http://pinouts.ru/Power/BigPower_pinout.shtml

I've got an old 200GB Maxtor IDE drive (2003) which I'm trying to re-use in a new installation. As far as I recall it was serviceable last time it was used. However, on inspection I find that the number 3 pin (male, 5v ground) on the molex connector attached to the drive edge is missing.

Looks like it was held in by a spring clip.

Can you get replacements for these ? Failing that, any ideas for a repair ?

Nick

http://pinouts.ru/Power/BigPower_pinout.shtml

I've got an old 200GB Maxtor IDE drive (2003) which I'm trying to re-use in a new installation. As far as I recall it was serviceable last time it was used. However, on inspection I find that the number 3 pin (male, 5v ground) on the molex connector attached to the drive edge is missing.

Looks like it was held in by a spring clip.

Can you get replacements for these ? Failing that, any ideas for a repair ?

Nick

Nick - had a look at my old drives( ones I save stuff on ,as on regular use they go funny)-and all pins are soldered to the PCB .Failing any replacement ideas , can only suggest soldering a wire on in such a way that you can still use the plug, and tee into the ground. And another idea is that perhaps you can bridge the grounds ( one for our PC experts) ,as from problems with PSU wiring,I seem to remember that the grounds are common . Now whether or not they're common on the HDD , with out any resistance -I know not .But a quick check with a meter shows the two grounds on one Maxtor spare to be communed .

Nick - had a look at my old drives( ones I save stuff on ,as on regular use they go funny)-and all pins are soldered to the PCB .Failing any replacement ideas , can only suggest soldering a wire on in such a way that you can still use the plug, and tee into the ground. And another idea is that perhaps you can bridge the grounds ( one for our PC experts) ,as from problems with PSU wiring,I seem to remember that the grounds are common . Now whether or not they're common on the HDD , with out any resistance -I know not .But a quick check with a meter shows the two grounds on one Maxtor spare to be communed .

Tried taking a male pin out of a spare molex and inserting the liberated pin into the hole - metal too soft kept on bending. So cannibalised the metal end of an India tag which seemed to be the right diameter and composed of more substantial metal. After much cutting and shaping and coring-out the string from the centre, got it to fit in the hole, sans solder, perfectly. The new "Pin" seemed to be making contact with spring clip in the hole. So, I re-installed the drive in the system tower, switched-on and although the drive powered up, a system message appeared on the screen saying the unit was faulty, Its one of those drives (Maxtor) with S.M.A.R.T. technology and I wonder whether the thing detected a different return voltage eminating from the replaced pin and shut the whole thing down.

I'll have another go. I won't leave it at that, but I suspect that it might not just involve getting a piece of wire of the right diameter (Approx 17.5 SWG) but also matching the electrical properties.

Not surprised it went U/S as its been subject to a fair bit of wear an tear, having been migrated across 3 different Mboards already and consequently has suffered

three or more "Trial and error" set-ups.

Nick

Why not just solder on an extension socket to the hard drive controller board rather than faffing about with trying to a fake the missing/bent pin?

You can disable SMART detection in the bios. You should also be able to get a smart reader which will tell you what fault(s) the drive is reporting. General the ground on those drives is common, and I think is more there for legacy purposes than anything else.

Got a picture of the damage, I've got loads of new molex kicking around here so might be able to find the right part number for you.