LE1700 Hard Drive Installation Instructions...

[john10209]

Hi,
I thought I would let you know I had someone look at my handy work and it turns out the Hitachi ribbon is too thick for the Hitachi drive. It needs to be sanded down or replaced with something thinner. I had read around the tabletpcbuzz that both items needed to be the same brand, it turns out this is not the case. Thanks for your help.

[cyanprinter]

They don't need to be the same brand, IMO. Mine has a Toshiba branded HD ribbon, and came with a Toshiba drive, but I replaced it with a Samsung. I have read somewhere where someone did in fact sand down the back of the ribbon so they'd be able to fit it in. I don't exactly recommend this for a novice, do it at your own risk. The ribbon cable is potentially difficult (and expensive) to find.

See this post:
http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...&postcount=430

[ivar]

The drive is Hitachi and so is the ribbon. I just don't see any way how the lock could open. I am using a magnifying glass to see the drive and I don't know if I am doing the right thing. Thanks for your help.

The problem could be that you have new Hitachi drive which is using the standard zif connector.

Older Hitachi drive used the "Hitachi zif" which required a thicker ribbon.

So, if your Hitachi is >80GB, I would guess it has the same zif connector as all others modern zif drives by Toshiba and Samsung (except those with CE-zif "for iPod").