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curtlivingston · Jan 16, 2004, 06:19 PM

i am quite taken with lacie's porsche drives. but when buying such a product for purely aesthetic reasons, i want to know whether i can upgrade it's innards.
does anyone have any first hand knowledge of this?

Krypton · Jan 17, 2004, 07:37 AM

If it uses a 1.8" drive I would imagine so.

mmihalik · Jan 17, 2004, 03:40 PM

Originally posted by curtlivingston:
i am quite taken with lacie's porsche drives. but when buying such a product for purely aesthetic reasons, i want to know whether i can upgrade it's innards.
does anyone have any first hand knowledge of this?

There are versions that use 2.5" drives, and others that use 3.5" drives.

Some things to think about:
- very difficult to disassemble and reassemble
- voids warranty

That being said, if you are knowledgeable and handy and methodical, you can replace the drive.

If you have to ask how to do it, then I would say don't bother.

If soemthing goes wrong, LaCie will be able to tell that you went inside, and will void the warranty.

Mike

milhaus · Jan 19, 2004, 06:16 PM

Originally posted by mmihalik:
There are versions that use 2.5" drives, and others that use 3.5" drives.

Some things to think about:
- very difficult to disassemble and reassemble
- voids warranty

That being said, if you are knowledgeable and handy and methodical, you can replace the drive.

If you have to ask how to do it, then I would say don't bother.

If soemthing goes wrong, LaCie will be able to tell that you went inside, and will void the warranty.

Mike

Anybody actually do this yet? I've done it before with the D2 and the older drives; is it as easy to do with these? I'm more interested in the 3.5" drives.

curtlivingston · Jan 19, 2004, 08:15 PM

really, what i need to find out, is whether, inside the case, the hdd is is connected to the ide-fw bridge with a standard ide cable that can be pulled out (ie not soldered on), so i can add a newer and bigger one when the time comes.

Target Practice · Jan 20, 2004, 08:01 AM

I did this. Swapping the drive is the easy part. Getting the case apart was difficult.

I upgraded my AlBook 15 drive to a 7200RPM drive and decided to put the stock 80GB drive into the LaCie enclosure. The 20GB LaCie was only slightly more $$ than an empty enclosure and looks very nice.

I wouldn't do it again though.

curtlivingston · Jan 20, 2004, 01:39 PM

thanks peoples.

milhaus · Jan 26, 2004, 11:22 AM

Originally posted by Target Practice:
I did this. Swapping the drive is the easy part. Getting the case apart was difficult.

I upgraded my AlBook 15 drive to a 7200RPM drive and decided to put the stock 80GB drive into the LaCie enclosure. The 20GB LaCie was only slightly more $$ than an empty enclosure and looks very nice.

I wouldn't do it again though.

Could you, if time permits, post details of your adventure. I'm looking into buying the same drive for that reason, but after a quick look, couldn't figure out where to even start with the disassembly.

Thanks,
M.

Target Practice · Jan 28, 2004, 10:44 AM

Originally posted by milhaus:
Could you, if time permits, post details of your adventure. I'm looking into buying the same drive for that reason, but after a quick look, couldn't figure out where to even start with the disassembly.

Thanks,
M.

You will basically need to pry and pull the bottom away from the top. The top is like a lid on a box, except it is clamped to the bottom along the sides. There are no screws.

I ended up scratching mine because I didn't know where to start. But in the end, the procedure is like taking apart an iPod.

Good luck.

One thing to keep in mind... I was told by the reseller that the enclosure does not use the Oxford chipset. I don't really know what the implications of that are, but thought I'd pass that along.

mmihalik · Jan 28, 2004, 11:11 AM

Oxford is inside.

Mike

milhaus · Jan 29, 2004, 06:54 PM

Originally posted by Target Practice:
You will basically need to pry and pull the bottom away from the top. The top is like a lid on a box, except it is clamped to the bottom along the sides. There are no screws.

I ended up scratching mine because I didn't know where to start. But in the end, the procedure is like taking apart an iPod.

Good luck.

One thing to keep in mind... I was told by the reseller that the enclosure does not use the Oxford chipset. I don't really know what the implications of that are, but thought I'd pass that along.

So, it *is* possible to do it without scratching it? Or is it not possible . . .

I guess I'll just bite the bullet and do it. . .

Target Practice · Jan 29, 2004, 08:45 PM

Originally posted by milhaus:
So, it *is* possible to do it without scratching it? Or is it not possible . . .

I guess I'll just bite the bullet and do it. . .

I scratched the back panel, but shouldn't have touched it... I didn't know where to start.... There are no screws under the rubber feet.

If you are patient (unlike me) and pry the case loose from the sides only you might do no harm -- except for the warranty.

slick70+ · Mar 22, 2006, 08:48 PM

Removing the case w/o scratching is easy. I took a common, plastic knife (picnic variety), sanded off the teeth (probably not necessary), and then used it on each corner, prying the side of the case (plastic) away from the base (metal). There are four tabs on the case, which fit into four slots on the base. Careful work will release the case.

Once inside however, it's a different story. Removing the drive requires that you remove the LED, which is glued to the bottom of the drive.

As effective a "seal" as I've ever seen.

good luck.