damaged SATA socket on motherboard (with photo)
 

Riddle me this, space people:

I opened up my (used, obtained at a bargain price) box to add a hard drive, in order to make use of its on-board RAID capabilities. Unfortunately, the second SATA socket on the motherboard is damaged. I actually photographed it (see attached jpg file). I wonder if I should try to carefully plug it in anyway? The pins are bent, but they appear to all be there. Or is there any easy way to fix/replace that motherboard socket in situ?

Also, there are three physical carriages for hard drives in this box, but only two SATA sockets on the motherboard (unless I overlooked others). I suppose the third one would have to connect via a sata cable splitter?

Attachment 13470
le'zarb


"Assessment of true causality is a worthy goal and as with symbols, when the actual origin of something is successfully isolated, the situation can be considered independently and in its own light and aesthetic context, in order to reveal the fundamental philosophical implications."

Personally, I wouldn't chance it...I would put a card in it...similar to this one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816103059

This is just a random example....you would need to pick the "brand/speed/price point" that you are willing to pay....

HTH

The connector could, of course, be replaced given the proper tools and skills, but if you had those you wouldn't have asked that question, and even with the right tools there would be some danger of damage to the motherboard. If that board were mine, I'd try to gently straighten the pins with a pair of needle nose pliers and live with the damaged connector.

No, you cannot just "split" the SATA cable to add a drive. That would require an SATA Port Multiplier, and even that is a low-performance way to add a drive interface.