on 30-04-2023 06:31
I have a Seagate passport 1TB USB 3 HDD which gave up the ghost this week,
However although the drive was not showing up as a USB device on my PC, I noted that it was still spinning up even though the light was not coming on on the drive.
So I prised the case apart and inside is a standard 2.5 inch HDD which is connected to a PCB which provides the connection between the SATA port and the USB port.
I had a spare external 2.5 inch drive enclosure - albeit with a drive that has linux mint on it (that I haven't used in a while) so I swapped the "broken" drive over, plugged in the USB cable and once again I had access to the drive.
So now I have 2 alternatives to get it going.
1. Get a second external HDD enclosure.
2. See if I can order a replacement PCB and re-assemble the Passport device with the new PCB
However there is another point to be taken on board.
Be wary throwing out broken external drives, they may not be as broken as you thought and dumpster divers may still be able to get at the data on them.
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on 30-04-2023 06:58
Well done, as long as it's the enclosure you crack open and not the hard drive, it can work OK
30-04-2023 20:44 - edited 30-04-2023 20:45
Totally agree - however the point where the seam is is above the level of the HDD, it was simply a case of getting enough of a crack to get a tool in to ease the rest of it open. You'd have to ba a real klutz to damage the HDD itself. I suppose I was fortunate in that it was only the PCB that went.
I'm probably going to order a new enclosure rather than get a PCB - I did find the latter on ebay but it was in America and shipping to the UK would have been nearly four times as much as they were charging for the board itself - lol
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on 30-04-2023 23:07
I’ve done lots of lift and shift of HDDs and SSDs, I usually just buy a case from Amazon, not a great believer in EBay.
on 16-10-2023 20:26
When I dispose of old HD's, I open them up and cut the platters with metal cutters. Overkill I know, but that's just me!
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