Hard Drive Swap?

**Chronic01505** · 11-04-2008, 01:30 PM

Curious to know if anyone else has done this... or would like a walkthrough if possible. I dont want to rip apart my MyGiG unless there are people that will want this walkthrough.

Basically what I want to do is modify my MyGiG by swaping the 20gb hard drive for a 300gb hard drive... I got all different kinds of hard drives pretty much 2 for ever different form factor so if this hard drive was not specifically designed for mygig and that I will be able to connect this hard drive from the mygig to a computer to transfer the maps an GUI this will be a success.

Does anyone have a destroyed or broken mygig?
Anyone else think of this... has it already been done?

**pukkaSRT8** · 11-04-2008, 01:44 PM

As far as I know, size wise, its the same as a regular 2.5" laptop hardrive in there. There is a forum I was reading about someone trying the swap - I have it bookmarked somewhere at home. The problem is it needs to be a harddrive made for automotive radios as they have higher shock resistance than regular harddrives.

The other issue people were having was getting the OS loaded....its not your regular flavor of linux.

Of course, I have no first hand knowledge so dont shoot the messenger, just passing along what i "heard"

**Zoban** · 11-04-2008, 02:42 PM

Not sure on the stats for the MyGig but I do know similar has been done for Satelite PVR units where either the drive died or they just wanted a larger one. (for the Sat there are a couple funky things that need to be done vs just a straight swap.)

Now if the drive in the MyGig is a standard sized laptop 2.5" whacked software (insert blah OS here) aside you should be able to use either Ghost or Acronis software to copy the OS to the larger drive. (catch would be if the firmware of the drive itself has been modded from standard like the PVR drives are in the Dish/ExpressVu units)

**Chronic01505** · 11-04-2008, 04:37 PM

Originally Posted by Zoban

Not sure on the stats for the MyGig but I do know similar has been done for Satelite PVR units where either the drive died or they just wanted a larger one. (for the Sat there are a couple funky things that need to be done vs just a straight swap.)

Now if the drive in the MyGig is a standard sized laptop 2.5" whacked software (insert blah OS here) aside you should be able to use either Ghost or Acronis software to copy the OS to the larger drive. (catch would be if the firmware of the drive itself has been modded from standard like the PVR drives are in the Dish/ExpressVu units)

Great points... so 2.5" Hmm I mean I have some cabling an different tools to clone litterly any hard drive so I'm not worried about the OS on the drive. I'm just a little bothered by that same point that you were making that it may not be factory firmware.

ORR If still unaware of the speed of the hard drive as that might be a factor or weather its possible... maybe the OS of the mygig cant read anything bigger then 30gbs I donno...

But for the people that have dissected there mygig... do you know the brand of that hard drive?

**Zoban** · 11-04-2008, 04:53 PM

If you are careful with the disassembly and are mechanically/electrically inclined (which it sounds) take a peek..

Try the clone to a larger drive the rpms of the drive shouldn't matter unless you go backwards ie. current is 7200 and you "upgrade" to a larger drive but it's only 5400 or worse yet 4800..

Other thought is that the drive may and this is a big leap be the newer micro drives like in the HP Tablets think 1.5" "form factor" or something like that..

**Chronic01505** · 11-04-2008, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by Zoban

If you are careful with the disassembly and are mechanically/electrically inclined (which it sounds) take a peek..

Try the clone to a larger drive the rpms of the drive shouldn't matter unless you go backwards ie. current is 7200 and you "upgrade" to a larger drive but it's only 5400 or worse yet 4800..

Other thought is that the drive may and this is a big leap be the newer micro drives like in the HP Tablets think 1.5" "form factor" or something like that..

Which that would be bad if it was because I have none of those... just ran a price check on a 250gb an there insanely expensive at 450$.... ouch. I bet I can find it cheaper but thats the ballpark :(

I dont want to destroy mine... thats why I'm looking for a broken one. These things can be tricky... an a stupid mistake can be expensive :(

**NYC_SRT8** · 11-04-2008, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by Chronic01505

Which that would be bad if it was because I have none of those... just ran a price check on a 250gb an there insanely expensive at 450$.... ouch. I bet I can find it cheaper but thats the ballpark :(

I dont want to destroy mine... thats why I'm looking for a broken one. These things can be tricky... an a stupid mistake can be expensive :(

What kind of hardrive is that? I can get 1.5tb hardrives for half that. 250gb harddrives you can get for as low as $70.

**Zoban** · 11-04-2008, 06:27 PM

We're reffering to the 1.5" micro drives for the ulta small laptops..

2.5" drives are twice the price on average to a standard 3.5" desktop drive and thus the 1.5" are even more expensive as they are VERY new on the market..

Will try and find some spec's for the 1.5" although it is a semi de-rail of the thread.

**NYC_SRT8** · 11-04-2008, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by Zoban

We're reffering to the 1.5" micro drives for the ulta small laptops..

2.5" drives are twice the price on average to a standard 3.5" desktop drive and thus the 1.5" are even more expensive as they are VERY new on the market..

Will try and find some spec's for the 1.5" although it is a semi de-rail of the thread.

Oh sorry. But 2.5 harddrives are not much more than 3.5 harddrives anymore. If all the specs are the same the 2.5's are usually a few dollars more.

**Chronic01505** · 11-04-2008, 06:36 PM

Mainly I'm trying to figure out the manufacture of the OEM drive in the MyGIG... perhaps they make bigger drives? Perhaps they have the data transfer cable that I would also need to purchuse to make this happen

**Zoban** · 11-04-2008, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by NYC_SRT8

Oh sorry. But 2.5 harddrives are not much more than 3.5 harddrives anymore. If all the specs are the same the 2.5's are usually a few dollars more.

3.5 example..
MODEL: Seagate ST3160815AS 3.5" Hard drive Price: $52.00

2.5 example..
MODEL: Seagate ST9160823AS 2.5" Notebook Hard drive Price: $79.00

Both Seagate both 7200rpm and both 8mb cache..

While not quite double it's close enough to what was meant in my statement..

here is a link to a Toshiba press release for 1.8" drives I was wrong earlier calling them 1.5" but these are still quite new on the retail market and not likely to be available at the local Besy Buy any time soon.
http://www.storage.toshiba.eu/media/...release_en.pdf

**pukkaSRT8** · 11-04-2008, 06:44 PM

all the software updates for the mygig come from Harmon Becker in MI. As far as I know they made the unit for chrysler.

there's more information at this site.....
http://mofv.com/mygig/

im still looking for the site that spoke about doing a HD swap...ill post it when I find it.

**Zoban** · 11-04-2008, 06:56 PM

http://mofv.com/mygig/BBS/viewtopic....ilit=harddrive

Your link sent me in right direction to find info for em .. we all work together and get what is needed

Check out that forum thread lots of info there on drive and such.