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Thread ID: 106917 2010-01-28 03:15:00 USB to disk Connector for mini-hard disk? Billy T (70) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
852783 2010-01-28 03:15:00 Hi Team

My son's i-River H320 MP3 player died of over-use (he's a Uni student muso) and application of the wrong charger, and not surprisingly, the importers service department diagnosed a fried motherboard. (Oh the impetuosity of youth, who know everything yet know nothing.)

Cost to repair was more than the price of a used replacement so we bought an as-new H340 (40GB HD) and now need to transfer the contents of the 20GB drive from the old player as most of it is music for his Uni studies and he ignored my regular nagging to back it up!

The drive is a Toshiba MK2006GAL, runs on 3.3.volts and has a 50-pin mini socket. Is there such a thing as a laptop HD adapter that will fit the socket and also supply the correct voltage from a USB outlet so that we can copy the data off? Failing that, can anybody recommend a service (preferably in Auckland) that would do it without charging an arm and a leg. It would probably fill 2-3 DVDs.

I could install it in my own H320 but I'm reluctant to play with that in case his old disk is faulty as I wouldn't be so lucky as he was in finding a replacement if mine got fried as well. Actually I found the replacement, but that's another story.

Cheers

Billy 8-{)
Billy T (70)
852784 2010-01-28 04:14:00 Are you sure the drive still works?
If the wrong voltage was applied to the old unit and fried the mainboard then chances are the HDD got fried as well.
That's my experience with these things anyway.
CYaBro (73)
852785 2010-01-28 05:17:00 Post a pic of the plug your after if you can, sometimes it's better to see what someone is after gary67 (56)
852786 2010-01-28 05:42:00 we bought an as-new H340 (40GB HD) and now need to transfer the contents of the 20GB drive from the old player )

Well I'd say all you could do is take the new one apart and connect the old drive, but it's probably dead anyway.
pctek (84)
852787 2010-01-28 06:42:00 I'm hoping the HD may be ok, as it was failure to charge the battery that was the primary problem. It was booting up OK until the battery/internal power supply died. I think it is certainly worth investigating anyway as the data on the disk is important.

Images of the HDD and 50-pin (female) connector are attached. The disk is 7.8cm x 5.4 x .5 thick and the socket is 4cm long.

Cheers

Billy 8-{) :thanks
Billy T (70)
852788 2010-01-28 07:27:00 I'm guessing a laptop IDE doesn't fit then? gary67 (56)
852789 2010-01-28 08:15:00 this is an adaptor for 1.8in to IDE
www.dealextreme.com
it should make what you want possible
KarameaDave (15222)
852790 2010-01-28 08:19:00 sdd.toshiba.com
Appears to suit Ipods etc also, so maybe there are interface cables available.

Pin-outs in this PDF, and a contact for interface connectors
www.mtcusa.com

Found this
www.span.com
(minimum order 10 tho :crying)
feersumendjinn (64)
852791 2010-01-28 09:16:00 Thanks eveybody, the dealextreme adapter looks like it will be a goer if I need it.

I've also just remembered that a new laptop service specialist has opened up in my local shopping centre so I'll drop in and see if he/she can at least tell me if it goes, then I can decide whether or not to spend my son's money getting the data lifted off.

Watch this space.

Cheers

Billy 8-{)
Billy T (70)
852792 2010-02-04 23:52:00 Update Time: :illogical

Yesterday afternoon I went into the new shop with the HDD, the gutted MP3 player, and an Iomega 250GB USB hard drive to copy to .

Five techs were working industriously on laptops and there was a receptionist at the front desk so they seem to be well established . All were immigrants but all those I spoke to were pretty fluent in english so there were no language problems, however comprehension was sadly AWOL .

I explained that the mini-HDD came from the MP3 player and showed them the player . I said that the battery charging circuit died and that I didn't know if the HDD was still ok but there was no reason why it shouldn't be .

Then I asked three questions:

Can you check to see if this drive still works?

If it does, can you drag and drop the 4GB contents to this 250GB external drive?

How much $?

It was all downhill from there . The Toshiba hard drive caused much (loud) chatter that I couldn't understand of course, no criticism there, but they seemed to think that the Iomega drive was an MP3 player, despite the USB cable hanging out of it and the absence of any controls . After they shouted at each other and waved their arms for a while we seemed to get past that .

At one stage they seemed to think I wanted the Toshiba drive installed in the Iomega case but we got past that too .

Then they thought I wanted them to fix the MP3 player, so I said no, it is dead, and put it in my pocket to remove the distraction .

After 10 minutes I think we finally got to :check HDD >if ok >transfer data,
but where to and how remained unresolved . The only words of importance that I could follow were "60 dollars" and I am quite certain that not one of them really understood what I was asking them to do . In my view the potential risk to the disk contents was too great so I left .

I thought it was just me being obtuse with my request, but I went around the corner to another computer shop, operated by similar immigrants and asked the same questions . They understood completely at the first pass, but didn't have the IDE to 50-pin adapter with 5 volt to 3 . 3 volt reduction, and I was on my way in 2 minutes .

I would have thought that a laptop specialist would be able to check a mini laptop hard drive, but there you go! Looks like I'll have to buy my own adapter and do the job myself! I don't really think $60 would be a fair charge to connect up a hard drive and if it worked, plug in the Iomega and drag & drop the contents .

I would have accepted a $30 charge because it would have saved me a whole lot of bother, but there you go . . . . . . . . . .

Cheers

Billy 8-{) :confused::confused:
Billy T (70)
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