Replace FlashTrax hard drive?

I've done several searches, both on Photo.net and the web in general.

About all I learned is that most questions regarding portable image

storage are posted here in the Digital Darkroom forum.

 

The question is this: has anyone heard anything about replacing the

hard drive in the FlashTrax portable device (the original - not the

newer "XT")? I'm interested in replacing my original 20GB with

something larger. Does anyone know if the hard drive is a standard

2.5" HD? This isn't even addressed in the specifications on

SmartDisk's web site and the company does not offer any upgrade or

replacement options "at this time."

 

Thanks for anything you can tell me.

 

Rob

I haven't actually opened one up but I suspect all of those devices use very tiny laptop harddrives which are also known as 2.5" drives. The only concern I would have is that the firmware in your flashtrax can handle the larger disk size. Say you put a 100GB disk in there it may not even see it. To be safe stay in the 40 or 60GB drive units. Flashtrax may have firmware you can load to make the larger sizes work as well.

 

A

If you're going to replace the drive, you should know that notebook drives come in two thicknesses: 9.5mm and 12mm. Know whether the thicker drives will fit before you buy.<br>

<br>

As far as the capacity goes, FAT32 can handle up to 32 terabytes:<br>

<a href=http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/F/FAT32.html>http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/F/FAT32.html</a><br>

and<br>

<a href=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q154997/>http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q154997/</a>

<br>

Neither of which means <i>your FlashTrax</i> will support volumes this big.<br>

<br>

Another thing you should know if you use Windows XP is that XP won't let you format a drive to FAT32. You'll need a 3rd party utility. The FlashTrax guys may have one you can download. If not, I have a Vosonic X's Drive, and got a utility off Vosonic's web site that may work with your FlashTrax.

Thanks, guys. After reading your responses, disassembling the FlashTrax and doing some more research, I ordered a Toshiba 80GB (2.5" form factor, 9.5mm high - same as what's in there) drive. I chose Toshiba simply because that's the make and series that's in the FlashTrax now. The old drive is ATA 2-5 compatible and the 80GB is ATA 2-6 compatible. At /$119 from TigerDirect it's a relatively inexpensive experiment.

 

I use XP at home, but I have a Win2000 Pro machine at work... I can bring it in to work to format it if the FlashTrax won't do it itself. I will also look at SmartDisk's web site to see if they say anything about firmware capabilities (they're pretty tight-lipped about the technical stuff).

 

Anyway, thanks again.

 

Rob

I forgot to post a follow-up on this. Hard drive upgrade went just fine - I have have a 120GB FlashTrax! (Just imagine how many images that will store...). I had to partition the new drive with the PC, but then the FlashTrax formatted it just fine.

 

Rob

Thank you so much, I'be been searching for quite some time to the answer to this question, but haven't been in a position where I can eat the cost of a 2.5" HD just to have it not work. Looks like I'm getting either an 80GB or 100GB for me FlashTrax, just in time to head to Japan. Thank you!

I don't understand how you ended up with 120 MB?

Thanks for your input guys - went out and bought a 20Gig NOS item from ebay and a 120Gig Tosh HD 9.5mm. Just performed surgery on the nice new Flashtrax and hey, it works. 120 whole gigs. My method: Remove the battery, remove the 4 obvious screws on the back. Then there is a fifth screw under the 'No servicable parts' label - remove this and it will void the warranty but hey, that's just what I am doing. You will have to push the battery release buttons in then push the whole button assembly out to release them from this end of the case. Then it should all open up reasonably easily BUT BEWARE! I knocked off the microscopic tag from the 'hold' slider microswitch thing at this point so care is needed. So no more Hold thing for me, who cares, I listen to music on my ipod. Carefully remove the old HD, nick the rubber bits from the underside and stick em on your new drive, bung the cable on the new drive and seat in position, chuck the back on, screw the screws and reapply the now voided 'warning' sticker if you fancy. Now power up and attach via USB to your PC. Use the Disk Management Console in Control Panel / Administrative Blah to stick a partition on the HD, but do not assign a drive letter or format. Then disconnect, power up and use the HD format utility on the FlashTrax. Bingo. But hey, I am not responsible if you screw up doing this yourself. But it only took me 20 mins including grubbing around on the floor for the lost screw. I love my FlashTrax. Its so.. Retro.

Further to my previous posting - when creating the partition DO give it a drive letter (but don't format) or your PC won't see it in My Computer. Until you give it a letter anyway.

Sorry, Mike - I didn't end up with a 120MB FlashTrax - I ended up with an 80GB FlashTrax and dyslexic fingers!

 

Rob

<p>Having read all of the above, I decided to U/G my 20G Flashtrax.<br>

I bought a 160G WD1600BEVE HDD.<br>

I got the local computer shop to format it in FAT32 as I didn't have a suitable utility.<br>

It shipped formatted in NTFS.<br>

I managed to open the Flashtrax without breaking anything. New drive dropped straight in. Powered it up and new HDD was there with no formatting etc required.<br>

Reported size is 152,327 MBytes :)<br>

Cheers<br>

Ian</p>