HDPNT500U3 - sata-to-usb3.0 adapter pins broken

[Behar]

Howdy,

Windows 7, 64 bit machine.
Never used a password to lock this drive. Simple plug-n-play/use.

I feared this day will come. The adapter from a usb3.0 connector to the portable external hard-drive has been broken. The hard drive itself is healthy and fine, but it's the actual physical connection from a usb3.0 cable to the hard drive that has failed.

I believe that the hardware encryption boasted by this hdd is limiting my access to retrieve my files.
The drive has been taken out and put into another enclosure, plugged into the same computer via usb, but fails to show up under my computer.

I can see the hard drive under "Computer Management"--->"Disk Management", but it is shown as "not initialized" and "unallocated". Only option offered is to initialize as MBR or GPT style. Google tells me this erases data.

The drive was/is working, however the pins from the usb3.0--> sata adaptor that failed. The cable pulled out the tab with pins. I imagine that resoldering the pins would work, but I'm far too clumsy to solder such a micro-sized-project.

I assume I cannot just buy any sata-usb3.0 adapter, as there is hardware encryption, what are my options here? Is there software from Buffalo that would enable me to retrieve my data? Could I obtain a replacement adapter which will solve my problems with the hardware encryption?

Best regards,
-B

[Behar]

Also found this topic on the same subject.. no solution so far. :(

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f16/buffalo-ministation-hd-pntu3-691302.html