Connecting a 1.8" HDD to computer

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nil
  • Start date Start date
N

Nil

This is slightly OT, I guess, but not entirely. Bear with me...

I'm trying to salvage an old iPod with a 20 GB hard disk. It won't
boot up, and I can hear the disk clicking and whirring periodically,
like every 10 seconds or so. I was assuming that the disk had
failed, so I bought a used replacement drive. When installed, the
iPod exhibits the same symptoms.

I want to test the two drives to try to pin down whether one or both
drives are bad, or if something else in the iPod had failed. I
bought an adapter that was supposed to allow me to connect the drive
to a USB port on my computer. When I connect either of the drives to
it and plug it into the USB, nothing happens - there is no sign of
life from the drive, the LED on the adapter remains dark, and
Windows XP doesn't see any new hardware. So, now I have four
possible points of failure - the two HDDs, the adapter, and the iPod,
and I'm no closer to knowing which one(s) to blame.

So, my questions are:

- should the adapter pilot LED light up whether the drive is good or
bad? Would Windows detect the adapter if no drive was attached?

- Did I buy an appropriate adapter? I assumed from the description
that it would convert either a ZIF or a 50-pin connector to USB.
This HDD has a 50-pin. There are no instructions, of course. It's
obviously very cheaply made.

The computer runs Windows XP SP3.

Both drives are Toshiba MK2004GAL:

http://storage.toshiba.eu/cms/en/hdd/computing/product_detail.jsp?productid=21

Here's the adapter I bought on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370505925607
 
should the adapter pilot LED light up whether the drive is good or
bad? Would Windows detect the adapter if no drive was attached?
Click to expand...

I've an all-in-1 USB Kingston adaptor for all sorts of micro-memory
cards. Pretty fancy. Plugged in alone, I end up with half a dozen
drive letter -assignments- whether slotted, populated with a memory
card or not. So, yes, that is a possibility with USB although not
necessarily an eventuality.

As for the rest sounds like you've you're hands full with 1.8"
drives;- can't say -- as I'm a full-factor, LCD, most-common-parts PC
builder these days -- it's to the point to where I don't even like
laptops anymore. Rather, I'm better not going there. (Got a *hunch*
those drives may not be bad ... ooops, it slipped out.)
 
I've an all-in-1 USB Kingston adaptor for all sorts of micro-memory
cards. Pretty fancy. Plugged in alone, I end up with half a dozen
drive letter -assignments- whether slotted, populated with a memory
card or not. So, yes, that is a possibility with USB although not
necessarily an eventuality.
Click to expand...

I was hoping that at least the LED would light up, just so I'd know
that the adapter was receiving power.
As for the rest sounds like you've you're hands full with 1.8"
drives;- can't say -- as I'm a full-factor, LCD, most-common-parts PC
builder these days -- it's to the point to where I don't even like
laptops anymore. Rather, I'm better not going there. (Got a *hunch*
those drives may not be bad ... ooops, it slipped out.)
Click to expand...

I now have two of the same drive. It's unlikely that both are
defective, but possible, of course.

I suspect that the drives are both good, and that it's some other
electronic component in the iPod that's bad. And I suspect that the
adapter is also bad. But I only have my gut instinct as evidence.

I'm trying to spend as little money on this project as possible - the
iPod was rescued from the trash, and I'm not likely to have any future
use for these drives or for the adapter. If I knew that the drives were
good, I might sell them and trash the rest of the iPod. I just wanna
know, y'know? Curiosity is itching.

I've also contacted the Chinese seller of the adapter to ask for
advice, but I don't expect to learn much from them.
 
Nil said:
I was hoping that at least the LED would light up, just so I'd know
that the adapter was receiving power.


I now have two of the same drive. It's unlikely that both are
defective, but possible, of course.

I suspect that the drives are both good, and that it's some other
electronic component in the iPod that's bad. And I suspect that the
adapter is also bad. But I only have my gut instinct as evidence.

I'm trying to spend as little money on this project as possible - the
iPod was rescued from the trash, and I'm not likely to have any future
use for these drives or for the adapter. If I knew that the drives were
good, I might sell them and trash the rest of the iPod. I just wanna
know, y'know? Curiosity is itching.

I've also contacted the Chinese seller of the adapter to ask for
advice, but I don't expect to learn much from them.
Click to expand...

(Previously posted links)

Toshiba MK2004GAL:

http://storage.toshiba.eu/cms/en/hdd/computing/product_detail.jsp?productid=21

USB adapter

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370505925607

*******

The picture on Ebay, shows a 3.3V regulator on the underside
of your adapter. And your Toshiba link shows the 20GB drive
is powered at 3.3V. They match on that aspect.

I would start by verifying the 3.3V regulator is actually delivering.
It will have a current limit. The Toshiba drive draws up to 1.4W.
That is 420ma at the 3.3V level. The USB port is good for at least
500mA and usually more than that (test with a desktop computer
rather than a laptop, as your USB connection).

I would take a multimeter, check the three pins on the regulator.
One should be at USB VBUS (5V or a bit less, depending on drop).
One pin should be at ground potential (same as chassis ground
of the desktop computer). And the output of the regulator
should be at 3.3V. The drive should stop trying after
a short time, so if there is an overload, the overload
should stop if you wait.

If you don't have a multimeter, use your finger to check the
temperature of the regulator.

If the regulator is burning hot, perhaps it is being overloaded.
The regulator will have thermal protection, and will stop
delivering power if too hot. By burning hot, I mean you'll
be taking your finger off it!

If the regulator is ice cold, that means the drive is not
drawing any current.

If the regulator is moderately warm, things are probably OK.

In the past, there were a few old drives where they needed
a "spin-up command" to start them. I hope that isn't the issue
here, that the drive has some special starting conditions.
ATA has some power management features, that could result
in the drive conserving power until called on by the controller.
It could be the iPod knows to deliver the command.

The LED indicator, could be tied to a bus activity bit,
or it could be connected to the controller chip directly.
The controller chip doesn't have a lot of pins on it,
so there might not be room for a lot of fancy stuff
hanging off it.

You can listen for drive noises, but I expect you've already
done that.

Paul
 
I've been wanting to follow up on this thread but I've been traveling a
lot in the meantime and haven't had time to deal with it.

It seemed to me that the adapter almost certainly had a problem, so I
contacted the seller in China and he's sending me a new one. The first
one took almost a month to get here so I'm not holding my breath. He
seemed genuine so I do believe he's trying to make good. There's a
language barrier and I don't think he's technical, so I didn't bother
to discuss it on that level.

Anyway, the adapter came with a very flimsy USB cable. I was intending
to try it with a known good cable, but I couldn't find one around the
house at that time. Well, I just found my spare cable, and I hooked up
the disk drive(s), adapter, and my cable... and it all works! I can see
both drives, and they appear to function just fine. The problem all
along was the crappy cable that came with the Chinese adapter.

So now I know that the iPod drives are viable and the issue with the
iPod has to do with some other component in there, maybe its disc
controller. I'm not going to bother with it, it's going in the trash. I
might try to sell the two 20 GB drives on Craigslist or something.

Thank you, all for your advice, especially Paul and Flasherly. I
appreciate being able to talk this through with you.
 
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