Windows 7 - Where to fix harddrive?

Does anyone know of any company that fixes harddrives? my harddrives platters and everything are fine. its just that my sata port decided to melt off, and now sata cables will not stay connected to it. i just lost a bunch of data, and the broken harddrive happens to have a copy of it, but since i cant access it, it cant get the data

Send it back to the manufacturer. Visit the web site of the maker leave "support" a contact message with the problem.
They should give you a price and shipping instructions.

Worth a try.
Mike

I have a Seagate drive which has a similar problem, in that I broke a piece off the SATA data connector on the drive, so Seagate wouldn't replace it. Since I tried replacing the logic board caused the drive not to work, I put it into my external case, and since it can't fall off there, it works as it should...just another possibility.

Ill contact seagate later. i dont know if they will fix an original 1.5 tb barracuda. i have been offered a board, but i dont know how to replace it, and i dont want to do it myself for the first time and mess something up. from looking at my harddrive, i dont believe i have the screwdriver bit to unscrew the board in any case

Whether Seagate will fix the drive depends on whether it is in warranty, and that they believe that the drive is the cause of the problem. When you said that the SATA port melted off, was there anything outside of the drive that might have caused it? Replacing the logic board is ultra simple, and the screw driver is no problem...it is a T6 torx, which is readily available either locally or online. Like I said, simply replacing the board may or may not work, but if it does, it will require an exact match, not just any board from any drive, nor even just one from the same model, since some models have multiple boards used.

If you can make a temporary connection, using tape or something to keep the cable connected to the drive, then at least you could recover the data from it.

uh-oh my harddrive is from when 1.5 tb harddrives first came out, 2 or 3 years ago. i honestly dont know why the plastic melted off. i kept it in a well ventilated place that was always cool. the harddrive itself, however, does get very hot. i did manage to pull some of the data, but only a small portion of it got through

The warranty period varies with the models, and may have changed over time. What is the warranty period for your drive? From what you have said, it sounds as though the drive was the cause of the problem, but I haven't heard of that before. Even if you are authorized a RMA, you still need to get your data out of it before sending it off, because they won't just fix it, they will replace it, and any data left on it will be lost.

You didn't say what the reason was for the data recovery to fail part way through, was it simply because the connection loosened, or do you think that something else was involved? You might try using MHDD just to check that the data appears intact, and if so, use something like O&O Disk Recovery to collect the data. Unfortunately, the O&O program is not free (~$100), and I'm not aware of any freeware recovery program that I could recommend. Here is a link to MHDD:

HDDGURU: MHDD

You might want to try one of the HD docks. I used one to hold a HD in place that had the plastic data connector area broken.

Build your own External Hard Drive

i would get an hdd dock, but i just spent a bunch of monies on other parts. i also dont think i would use it for any purpose other than this one time, so i will hold off on buying it. i managed to get the harddrive to connect and am currently transferring as much data as possible off of it

and @seekermeister, the reason the harddrive doesnt connect is because the sata cable keeps falling off of the pins, since there is no plastic to support it. i managed to find a somewhat good position, and like i said, i am transferring as much stuff as possible off of it

Good luck, with persistence, you should get it all. I still think some strong tape, like mounting tape might help keep it in place long enough to finish the job.