External hard drive: USB port defective - what to do?
If the USB connection of your external hard drive is defective, the data is usually still on the hard drive. In the best case, a new housing is sufficient, in the worst case it means "saving data".
USB port of the external hard drive broken
First you should check whether the connection itself and not the cable is defective. If the USB connection is broken, you have to remove the housing and save the data with a Sata to USB adapter.
- If your hard drive has other connections, you can continue to use them and save your data.
- You can only fix a defective USB port permanently by changing the housing. Basically, it would also be enough if you changed the controller in the housing. However, this is almost always only available in combination with a new housing.
- You can get inexpensive housings on the Internet from just 10 euros. You only have to be careful with the form factor of the hard drive: Large 3.5 "or small 2.5" HDD. The picture shows a large 3.5 "hard drive with connectors. The advantage here is that you can now choose which connectors the new case should have.
- You can assume that your hard drive has a SATA connection, only really very old models have the IDE standard. Since you can also install the plate in your PC, we will show you how to differentiate and correctly install the hard disk connections.
Install the hard disk in the new housing
As soon as the new housing has arrived, you can start the conversion. This is not a problem for laypersons either, since everything works according to the plug and play principle.
- Open the old housing and remove the hard drive. The mechanisms in this regard vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer. Some housings are only screwed, others are fixed with plastic clips. Attention: If you open the housing, you will lose your guarantee.
- In 3.5 "cases, the hard drive is usually still fixed with screws. In the picture you can see that in this case four screws would have to be loosened.
- Then carefully pull the hard drive out of the controller and proceed in reverse order for the target housing.
On the next page we show how you can remove your laptop hard drive and back up your data.