{"id":8055,"date":"2026-07-27T18:50:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T02:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/?p=8055"},"modified":"2026-07-27T18:50:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T02:50:33","slug":"disassembling-silicon-power-stream-s03-usb-3-2-gen-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/?p=8055","title":{"rendered":"Disassembling Silicon Power Stream S03 USB 3.2 Gen 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/streams03_icon.jpg\" width=\"120\" height=\"120\" alt=\"iPhone Radio Crazy Mobile\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><\/br><br \/>\nYOKOHAMA (Se\u00f1or Tomato) \u2013 I have been using a <strong>Silicon Power<\/strong> <strong>Stream S03<\/strong> USB 3.2 1TB, an external 2.5-inch external hard disk drive for probably a decade or longer.  To my dismay, my Mac mini stopped reading data from this HD on the 14th of this month.  I have it store all my Xcode projects and sample Xcode projects.  That really hurts.  Is the data all gone?  I thought it was.  Wait, it&#8217;s one of the twin brothers.  I have another HD from Silicon Power that I purchased right at the same time.  So what if I take the HD out of the dead external device and put that HD in the good guy?  A major issue was how do I crack-open these external HD cases?  I&#8217;ve searched the Interent, but there are no videos or tutorials.&nbsp; <!--more--><\/p>\n<p><u>1st step: Crack-opening the case<\/u><\/p>\n<p>There are two small tiny screws that put the top and the bottom cases together.  Obviously, I need to take these screws out.  That&#8217;s an easy part.<\/p>\n<table width=\"464\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tr>\n<td width=\"220\" valign=\"top\"><a href=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/Screenshot_001.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/thumbnail_Screenshot_001.jpg\" width=\"180\" height=\"240\" alt=\"iPhone Ten Miles\"\/><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">Tom Bluewater<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"20\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td width=\"220\" valign=\"top\"><a href=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/Screenshot_002.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/thumbnail_Screenshot_002.jpg\" width=\"180\" height=\"240\" alt=\"iPhone Ten Miles\"\/><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">Tom Bluewater<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>The most puzzling part is how to split these parts without breaking the HD inside.  I am willing to crack the case if I can take the HD out of the dead device.  Out of desperation, I&#8217;ve put a flathead screw driver at the top space (opposite of the USB3 connector).  And I&#8217;ve pushed it harder.  Whoa&#8230;  The screw driver goes further deep between them.  I&#8217;ve moved the screw driver around the case.  And I&#8217;ve successfully split the top part and the bottom part apart.<\/p>\n<table width=\"464\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tr>\n<td width=\"220\" valign=\"top\"><a href=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/Screenshot_003.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/thumbnail_Screenshot_003.jpg\" width=\"180\" height=\"240\" alt=\"iPhone Ten Miles\"\/><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">Tom Bluewater<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"20\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td width=\"220\" valign=\"top\"><a href=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/Screenshot_004.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/thumbnail_Screenshot_004.jpg\" width=\"180\" height=\"240\" alt=\"iPhone Ten Miles\"\/><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">Tom Bluewater<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>So here it is.  I can see the HD inside right in front of me after I removed the top part.<\/p>\n<p><u>2nd step: Removing the HD from the bottom case<\/u><\/p>\n<p>Now, how do I remove the HD from the bottom case?  Do I need a torx driver to loosen up tiny screws around the HD?  I have torx drivers in several sizes.  But none of them matches the screws.  Again, out of desperation, I&#8217;ve lifted the HD with my flathead driver.  Oh, whoa, again&#8230;  That&#8217;s it.  Now, the HD has been removed.  Whew, lucky me!<\/p>\n<table width=\"464\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tr>\n<td width=\"220\" valign=\"top\"><a href=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/Screenshot_005.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/thumbnail_Screenshot_005.jpg\" width=\"180\" height=\"240\" alt=\"iPhone Ten Miles\"\/><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">Tom Bluewater<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"20\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td width=\"220\" valign=\"top\"><a href=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/Screenshot_006.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/thumbnail_Screenshot_006.jpg\" width=\"180\" height=\"240\" alt=\"iPhone Ten Miles\"\/><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">Tom Bluewater<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><u>3rd step: Removing the HD<\/u><\/p>\n<p>I still need to isolate the HD.  So I remove the sticky seal between the HD and the cable connector.  And I&#8217;m able to detach the remaining component from the HD. <\/p>\n<table width=\"464\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tr>\n<td width=\"220\" valign=\"top\"><a href=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/Screenshot_007.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/thumbnail_Screenshot_007.jpg\" width=\"180\" height=\"240\" alt=\"iPhone Ten Miles\"\/><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">Tom Bluewater<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"20\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td width=\"220\" valign=\"top\"><a href=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/Screenshot_008.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"hardware\/siliconpower\/thumbnail_Screenshot_008.jpg\" width=\"180\" height=\"240\" alt=\"iPhone Ten Miles\"\/><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">Tom Bluewater<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>Eventually, I&#8217;ve managed to put the HD from the dead device in the healthy case.  And I&#8217;ve managed to recover pretty much every bit of data from the 1st HD through a 2019 27-inch iMac although the data transfer process was terribly slow.  But I can&#8217;t complain because the precious data is back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>YOKOHAMA (Se\u00f1or Tomato) \u2013 I have been using a Silicon Power Stream S03 USB 3.2 1TB, an external 2.5-inch external hard disk drive for probably a decade or longer. To my dismay, my Mac mini stopped reading data from this &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/?p=8055\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":342,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple-mac"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8055"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8067,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8055\/revisions\/8067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}