2.5" HP laptop hard drive

[Stevesw]

Hello, I have a HP DV 6600 laptop which has now completely failed (usual overheating problem) and I want to access the information on my hard disc. It is a SATA 2.5" drive and assumed all drives this size were the same. I bought a drive caddy off ebay but the connectors are wrong so it doesnt fit. Do HP make there hard drives with non standard connectors despite being SATA drives? If so, anyone know how I am going to be able to access this drive? Thanks in advance

[ChuckFickens]

I assume you did get a SATA caddy? (and not an IDE one)

Is so, there is probably a little adaptor plate pushed on to the end on the hard drive.

[ChuckFickens]

OH, and I assume it's the video card that failed in it? in which case stripping the main board out of it and either baking the board in a hot oven for 30min or heating the video chip up with a hot air gun will probably fix it (I've done about 7 or so with a heat gun and have had a 100% success rate)

[Stevesw]

Yeah the ad did say it was a SATA caddy but the connector is different from the one on the drive. Ive used these caddies a few times but with desktop drives and they have been fine. Just wondering if HP used a different standard to everyone else? :-(

[ChuckFickens]

The black plastic bit is the part that pulls off...

http://i.ebayimg.com/...KBOiy8EmUb!~~60_3.JPG

[ChuckFickens]

They don't use a different standard.

But it is fairly common for laptops to have an adaptor plate on the drive, as shown above.

[Stevesw]

Yeah thats the one mate. I was getting round it by booting it up and keeping it wrapped in a towel for half hour to over heat it then switching off and rebooting. This worked fine for a few months but wont have it at all now. I just get the lights up, the disc spins for about two seconds then it turns off. once i get the stuff of the disc I may strip it and heat it with a gun. Did you sheild off anything or jsut heat up the general area of the graphics chip? :-)

[Stevesw]

Ah rite, think im getting mixed up with terminology a bit, I have that bit as part of the drive, what i have bought is the aluminium box that you can slide the drive into then put on a connector and end cap and screw it together. You can then use this as a portable storage device. Thats what i have bought but the connector is different on it.

[ChuckFickens]

make sure there's nothing plastic around the area on both sides of the board and then just heat up the general area of the graphics chip, you have to get it pretty hot, keep an eye on the little components on top of the GPU and around it and heat it until the solder on those just turns shiny and then leave it to cool for a few minutes before moving it (don't blow it to cool it down, I've seen somebody blow the surface mount caps right off the board doing that :))

Also if it's got a sort of stick on heat transfer pad on top of the GPU it's worth finding a 1mm thick bit of copper, cutting a square the same size as the top of the GPU and replacing the pad with the copper square (use a decent thermal paste on both sides of the copper)

[ChuckFickens]

I don't think you're quite getting what I'm getting at :)

If you look at the picture I posted, the black plastic bit at the top of the picture is an adaptor that I reckon you currently still have attached to the drive, pull that adaptor off the drive and there will be a standard SATA connector on the drive that the adaptor plugs into.

[Stevesw]

Ahhhh rite well i did think mebbe the plastic connector came off, ill have another look at it and update on here. Ill also have a go at the motherboard sometime. Cheers, chuck :-)

[Stevesw]

Yay thanks mate, just had the disc out again and noticed it does indeed have a removable connector and so now fits, :-) Thanks