Busted DVDRW

trackrat · 17 Oct 2011 at 15:31

I purchased a DVDRW a month ago form OCUK, and put it into a new build, it worked fine until a couple of days ago.
On taking the side of the computer, the SATA lead had come loose,and on attempting to put it back in I found it would not stay there.
On looking at the drive the plastic retaining SATA clip was missing,(just the bare connector pins were showing), and the plastic clip part was stuck in the end of the SATA connector.
I contacted OCUK about this issue who said physical damage voids the warranty.
I have been building computers for 11 years now and have never physically damaged a component, and as it worked for a couple of weeks, it suggests that the clip was faulty.
Has anyone else had one of theses SATA retaining clips come of and if so is it possible to glue them back on, or is it a case of £20 down the drain

olivier renault · 17 Oct 2011 at 15:50

That's a bit low. I have a busted DVD-RW, unfortunately it's in my storage, 150 miles away :/

Little_Crow · 17 Oct 2011 at 16:39

Yep, but on my Raptor - those clips can be a bit flimsy, but I was definitely at fault. I considered it but really it's way too small to be able to glue back on

I managed to get another 2 years use out of it though by retrieving the L shaped plastic 'clip' out of the SATA cable connection, and putting it loosely back in place on the drive,
then I just reinserted the cable.
It worked perfectly, I just had to be a bit careful if I did anything in my pc not to nudge it free again.

trackrat · 17 Oct 2011 at 16:57

Little_Crow, thanks for that.

Hotwired · 17 Oct 2011 at 19:55

Yeah.

I've never broken one myself but someone else snapped the plastic part of the power connector on a 128GB ssd and stuck it on MM.

I bought it at a price much lower than new and used a lot of care, a needle and some 2 part epoxy to repair it. Works fine.

Depends how clean the break is and if there's any missing bits.

TigerUK · 17 Oct 2011 at 20:04

the great thing about molex was that they are almost indestructable.

the pata ports are also pretty strong, if you bend the pins , you can get a knife and put them back in their correct position.

With sta you have to double check and triple check to make sure that there's no tension on the cables where they connect. because it can get them disconnected or damage the port on your drive rendering it useless.

in any case be glad that it's not an expensive ssd drive (with data that you haven't backed up), and its just a cheap dvdrw

Baldbloke · 17 Oct 2011 at 22:23

I've done the same with sata port on a previous motherboard. My fault or weak manufacture? Dunno. Difficult to say. But I can confirm it's the only time it ever happened so reckon it was probably slightly weak to start with. I did manage to slip the plastic former back over the pins and glue it in place. For the price of these nowadays, I'm surprised OCUK feel the need to take a firm stance. I'm sure other retailers would give the customer the benefit these days.

trackrat · 17 Oct 2011 at 23:12

Baldbloke said:
I'm surprised OCUK feel the need to take a firm stance. I'm sure other retailers would give the customer the benefit these days.

Well at least it was only £20, so not a big loss.
I suppose OCUK have a set form of rules for RMa'S, so I cannot really blame them for sticking to them.