is there a place to buy the media drive enclosure only with out a hd? or is there a hd enclose sure that will work with the slot in the computer? its a rip off to buy the drive from hp but it wouldnt be that bad if you could put your own drive in there.

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MCE 2005 (upgraded)
p4 3.2 540
200gig hd
1024mb pc3200
ATI X600 256 mb
intel 915p chip set w/HD audio
Logitech z-680
19" LCD connected via dvi

I,ll be interested in this post if you get a good reply,
that$200.00, is to much for that 160gb. But HP seems to really
stand behind everthing they sell.

It's not $200, it's $189

I got it for $169 at Best Buy a few months ago with a rebate, and as another thread here has indicated you can open it and exchange the drive for larger then 160GB when you outgrow it.

I also bet that the 120GB version will show up cheaper on ebay eventually, this is still very much a new product.

I bought it, and I have to say, it's one of the best built external USB enclosures I've ever seen, and since it has a Seagate drive in it, it's almost silent.

With it's special size, perfect fit in the HP cabinet, and very high build quality, I don't view the added expense over a more generic drive as all that bad.

Diane

I hadnt thought of best buy, at Frys, where I got the pc they barely knew
what I was talking about, I was thinking this would be the place to store
my recorded movies, my main drive is filling up fast, I want to play
thru my extender, isnt it usb2? do movies play good with the addin HD.

It is indeed USB 2.0.

I don't use it for movies, I actually stress it far more then that, I've changed the Recorded TV storage and Live TV buffer to it, and I've never ever seen any issues.

I honestly thought there was no way a USB 2 HD could keep up with the buffering of Live TV but it's been fantastic.

Diane

Mine fried because of the heat issue (I thought my fingers were going to blister when I removed it!) before I compensated for it.  It would be nice to just replace the drive inside, but I haven't gotten around to examining the unit to see how to open it up.  For now I'm just using an external USB 250Gb drive.  Has anyone opened one up and replaced the drive?

There's another thread on exactly this subject here at TGB and it has a full description of how to open the case and what's inside.

Diane

I can't find this thread you speak of .  I do a search for "HP personal media drive" and I get 500 topics.  This is probably because of the people that list their mods in their signatures (many have these personal media drives). 

I am looking for the enclosure as well (I want to find out if there is another manufacturer (or the OEM manufacturer)) that sell the empty enclosure.  Hard drive enclosures are a hot item right now and EVERYONE now makes them in all different flavors.  If you look into the HP drive bay you notice that the USB, power, and fan have to be located properly (on the enclosure) to be compatable with the HP drive bay.  I would think that someone else must make an enclosure that is compatable (even by accident - I have seen enclosures with the USB in the center of the case like on the HP personal media drives). 

Anyway, you said there was a thread that explains opening the enclosure and has details about this subject (people that want to make their own enclosures or upgrade existing enclosures - like the 160gb - that I was considering buying just for the enclosure - because it is the cheapest obviously compared to the 300gb and 400gb drives).

If anyone else is interested in developing a compatable enclosure or even an adaptor kit of some sort (possibly a smaller enclosure that would fit in the bay and plugs in with an adaptor cable (it is just a USB and power connection in there) let me know and we will get started.  Lets get the measurements & the connector placement locations (measured) to get started.

Jesse

Here is some additional info on these drives:

Seagate also has a part number for them: ST301600UH-RK X 160GB USB2.0 8MB HP

Here is a link to one: http://www.fadfusion.com/selection.php?product_item_number=10060605021

This may help to find a compatable enclosure or specs.  Here are the specs from this link:

INTERFACE - USB 2.0/1.1 port
DRIVE TYPE - Standard 3.5" ATA drive
CAPACITY - 160 GB, 7200 RPM
MP3 music : 3,150 CDs (36,000 tracks, 2,526 hrs.)
Photos : 240,000 photos (avg. size 700kb/image @ 2 MP)
AVI Video : 816 minutes (13.6 hours) of AVI video (approx.
6 movies).
Standard TV: up to 160 hours
HD quality : up to 18 hours
INDICATORS - LEDs for Power, Activity
O/S SUPPORT - Windows XP Home, Professional, and Media Center Edition
SOFTWARE - Includes Sonic Back Up My PC Special Edition
" Adobe Acrobat for reading User Guide
POWER- Universal external power adapter (in-line, not wall mount).
100 ~ 240 VAC, 47/63 Hz
SIZE - 1.5" x 4.625" x 8.125" WT.- 5.0 lbs.

Jesse 

It's an HP designed product, in fact even the link you showed is to a vendor that's cross referencing the HP unit as a Seagate. IMNSHO you're not going to find another source for the case.

You'd be best off buying a dead unit from eBay and trying to resurrect it with a fresh PATA drive.

I'm not surprised you're having a little trouble with the other thread since it's almost 9 months old, but it is here, and as I recall it was no big deal to disassemble the HP for a bigger drive. It IS here, and is findable. However if you just browse in the HP section that you just posted this in, at about March 11 is a post titled "Personal media drive" guess what? it tells you how to open it..

 

Diane

 

Why you would not just post a link to the thread for him, I dont know.... here it is:

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/98088.aspx

nickgailloux:

Why you would not just post a link to the thread for him,

It's the old saying.. "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

The fact that his search results were so far off base, and the right search had the answer within a few posts pointed me to being ever the optimist and helping him learn how to search more effectivly.

Diane

nickgailloux:

Why you would not just post a link to the thread for him, I dont know.... here it is:

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/98088.aspx

Stripping the black pastic sides is easy enough.   The better question is what is the max size hard drive we can stuff in this thing?   Will the USB connection talk to a 500GB or 650GB SATA drive?  I'm going to google around but I thought I'd post here for anyone that's tried already.

UPDATE: I just opened mine up, it's a Maxtor DiamonMax Plus 9 GB ATA /133 HDD
(not SATA)  I dont think a single drive can support speeds over 133 and also over USB anyway so it's a mixed blessing. (IDE ATA is cheaper)  The specs/cache are the same on SATA vs ATA IDE anyway. (for new drives)

FYI:   When you prey apart the plastic sides it leaves "bent" mark but it seems ok to put back together.  (so far so good)

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HDHomeRUN supports HD QAM in MCE Vista!

S4Czech:

Will the USB connection talk to a 500GB or 650GB SATA drive?

The HP Personal Media Drive enclosure is PATA not SATA, and no obvious reason a 400GB or so drive wouldn't work that I can think of. Unless you've got a very different version then the one the rest of us have seen.

Diane

I'm at a total loss on how to get the black side off.  They don't slid back on mine.  Do you need to take the front or back off first?  If so, how?  I don't see any screws or anything.  Can you maybe link to so pictures on how you disassembled it?

Gub

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- Gub