I can't believe this has happened. This is a brand new SATAII 320GB that has all my games on and just look at it now ... Bugger I don't know what the hell happened regarding the reason for it (PSU at fault?) but all I'm concerned about now is whether I can some how perhaps get it working again so I can recover my data. Is it impossible or could I solder on a makeshift power plug? If someone has any ideas then please let me know, I really need the help!
Makeshift Disclaimer ok! first i think i should point out that all suggestions posted are things you could do, not things you should do! Connecting that drive back up could damage more hardware, or even damage you doing it! i have 2 suggestions! - If you can find another hard drive that is the same make/model/capacity, then you could switch the boards between the two! - whats the band of white in the top right hand corner of the photo? it kinda looks like a MOLEX plug could have gone there, are the pin headers actually there? (you could solder on a MOLEX connector to power the HDD). The hard drive or PSU is obviously faulty, and it must have taken a fair amount of power to do that so i would take no chances and replace both ASAP! (Advice on PSU's from Big_B)
To be honest, I would consider it as "shit happens" and get rid of it. I would also get a new PSU as Impotence suggested and not risk further damage, unless the data is really important to you.
This is BAD. I think that the power transformer in the psu is malfunctioning, producing way to much power. You could solder new wires on those pins, and then (if you have a spare sata power cable) solder it onto the correct wires. Then you could get access to those files. But use another psu.
Serial ATA (SATA) power connector pinout and signals @ pinouts.ru From what i can work out, pins:- 7 (+5VDC) 8 (+5VDC) 9 (+5VDC) 10 (GND) 11 (GND) 12 (GND) have been completely burnt out (taking the left side of the picture to be Pin 15 [notice the P15 label])... anyway, thinking about it you would have to use this hard drive with ether your old/new PSU to power it... and since this is some serious damage i wouldn't really recommend ether... if its anything you can download /get from another source then i go with Addis, shit does happen and unless there is anything irreplaceable and of value to you on that drive i wouldn't risk any more harwdare! PS Computing departments @ high schools sometimes appreciate old/broken hardware to show there pupils the different bits of a computer! (and more often that not with harddrives the top plates are removed so you can see inside).
If someone has the same hard drive you might be able to swap the control board and snag your data before sending it in for repair. Otherwise, the only other option is a data recovery specialist...and those can cost a fair amount for the service.
