Haha! I am nuts! Hard drive with a window! *updated!* New one W/LED!

[Evadman]

Yep, I am insane. But the good kind. Had nothing to do today, so I put a window in my HD.

hard drive window

Drive is a WD 1.2 gig. works fine so far.

*Update!*

A new one is born! With LED for you folks who said an LED is needed.

Twins?
WTF does that mean?
Need a T9 bit.
screws out!
Tossed in a bag.
holes cut.
Test layout top. ( 470 ohm resister inline )
Test layout.
LED glued in
window applied.
Now they are twins!
Running and lit
Running and lit2 sorry on the quality, my camera exposes for a while on no flash pics.

 

[Startide Rising]

I am curious as to whether or not the acetic acid outgassing from silicone glue will damage the platter surface over time. I am assuming that you used silicone glue to seal the window to the hard drive body.

Is it possible to get a silicone glue that doesn't outgas a lot?

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: Startide Rising
I am curious as to whether or not the acetic acid outgassing from silicone glue will damage the platter surface over time. I am assuming that you used silicone glue to seal the window to the hard drive body.

Is it possible to get a silicone glue that doesn't outgas a lot?

You are correct. I did use sillicone glue. It releases amonia amoung other things as it cures. This specific drive uses a foil tape around the entire drive that covers a 1/32" gap. I was just going to remove that tape for an hour or so for the next few days to let the air change out. the silicone I used was from home depot, and said full cure in 1 week. then the outgassing should stop.

 

[zephyrprime]

Cool! But in order to really tweek it out you need to add some cold cathode lighting!

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
Cool! But in order to really tweek it out you need to add some cold cathode lighting!

I was thinking about adding some LED's tommorow for no good reason. If I do, I will post pics

 

[PliotronX]

Does the metal on the HD serve as an EMI shield?

Good thing it's for display, nice job

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: PliotronX
Does the metal on the HD serve as an EMI shield?

Good thing it's for display, nice job

It's for display yes, but I am using it too!

Yep it is running just fine, been running since I did it this afternoon. pic of it in my lanbox #2. It looks like it is not running, but I assure you that it is. Those fans are spinning too. I am suprized that this camera doesnt get that "swirl" effect going. It is a 500 mhz aMD k6-2 board if you are wondering.

Running tests as we speak

 

[IQJUMPuw]

Dude~

That is tiiiight~!!! You should really add some cold cathod or LEDs to make it look better~

Good job man~

 

[CrazySaint]

lol NICE case, man! One of these days when I have enough free time (not to mention skill ) to do it, I'm gonna have to make some kinda funky case...

 

[BD231]

I'm sorry but that case is just plain sweet, is it hard to keep cool while keeping* noise levels down?

 

[DanFungus]

woah! that briefcase idea is really awesome...I'll have to ponder that

 

[Noj]

Is it just my imagination or do pictures of crazy computer mods always contain a can of Mountain Dew?
Have you ever tried getting that thing through airport security?

 

[rb56]

Originally posted by: Noj
Is it just my imagination or do pictures of crazy computer mods always contain a can of Mountain Dew?

I had exactly the same thought.

 

[Mikki]

Excellent mod, both of them... I love it when people try the things that you're not supposed to do...

Mountain Dew? Nope, Diet Pepsi! Go ahead, flame away....

 

[Evadman]

I have 2 computers that I built in Briefcases. This was my second. I honestly didn't even think about it

Here is a link to the first. I tossed together a page on how I built it with a bunch of pics.

briefcace computer

 

[KF]

>Yep, I am insane. But the good kind. Had nothing to do today, so I put a window in my HD.


What sort of precautions did you take to make sure no dirt or crud got in? These things are originally assembled in clean rooms, aren't they?

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: KF

What sort of precautions did you take to make sure no dirt or crud got in? These things are originally assembled in clean rooms, aren't they?

Well, before I closed the drive back up I did windex the platters to a streak free shine

Actually, I had a brand new ziploc bag ready and waiting for me when I popped the top of the HD. As soon as it came off, into the bag it went. Then I went outside and used a dremmel to chop up the top. Then out came the sander to buff the edges and to get rid of any stray metal shavings. Then into my parts washer it went. I scrubbed the crap out of it. Then, believe it or not, I went out to my pool and swearled it round in the water for a few minutes. Then I let it bake in the sun to remove the water.

Then back inside, I used a tack cloth on it to remove anything I missed. Then I used silicone glue to seal the plexi to the top, used windex on the plexi from the inside to remove my fingerprints, and a last cleaning with the tack cloth before it went back on to the hard drive base.

I would guess the platters were expossed to the ziploc world for a total of 3 and 1/2 hrs. Total time spent out of the ziploc was probably less than 15 seconds.

 

[Fokks]

I think you forgot to mention to thank Yoshi for the idea and instructions...


http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/howto/story/0,24330,3395385,00.html

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: Fokks
I think you forgot to mention to thank Yoshi for the idea and instructions...
http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/howto/story/0,24330,3395385,00.html

Nope, didn't get my idea there.

got it here

 

[Pariah]

or this site which is the first site I saw this on:

bit-tech

I would consider nuts doing this mod to a brand new $500 SCSI drive, not 5 year old worthless one.

 

[Fokks]

touche' Evadman


It looks like the person in that thread found it through TechTv. Their post is from 8/9 ( and below is from the site bit-tech)

"The elusive hard drive mod.
Update: 8/9/2002: Hello to everyone from the TechTV Newsletter. Make sure to also check out my detailed walkthrough with pictures and see the drive installed at BiT-Tech. And as always, I like to get your comments."

 

[CotswoldCS]

I thought I would copy your idea. Mine has a little sticker "Warranty Void if Removed".

Can you buy replacement stickers if I remove the lid completely????

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: CotswoldCS
I thought I would copy your idea. Mine has a little sticker "Warranty Void if Removed".

Can you buy replacement stickers if I remove the lid completely????

Nope. You open it, it's yours. For a WD drive you will need a torx #9 bit to remove the screws.

 

[ceZium]

Exactly what I think, who cares what your "supposed" to do. I have alot more fun doing things im not supposed to do than what I am supposed to do

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
Cool! But in order to really tweek it out you need to add some cold cathode lighting!

Built another one with an LED just because you said it would be cool. This one formatted up just fine too. Running it's little heart out!