[Ginz]

Wondering if any of you can help here...

I've got a 2.5" 160GB Freecom Mobile to back up my DVDs and Music on it. However, now I've run in to a bit of a problem.

The pins in the USB connector seem to have become misaligned and all a bit mangled somehow, how I'm not very sure of! So, I can't plug in a mini USB cable and connect it to my PC. It's not the hard drive that's majorly the issue here, it's the data thats on it which I need to get off !

It's still within warranty so Freecom can replace the drive but in doing so I lose all the data.. so that for me at the moment is obviously not an option as the data is important for me to get off..

Anyone any ideas?

[3g-g]

I've never seen inside a USB plug, but I can't imagine there's that many wires if there's only 4 pins eh? How about cutting the end off and reterminating it yourself, if you can get hold of a USB plug, failing that, some small local computer type shop might be able to give it a bash?

[bsrjl1]

Is the disk not a standard 2.5" drive in an enclosure? If so you can just get another enclosure & put the disk in?

[Ben]

Yeah, a new enclosure sounds like a good option - though you'll void your warranty on the Freecom Mobile when you remove the HDD from it, I'd imagine.

I can't think what the inside of a mini USB socket looks like now, but is there no way to sort out the pins with a small object?

[Ginz]

It's an external hard drive.

This is the one - from what I can see there aren't any physical screws to open the enclosure.. I'm pretty baffled.

http://www.freecom.com/ecproduct_detail.asp?ID=3050&CatID=8020&sCatID=1146257&ssCatID=1146262

http://www.freecom.com/objects/00009756.jpg

[Ben]

There often arn't any screws, they're not usually meant to be opened - it'll take a lot of guts, but you may need to destroy the current enclosure to reveal the drive. Providing what's inside is a standard drive with standard ports you'll be set.

[Ginz]

Just as an update and a closure to this..

I unscrewed all the screws and carefully prized off the outer case.. A friend who I was talking about it with then sent me an empty external hard drive case (just the outer shell, which had a retractable USB cable within it) Then all i needed to do was take the actual drive out of the damaged shell from my old external, slot it in to the new empty shell and connect the USB cable to my laptop. I don't know why I didnt think of this earlier but it connected to my laptop straight away and copied all the data over!

Useful incase any of you experience a similar problem.

[Ben]

Ah good, glad the HDD inside was fine :)