# TSG: Replacing a lost tablet cable

## Overview

If you lost or damaged the cable that connects your tablet to your computer, you have a couple of options.

## Pen tablets vs pen displays

The ability to replace your cable, and how difficult and expensive it is, is highly dependent on the type of drawing tablet you have.

* Pen tablets (screenless tablets) - Getting a replacement is usually easy and inexpensive
* Pen displays (screen tablets) - Getting a replacement cable may be more complicated

## Pen tablets

The fundamental requirement is you need a cable that:

* Fits into your tablet's port.
  * So you should first verify your port. For a pen tablet, almost all modern pen tablets use USB-C ports, and some slightly older ones use micro-USB and some even older ones use mini-USB.
  * Some ports in tablets are recessed - so occasionally only cables that have ends that are thin enough will fit into the port. For example, see [Recessed USB-C ports](/drawtab/guides/connecting/recessed-usbc-ports.md).
* carries data
* carries power (it doesn't need much)

The SAFE CHOICE is to contact your tablet manufacturer's customer support and ask them which cable to get. To assist them, have the tablet name and model number ready.

Your other option is to get a third party cable that meets the requirements. See: [Using 3rd-party cables with your drawing tablet](/drawtab/guides/connecting/3rd-party-cables-for-drawtab.md).

Replacing your pen tablet's cable usually is very inexpensive.

## Pen displays

This situation is more complicated because there are so many different ways to connect a pen display. See [Connecting a pen display](/drawtab/guides/connecting/connecting-pen-display.md). And not all cables that will fit into your tablet or computer will work as expected.

In this case, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you contact your tablet manufacturer's customer support and ask them which cable to get.

Yes, you can use 3rd-party cables with your pen displays in some cases (see [Using 3rd-party cables with your drawing tablet](/drawtab/guides/connecting/3rd-party-cables-for-drawtab.md)). However, you put yourself at an increased risk of spending a lot of money on an incompatible cable.


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