HDD Window Mod

H

hoobie7

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 12, 2005
Messages
233
So, I've seen a couple tutorials on this around and it looked really cool. So I decided I'd give it a shot too!

Here's what I started with, an old Maxtor IDE drive. Size? Who cares, its dead.
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This first drive is simply a donor for it's top cover.
I went with these drives for a couple reasons.
First, the drive cover is symmetrical and that makes me happy.
B.) The top has the perfect raised center section for this kind of mod.
Tertiary: That darker colored metal piece is glued down and actually comes off with some effort. This makes a PERFECT template!
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Once I had rough cut it with the mini hack saw it was time to sand it down to it's final shape.
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Oh ya, and I cut those middle dips out with a Dremel with a carving bit and then sanded with one of the sanding drum bits. Sorry, no pics.
I went all the way up to 400 grit on the edges. Mostly just cuz I had it layin around. It's not perfect but pretty darn good I think. Very smooth to the touch.
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The finished window fits in its spot like a glove!
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Another.
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Tomorrow, I start the cutting the metal lid.

Hoobie ;)
 
Next!!

Ok, now it's time to get the metal top cut.
First, I need to trace out what I want to cut.
I happened to find a used Dremel cut off disc that looked about right.
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Of course, I decided that was gonna be too much of a lip so I just kinda free handed a second line that removes more metal.
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Next, I just used a fresh cut-off wheel to remove the center section.
This actually worked out well since I now had an inside line to cut on and a second line to grind down to.
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And here's just a rough idea of what it will hopefully look like.
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More to come later!
Hoobie ;)
 
how are u gana no if ur hdd will still work with the clear cover if its dead?
 
mark660 said:
how are u gana no if ur hdd will still work with the clear cover if its dead?
Click to expand...
Are you trying to say: How are you going to know if your hdd will still work with the clear cover if it's dead?:confused: I think the hdd was dead before he took the top off.

Anyway, that looks pretty good so far. I would not have the guts to try to add a window to any of my hard drives.
 
Ya, you need a new hosting site...use imageshack or something.

As far as this mod goes, I'm going to assume you've seen the tutorial where the guy rigged up an anti-dust booth out of big rubbermaid containers and some plexi glued to the lid and made it all airtight and hooked up a vacuum cleaner so that it was basically a vacuum, and cut holes next to the plexi for where he attached rubber gloves.

This was all just for when he broke the cover off of the working HDD to replace with the windowed one.
 
Not that it isn't cool, but, why not just get a raptor X?
 
Psh, because Ockie!! ;) One of my guesses: he had it lying around. How many HDD covers actually interchange though, are you using an identical Maxtor? I've kinda thought about this myself (have a clicking 20Gb WD), but I've never really had an unction to do it.
 
Hmm, ya bandwidth cooked for the day. They'll be back tomorrow. I need to just buy a domain and host 'em myself. I think I'll go work on that.

Oh, and have you seen the window in a Raptor? It's tiny! Plus they're stupid expensive. So far this has costed me like 10 bucks for the piece of Lexan. Plus there is no skill or talent in that, and no satisfaction of a job well done.

Hoobie7 :)
 
Yeah!! I own a website. I should have the pics back up tonight.

Hoobie:p

EDIT: Pics are back! :p
 
looks good so far ....any pics of the finished drive ???
you ever done that on a working drive ???
 
Update:

I got a good working 9.1Gb drive from a freind at work, so now I actually have a working drive to put the newly completed cover on to! Who knew pack-rat nerds could be so handy?

So, once I had finished grinding down the remaining metal I sanded it down with some 180 grit to give me something smooth and burr-free to work with.
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Now I was ready to finally apply the window to the remaining frame of the cover. I had some CA glue laying around so I used that. I did a couple test pieces and had a little fogging of the Lexan near the bond. This probably wasn't the best option for this project but I couldn't wait to get it together. I figured it was possibly from the fumes. I didn't want these getting trapped under the cover when I did the main piece so I rigged up some craziness!:D
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The cover is under the pile of stuff used for weight. The cover itself is raised up off the table so that the fan can blow under it and keep some air flow going underneath. Probably over kill but oh well.

Oh, and Blue Painters Tape FTW!!!:p

So here's the finished cover in all it's glory! This is just sitting on the dead drive for illustration purposes, I still need to do the transfer.
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The metal of the cover itself had taken some abuse and had a few skuffs and scratches. So I used a wire bristle cup brush and went over it with that. Hopefully you can see it.
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And upon closer inspection the bond seems to be pretty uniform all the way around.
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So now I just have to transfer the windowed cover to the good drive. That should be easy! :eek:

Hoobie:)
 
I could be wrong, but doesn't the spindle need to be supported somehow? (the reason why the original cover had the raised circle)
 
IT'S ALIVE!!!

So, it's done and fully functional!
So, all thats left to do is enjoy the fruits of my labor. :p

Here's my work space. Look 'ma I cleaned! :eek:
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And here's the good drive with it's new clear cover.
That was easy! :D
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Moment of truth. Plug in the power, it spins and......nothing. Crap! :eek:
Hmm, unplug USB plug back in, hey pops up right away!! *phew*
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Next, does windows see it? Yup!
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And is it healthy? Yup!
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And does it do a full format? Yup!
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And finally, will it take files? You're damn right it does!! :D

Movie time!
Couple short vids of "the little hard drive that could" hard at work transferring music.

http://hoobie7.com/Pics/HDD%20Mod/MVI_1478.AVI
http://hoobie7.com/Pics/HDD%20Mod/MVI_1479.AVI

Yeah me!
Hoobie;)
 
It may work now but it can die a sudden death if only one grain of dust is thrown up. Glad to see you got it operational.
 
Looks kinda cool, but it's something that I'd definitely never want to mess with. Something can easily go wrong, and poof, goodbye data.
 
Ockie said:
It may work now but it can die a sudden death if only one grain of dust is thrown up. Glad to see you got it operational.
Click to expand...

donno bout thaaaat. I think those drives might be a little more robust then that.

Considering the almost perfect circle and flatness of the platters, what evidence is there to say that there would be enough energy to pick up one of those dust particles.

anyways, looks cool! I once saw one of those 15gig raptor X's (the one with the window) and it really is kinda mezmorizing to watch those little needles trace all over the hard drive.
 
nice

should of shoved some LEDS in there so it lights up ;p

but still fully sick
 
MrWizard6600 said:
donno bout thaaaat. I think those drives might be a little more robust then that.

Considering the almost perfect circle and flatness of the platters, what evidence is there to say that there would be enough energy to pick up one of those dust particles.

anyways, looks cool! I once saw one of those 15gig raptor X's (the one with the window) and it really is kinda mezmorizing to watch those little needles trace all over the hard drive.
Click to expand...

How do you think you get a head crash from a stationary computer? It's not always dust or smoke, but it's one of the common causes of a head crash. Hard drives do have air movement within them.

img_headcrash.jpg
 
Pretty cool :) Need mo light in the videos

I hope you know with the Vantec USB adapter...

It goes

Power
IDE
USB

So you plug-in the molex power, then you plugin the IDE side to the harddrive, then you plug it into USB.
 
YES!!! I mean for Pete's sake!!!! You don't have one??? You are SO behind the times...
 
MrWizard6600 said:
donno bout thaaaat. I think those drives might be a little more robust then that.

Considering the almost perfect circle and flatness of the platters, what evidence is there to say that there would be enough energy to pick up one of those dust particles.

anyways, looks cool! I once saw one of those 15gig raptor X's (the one with the window) and it really is kinda mezmorizing to watch those little needles trace all over the hard drive.
Click to expand...

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_drives

Hard disk drives are sealed to prevent dust and other sources of contamination from interfering with the operation of the hard disks heads. The hard drives are not air tight, but rather utilize an extremely fine air filter, to allow for air inside the hard drive enclosure. The spinning of the disks causes the air to circulate forcing any particulates to become trapped on the filter. The same air currents also act as a gas bearing which enables the heads to float on an air cushions above the surfaces of the disks.

Further down:
Due to the extremely close spacing between the heads and the disk surface, any contamination of the read-write heads or platters can lead to a head crash — a failure of the disk in which the head scrapes across the platter surface, often grinding away the thin magnetic film and causing data loss. Head crashes can be caused by electronic failure, a sudden power failure, physical shock, wear and tear, corrosion, or poorly manufactured platters and heads.

The HDD's spindle system relies on air pressure inside the enclosure to support the heads at their proper flying height while the disk rotates. An HDD requires a certain range of air pressures in order to operate properly. The connection to the external environment and pressure occurs through a small hole in the enclosure (about 0.5 mm in diameter), usually with a carbon filter on the inside (the breather filter, see below). If the air pressure is too low, then there is not enough lift for the flying head, so the head gets too close to the disk, and there is a risk of head crashes and data loss. Specially manufactured sealed and pressurized disks are needed for reliable high-altitude operation, above about 10,000 feet (3,000 m). This does not apply to pressurized enclosures, like an airplane pressurized cabin. Modern disks include temperature sensors and adjust their operation to the operating environment. Breather holes can be seen on all disks — they usually have a sticker next to them, warning the user not to cover the holes. The air inside the operating disk is constantly moving too, being swept in motion by friction with the spinning platters. This air passes through an internal recirculation (or "recirc") filter to remove any leftover contaminants from manufacture, any particles or chemicals that may have somehow entered the enclosure, and any particles or outgassing generated internally in normal operation. Very high humidity for extended periods can corrode the heads and platters.

For giant magnetoresistive (GMR) heads in particular, a minor head crash from contamination (that does not remove the magnetic surface of the disk) still results in the head temporarily overheating, due to friction with the disk surface, and can render the data unreadable for a short period until the head temperature stabilizes (so called "thermal asperity," a problem which can partially be dealt with by proper electronic filtering of the read signal).
 
I say screw all the nay sayers. This was a cool mod I have been thinking about trying but never had the balls. How exactly did you change the lids, did you use the shower method, aka lots of humidity to keep the dust down?
 
Uberbob102000 said:
Nice but I would have done it in a clean room so not to contaminate the disk area.
Click to expand...

If it were me, I would first off, probably use a smaller drive that was inexpensive, and use it for data I had backed up, like music and pictures an such. For the enivronment, I would make sure the area was completely clean and wiped down, making sure to not have any air movement around it (maybe set it in one of the plastic shoeboxes, making sure the inside was wiped down as well). I would also do the actual mod in a different location to be sure I didn't stir up any particles. I think for a budget mod (i.e. not springing for a Raptor for a little cool factor, sorry Ockie ;)) this would be really cool :)
 
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