Hello,

I am so happy I found this great forum. I need your kind help. The USB connector of my hard drive WD40NMZW-11GX6S1 doesn't work anymore. The drive itself is okay. When I connect a working USB cable to the drive, the le?d of the hard drive starts to flash. As soon as I don't hold cable in place it stops working. The cabe is okay.
So my idea is to unsolder the connector and connect a usb cable directly to the contacts on the board. Can someone teach me how to do this? I projects are on that am musician, all my projects are on there.
Close to my place is a phone shop. They can do solder the cable onto the board for me. Only question, which cable goes where? Photos would be cool or an idiot safe drawing....

I hope someone has the time to help...

Sincerly, Thomsky

It looks like the socket just worked it's self loose from the main PCB board. A normal electrical repair shop should be able to re-solder the connector and connect a new one for a cheap price. Nothing fancy needs to be done. I wouldn't solder wires anywhere just in case one is soldered to the wrong connector and blows something. Just re-solder the connector back and use as normal. BTW some photos would be nice of the PCB if you can.

P.S I wouldn't power the drive anymore until the connector is fixed, just in case a power spike could damage something needlessly.

There is a zero-ohm resistor near the USB connector. This sometimes develops dry solder joints (I have seen this problem twice). Ask your technician to check for +5V on either side of this resistor, then reflow the solder if necessary.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Hey, thanks for the kind answer. I have been to that phone shop repair and, after seeing what they, I decided to it myself. Are those connectors standardized? I ask because I am in a village part of Goa and there is no chance to buy a separate connector socket. But I can buy an empty enclosure for external hard drives and take that connector out to solder that one on my hard drive board. But only if it has the same format.

Thanks for your kind replies! I hope that this kind of connectors are standardised. So I could buy an enclosure having such a connector and solder that onto the pcb of my hard drive.

Here are some photos and mircoscope shots from the drive and the connector:

[img]
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Here are some photos done with my phone and a microscope:

I tried to upload pictures but I the forum software didn't allow that. I uploaded several times but the photos doesn't appear here. What to do...?
Anyhow, man thanks for your kind reply! Do you maybe know, if this connectors are standardised? If so, I could buy a cheap hd enclosure incl. usb bus and solder that one onto my hard drive.

The components are on the other side of the PCB.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Here is a better photo:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/WD_Blue_WD40NMZW-11GX6S1_-_controller-9723.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/WD_Blue_WD40NMZW-11GX6S1-9720.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WD_Blue_WD40NMZW-11GX6S1-9720.jpg

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

sorry for sending double pictures. I did'nt know that the forum aprooves pictures first...

remove the PCB from the drive and take a picture of the other side. The solder joints on the other side probably need re-flowing as they may have cracked slightly causing your problem.

Hello,

sorry for the delay of sending the required pictures. My job left me no time to focus on my private stuff. I hope you are still interested to help me:
Find attached are the pictures you were asking for. From what I see here, the soldered contacts of the connector don't look broken, corroded or bad in any sense. Otherwise I could do a reflow. But the contacts inside the connector (see my other pictures above) look mechanically stressed. So my only chance is to find exactly this connector and solder a good one onto the PCB. Problem no #1 I see: the connector seems to have 12 contacts. How to solder that when a new connector cover those contacts. And how to unsolder all those contacts? Hot air gun, 410 degree celsius and barbecue the part? Problem no# where to get such a spare part in India/Goa?
Do you see any chance to solder the wires of an USB cable directly onto the board? Optics doesn't matter. It's pure about the data on the disc.

Any help would super. All my musical work from the past years is on there and a copy is 7.200 km far away (I am locked down in India and my home is Germany. Zero chance to get stuff from there to here at the moment).

As always - if your data is important get a professional to recover it.

If it's just the usb connector and a quick read over the thread suggests it would be - replace the usb connector. I think they're listed as "micro usb b power port" or similar but it's easier just to grab one off another pcb. It's a routine job for most microsoldering places.

If you want to DIY - look at reflowing the joints with low melt solder (chipquick etc) it will lower the melting point enough so as not to roast the usb connector when using hot air to remove it.

_________________
Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

I found this on Amazon India. Do you think they would fit?

https://www.amazon.in/Generic-Micro-Fem ... CXH8&psc=1

Ps.: With soldering I have good experience. I can do that.

I found this on Amazon India. Do you think they would fit?

https://www.amazon.in/Generic-Micro-Fem ... CXH8&psc=1

Ps.: With soldering I have good experience. I can do that.

That's USB2

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

This sort of thing is what youre looking for - that may not be the correct one (it was just the first search result). Try ebay or aliexpress it may be easier to find a cheap donor board than just the connector.

_________________
Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

then you say

So why are you wasting your and other peoples time? Reflow it or bridge it or throw it.