Macintosh Portable Hard Drive

[aplmak]

I have found when that goo leaks onto any of the plastics of the machine it does something to the plastic to weaken it.. I've always noticed when I find cracks in any part of the plastics it was where goo is or was.... So it's best to get that goo out of the rest of the machine's plastics after it leaks to prevent damage to the plastic casing. Just a side note... lol

I've also seen it leak downwards onto the IC's.... and screws up traces!!!! I think it may be worse than the leaking capacitor goo.... (unconfirmed of course)

 

[BadGoldEagle]

@  khannonnd

I think the installation of the SCSI2SD is standard for any machine. It's not that more difficult with the portable, you just need the 34-pin to 50-pin converter.

I think it's plug and play but don't quote me on this. I have never owned one.

Here's the User Manual if you want. There are specific instructions on how to update the firmware. But I think the boards come with firmware pre-installed.

The boards are pretty advanced now, version 5, so you don't really need to update the firmware anyway, IMO

 

[aplmak]

Hey techknight... I just degooed a Connor... LOTS of q-tips and 91% alcohol... It boots up fine... Got the goo before it went into the little filter.. so it's good.. Now what the heck would I get to replace that gasket?? Where can I find such an animal??

And one that won't turn into goo 20 years from now... lol!

 

[BadGoldEagle]

You know what I'll give that a try this week-end.

I think mine's really dead. The head spins up and down. It probably means the heads have crashed or something...

I was feeling guilty of removing the "warranty void" labels but it's either trash or mendable.

 

[aplmak]

Well if you have a working one, and to keep it working... removal of the warranty stickers is necessary.. I'm sure someone will chime in saying "but it's way out of warranty".. but I know where you are coming from.. to keep it original.. The problem is that goo needs to be removed as techknight has said and tried himself on drives... before it starts spitting all across the platter... If you can catch it before it does you should be in good shape.. I think the goo issue is the main reason these drives fail.

And the drive should be removed from the machine if you don't do it.. I really have seen boards with it dripped on it and have ruined traces.. It plops right down on the solder joints of one particular chip... Also then it get's on the plastic and slowly destroys the integrity and strength of the plastic...

I haven't really screwed with the drives till now but now I have to do all the portables I have... before it kills the original drives... I do have a machine with the scsi to cf adapter but again to try to keep machines in as original condition as possible it is cool to have the original drives working..

 

[Paralel]

You can probably just take a gasket off of a modern drive, they are still used. As far as one that will be there in 20 years that is not goo, you'd need one that is 100% synthetic material, and only one material, the gooification is a result of how the rubber is made.

 

[techknight]

well you probably wont find a seal thats exactly the same type, size, or fits well. 

A really really thin bead of silicone/permetex and seal it up. 

And yes, you need the seal otherwise it messes with the drives filtration system so dust gets in there. will eventually crash the head. 

 

[aplmak]

And if that little filter thingy gets all gooey is it cool if it's just removed??? You know I find this head and platter a lot more forgiving than modern day drives.. For example I have a syquest external drive with cartridges.. It's not really air tight.. but is almost the same.. a metal platter and similar heads..

I could only assume they made it really air tight in case the machine is brought in real unique environments.. I think since the machine is not being used as a real everyday machine the dust it will be exposed to will not be in large amounts...

But I understand that it should be sealed just the same... I think I may use a liquid silicone to seal it.. 

BTW I just did like 5 working drives... after cleaning I tested all of them.. all worked fine.. did block tests and didn't pick up any bad ones.. one had a little spot of goo on the side of the platter.. may have dripped onto it as I lifted the cover.. a little 91% alcohol and q-tip got it off right away.. she worked fine after... removed before it ran!

Oh and a few of them had these like black rubber separators on the head arm assembly.. when I briefly just touched it with the q-tip it was like gum.. black crap.. I left them alone but I can't see those lasting very long..  those are breaking down.. One drive had clear ones and didn't have the same issue.. 

 

[uniserver]

 

[uniserver]

these babes are great with the 34/50 pin adaptor in the portable ( notice the power draw )  its lower then the stock hd!.   and these things are fast.

*** oh well not this exact HD *** this one is IDE… but the SCSI version if you can ever find one for a decent price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Quantum-Internal-Hard-Drive-800MB-Trailblazer-for-Mac-Performa-Power-Mac-Mac-LC-/272003537597?hash=item3f54ac9abd:g:vXQAAOSwVL1WDaoA

 

[aplmak]

Well I couldn't believe it but one of my portables had a hard drive with an intact rubber gasket!!!! It wasn't gooey at all!!! First time I have ever seen this!! I removed it anyway.. no reason to take a chance!!! I am using clear silicone liquid and along with a syringe am squirting it in where the gasket used to be and then re-attaching the cover nice and tight!!!



On a side note I have seen all over the place to not use the newer Apple hard disk drivers to format the drive.. And it is true.. The drive has difficulty waking up when it re-spins back up after falling asleep. You receive error messages.. It just doesn't remount from a sleep state. So it is said that this will ruin the hard drive... well that's not true.. I've used a 3rd party APS Powertools software and re-initialized along with the APS Powertools driver... Working like a charm... So those rumors that it ruins the drive is just not true.. You just can't use the new Apple drivers... there is a bug when it comes to the portable and the Connor drives.. 

 

[uniserver]

oh yeah there are many ways to skin a cat.

but i can say for absolutely certainty the drive i just did is sealed.

 

[aplmak]

Exactly... the crazy thing Uni is finding one drive with an intact rubber gasket.. It is still in original condition with no stickyness or gooing.. first for everything right?? LOL!!! As I said I noticed on a few of them with black separators on the head assemblies are breaking down as well.. so just a gasket fix is not going to work long term on those drives...  

 

[uniserver]

scsi 2 sd is long term fix.  no hard drive is a long term fix.

 

[aplmak]

Well our friend in Japan has come out with a portable adapter board!! Pretty cool.... Only thing is I think he may have to have the board modified to match the screw holes on the carrier... They are not screwed in here.. (notice the little piece of paper underneath) and also he has the adapter blocks screwed in to leave space between the bottom and the board..

 

[khannonnd]

Well our friend in Japan has come out with a portable adapter board!! Pretty cool.... Only thing is I think he may have to have the board modified to match the screw holes on the carrier... They are not screwed in here.. (notice the little piece of paper underneath) and also he has the adapter blocks screwed in to leave space between the bottom and the board..

s-l1601.jpg

s-l1600.jpg

Hm I wonder if that would work with an SCSI2SD board.

 

[aplmak]

Not sure the connector on the SCSI to SD board.. but this has the connection for the 2.5 SCSI hard drive type... 

 

[trag]

Well I couldn't believe it but one of my portables had a hard drive with an intact rubber gasket!!!! It wasn't gooey at all!!! First time I have ever seen this!! I removed it anyway.. no reason to take a chance!!! I am using clear silicone liquid and along with a syringe am squirting it in where the gasket used to be and then re-attaching the cover nice and tight!!!

I was able to get a gasket (for old Casio watch) replicated by Marco Rubber. I sent them an original and they took measurements and sent me 200 of them in return. It cost me about $100 IIRC. It's one of those deals where the unit price drops steeply as the quantity increases. Basically, it's about $100 of effort for them to make any.

Of course the watch gaskets are a lot smaller. They also have several materials available. It might be worth getting a quote from them. I think they charge for the effort to measure the old one -- stops folks from using them for free measurements.

www.marcorubber.com

 

[trag]

Reading this topic in more detail, now I'm worried about my stash of Connor 2.5" IDE drives in 60Mb and 80MB (for the Outbound Laptop Model 125), CP2064 and CP2084, IIRC. I remember seeing one with a dissolving gasket. Perhaps I should dig them all out of hte attic and replace the gaskets. Sigh. Stuff needs preventative maintenance faster than I can supply it.

 

[Paralel]

I was able to get a gasket (for old Casio watch) replicated by Marco Rubber. I sent them an original and they took measurements and sent me 200 of them in return. It cost me about $100 IIRC. It's one of those deals where the unit price drops steeply as the quantity increases. Basically, it's about $100 of effort for them to make any.

Of course the watch gaskets are a lot smaller. They also have several materials available. It might be worth getting a quote from them. I think they charge for the effort to measure the old one -- stops folks from using them for free measurements.

www.marcorubber.com

That good info to have, trag. Thanks. Its always good to know about companies like that for important projects.