windowed harddrive.

[Spawn-Inc]

i was driving home from work and my dad spoted a pc in the garbage so me being me i went back with a mutli took and grabed some ram, a 3gb maxtor hdd, intel pentium w/ mmx tech. i decided i would make a window for the hdd since i got this for free and its only 3gbs so who cares if it breaks.

here are pictures and how far i have gotten thus far

screws taken out and checking things out. thats the cd case cover i am planning on using.
http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/8513/01010001kl1.th.jpg (http://img95.imageshack.us/my.php?image=01010001kl1.jpg)

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/9971/01010002sd9.th.jpg (http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=01010002sd9.jpg)

i peeled the label off and removed the sticky crap left over with paint thinner. then i cut it with a good old dremel. then i smoothed the edges with a drill press and dremel bit. i don't have a holder for the dremel so thats why i used the drill press.
http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/3451/01010003ai0.th.jpg (http://img95.imageshack.us/my.php?image=01010003ai0.jpg)

the plastic is cut to size and fits nicely. i masked the front so it would minimize scratches. they way i glued it into the lid was with silicone.
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/9950/01010004wl9.th.jpg (http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=01010004wl9.jpg)
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/3177/01010005pl7.th.jpg (http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=01010005pl7.jpg)


i used silicone becuase its all i really have that would bond/hold plastic to metal on hand. once it was semi set i placed it over the hdd and found out it would fit because the plastic was to low and was hitting the motor/shaft of the spindle. so i stupidly got the blow tourch out and tried to melt the plastic a bit to make a dome. but it was even heat so it warped and i have to start over now. tomorrow i will make a new window and try something different.



here is the rest of the stuff i found.
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/5471/01010007ba8.th.jpg (http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=01010007ba8.jpg)

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/9121/01010008wf9.th.jpg (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=01010008wf9.jpg)

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/1486/01010009zs6.th.jpg (http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=01010009zs6.jpg)

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7726/01010010ie7.th.jpg (http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=01010010ie7.jpg)
does anyone know what this stick does?? the slow i grabbed it from looked like a agp slot and was right above the cpu. i found out what motherbaord it is so here is a link. (http://cgi.ebay.com/INTEL-Socket-7-Motherboard-SB82437FX66_W0QQitemZ110120263340QQihZ001QQcategor yZ4615QQcmdZViewItem)
http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/2825/01010011rs5.th.jpg (http://img95.imageshack.us/my.php?image=01010011rs5.jpg)

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/1824/01010012ry1.th.jpg (http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=01010012ry1.jpg)

so thats all for today.

[LiTHiUM0XiD3]

whoa.... when did the dinosaurs come back??
lolz have fun with the HD mod lolz

[LiQuid-V2]

Sweet, hard drive mods always look good when you do them right. Looks like you got some old stuff there haha. Gotta love garage sales/curb dumps

[Ichbin]

i know its a junk harddrive, but to get a working harddrive window is VERY hard project to do.

I know of a "Clean room tub" kit with household stuff, but for the life of me i cant find it anywhere

[Spawn-Inc]

i know its a junk harddrive, but to get a working harddrive window is VERY hard project to do.

I know of a "Clean room tub" kit with household stuff, but for the life of me i cant find it anywhere

why what happens if stuff (lets say finger prints, dust) get on the disk?

[AKA_RA]

a finger print would prolly kill the drive for the most part. a speck of dust would likely result in a whole bunch of bad sectors. ive got a windowed harddrive mod i attempted. i tried to load linux onto it, and it just didnt want to work. the window looks nice though

[rendermandan]

does it still operate though. even if it is just for looks? Or would dust/fingerprint make the drive just shut down?

[LiTHiUM0XiD3]

it would prolly still spin up.... but its usage would be nil..

[DaveW]

a finger print would prolly kill the drive for the most part. a speck of dust would likely result in a whole bunch of bad sectors. ive got a windowed harddrive mod i attempted. i tried to load linux onto it, and it just didnt want to work. the window looks nice though

I remember a guy...was it ZapWizard? Can't remember. He rigged up a drive that didn't work so that the arm moved depending on his actual drive's activity.

There was also another guy who turned a bunch of drives into speakers. That was pretty weird.

-Dave

[.Maleficus.]

This is probably one of the best ways to get this done. (http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=130544)

[Spawn-Inc]

well the drive worked before i took it apart, i had to format it in fat32 for some reason. i tried nstc but it would work. but like i said this is just for fun, if it works great and if it doesn't then no loss to me.

[Boddaker]

Here's a worklog for Feldm4n's Spiderman3 case. He included shots on how he built his hard drive "clean room" for doing the window mod:
http://www.boxgods.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=474&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Those hd platters are very sensitive and will drop sectors if the tiniest speck of dust gets on them. Hope your's still works!

[Spawn-Inc]

well all this news about getting anything other than clean air on th disks makes me think it ain't gonna work, but will continue on.

i will be painting the hdd so if covers up the glue around the window. here is a picture of how i will do it.

http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/2936/2340702070100511463S600x600Q85.jpg

[Spawn-Inc]

well surprise, surprise the harddrive don't work. i painted it and it came out like crap cause it i used some 10-15 year old paint i found. i plugged it in and turned it on and it made a hell of a noise so it was something mechanical. bios did recongnize it but only said there was 2.6gbs not 3 like it did when i first had it put in before the window. here are pictures of the final product.

http://inlinethumb12.webshots.com/2891/2598635420100511463S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb31.webshots.com/2654/2509902610100511463S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb34.webshots.com/5665/2734731010100511463S600x600Q85.jpg

if i were to ever try this again, which i wouldn't, i would definitely build a clean room/box and do it this way (http://www.boxgods.com/forum/viewtop...=asc&start =0) with a sheet of metal, plexi, then metal. i would also use new paint, assuming i was going to paint it. the only reason i painted this one was to cover up the glue/silicone around the edge. now, what to do with a busted hdd?

[si-skyline]

Mount it :) save it and you could put it into your next case mod or something

even tho it might not work as intended it would be a nice show off piece

si-skyline

[NocturnaL]

looks good man, but with a mod like this you would at least want to put the drive in a sealed baggie or something air tight, though its an old POS hard drive i doubt you care.

[Spawn-Inc]

ya if i can collect enough old ones i would like to use them in some kind of case mod.

[Ichbin]

practicing aswell on the old pos harddrives are great way to work out the kinks.