[SPARCbook] Upgrading hard drives...

[Sunder]

On Tue, 2 May 2000, Mark G. Thomas wrote:

> 
> Hi,
> 
> ....
> > But it turns out that I have a much older 2Gb disk.  It does have a SCSI
> > to IDE interface on it, however, it's not a header, but instead, it's a
> > screw on board that attaches to the bottom of the drive.  It's attached by
> > some really tiny Torx screws.  I'm sure they're smaller than T8's as I've
> > got a T8 and a T10 for use on Apple PowerBooks.
> 
> So far all of the several 2GB Tadpole drives I've seen are as exactly
> as you describe, including the ones I've upgraded drives on.

Ah, ok.  From the description I've seen, I was under the impression that
the IDE<->SCSI convertor was on the plug, not an entire card the same size
as the drive.  Ok.
 
> It is a T-6, as someone else mentioned.  These are actually not as rare
> as one might think, although I vaguely recollect that they are a problem
> to get bits for in a couple states because of some legislation and locks 
> on prison cells which are held together with T-6 screws.

NY might be one of those.  I've tried three different hardware stores and
two Radio Shacks, and couldn't find the T-6.  The smallest bits were a T9,
and a T8.  I did find a few Torx bits with a hole in the center.  These
also didn't fit. 

I found a hex key that almost fit.  I could turn this hex key in the star
shaped hole for a little bit, but after a couple of turns, it stripped the
screw, so the key turned in place...

About an hour or two of careful plier work did the trick.  I also used the
plier bits to bend the rails a bit back and forth around the screw a few
times until they loosened it, then I was able to use the needle nose on
the screw heads until they loosened.  So I'm no longer in search of T6
bits.

Thanks much for all the help.  One thing, you might want to stay away from
the Toshiba 6.0gb disks (The $169 or $179 at dirtcheapdrives.) their holes
are a bit different from the IBM one, so the rail doesn't fit
exactly.  You can get it mounted with the old rails, however, when you do,
a bit of the rail sticks out and makes the drive not fit inside the
Tadpole sled.

I got rid of the rails, and used a few flexible foam stick on feet until I
got the right distances, and it worked like a charm.  This also got rid of
the size problem as the Toshiba drive is a lot smaller in height from the
IBM disk, and I didn't want it rattling around in the sled.  So I added
the foam feet on the insides of the sled as well so as to keep the drive
safe (corners only as you don't want to squeeze the top center of the
drive!!!)

Works beautifully.  I've reinstalled Solaris last night, and am now
installing the usual GNU freeware.

It's good to have some free space again, and I can more than likely
recycle the old 2gb disk for use in my Thinkpad which has a measly 800m
disk.