BF Toshiba external drive take apart news (it's good)

[hal]

I promised that I would post my findings about the recent BF Toshiba 500GB 2.5" external drive from Radioshack. I was able to take it apart without harming the ability to put it back together. Standard design of clips only (no screws to remove).

Inside is the smallest damn USB board I've ever seen - about 1cm wide. It also has a USB connector that I've never seen - perhaps that's why they unloaded these so cheap.

A very dull knife was the only tool I used.

I separated the bottom (under the gray stripe) from the rest of the case.

we're talking about this model:

[anonymouse1]

Is the drive a regular SATA, or one of those that can only be used with the case's bridgeboard?

[hal]

regular SATA drive - I've never heard of one that could only be used with it's own board... but there are some that have neither SATA nor PATA and have only a usb port

[richorlin]

I've always felt that the portable USB drives are not built to the same specs that a bare laptop HD is built to.Think about it: they are usually only used for backup or media streaming. They are not spinning ALL the time, whereas a laptop drive is spinning constantly. I think the MTBF on those drives is a lot shorter than the bare drives that are sold as laptop drives.

[Panopticon]

sorry to burst your bubble richorlin, but the Toshiba Canvio Basics 1TB {USB3}
I posted yesterday arrived today. http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1,1272985
It contains a Toshiba #HDD2K11 (MK1059GSM) 1TB 5400rpm 8MB Cache (12.5mm)
Believe that is Toshiba's latest model notebook HD.
Not too shabby for $45!

Take-apart video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BluMCbYKK_g

...and yep, that is one microsized bridge-board they use!

Hal, some folks posted on SD there was a WD {?} External where the bridge-board was soldered to the drive's controller. I have never seen one myself.

[hal]

Panopticon wrote:
sorry to burst your bubble richorlin, but the Toshiba Canvio Basics 1TB {USB3}
I posted yesterday arrived today. http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1,1272985
It contains a Toshiba #HDD2K11 (MK1059GSM) 1TB 5400rpm 8MB Cache (12.5mm)
Believe that is Toshiba's latest model notebook HD.
Not too shabby for $45!

Take-apart video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BluMCbYKK_g

...and yep, that is one microsized bridge-board they use!

Hal, some folks posted on SD there was a WD {?} External where the bridge-board was soldered to the drive's controller. I have never seen one myself.

yeah, richorlin - that is just made up thinking - there is not truth to it at all...

Pano - I have one of those WD drives and yes, there is just a mini USB port where you'd expect to find SATA or PATA ports

but GREAT NEWS! It fits into this here toshiba case! SO, I no longer have to use it as just a bare external drive