How to Fix the 3.3V Pin Issue in White Label Disks Shucked From Western Digital 8TB Easystore Drives

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Step 1: The Plan

Today, we're going to fix the 3.3V pin problem that can prevent your Western Digital white label drives from working in some computers. When you shuck, or remove, the internal disk from a Western Digital Easystore external drive, you'll find either a red label or a white label internal disk. In the past, Western Digital was using red label drives exclusively, but at the time of publishing this instructable, the white label drives are more common.

Step 2: The Symptom

The symptom of the problem is that the white labels simply won't be recognized when placed into computers using certain power supplies. After connecting a white label drive, the Western Digital drive doesn't appear at all in the BIOS' storage information screen, and thus, it wouldn't be seen in Windows either. This tells us that this isn't a problem inherent to the operating system, but a hardware problem.

Step 3: The Cause

The cause is a new SATA specification which includes the ability to disable power to the hard disk. When you look at the SATA power connection on the back of your hard drive, there are 15 pins that make contact with your power supply. It's the third pin that delivers a 3.3V signal that disables the drive. What we need to do is prevent that third pin from making contact with the power cable.

Step 4: Solution One

The first solution involves a piece of Kapton tape to cover that third pin. It's a special type of non-conductive tape that's stable at both low and high temperatures, and is yellowish in color. Take a piece of backing paper from a sheet of labels and place the tape onto it. Then take a piece of cardboard and place it underneath. The goal here is to cut a thin strip of tape - enough to cover that third pin - so take a razor and gently slice off a strip of tape. Next, on the hard drive, locate the third pin, and gently apply the tape. I highly recommend that you use an ESD wrist strap while you're doing this, as you are touching the contacts of the drive. The tape is too long for the pin, so snip off the excess with some scissors.

Going back to the computer, while the Kapton tape is on the third pin, connect the power cable which will slip right over the tape, and then the data cable. After booting up the PC and returning to the storage information in the BIOS, we can see that the Western Digital drive is indeed being recognized - and if you boot into Windows or whichever operating system you're using, you will see the drive and be able to partition it and format it.

Step 5: Solution Two

The second solution involves a Molex-to-SATA power adapter, which goes between the hard drive and the power supply. The one shown here has both a power adapter and a data connector, so it's a two-in-one adapter, but all you really need is the power piece of it. They sell just the Molex-to-SATA adapter, separate from the data cable. All you need to do is connect the adapter to a molex connector coming from your power supply, and the other end to the hard disk. These adapters effectively bypass pin 3 on the SATA power connector. Please note that some cheaply made adapters have been known to catch fire, so please do some research and purchase a high quality adapter.

Once again, after entering the BIOS, the Western Digital drive is recognized. Continuing to boot into Windows will allow you to see the disk and format it.

Step 6: Summary

There are many power supplies which will work just fine with the white label drives without any modification, and my QNAP NAS devices work fine with them as well. But if you run across a situation where the drives don't power up, you can use one of these methods that I've covered - using the Kapton tape or the Molex-to-SATA adapter - to prevent any voltage to travel to pin three of the disk, allowing you to use the white label Western Digital disks as internal drives.

Comments

[rumbleoasis]

I normally won't swear, but F moi, this is amazing.

[PetrK4]

If you do not care about warranty (and many people may not if they extracted their drives from an enclosure), it is actually quite easy to break off the pin. First, from the front of the drive, push with a very thin set of pliers on a little "dot" that holds the pin in place. Then bend it back, right at the base. Then bend it forward. After 2-3 times, the pin will fall off.

[xfxforced]

Hi
I shucked My Book 8 TB and used it as internal (because those drives are very hot even in good place (Hellium ver (orange boxes) is slightly cooler than air ver (Green boxes) and mine was air version)
and was very hot about 55 c even after puting 220W fan was 45 do decide to make it internal and now is 35
but My question is after that I put my 4TB internal in box but windows dont regonize it (show as unallocated while its already formated and with alot of data but it couldnt even accept it to format!!!)

is there anyway to fix using mt 4tb in My book box as external?

[robert.person]

So this is TRULY a power supply issue and NOT a motherboard issue. Just wanted to make sure BEFORE purchasing a NEW power supply.

[damcis]

When I removed my 10tb harddrive from the external case and put it in my pc, it didn't work at all. I thought I damaged the drive somehow. But I stumbled across this video and already had molex to sata power adapters in my rig, so the drive was recognized! Just want to thank you for this super easy fix, thought I lost 10tb of data!

[mattfm]

I have a HGST HUH728080ALE600 created in 2016 I think my power supply was created in 2015, I tried electrical tape and an adapter but neither worked but it did briefly show up when I set the motherboard to RAID instead of ACHI. Does anyone know if all new power supplies comform to revision 3.4 as I am thinking of just buying a new PSU to fix this problem. The only other solution I can think would be to buy a NAS which defeats the point of what I was trying to do.

[mattfm]

Tried the cutting of orange cable that didn't work either, maybe its a duff hard drive

[AXington]

I can't find anywhere to get a good adapter, and the kapton tape came off when I was working on my computer and it's a PITA to get to stay, so I'm thinking about cutting the pin, or painting over it with a non conductive paint

[chris.hoekstra]

I would advise against the molex to SATA method as I just had one catch fire and no indication the adapter was not sufficient. Took out the drive, SATA cable, audio HD cable, case connectors and soot and burn marks all over the computer. It was quite a significant fire and never again for me, not worth the risk.

Instead, I plan on a 3rd option, which is cutting the 3.3v wire on that SATA power cable so all drives on that one SATA line do not receive any 3.3v power and revert instead to 5V. Much safer this way IMO.

[Rex Schrader]

Totally worked for me.
I just would have lead with the Molex to SATA connector thing. Not everyone has Kapton tape just sitting around, but chances are you have a ton of connector converters.

[DIY Hacks and How Tos]

Interesting. Good to know information if that ever comes up. Thanks for sharing.