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mattmarshall · Mar 11, 2002, 11:22 PM

hey all....

someone over at 2-pop gave me the heads up on an amazing deal for an expansion bay drive, so i thought i'd pass along the info.

you can get it from www.smartdisk.com

the exact link is: http://store.yahoo.com/smartdiskstor...vstexbay1.html

it's actually a 10 gig expansion bay drive, which you can swap out for a larger one if necessary (according to the guy on 2-pop.)

either way, amazing deal--an expansion bay module, without a drive, is currently over 100 dollars. great for easy backups--or, as i got it for, some dv editing without dropping those frames....

i picked up two for my pismo....

enjoy

-matt

jaske · Mar 11, 2002, 11:46 PM

Thanks for the notice...I just ordered one..and yeah it can be upgraded: The drive housing is pretty much a stock piece. I love deals like this. I just picked-up a new Zip 250 expansion bay module for $60 due to a misprint at Mac Zones. If I find anything similar in the future I'll be sure and post it. Thanks again.

-Jennings

icruise · Mar 12, 2002, 06:08 AM

Thanks for the info!

I had actually been considering getting an expansion bay hard disk exclosure for my pismo, so this was quite good timing for me. I bought a 30GB drive for my windows subnotebook, but then realized that basically all I am going to use it for is mobile email and internet, so the 10GB it came with is plenty. I think I will take out the 30GB (a nice one with fluid bearings from Fujitsu) and put it in my Pismo. That would give me 78GB on my lap -- not too shabby. I may not have to put part of my MP3 collection offline after all.

The problem is -- what to do with the extra 10GB drive that comes with the enclosure? I think even the cheapest firewire enclosure would be too expensive to really make it worthwhile (I've already got a couple of firewire disks, so I'm not really hurting for space).

I love it when bargains like this come around. Last year I got a very good deal one of the tiny VST firewire enclosures -- the ones that only had a 3GB drive and cost more than $300 when new. I opened it up and put an old 20GB drive in and presto -- a 20GB drive for less than half the price of a new one.

[ 03-12-2002: Message edited by: Icruise ]

lucx · Mar 12, 2002, 12:31 PM

Thanks mattmarshal!!!

This might be just the solution I've looking for. I was contemplating getting a larger hard drive for my Pismo.... but for $60... this sounds almost too good to be true....

I wish the drive was larger than 10GB (as I currently have a 10GB in the Pismo).... but at that price, like you said, it's even cheaper than an empty expansion module... and you get a 10GB drive as a bonus!!!

Has anyone actually ordered this yet? Is it a trustworthy vendor?

What type of hard drive is it? And how fast is it compared to a standard Pismo hard-drive?

I REALLY thinking of getting one of these!

Thanks,
Luc

lucx · Mar 12, 2002, 07:12 PM

OK... The Smartdisk website says they're having a 15% off EVERYTHING sale starting tomorrow 3/13/02 going through Friday 3/15/02. Free UPS residential ground.

Smartdisk Store Page - 15% OFF

If you click on order, and select UPS ground, shipping is FREE as of right now anyway. Does this mean that maybe the $60 already includes a 15% discount early? Will it be only $51 tomorrow.... ???

My fear is that the $60 price might by a typo or something (it's almost WAY too good to be true), and that tomorrow, when they discover the typo, the price will be higher, even with 15% off. This is just my crazy hypothesis!!!

So I don't know if I should get it now for $60, and screw the $9, or take a chance and wait 'til tomorrow???

lucx · Mar 12, 2002, 07:40 PM

Well.... I couldn't resist..... I just ordered one....

At that price... I didn't want to risk it.... if it becomes cheaper.... then that's an added bonus and maybe I'll order a second one...

Rainy Day · Mar 12, 2002, 08:04 PM

This looks like it was designed for the Pismo. Anyone know if Pismo bay drives are compatible with Wallstreets? If i remember correctly, Wallstreets have larger bays than Pismos, so you can't plug Wallstreet widgets into Pismo bays (because they won't fit). I'm thinking it might fit and be compatible, but the cosmetics might be off. Anyone know for sure?

lucx · Mar 12, 2002, 08:09 PM

Well, the description says it's for 1999 and 2000 Powerbook G3s. This would mean Lombard and Pismo. I don't know about Wallstreet.

Expansion Bay Drive info

Timo · Mar 12, 2002, 08:32 PM

Ordered one. With the 15% discount code ("Yahoosale") and free shipping my total was under $51.

I'll believe it when it shows up.

lucx · Mar 12, 2002, 08:43 PM

D@mn... I didn't know "YAHOOSALE" was the actual CODE... I thought that would be revealed tomorrow!!!

I will have to cancel and reorder....

Thanks Timo!

icruise · Mar 13, 2002, 04:45 AM

Hmm. Kind of mixed feelings about the sale thing. I'm don't think I'm going to go to the trouble of cancelling and reordering just to use the sale, especially since I don't want to risk not being able to get it at all. I considered getting two -- it's that good a deal, but I don't know if I would actually use two. I guess it depends on how long I will be keep the old Pismo as my main machine.

I notice that they are listing 35 in stock -- when I ordered mine last night it said 42. I wonder if all of those sales were to people from this thread?

By the way have you guys heard about MCE's firebay? It is basically a convertor that turns a powerbook expansion bay device like a hard disk or DVD drive into a bus-powered firewire device. Might be useful (especially later down the road) for someone who has a lot invested in these kinds of things.

atomium · Mar 13, 2002, 10:20 AM

Ordered mine last night. Sale code, free shipping and all. Thanks, mattmarshall, for the tip on this one.

-atomium

icruise · Mar 13, 2002, 02:56 PM

They're apparently all gone now. You think they pulled the deal, or did someone get greedy and order 30 or so?

I kind of wish I got more now...

lucx · Mar 13, 2002, 05:38 PM

Yeah.... that's weird.... I kinda thought it wouldn't last.

It's like you said Icruise... either someone snapped up 30, since it was such a ripping deal..... now keep you eyes open on EBAY.... I would bet everything that this is what will happen...

-OR-

They made mistake.... that price was just SO good. Even emtpy expansion enclosures go for like $100!!!! Let alone with a 10GB drive in them already!!!

All I can say is I'm glad I got mine!

Cheers!

mattmarshall · Mar 13, 2002, 05:57 PM

i don't know--i tried to order a few days ago, before i posted this deal here, and it said they had none then. the next day, 47 were in stock.

but, if i was a mac dealer, i'd snatch these up, and sell them for a nice profit.

i didn't get that extra 15 percent off with free shipping--i'm pretty jealous about that!--but i'm just glad mine are already on a truck headed my way...

Davidarm · Mar 14, 2002, 04:01 PM

They're back now and going fast...there were 50 when i started ordering and by the time I completed my order there were 46...

mattmarshall · Mar 14, 2002, 07:44 PM

when i got home my two new expansion bay drives were waiting....

for those who asked, it's an "ibm -dcxa-210000" 10 gig drive inside....

it's kind of noisy, more than my stock 6 gig drive.

-matt

lucx · Mar 14, 2002, 08:54 PM

Well.... at 7:55pm EST.... they are all gone yet again.... watch eBay I guess!

10GB Expansion Bay Drive link

icruise · Mar 14, 2002, 09:23 PM

Strange. They may have hundreds of these, but only list them in small groups.

By the way, does anybody know if you can install and boot OS X on these? I seem to recall an issue where you couldn't install OS X on an expansion bay drive, although that was with an earlier version of the OS.

rickray1 · Mar 15, 2002, 01:30 AM

Has anyone who ordered one had theirs shipped yet?
I ordered me one 2 days ago and it still has not shipped.

atomium · Mar 15, 2002, 04:06 PM

Originally posted by rickray1:
Has anyone who ordered one had theirs shipped yet?
I ordered me one 2 days ago and it still has not shipped.

Ordered mine Tuesday. Arrived at my office today. Don't have it in yet, so no report on noise or any other notes...

-atomium

Timo · Mar 15, 2002, 05:34 PM

Got mine today. Comes with system 8.6 on it. Popped it in: smooth, nice, fairly quiet. Mine has an IBM Travelstar 20GN in it. Really, for $51 this was quite a deal. Thanks to mattmarshal.

lucx · Mar 18, 2002, 04:22 PM

Question: How do check to see which brand of drive it actually is? Did any of you open yours up, or is it something that you check in the system profiler?

Mine just arrived via UPS!!! wooohooo!!!

I haven't popped it in yet.... It's still cold.... so I'll it sit for a little bit to avoid any condensation problems.

Thanx

atomium · Mar 18, 2002, 05:11 PM

Originally posted by lucx:
Question: How do check to see which brand of drive it actually is? Did any of you open yours up, or is it something that you check in the system profiler?

Apple System Profiler is where I found it.

I'm happy with mine. Filled it with my music and got my drive space back.

I will say that mine certainly isn't quiet. The chatter when it first accesses the drive makes it sound like squirrels have taken up shop in my expansion bay. Spins relatively quietly, though.

-atomium

lucx · Mar 18, 2002, 06:43 PM

Well... I just checked mine. It's an IBM DJSA-210... that's a Travelstar 20GN! I'm pretty happy with that, they seem like decent drives, eventhough not necessarily cutting edge.

It freaked me out though... first time in, it wouldn't mount.... so I ejected and re-inserted... and low and behold... it mounted just fine! It does sound like it could be a little noisier than built in drive... could be a function of the enclosure though.... hopefullly it's not a problem. Maybe the reason they were so cheap was that they were rejects.

I will reformat it soon though.... don't much care for OS 8.6.... and I noticed that the formatting is HFS (Standard), and not HFS+ (Extended).

It doesn't sit as flush as I'd like, particularly around the "step" area. There's a bit of a gap.

Anyhow, looks good for now.... it will solve my space (or lack thereof) problem for now....

Cheers

atomium · Mar 21, 2002, 04:15 PM

Sorry to drag this thread back up again, but has anyone else considered "modifying" their new expansion bay drive to fit in the left bay? I'm thinking it would be much easier for me to have DVD and HD in at the same time, but still debating if I should take this (potentially messy) plunge...

-atomium

Nep2ne · Mar 21, 2002, 06:06 PM

Damn, looks like they are out of quantity...what an amazing deal though!

icruise · Mar 22, 2002, 03:07 AM

Originally posted by atomium:
Sorry to drag this thread back up again, but has anyone else considered "modifying" their new expansion bay drive to fit in the left bay? I'm thinking it would be much easier for me to have DVD and HD in at the same time, but still debating if I should take this (potentially messy) plunge...

-atomium

Unless I am mistaken the Lombard and Pismo are not capable of using anything but a battery in the left bay, so I wouldn't risk altering the expansion bay. I agree that it would be very useful if you could use both DVD and HD at the same time though.

atomium · Mar 22, 2002, 08:47 AM

I knew there was a reason why I should ask here first. Thanks.

-r

icruise · Mar 24, 2002, 05:50 AM

For those of you interested in putting a higher-capacity drive in this drive case, I tried it out this morning with no problems. Here is a page with some pictures and commentary about the process:

http://homepage.mac.com/icruise1/vstdrive.htm