Rookie mistake

[garbon]

So I was moving my secondary hard drive from my old computer to my new one.  I'm not sure how it happened (perhaps too much strain on the data cable when my hand bumped it) but the plastic L shape above the sata connector on my new computer's main hard drive broke off. The pins are still intact it's just that the data cable now doesn't have a firm grip. I was able to successfully boot if I held the cable in place.

Thankfully the main hard drive on my new computer wasn't high end so wouldn't be terrible to replace. Is my best bet buying a similar hard drive and then cloning my damaged main drive? Will that allow me to keep my operating system without a fresh install?

The other thing I saw online is people buying a sata cable that had data/power ends combined in one long strip and then because the l-shape is still there for the power piece, it fits snugly on. Though I did also see mentions of using hot glue to affix data side.

Languish, any thoughts?

[viper37]

If you're on a budget, go for the hot glue
It will work, so long as you don't need to disconnect it, I guess.

Otherwise, buy any hard drive and simply copy the data.  There are a few freeware utility that would help you with that, but if it's just data, simply going into Windows and copy/paste the content will be ok.  You don't have to buy the same thing.  Buy a new one, a bigger and faster one ideally.

[DGuller]

SATA cables plug in from both ends, so I would think that you can glue in one end of the SATA cable to the hard drive without permanently attaching the hard drive to your computer.

[garbon]

If you're on a budget

I'm not even sure what that phrase means.

But yeah I was sort of thinking that maybe glue is the temp fix and that at some point though I should probably by a new drive and copy everything over.

[garbon]

SATA cables plug in from both ends, so I would think that you can glue in one end of the SATA cable to the hard drive without permanently attaching the hard drive to your computer.

True.

[DontSayBanana]

What's the capacity of your hard drive?  If you don't already have hot glue laying around, you'll be shelling out $15-30 for a temporary fix, while you can easily get a 500GB hard drive for $50-60.