Bad USB port

I have a WD book essential external harddrive and the USB port has become bad and needs to be replaced. I have changed the cable and put it on another computer and windows does not see it. I have looked at the port and seen that it has spread apart so the connection is very loose. Is there a way to fix it or do I have to get someone professional to fix it.

First opening the drive voids the warranty. Next I would copy the data to a different drive if possible. You might try an electronics repair place and see if they can solder on a new USB port. The other thing is to try and match a board up from Ebay.

Joe

Forget about taking it to an electronics repair facility unless the data on the drive is vital. Too expensive.

If the drive was encrypted (I learned about this from Joe in a different post) then the following procedure also will not work. But if it is NOT encrypted try this:

Remove the drive from the enclosure and carefully remove the circuit board that the USB port is on. Most cases this will be a couple screws and then the board unplugs from the back of the drive.

Now plug the drive into a PC with a SATA controller and power connector. Most newer PCs have this.

Power up the PC now and after it boots up open My Computer and see if it found your hard drive

Good luck