[PLUG] Clinic - hack hard drives?

Keith Lofstrom keithl at kl-ic.com
Fri Nov 18 21:11:42 UTC 2011


> If someone brings a washtub and some old disks, we can play
> the marvelous new Thai party game, "bobbing for hard drives". 

In all seriousness, the region of Thailand that makes parts for
60% (?) of the world's hard drives got flooded, and if you have
been following the news (or the Frys ads) you've noticed that
supplies are dwindling and prices are skyrocketing.  The Thai
are probably taking this with their usual good humor and
detachment (google "Mai Pen Rai"), but Westerners tend to fret.

That said, today's Fry's ad shows the HITACHI 3TB USB 2.0 External
Hard Drive 0S03290 for $120.  The thing has a ridiculously slow
interface on it, perhaps 12MB/sec according to some reviews.
On the other hand, according to other reviews it has a Hitachi
HDS723030ALA640 6Gb/s SATA hard drive inside (not verified!). 
This cheap box is not designed to be taken apart, so all you
have to do is destroy the case to get at the drive inside :-/

If anyone will be needing a bare hard drive anytime soon, and
you are willing to bend, fold, spindle, and mutilate a case
and a warranty, buy one these from Frys (before they run out)
and bring it to the clinic.  We can pry the thing open together
and get the bare drive working in an eSATA drive toaster
connected to my laptop, or to a SATA-II port inside your desktop. 

Let me know before Sunday, and remind me to bring the enclosure,
some safety glasses, and sharp tools.

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs



More information about the PLUG mailing list