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Data recovery and disk repair questions and discussions related to old-fashioned SATA, SAS, SCSI, IDE, MFM hard drives - any type of storage device that has moving parts
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External 2tb hd convert for desktop

May 18th, 2017, 16:13

Hi guys
In the past i have used the small drives from an external harddrive case just open it up and there are sata connections on the end of the drive.
Today i had 2tb drive (external) that I opened up wanting to use it in my desktop but the sata connections are not there only a series of about 5 pins and then a space and then 2 pins. Is there any way to convert this for a Desktop
Thanks
Rick

Re: External 2tb hd convert for desktop

May 18th, 2017, 20:15

you mean the USB pins? can you take a picture?

Re: External 2tb hd convert for desktop

May 19th, 2017, 11:40

As you can see in the pic the USB plug is attached to the board with some additional pins
20170519_113200.jpg

Re: External 2tb hd convert for desktop

May 19th, 2017, 20:23

trickyrick wrote:Is there any way to convert this for a Desktop

Yes, however it does not make much sense to do so and it is not an easy conversion. Furthermore the drive is not designed for SATA use.
Wipe and sell it and buy yourself 1-3 brand new SATA drives.

Re: External 2tb hd convert for desktop

May 20th, 2017, 10:41

Thanks I might just do that but since Im an inquisitive kind of person can you give me a little info on what those pins are. If the HD manufacture is going to make a USB drive and put a USB plug on the board what have all those extra pins
Rick

Re: External 2tb hd convert for desktop

May 20th, 2017, 11:21

The extra pins could for easy programming at the factory, serial ports, testing etc. Drives like this can have 2 different boards, a USB board, like you have, and a SATA board. When recovering these drives, a person doing DR might opt to find a compatible SATA board, and transfer ROM or whatever to make it work.

I dont think you will find it all that interesting to be honest ;-)

Re: External 2tb hd convert for desktop

May 20th, 2017, 11:52

Thanks
I have had a few external drives that are up to 1/2 TB when I opened them they were all like you say on SATA boards I could just plug them into my desktop. Does the size of the drives have anything to do with how they are building them now.
Rick

Re: External 2tb hd convert for desktop

May 20th, 2017, 14:48

Has nothing to do with size, rather with costs. They are saving money by using this design by basically removing an extra adapter/converter from SATA to USB interface from the production line.

Re: External 2tb hd convert for desktop

May 20th, 2017, 15:37

Thanks Guys
Looks like I came to the right place
Have a good weekend

Re: External 2tb hd convert for desktop

May 20th, 2017, 16:01

@trickyrick, if you are truly inquisitive, then determine how each of the pins connects to the MCU, and locate the ground and supply pins. Then we might be able to find out something useful. :-)
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