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
January 7th, 2011, 23:11
Hello,
I bought this 1TB external HD less than 6 months ago and barely used it. As I was using it to backup my computer the other day, the power to the drive shut off suddenly. When I wiggle the DC power adaptor at the back of the drive it comes on and off which leads me to believe that this is due to a faulty DC connection on the board. When the unit does receive power, the drive is recognized and works fine but the power can go out at any time which makes it unreliable and not usuable for backing up my PC. When I opened it up I see that the HD is connected to the external exclosure in a hard wired sort of way from the lack of IDE or SATA connections at the back so I can't just swap the drive to a different external enclosure. Is there any way I can fix this power issue on the drive or possibly switch it out someway?
Thanks for any feedback you may provide me with in advance.
January 7th, 2011, 23:26
Resolder the power jack?
January 8th, 2011, 0:16
Well I kind of sort of tried that by attempting to melt the solder points and pull the jack off the board, but it wouldn't come loose. Is there a specific way to do this? Do I need something to suck the solder out while I am melting it?
January 8th, 2011, 17:51
Just reflow the solder to each of the pins of the DC socket. Then use contact cleaning spray to clean up any oxidation inside the socket. Also confirm that there isn't a break in the cable at the plug end.
BTW, what is the model number of the drive (read it off the drive's label, not the box)? A photo of the "hard wired" interface connections may help, too.
January 8th, 2011, 19:48
OK, well when I attempted to desolder and pry off the dc jack earlier today, I totally broke it off the board along with some capacitors. I decided to take off the circuit board completely and when I pulled the HDD apart from it, it was plugged into the board using SATA connections which fooled me at first because it appeared to be hard wired.

So, I am ordering an external enclosure now. Thanks for the help.
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