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Broken Pin on Hard Drive - Soldering advice!
Hi there,
whilst fiddling about inside my PC the other day I had to pull the power from my primary C drive, an old IBM DeskStar GXP. When I did this, three of the pins (yes, three) came loose from the PCB, and one of them broke in two just to compound the problem. I need to pull some data off this drive before I junk it. Unfortunately, it contains all my digital photos plus important contact information. So, I'm planning to solder power straight onto the PCB. I've cut the plug off a power connector and I have stripped the wires ready to do this. I'm off to Maplin tonight to buy myself a soldering iron. As you might guess from the above statement, I've not really done any soldering before. I'm concerned that the area I'm soldering on to on the PCB is only 3 or 4 mm wide. Does anyone have any advice on how to make sure I don't splurge solder all over the PCB? Is there any way of applying really small amounts of solder in this situation? Cheers. |
#2
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So, I'm planning to solder power straight onto the PCB. I've cut the plug off a power connector and I have stripped the wires ready to do this. I'm off to Maplin tonight to buy myself a soldering iron. As you might guess from the above statement, I've not really done any soldering before. I'm concerned that the area I'm soldering on to on the PCB is only 3 or 4 mm wide. Does anyone have any advice on how to make sure I don't splurge solder all over the PCB? Is there any way of applying really small amounts of solder in this situation? Get a soldering iron with a thin tip, wipe it on a damp piece of sponge every so often as you work so that excess solder does not build up on it causing it to bridge the adjoining pins. Make sure that the work is hot to avoid 'dry' joints. You can get solder absorbing tape (Desoldering braid) to remove excess solder if you do get too much on there. Practice a few times with some old wire first, as you have not soldered before. Take your time. Adam S |
#3
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Adam S wrote:
Practice a few times with some old wire first, as you have not soldered before. Take your time. Better yet, practice on an old hard drive. |
#4
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drmengler wrote:
Hi there, whilst fiddling about inside my PC the other day I had to pull the power from my primary C drive, an old IBM DeskStar GXP. When I did this, three of the pins (yes, three) came loose from the PCB, and one of them broke in two just to compound the problem. I need to pull some data off this drive before I junk it. Unfortunately, it contains all my digital photos plus important contact information. So, I'm planning to solder power straight onto the PCB. I've cut the plug off a power connector and I have stripped the wires ready to do this. I'm off to Maplin tonight to buy myself a soldering iron. As you might guess from the above statement, I've not really done any soldering before. I'm concerned that the area I'm soldering on to on the PCB is only 3 or 4 mm wide. Does anyone have any advice on how to make sure I don't splurge solder all over the PCB? Is there any way of applying really small amounts of solder in this situation? Practice first is the key. One useful tip as well is to 'tin' the wires you're going to solder first. To do this, strip the insulation so you have the bare wire, then, heat the wire from one side with the iron and apply the solder to the other side so that solder flows and coats the bare wire. You will now find you can solder these wires to the hard drive without needing to apply any extra solder and thus removing the risk that you accidently get a lot of solder all over your hard drive. The wires will also connect better and more easily to the PCB if you do this. |
#5
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#6
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drmengler wrote: Hi there, whilst fiddling about inside my PC the other day I had to pull the power from my primary C drive, an old IBM DeskStar GXP. When I did this, three of the pins (yes, three) came loose from the PCB, and one of them broke in two just to compound the problem. I need to pull some data off this drive before I junk it. Unfortunately, it contains all my digital photos plus important contact information. So, I'm planning to solder power straight onto the PCB. I've cut the plug off a power connector and I have stripped the wires ready to do this. I'm off to Maplin tonight to buy myself a soldering iron. As you might guess from the above statement, I've not really done any soldering before. I'm concerned that the area I'm soldering on to on the PCB is only 3 or 4 mm wide. Does anyone have any advice on how to make sure I don't splurge solder all over the PCB? Is there any way of applying really small amounts of solder in this situation? Cheers. All the advice given is good, but if the information on this HD is critical, I would have someone with soldering skills do it for me. You may have only one shot at patching the drive for retrieval of the data. I would not chance the possibility of messing it up. |
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#8
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Good advice so far, thanks.
If I didn't make it clear - it's the power pins that I'll be fixing up, not the IDE pins (thank god, they are even smaller). I went out and got myself a temperature controlled solder station, it has a nice conical precise solder tip with it, and I can use it on a lower heat. If I can get an old hard drive off my IT department (no, they won't do the soldering for me, they don't get their hands that dirty!), I can practice on that. Very good idea. I'm going to have to solder wire straight onto the pcb. I believe I should 'tin' the wire, ie apply a small amount of solder to the wires first. Sure I can manage that. I'm not going to treat it as a permanent repair... presuming I'm successful, I shall pull the data I want off the drive, and take it into the back garden and attack it with a spade afterwards to vent my frustration... |
#9
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On Wed, 19 May 2004 02:01:49 -0700, drmengler wrote:
So, I'm planning to solder power straight onto the PCB. I've cut the plug off a power connector and I have stripped the wires ready to do this. I'm off to Maplin tonight to buy myself a soldering iron. As you might guess from the above statement, I've not really done any soldering before. I'm concerned that the area I'm soldering on to on the PCB is only 3 or 4 mm wide. Does anyone have any advice on how to make sure I don't splurge solder all over the PCB? Is there any way of applying really small amounts of solder in this situation? My advice would be to find someone that has a little experience in this type thing. Hard to say without seeing it but I suspect it could be put in new type condition with another power connector and about 10-30 minutes time. -- Abit KT7-Raid (KT133) Tbred B core CPU @2400MHz (24x100FSB) http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm |
#10
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"BarryNL" wrote in message
... There's also a good article with pictures he http://www.explosivelabs.com/articles/soldering.shtml That one's good for a starter; and will probably solve the OP's problem . : go buy a $2 "power splitter"; chop off one set at the male plug as close as possible. You'll have one set of wires left; cut off the female plug left; this will give you the lead wires to solder to the HD's PCB . Strip about 3/16 th of an inch on the ends; tin those, and tack solder them down to their mating solder pads. Seeing your HD is a IBM DeskStar GXP............. Ghost it over to a new HD if this works !!! |
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