The data isn't stored on the connector is it.
I'd try and source a control board with the same firmware for your drive from a well known auction site and swap it over. It should then read fine.

esK` · 3 Dec 2008 at 10:50

Stonedofmoo said:
No he won't. The data isn't stored on the connector is it.
I'd try and source a control board with the same firmware for your drive from a well known auction site and swap it over. It should then read fine.

This man speaks the truth!

seen this done before!

Mr_Orange · 3 Dec 2008 at 11:08

Stonedofmoo said:
No he won't. The data isn't stored on the connector is it.
I'd try and source a control board with the same firmware for your drive from a well known auction site and swap it over. It should then read fine.

This. I've done it on an Maxtor where I burned out the Smooth chip. Unfortunately the website I got it from ( http://www.softcom.com.my/ ) doesn't seem to do Hitachi stuff. They do say to e-mail for other makes though.

Will_3rd · 3 Dec 2008 at 11:17

Did the same on my Seagate 7200.10, sent it off to them and they fixed it for me.

IMO SATA connectors are very brittle and badly designed.

Matteysan · 3 Dec 2008 at 14:17

Agree also that SATA is very flimsy, One of the ports on my motherboard fell off. Managed to get it back on again though.

jak731 · 3 Dec 2008 at 14:29

You could always get WD drives and use the secure connect cables with them.

PistolPete · 3 Dec 2008 at 15:46

I was in the same situation. The cable got pulled at 90 degrees to the plug and the plastic bit got snapped off. However, I managed to line the pins up with what is now the small holes in the cable with the plastic tab snapped of inside and it worked fine. I teased the plug back out about half a mm and put a couple of drops of liquid superglue in and pushed it in hard. I can't remove the cable from the drive anymore, but it's still going strong.

PhillyDee · 3 Dec 2008 at 20:49

Stonedofmoo said:
No he won't. The data isn't stored on the connector is it.
I'd try and source a control board with the same firmware for your drive from a well known auction site and swap it over. It should then read fine.

What I meant was if you RMA it. Since you are very unlikely to get the exact same drive fixed and returned to you . . .
Considering I was the first reply and everyone suggested AFTER that to replace the board . . . . :rolleyes:

kerrgreg · 4 Dec 2008 at 09:55

ive broke two the plasitic part stays inside the cable and the pins stick out from the drive just gently push the sata cable onto the pins again and it worked fine

bledd · 4 Dec 2008 at 10:00

jak731 said:
You could always get WD drives and use the secure connect cables with them.

all sata should have been made like this, i have them for my raptors, they're great cables

kerrgreg · 4 Dec 2008 at 10:04

are they the ones with the metal clips to lock in?

bledd · 4 Dec 2008 at 10:06

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=western+digital+secure+connect