How do I upgrade a Ximeta Netdisk?

M

MightyMightyMe

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Aug 5, 2004
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I bought a Ximeta Netdisk 80GB not too long ago and have been very happy with it (after they released the 3.0 driver) any ways I recently acquired a 250GB Maxtor drive, and would like very much to install it into the Netdisk, so far I haven't been able to find a guide or how to on how to do that. (The Netdisk has no screws on the outside). So basically anyone know how to replace the hard drive in a NetDisk?
 
i don't know if it is possible. They use some proprietary stuff over ethernet (NOT TCP/IP according to a very nice and knowledgable tech guy I talked to. . .I wanted to VPN directly into it, which isn't possible since they don't use TCP/IP. . .ANYWAYS. . ..). Due to all of that, I don't know if they use any type of bridge chip. They don't mention formatting being a problem (as opposed to, say, muvo's, which use a different file system) so theoretically you can change the drive. However, it MAY be that the hardware in the box is set to only be 80 gigs and you'll just have a bunch of un-accessable space.

I'm sure if you call them, they'll tell you you can't do it. If you don't mind voiding your (possibly over all ready) warranty, open it up and take a look-see. It shouldn't harm it any more than opening any other external enclosure (read: not at all), but it's your drive to mess with.

[insert disclaimer here]

If you mess it up, it's not my fault. :p

[/end disclaimer}

The screws are most likely under the rubber feet. Use a hairdryer to loosen the glue that holds them. They may be under the labels, too. Who knows.

[edit]
Post back with your decision and any findings. . .I'm kinda curious, too (though I don't have the $$ for a different drive right now)

GL!

[/edit]
 
i own the 160...
or it was a 160 anyways
its now a 250

u must have a usb connection for it to do the upgrade
it dont like formating over 10/100
or you can just preformat it with fat32 before putting the drive in
(must be fat32 NOT NTFS)

to open
the back of the drive is the end where you stick the power
the top is the part that has the netdisk label
on the sides of the unit about 1.5" from the back are little holes on each side
you need to insert a thick paper clip into each side
to force back a clip on each side
u need to push the clip back about 1/8"
then the top and sides of the unit will slide forwards(to the front) about 1" then you can lift the top off the rest of the drive assembly
this will give you access to the drive and everything

if you need/want picktures of dissasembly
post back and i will drop some onto my webserver
 
tiebird321 said:
i own the 160...
or it was a 160 anyways
its now a 250

u must have a usb connection for it to do the upgrade
it dont like formating over 10/100
or you can just preformat it with fat32 before putting the drive in
(must be fat32 NOT NTFS)
Click to expand...

Odd.

I tried out one of their netdisks. It was formatted out of the box, I didn't think about what the format was. I tried to copy some stuff to it--boom. DVD images don't copy to FAT32 filesystems. I went into disk management (for XP, not anything in the tools they provided) and reformatted NTFS. No problem at all. It's connected via ethernet.
 
i have mine sitting on a mixed network with several win98 machines
because of this
to keep the full functionality of the drive
the fat32 had to be done
and why i recomend it
also when in the mixed network
only one computer has write access to the drive at a time
which can cause formating problems if the drive gets confused
(happend the first time i tried)

yes the file size limitation is there
but unless doing dv editing or DVD ripping
which would be better done on an internal HD anyways
 
The operation was a success. Thank you guys so much for your help. My NetDisk 80gb is now a very happy 250Gb (actually 233 GBs after formatting,,,) Parttioned NTFS for the 4 2k & XP stations we have at the house. We tend to use it as kind of swap drive in the house, mainly alot of movies, and music, but appz and other stuff as well, since we're all NTFS it works out great. The software is annoying to setup, but once its setup it works without issue, (For best results disable System Restore on the drive, and change items to get deleted and not to go in the recycle bin)

accidentalsuccess: Yeah I actually emailed the Netdisk guys to ask for help (not expecting any, but worth a shot) There email back was less than helpfull. I saw the review at http://www.atruereview.com/netdisk/netdisk.php that showed it being just a hard drive that I could replace.

tiebird321:. I knew it was something with those damn holes, I just couldn't figure out how to do it right, You described it perfectly,. Just like sex, once I knew what I was doing, it was easy. Formatted it NTFS over the ethernet actually with no issues. Made sure it was the only station connected to it first though.

Thanks guys, I would've broken it in 4 peices by now, if it weren't for you guys.

PS: And by the way I think the 8mb cache on the drive is making a diffrence, no benchmarks to prove it, but it does seem to be loading a bit faster, maybe its just me.
 
I know it's a long time, but is anyone up for the challenge to trying out a DVD drive in this thing? ;)

[edit]I know it won't fit in the enclosure, I mean using the hardware/ethernet bridge over to my wireless router[/edit]

I believe it should be possible and that would be shuper-sweet since the tablet I'm getting doesn't have one.
 
I realize that these enclosures aren't real common but I was wondering if anyone has modded one. I just switched in a 400 gig Seagate but the thing is getting pretty warm. I was wondering if anyone has added a harddrive cooling fan to it. Could I add a "Y" connector and then put a fan on the hard drive?

Thanks
 
The enclosure will support running a Rom Drvie
I ended up doing this to get some data onto an IBM x30 with a dead USB port a couple of months ago.
(desperatism is the mother of invention :p )

I modded mine with a 40mm fan
cut a hole on the aluminium top (in the middle of the X) and screwed the fan to the top
I used some bondo to make it sleek and then painted the entire thing metalic red
I also put some 3/8" holes on the sides of the enclosure (into the plastic) 3 per side

it keeps the drive running at about 10F above ambient instead of baking it at 140-160 like it used to.
 
Thanks, it looks like I have something to do this weekend. I have to admit the setup is working better than I had imagined. It's nice having a 400gig NAS for music, video etc.. I don't have to deal with the sound of a computer running all the time either. Do you have any pics of the modded enclosure?

Thanks...
 
Now I'm SERIOUSLY tempted to spring for another one just to have a network-attached DVD-ROM drive. Sure I share my desktop drive but I don't really use my desktop much anymore with my new tablet and I leave it off to save on electricity. I wish that they'd go on sale/rebate once in a while! I got mine when they first came out with a whopping rebate and they STILL cost more than I paid. . .
 
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