Hi folks..
I really hope somebody can help me here on this one....I got this 40gig Seagate Hard drive....after a couple of slaving to a master drive,.....one of the outer pins for the IDE Cable Connector is broken.....and of course.....I think without the pin ..though power goes through the drive ...the drive won't be registered by the BIOS.....COZ data isn't being transfered......

Installed it a couple of times...always..Operating System not found.....slaved it and the BIOS cant pick it up....I think this has to do with getting some screws from the drive and removing and replacing a replica of the IDE and Power connectors.....but I'm really thinkin if there is an easier way.....I wish I could give a pictorial description of the acutal position of the broken pin...lemme try....With the drive facing u(the connectors end facing you and the drive description with the model number facing up)....we have the IDE Connector....Jumper Settings...and the Power Connector in that order....If we take the "I" from the phrase "IDE Connector" to be the left end of the Connector....and the "r"....to be the right end of the connector next to the Jumper Settings,.....the pin situated at the BOTTOM LEFT END..is the broken pin.

....Could somebody please help me on how I can get to slave this drive to pick up the data.Please let me hear from u soon.

Any broken pin on this connector is bad news. As a quick access method you may consider finding an identical drive and swapping the electronics board with great care otherwise you are in deep pooh. Higher risk is replacing the connector but this would require good soldering skills that are not widely available

If you REALLY need that data, take it to a professional.

There are places that can recover data from formatted drives, burnt drives, exploded drives, etc.

In your case, they should be able to get 100% of the data.

Just DON'T mess with it yourself if you really need that data.

Take it to a data recovery place.

u could replace the HDD controller card... I'm sure Seagate guys can help you out... but its gonna cost you!.

depends how badly the pins are broken....


if they are about half broken, just take some aluminum foil and shove a lil peice in the ribbin cable in proper hole...

I have a hdd with 3 broken pins, and that works, and I continue to use that harddrive to date

This is how I fix broken pins on HDs.

A: Remove what is left of the pin with plyer. Pull enough to remove the solded part of the pin.
B: Take a small wire about the same size of the original pin but around 2 inches long (you can use a garbage bag's attachement, but remove the paper or plastic shield from it). Take that wire and pass it in the original hole of the drive connector. You need to bend the wire a little to make it touch the circuit board at the exact place of the original. Now, you should have a HD with a wire connecting to the circuit board an about 1.5 inches of sticking out of the back.
C: Prepare a very small amount of Epoxy (no regular glue, i.e crazy glue ,etc )
D: take a something to put pressure on the wire to make sure there is a contact with the board, (I find that a tooth pick is the right size for this type of work). Put one drop of Epoxy on the wire while you keep the pressure on the wire. Hold for 5 minutes without moving the wire (very important)
E: remove the toothpick or whatever tool you were using to put the pressure on the wire. Be gentle when you do that to make sure you don't displace the wire.
F: wait around half an hour to make sure the epoxy is fully hardened, then cut the outside wire to the right lenght of the original wire.

Voila, you are done and it will work like it never broke.

I've done that countless of times. I work in a computer tech school and I usually recuperate the drives that way when some students brake them.

Thanks Folks...
I'm gonna give it a try and get back 2 u ....will work over d weekend.....please post me any more opinions...would be much appreciated...Thanks.

Here is a lesson folks.... keep regular back ups for your personal data....