# SATA hard drive connector broken



## DCM1519 (Mar 8, 2005)

Tonight while reconnecting my floppy drive, I found that the connector to my C: drive is broken. 

The "L" shaped plastic piece inside the connector at the rear of the drive is missing. The pins are still there and OK but a new cable would not stay on. 

Put the old cable back on even though the opening is compressed and the computer is now running but don't know for how long.

Are these connectors repairable? 

I see another connector on the back of each of my WD SATA hard drives and was wondering if a different but more substantial cable is available for SATA drives? 

The present small SATA connectors are a joke.

Also, I have never needed to "clone" a drive but have restored Ghost images etc. I have an extra hard drive (new) and could clone to it but am not sure it would run if I did that. 

I have Acronis True Image 8.0, Norton Ghost (every version), DriveImageXML, and the Western Digital utilities that came with the drive. I want to set up the new drive before this cable falls off too.

Thanks


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## Alex Ethridge (Apr 10, 2000)

The connectors are part of the logic board and aren't replacable.

I. too, don't like the new SATA connector. It's just too flimsy and it would not have taken much to make them more substantial--and they still could if they wanted to. But, as long as you and I buy them as they are, they don't care.


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## DCM1519 (Mar 8, 2005)

Alex

I was afraid of that. I would not buy a SATA drive if there was any alternative with the latest motherboards. 

I did not see anything wrong with IDE connectors and a miniscule increase in speed is not important to me at all. Especially if the drive itself is cheap garbage.

Do you happen to know what that larger connector is for that is located to one side of the small one? It appears to be shaped like the other SATA connector but is wider.

Thanks for the response.


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## Alex Ethridge (Apr 10, 2000)

Power


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## Bartender (Apr 27, 2006)

Which connector do you mean?


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

The logic board can be replaced. This is often done in order to recover data from a drive with bad electronics. 
To do this requires you to buy another drive of the same type so in your case it is not a viable solution since you would just use the new drive instead of the old one.

Since it is running now, I would backup anything important ie doc, pics, mp3s, financial records or whatever is important to you. Buy another drive and either clone your existing one or do a clean install.


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## Alex Ethridge (Apr 10, 2000)

The wide one is the power. The one next to it is data.


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## Lurker1 (Jan 30, 2001)

How about a cheap solution? Glue the cable connector to the hard drive with some epoxy. 

You can also find on the web posts about using a hot glue gun.

Western digital? You are are in luck.

http://www.interactivereviews.com/product_info/low_prices/savings/21696576


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Lurker1 said:


> Western digital? You are are in luck…http://www.interactivereviews.com/product_info/low_prices/savings/21696576


As long as the drive has the alternate 4 pin power connector.
The Seagates may not have the old 4 pin power connector in addition to the SATA power connector.

The "L shape" is only to prevent plugging it in wrong (or upside down).
I have a couple of these SATA cables (with latches) due to arrive today.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812123107

Maybe the metal connector latch will help solve the problem without Glue.
I'll try you let you know what I think when they get here.

Otherwise … Rubber bands and Duct tape are hard to beat and not as permanent or destructive as glue.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

The metal clips should work great.
But .. On these cables, the Blue part of the Cable housing must be trimmed before the SATA power cable can be used.


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## Alex Ethridge (Apr 10, 2000)

As cheap as data cables are and in view of the fact a drive can't be used without one, I think I would opt for glue--possibly hot glue would give the best overall support. It's a non-sonductive and can offer structural support--maybe.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Personally, I think I'd find a WD cable that has the extra power extension to brace the connection. These cables came with several WD drives I got, here's a picture. I'll bet the drive will live a long and useful life with this connection.


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## DCM1519 (Mar 8, 2005)

Thanks to all of you for the responses. I hadn't thought about the glue and that is an excellent idea.

Pulled the drive last night and it is a Hitachi instead of a Western Digital. Lucked out after sending the request to Hitachi. They said they don't usually do it but will replace this drive.

Western Digital sent a response to and showed those drive cables that John Will showed. I am going to order some as soon as I find a source. The WD part number is 

WD SC50RCW

I am going to try to clone the present drive onto another new Western Digital SATA drive that I have laying around. Then will return the damaged one to Hitachi and get their replacement.

I still don't know if cloning will provide me with a bootable copy of this drive but assuming that it produces a true clone, will hope for the best. I think Nero will do this but if not, am sure I have some program around here that will do the job.

If this ever happens again, I will get out the hot glue gun or some epoxy. Better than the cables that are on there now, even on the good drives.

I have backed up the drive with DriveImageXML, Norton Ghost 9.0 (Hard drive and DVD), and copied all the data to one of my removable drives. Hope at least one of these works.


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

As long as you do the clone correctly, it should be no problem.
Steps to clone a drive.
1 Install the new drive. Since it is sata, there are no jumpers to worry about. Do not partition or format the drive. It must be blank with no data on it at all.
2 Boot with your cloning app and select source [old] drive and destination [new]
3 Complete the clone process and shutdown.
4 Disconnect the old drive. Do not reboot with both drives connected.
5 Power up and make sure it boots, drive letters are correct, etc.
6 If all is well, shutdown and pull your old drive.

All done :up:


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