lost eden
04-07-2007, 02:54 PM
I recently received the shell of a Freecom FSG-3 160GB, as reviewed here;
http://www.trustedreviews.com/networking/review/2005/12/05/Freecom-FSG-3-Storage-Gateway/p1
Now I say 'shell' because the drive that came in it (a 160GB DiamondMax 10) overheated & died (not surprising seeming as it has one of the worst designed fans I've ever seen that is all centre-piece & no fins, along with absolutely no holes whatsoever for cool air to come in by) - it got so hot before it failed that one of the cables that runs over the top of the drive to a USB port on the back of the unit has actually had it's rubber layer melted.
I know that when the drive was turned on, it booted some sort of OS off the drive itself, as you could hear it seeking away for about a minute before the drive was operational, so what I'm wondering is would it be possible to acquire an image of this OS (I assume it's a Linux kernel of some sort) & install it to another drive, & create a fully functioning device again? The unit has USB ports & an e-SATA port for connecting external drives, so it could actually come in useful for attaching storage to my network, & if I use an olf 1GB hard drive that's knocking around then it won't cost me anything (& is unlikely to overheat with such a slow drive!).
http://www.trustedreviews.com/networking/review/2005/12/05/Freecom-FSG-3-Storage-Gateway/p1
Now I say 'shell' because the drive that came in it (a 160GB DiamondMax 10) overheated & died (not surprising seeming as it has one of the worst designed fans I've ever seen that is all centre-piece & no fins, along with absolutely no holes whatsoever for cool air to come in by) - it got so hot before it failed that one of the cables that runs over the top of the drive to a USB port on the back of the unit has actually had it's rubber layer melted.
I know that when the drive was turned on, it booted some sort of OS off the drive itself, as you could hear it seeking away for about a minute before the drive was operational, so what I'm wondering is would it be possible to acquire an image of this OS (I assume it's a Linux kernel of some sort) & install it to another drive, & create a fully functioning device again? The unit has USB ports & an e-SATA port for connecting external drives, so it could actually come in useful for attaching storage to my network, & if I use an olf 1GB hard drive that's knocking around then it won't cost me anything (& is unlikely to overheat with such a slow drive!).