/off topic TWAIN - Technoligy without an intresting name / i dunno how you would go about it, but i have seen it done, i think it would require two idendicle hard drives and a dust free work space.
Was reading something before and the person used 2 hard drives... molded the window on one, the crappy one that they didn't want anymore... and then quickly and cleanly put it on the new good hard drive...
I can understand how two hard drives would make it easier, but it still seems extremely risky to me to do. The most obvious warning is to backup all your files first , and do it extremely quickly. I would say vaccum really well, to try to minimize the dust in the air first, but I would imagine that vaccuming would stir up the dust as well, so maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea. Good luck if you do it, be sure to post your success
From what I've read you should use an older harddrive with platter density lesser than 40 gb (i think that's the number) because otherwise even if you don't have any dust get on the platters because they lose the the little thingy that keeps them centered they'll stop working after a while. Other than that I would try and work in a plastic bag or something that's pretty clean.
Three words for ya: Laminar Flow Hood. If you don't know what that is, it is a HEPA filter with fans. People use these to create dust-free workspaces. Make sure you wash your hands well too, before doing any HDD modding. And if you don't know what you're doing, you're probably better off not doing it. Flow hoods are great when you want to do something requiring very little dust, such as modding hard drives or culturing mycelium. Don't ask.
I think I heard this trick at extremetech.com, but turn your shower up nice and hot and get the bathroom steamy, and that will take the dust out of the air, just make sure you turn it off so your not working with too much moisture. Then you can open the HD up, and put it in a bowl with syran wrap while you work on the top.
Culturing mycelium: creating funny colors with bacteria? [/OT] I thought about advising a Ziplock bag, but they are pretty static-ey, so I wasn't sure how that would turn out.
You also can google search "hdd window" or "hard drive window" Have fun. I cant wait until the manufacturers actually make hdds WITH windows.
i would never to do it, did about 1/2 years ago, just sata hard drives 200gb.. 2 off them.. too much to lose.
there was a mod that was a little over my head, from what i understood of it (i think) the IDE drive has seperate movement wires and data wires. if you modded a puny HDD and connected the right IDE wires, you could create the illusion of your 200GB drives. if the modded one was in front of your "real" drives, it would look cool
Static is the least of your worries if you open the hard drive. A dust particle landing on the platter will cause data loss. But I'd assume you could fabricate a tunnel of sorts using a vacuum with the best filtration you can find. Something like this Code: ( <- suction flow) [HDD] ( <- suction flow) And then have the drive in contact with an earth grounded surface. Or get the anti static wrist straps and clamp a few to the drive or like a metal cookie sheet.
