Quick question, re: bent pins on hard drive connector...

When replacing my hard drive I slightly bent 4 of the small pins on the back of the new hard drive. I tried bending them back slightly but the connector was able to fit over them, so I just ended up leaving as is...
My question is, will these "bent pins" possible cause problems in the future? The HD seems fine, should I risk opening the computer again to try and straighten them? Any advice appreciated...

Those pins are very sensitive. They run into the circuitboard of the drive controller. Any bending can push the pin into the circuitboard and cause it to break off, or potentially short. If you have a very fine tipped saudering iron and a steady hand and a good magnifying glass you can fix it, but most people do not have that sort of skill. I was lucky that my usergroup had someone with such skills to fix my drive. But eventually I'm not going to rely on that drive forever. You have to be very careful when connecting the drive to the connector so the pins don't bend. If you don't, you might have ruined the drive. If you just bought it, take it back to where you bought it from and tell them it is defective and use their return policy.

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