Changing drive in Maxtor external enclosure

[JDMnAR1]

Alright - I have a dead 40GB Maxtor external drive (Personal Storage 3000LE) that a client was just going to pitch because he upgraded to a larger drive when this one died. I am wanting to change the drive out and use it, but figured that there may be some limitations as to what drives I can put in it. I know original capacity on these was 40GB-120GB, so wondered if there was a limitation in the hardware that would prevent usage of a >120GB drive in it. Also, curious if the drive I replace the failed one with has to be a Maxtor. Anyone out there have any insight into this they care to share?

 

[JDMnAR1]

Anyone..?

 

[islandtechengineers]

hey there, i gotta say, check out the data sheet :

http://www.maxtor.com/_files/maxtor/en_us/documentation/data_sheets/3000le_datasheet.pdf

and mactors site states
" * Formatted capacity: 40GB and 120GB
* Average seek time: ? 12.0 ms; ? 12.6 ms
* Rotational speed: 5400 RPM
* 2MB cache buffer
* Weight: 2 lbs, 10.6 oz (1.22Kgrams)
* IDE ATA spec"

i have seen other hardrvies out there with similar specs and i couldnt find anyone out there that have done what you're pondering. since the current drive is dead and you wish to swap out or discover if you can swap out, why not reverse engineer on it and find out if you can do what you're thinking? to me, it looks like it could be done (based on the pics provided in the data sheet) = crack it open and see what harddrive is currently in there, hey even post pics for us if you can.

 

[JDMnAR1]

Well - my experimentation thus far is as follows:

-Maxtor 30GB 7200rpm drive works flawlessly in the enclosure, albeit with more heat generated than I would like.
-Western Digital 160GB 7200rpm drive is not recognized in the enclosure.

The only thing I have yet to discover conclusively is if the enclosure is somehow "BIOS locked" to only recognize Maxtor drives. Anyone have a spare WD 120gb drive to loan me so I can test it?

 

[islandtechengineers]

I have a feeling if you originally had the 120 gig that died, you could swap out for a 120 gig. I also wish i had a 120 giger laying around.

 

[Mday]

you hsould be able to swap out a 120GB HDD. Maxtor doesnt design any ATA-USB ANYTHING, so whatever chipset they use, is your limit. So, look up what the chip is,a nd find the capacity.