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Posted by Sean_Q_ on July 4, 2009, 2:06 pm
Lately my (IDE) C drive got more and more flaky; finally it wouldn't
work at all. Oh, shit I thought, this is gonna be inconvenient.
I started pulling things apart, and it seemed the drive's power
connector pushed in a bit too easy. So I examined the contacts...
they're some kind of split metal cylinder with a gap running lengthwise
and the gaps don't look right (too wide).
So I squeeze each of the 4 connectors with a pair of tweezers enough to
close the gaps -- plugged it in -- away it went. Problem solved.
ps. It didn't help that the fins in the CPU's heat sink were stopped up
with dust. So I bought a can of spray from an electronic supply and
cleaned it out.
SQ
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Posted by Datesfat Chicks on July 4, 2009, 3:08 pm
> Lately my (IDE) C drive got more and more flaky; finally it wouldn't
> work at all. Oh, shit I thought, this is gonna be inconvenient.
> I started pulling things apart, and it seemed the drive's power
> connector pushed in a bit too easy. So I examined the contacts...
> they're some kind of split metal cylinder with a gap running lengthwise
> and the gaps don't look right (too wide).
> So I squeeze each of the 4 connectors with a pair of tweezers enough to
> close the gaps -- plugged it in -- away it went. Problem solved.
> ps. It didn't help that the fins in the CPU's heat sink were stopped up
> with dust. So I bought a can of spray from an electronic supply and
> cleaned it out.
Two reactions:
a)The defect you encountered seems rare. I'm guessing there is some machine
in China that is pumping out these connectors pretty reliably.
b)The fact that you have any data left is probably a testament to the hard
drive design and modern operating system design. My guess is that the hard
drive controller was constantly safing the heads as the power was failing
and restarting after a delay when the power seemed to come back up. The OS
may have sensed it as EIDE commands that often didn't complete. I think
with equipment 15 years older you might have lost everything.
Datesfat
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Posted by Sean_Q_ on July 4, 2009, 4:59 pm
Datesfat Chicks wrote:
> a)The defect you encountered seems rare. I'm guessing there is some
> machine in China that is pumping out these connectors pretty reliably.
I just checked all the other h/d power connectors on the power supply,
and every one had the same problem with the metal contact sleeves.
I got busy with the tweezers.
> b)The fact that you have any data left is probably a testament to the
> hard drive design and modern operating system design.
Luckily as it turned out there was nothing at all wrong with the hard
drive. I don't know how many times I've spent hours trying to debug
firmware and then discover that the problem is flaky hardware.
Cold solder joints, wires broken inside their insulation, corroded
contacts... ;-(
> I think with equipment 15 years older you might have lost
> everything.
15 years ago an 80 gig drive would have cost the price of a bike...
now I'd have a hard time buying a new one any smaller.
SQ
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Posted by Stephen! on July 4, 2009, 6:43 pm
> 15 years ago an 80 gig drive would have cost the price of a bike...
> now I'd have a hard time buying a new one any smaller.
15 years ago a reasonable price for a hard drive about $1/meg. I
remember a bit more than 15 years ago buying a 100MB drive for $150 and
getting a *GOOD* deal on the price.
--
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Posted by on July 4, 2009, 8:06 pm
>> 15 years ago an 80 gig drive would have cost the price of a bike...
>> now I'd have a hard time buying a new one any smaller.
> 15 years ago a reasonable price for a hard drive about $1/meg. I
>remember a bit more than 15 years ago buying a 100MB drive for $150 and
>getting a *GOOD* deal on the price.
I remember paying that much for a FLOPPY DRIVE that held maybe
1/2 MB :-)
--
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> work at all. Oh, shit I thought, this is gonna be inconvenient.
> I started pulling things apart, and it seemed the drive's power
> connector pushed in a bit too easy. So I examined the contacts...
> they're some kind of split metal cylinder with a gap running lengthwise
> and the gaps don't look right (too wide).
> So I squeeze each of the 4 connectors with a pair of tweezers enough to
> close the gaps -- plugged it in -- away it went. Problem solved.
> ps. It didn't help that the fins in the CPU's heat sink were stopped up
> with dust. So I bought a can of spray from an electronic supply and
> cleaned it out.