gizmo? wotcha-ma-callit? thingy-ma-bob?

[Jon von der Heyden]

My external/portable hard drive packed up today. By packed up I mean the connection into the back of the hard drive broke off (the other end to the USB that plugs into my PC).

So I opened it up and I found that the hard drive itself is fine, but the hard drive slots onto this plate that has all of those connection (node/port for main power, another for the USB cable and another for I don't know what).

So I reckon I only need to replace that plate, rather than the entire hard drive. That would be good because this way I don't lose 1TB of data (mostly music/videos).

Problem is I don't know what the pate is called so I can't look it up on google. I've tried looking up the product but all I find is sales for the entire product. I figure it will help if I actually know what the bit is called.

Thanks

 

[toddscott]

Put "usb hard drive connector" into google and you will find an adapter that will work for extracting your data. You may need to specify 3.5 or 2.5 depending on the size of the HD. I assume from your post that it is a 2.5.

 

[sous2817]

Are you looking for a new hard drive enclosure?

http://www.newegg.com/store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=92&Tpk=harddrive enclosure

 

[MrKowz]

You'll need to determine if your hard drive is PATA (Parallel ATA) or SATA (Serial ATA). Then, like toddscott or sous2817 suggests, get either an enclosure (which is really just a new shell with all the "connectors") or get yourself a cord that goes directly from the hard drive to the computer, bypassing using a case.

I'd suggest an enclosure... a bit more expensive, but if your computer area is ANYTHING like mine, it will keep it safe.

 

[diddi]

hey jon, just about now there is a speed revolution going on with usb. i heartily encourage you to consider this product

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.41758

it supports usb3 which effectively means that your HDD transfer speed is as good as if it was internal. you can get a usb3 card at the same vendor for cheap and you increase your throughput from 400mbs to 5gbs for just about nothing. its usb2 compatible as well.
need to make sure that you have a sata HDD which looks like this on the connector end

http://www.laptopparts101.com/hard-drive/

see my post about hdd recovery re this company

 

[Jon von der Heyden]

Lots of good info. Thanks chaps. Will let you know how I get on.