Need help disassembling a USB external HD + data recovery

[mooseknuckle21]

To make a very long story short I have an acomdata ext. hard drive that has in someway failed. Anytime I connect it to a computer it can't be read. If you would like any background data on the steps that me and another member took to try and get the drive recognized you can look here:

https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic160449-2.html

In that link is all the data and product specs that you would need. Now on to the real reason for this thread. I would like to take this ext. hard drive apart and I am not really sure how to that. I hope that somebody on here may have some experience with this hard drive, but im not holding my breath. I did however find a link to a very similar HD.

http://www.gearhack.com/myink/ViewP...ridDrive External Hard Drive Disassembly.html

I read a little bit about the process and I already have questions. I think i will save those questions for when we actually get to those steps. I will get started on taking it apart and see if anyone has anything to add in.

Thanx for the help

 

[SNGX1275]

Your link looks sufficient. I've got 4 external enclosures hooked up to several computers. The principle is the same in them all. If your enclosure is like the one shown then it is real simple. Ignore all the wires plugged into the green PCB because you don't need to disconnect any of them. Once you get to the point where you can see the drive itself, you may need to remove 4 screws from the bottom (also shown in your link). Then the drive will slide out a few millimeters away from the PCB and can be lifted out.

 

[mooseknuckle21]

update

well I took the drive out. Took me all of about 5mins with that link. Now onto my next couple of questions.

I have the drive by itself completely disconnected from the ext. enclosure. Now all i have to do is use an adapter like this one right?:

http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-USB-DSC5-3-5-Inch-Converter-Adapter/dp/B000HJ99DI

Also another another thing I dont get is how the drive gets power? If i connect it with the adapter in the above link does it provide a plug for power too? Or should I take apart my desktop and just connect it as a slave drive? The USB adapter seems like such a simpler idea but I will go either way if it would mean better results.

The last thing I was curious about was the part on the webpage where it says:
"Based on ccl's comment in the discussion thread, you can download the converters to convert the drive between a Secure CD+HDD and the regular HDD."

Does that have anything to do with my situation or what is that for? I found this link that talks about it but i dont really understand what its for but I dont want to lose any of my data so i wont mess around with it

 

[SNGX1275]

Personally I'd put the drive inside your tower, that way you'd only need a SATA cable (the drive is SATA right?). If its SATA there is no need to do anything with the jumpers. If its PATA/IDE then there really is no difference, except in that case you would need to set the jumper correctly.

It does appear that what you linked would be fine, and the drive would get power from the AC power adapter that is included in that kit.

I have no idea what 'downloading converters to convert the drive' means. Software shouldn't have anything to do with this, everything is done on the hardware end.

 

[mooseknuckle21]

Ok good, I just wanted to make sure. The drive is in fact an IDE drive. Heres a link to the drive if your curious.

http://www.gatecomusa.com/product_info.php?products_id=985

I will stop by Fry's and get the adapter. I really dont feel like connecting it to the desktop if it doesnt make a difference. I wasnt sure about the programs either. I didnt know if they were important or not, I just figured I would ask though.

Last question. Do i still have to set the jumper even if I use the adapter to connect the hard drive?

 

[SNGX1275]

Since its IDE, then yeah, it probably does matter where the jumper is set. The drive itself almost certainly has a sticker on the top that shows where the jumper is for master, slave, and cable select. Set it to Master. If for some odd reason that doesn't work, then Cable Select should. I'd trust Master first though.

The ship weight on your link is amusing

 

[mooseknuckle21]

Since its IDE, then yeah, it probably does matter where the jumper is set. The drive itself almost certainly has a sticker on the top that shows where the jumper is for master, slave, and cable select. Set it to Master. If for some odd reason that doesn't work, then Cable Select should. I'd trust Master first though.

The ship weight on your link is amusing

Your reply kind of made more questions than answers for me. Shouldn't I connect the drive as a slave drive instead of a master? I thought master was the drive the had the OS on it. This drive has nothing but data on it so I am a little confused there. I know how to set the jumper so I am not worried about that I just wasn't sure if i actually needed it or now

btw the shipping weight is because its for a quantity of 20

 

[SNGX1275]

Missed the quantity...

Master and Slave don't have anything to do with which drive has the OS on it. You could have a DVD drive and the OS Hard Drive on the same IDE ribbon and have the OS drive be slave. I just said to set it to master on your drive because the adapter might require it. You could try it as Slave, nothing bad will happen, it just might not work.

 

[mooseknuckle21]

Wow i didnt know you could do that. So i put my drive as master and set the OS drive as the slave and it will work? Or do I have to go into the BIOS and make sure the OS drive is set to be the boot drive. I just want to make sure I do this correctly and thank you for the clarification

 

[SNGX1275]

If you wanted to put it internally here are your jumper options:

2 drives 1 cable: One must be Master, One must be Slave which one is which doesn't matter. (Corollary is both could be CS, but then if something doesn't work you always have "should I just set them as Master and Slave?" in the back of your mind)
1 drive 1 cable: Drive must be set as Master

If you are going to use an adapter to use the drive as USB, then my thoughts are it will have to be set as Master, although Cable Select might work. Its doubtful that it will work as Slave, but maybe some USB adapters can recognize what it is, or simply ignore it.

 

[LookinAround]

Hi mooseknuckle21

I was just wondering if you were ever able to recover your drive when you switched to the USB adapter cable?