www.deadharddrive.com

[Subzuki]

After learning about somebody having success swapping a board from a smaller drive to a larger drive, I decided to do a little experiment.
I selected 4 Quantum Fireball CR 4.3GB and 1 Quantum Fireball CR 6.4GB for said experiment.

4.3 Specs are..
Power 5/12V--650/720mA
C/H/S--14848/9/63

6.4 Specs are..
Power 5/12V--650/720mA
C/H/S--13328/15/63

Now, I have always thought that the C.H.S are the determining factor to success. See in above specs how the C.H.S are different? I was surprised to find that if I swapped the board from the 6.4 to the 4.3, it would function properly as the proper size of the drive. (But not the board) Same if I took the board from the 4.3 and put it on the 6.4. So much for my C.H.S theory. I think now that the board is the same for the same family, in this case the Quantum Fireball CR. If you were to try a board from a different family, (Such as the Fireball LCT) I don't think it would work.

Also in this (Fireball CR) family are a 8.4 and 13GB model. They share the same C.H.S which is 16383/16/63. I suspect that these boards would also work on the smaller drives after all, after seeing the results of this little test. Before, I would have thought that only the 8.4 and 13GB were interchangeable.

Keep in mind this may not hold true for all drives.
Newer Drives are different from what I am hearing. Firmware seems to be an issue here sometimes according to other posts, but I haven't made any effort to match firmware with the older drives.

And now, for something completely different!

As you may have observered earlier, I said I selected 4 of the 4.3 variant. You may be wondering why would I need 4 for a small experiment such as this?
Because there was more to it! Well, 1 was going to go out with a bang! Actually, more of a Pop! Kinda like a loud bubble gum pop. I thought the chips were going to hit the fan...
You see, I wanted to *try* to simulate a power surge. I guess wiring it to 115V was a tad excessive? I tried switching the boards from all the other drives (wanted more than 1 in case of firmware issue which in this case I was to lazy to check) but all that would happen is the drive access led would flash 6 times and that was it. It would not even spin up. Probably zapped the motor as well. Opening it up was inconclusive as there was no visible signs of damage. So until I find a way to slowly increase the voltage until it blows, I guess this part of the *cough* test was a bust.


So what does this prove? That I had nothing better to do except waste some time....
Was it fun? Well...kinda...
Hope it helps somebody.....
Subzuki