hard drive repeatedly clicks, not accessible for a few sec..

taragem wrote:

> As for molex connectors they seem to be a weak link in computers. They
> haven't changed since the first PCs, are cheaply made and the more you
> plug and unplug them the less dependable they become. They either
> become loose or so tight I sometimes have to grip it with needle-nosed
> pliers to unplug it. Seems in all those years engineers should've have
> come up with a better connector.
>

On the contrary, the 1x4 Molex is an excellent connector.

How many failures have you heard about while in use ?

Any reports of contact surface damage ?

The high insertion and extraction force can be cured, and there are
power supplies which have modified connectors on the end, that can
be unplugged easily. A high extraction force means they won't fall
out by accident, or via thermal pumping.

The only bad Molex I have personal experience with, is a vampire tap
style. That Molex consists of two pieces of plastic, and they
clamp the four wires, and needle contacts pierce the wires and make
the connection. That method is much less reliable than the normal
crimp pin method, where each pin is crimped to the wire first, and
then snapped into place in the nylon shell. The pins have a positive
retention mechanism, and I haven't read of any reports of a pin being
pushed out backwards, while inside the shell.

If you want examples of connectors not really designed properly,
take a look at the history of SATA. The SATA connector scheme on disk
drives, was intended for connecting a hard drive to a SATA backplane.
The emphasis there, was not for good desktop computer performance. Many
first generation users had problems with SATA connectors falling off.
By comparison, the 1x4 Molex does exactly what it is supposed to do.
Whatever engineer designed that connector, deserves a small trophy.

Paul