I have read several threads here on this subject. However, I have some specific questions that I did not find answers to in those postings.
The issue: Dog knocked HD off the coffee table and the sudden jerk caused the usb cord to break the usb mini connector inside HD. It is still attached to the board but the black insert (inside the mini female port) has broken off and one pin in seriously bent downwards - and may have broken off entirely. I could get the HD to be recognized on my laptop, but only for a second as I had to hold the usb cable in the exact sweet spot.
Anyway, I opened the casing (I’m no longer concerned about my warranty - just want my data) and obtained the PCBA # from the usb board and have found several boards matching this number on ebay.
Question 1: If I buy this board and install it, will it work? Or, is there info on the usb board in my HD that is specific to my drive and/or specific to the data on my drive? I understand that the data on the drive is dependent on the hardware, but is this referencing the small usb board or the larger board that is connected to the drive?
Question 2: If I take the USB board from my drive to an electronics repair person, can they easily solder on a new usb port? If so, do I try computer repair shops? Sorry, just don’t know who to reach out to for this. Also, will a place like this typically have the replacement usb port, or do I need to get that myself? Seems odd to order an $0.88 item over the internet.
My endgoal to get the drive running so that I can transfer the data to a 2TB drive in waiting.
If you backup your computer with smartware you won’t be able to retreive the information, Smartware is encrypted. My suggestion for you is to contact a data recovery company.
I have not used smartware for anything. I do understand that WD has encrypted my data regardless of my non-action.
However, the only thing standing between me and my data is a broken mini usb connector. That’s a tough pill to swallow. I guess it’s my fault for not completely understanding the workings of my WD hdd. BTW, I have a 2TB WD in the box if anyone is interested. I am definitely moving on to another manufacturer after this is resolved. Don’t get me wrong, kudos to WD for making it hard(er) to access my data from a thief’s point of view, but c’mon! Well, I’m gonna stop before I just go off…
Anyway, can someone please tell me which mini usb to buy? I can’t seem to find the specs for the one on my bridge board. I know it’s 5pin, but is there anything else that I should be aware of?
They don’t sell directly, but if you click on Distributor Stock to the right, then Find Distributor Stock (with your correct country chosen),it will lead you to the best place to order them from. I live in America and choose Newark. They arrived quickly and look great. I ordered 5, btw, for a total of $10 with shipping. You could order less, or whatever.
I also have a replacement USB bridge board coming from Hong Kong. It should be here next week.
So, I have two immediate shots at getting my data back. I found a repair shop with good reviews outside of Boston (near where I live) that said they can do the soldering of the new USB connector onto the original board. I will also try the replacement board, if that doesn’t work.
Spoke with a guy today at a different repair shop. He said that they see this all the time with WD external drives and that simply swapping the enclosures works great.
I seem to remember reading on other “broken usb” threads here that this was not a recommended solution.
Have taken the bridge board to two local electronic repair shops. Both said that they didn’t feel comfortable doing the work, mainly because the tight working quarters.
A computer repair shop says they can do it, but they’ll charge me two hours of shop time at a total of $120!!!
Also, my replacement board from Hong Kong has been sitting at the sort facility in NYC since July 5th. Apparently I should expect to wait 20-25 business days. That is absurd - Â and a great reminder why the USPS is going out of business.
I’ve been repairing multi-layer boards, traces on the outer surfaces and inner surfaces from time to time over the years, partly as a professional and a hobbyist. There’s, what, 5 connections required on a USB 2 port (including the ground shield) and a few more on USB 3.0 …
If the board is too damaged for a good permant repair, I’m sure it can be made to function with jumper wires and epoxy, at least on a semi-temporary basis. By that I mean it would be good forever, but not be able to hold up to physical punishment like a new one would. It all depends how damaged things are, and that can only be ascertained by visual inspection.
An honest competent tech could do this for a lot less than $120.00 including materials, epoxy, copper strip trace replacement/repair, solder, flux, all that good stuff. It’s also possible to re-wire in a whole new connector an repair traces underneath it.
Really, there’s a lot that can be done. I’ve seen repaired, and done it myself too, pins on chips that have been busted in half. As long as the silicon subtrate ain’t broke, you can re-wire a chip. Back in the Pentium days we could lift the cover off and make jumpers on the wires coming from the chip itself to different pins on the carrier housing. Thrilling stuff! My point I’m making is that a connector on a board isn’t a big deal here.
As for ragging WD here, c-r-a-p, this could happen to any mfg’s drive, this is just a busted connector that’s all.
Thanks to Keith for the responses, and offer to help.
So, I finally received the replacement board from Hong Kong. It took over a month to reach me thanks to the [Deleted] at the USPS sort facility in NYC.
I simply attached the replacement board, reassembled the drive (though I can’t get that outer black shell to fit like it used to), and plugged it into my computer. My terabyte of data showed up like nothing happened. I am in the process of successfully transfering that data to another drive.
I should remind future readers of this thread that I never used a password or did anything proactive with the encryption program on my drive before breaking the usb port. I say that because I don’t know if results would vary had I done so. I can say that if you’re in the same boat as me - and you haven’t done any real damage to the drive itself - just buy the correct replacement bridge board and get ready to be happy.
I have this same issue. I also have never setup any logins or password. Where did you get the bridge and what was the part #? Do you think I could just buy a new WD drive and temporarilly use its usb bridge to transfer my data off? I have a drive bay reader i put the WD drive in and that did not work but its just an ide connector with no board or circuitry. I hope thats why it didnt work and this replacement bridge or a new drives bridge will work. Any input would help!
If a replacement bridge is the way to go does anyone know where to get one in the states?
I’ve broken the USB connecter on 2 of these sense they first came out. Each time they brake i go to walmart and buy a new one.
The trick to getting your data back is opening up the new one (keeping the case entact) unscrewing the microchip that plugs into the ATA ports and switching them out with your old one.
Don’t forget to wrap it back up and return it for a full discount.
If walmart staff ask why you’re returning the new hardrive with the broken usb, tell them it doesn’t work.
Yep. Wal-mart typically throws them in the dumpster and writes them off or returns them. So apparently no harm is done. I used to know a lot of folks that do things like that.
Here is the description of the board I purchased from ebay (4061-705059-001 Rev. AA was the number on my board).
PCB (4061) 4060-705059-001 WD Board support Rev. A AA A1 P1 AC AB AC AG AF AE
The seller is: ecpart888
I wish I could have found a place in the States that sold these - like I said, it took over a month to reach me.
Anyway, there is no need to remove a microchip or do anything other than swap the new bridge board for the old one. If you used a password or actively used your encryption feature, then I’m not sure about this as a solution. I didn’t, so it worked perfectly.
Where did you find the entire USB board? I’d rather not mess around with trying to get someone to solder the mini port on or try to do that myself…
I’ve been unable to locate the entire USB and power connection board.
