how hard is it to take apart an external HHD?

[Hayley-K]

I have the LaCie Design by F.A Porsche 500GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive and have been using it for just over a year. About a week ago when i turned it on the drive would spin up a bit but not enough to read it, after tapping it and wiggling it I got it working but had no HD space to back up the contents in my PC.

Now even this doesnt work, i think the drive is ok just a loose connection? So how hard are these things to take apart and will i damage anything?

 

[thefishdude]

not sure on exact model but they all use standard hard drives inside as far as i am aware. soo i assume inside there maybe a hdd a few wires and maybe a bit of circtry, if you go carefull i cant see how just opening up can do any harmd just dont use a hammer and chisel to get in there lol

 

[ih8modem]

most of them use the same design, a small controller circuit at the back with the sata/ide interface, and power connections. The HDD mounted in the front of the unit.

It should be fairly straight forward to open (assuming it is using screws and is not a sealed unit. Be careful with it and you should be ok. If you do break the enclosure, a new enclosure will only set you back 10-20 quid anyway. As long as the drive is ok you would be able to relocate it to a new enclosure.

 

[ajbuk]

Right then I owned the 40gb model of one of these and mine started ticking on me when I was at uni I lost all work on a module that had to be in next day lol and I didnt know how to take it apart so I sent it back for repair and lost all work and they sent me out a replacement eventually and I managed to get mine apart once by putting a thin flat bladed screwdriver underneath in the join and levering the bottom panel out yes u might dent it but its nothing to worry about and its the only way! thats if yours in the same model design.......