Hard Drive Upgrade at DVinfo.net

Don Boosinger · March 21st, 2006, 03:54 AM

Has anyone upgraded the hard drive in the FS-4 lately?
I’ve read some of the threads from about a year ago but none recently.
If so which drive did you use? I noticed that the drive number is different now that it was a year ago – mine is a THS541040G9AT00 and not the HTS548040M9AT00 previously mentioned. Still FAT32 though.

thanks

Don Boosinger · April 19th, 2006, 07:15 AM

Well I finally decided to try the upgrade – probably should not have – developed a problem and now the hard disk is not recognized. I think that I may have somehow broken one of the connections on the flex cable between the FS-4 PCB hard drive connector and the hard drive. Hooked both the old and new hard drive to my desktop computer and they both work fine. So sent an e-mail off to Focus support yesterday to inquire as to replacement and cost. No answer yet – will keep this group informed.

Remember that if your unit is under 1 year old this voids the warranty.......

http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-01-01.jpg
http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-02-01.jpg
http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-03-01.jpg
http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-04-01.jpg
http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-05-01.jpg
http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-06.jpg

Dan Euritt · April 19th, 2006, 01:30 PM

so it was recognized when you first put it in there? is the master/slave jumper set correctly?

Don Boosinger · April 19th, 2006, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Euritt

so it was recognized when you first put it in there? is the master/slave jumper set correctly?

No, at first power up it was not recognized. So replaced the original disk and same thing. I know that normally a master/slave jumper is used. On this specific drive it defaults to master (with no jumpers) so that was an easy one.

So the saga continues....

Michael Salzlechner · April 19th, 2006, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Boosinger

Well I finally decided to try the upgrade – probably should not have – developed a problem and now the hard disk is not recognized. I think that I may have somehow broken one of the connections on the flex cable between the FS-4 PCB hard drive connector and the hard drive. Hooked both the old and new hard drive to my desktop computer and they both work fine. So sent an e-mail off to Focus support yesterday to inquire as to replacement and cost. No answer yet – will keep this group informed.

Remember that if your unit is under 1 year old this voids the warranty.......

Don

make sure the flex cable is correct. If you switch connectors you will get exactly what you are getting. HD not recognised but works fine.

Flip the connector around (take the end that is connected to the HD and connect it to the FS4 PCB and connect the other end to the HD)

Mike

Michael Salzlechner · April 19th, 2006, 04:51 PM

I bought a 100GB toshiba drive from newegg

works fine. I had the same issue don is having but as i mentioned i found that i had the flex cable connectors reversed

if you do the mod buy the drive and also get an external case for a 2.5" drive with USB connector

i formatted the drive but under winxp or win2k you can not format the drive properly as it has to be formatted as Fat32. i used a little command line utility off the net to format the drive

remove the FS-4 battery.

open the FS-4.

It is a little tight in there.

disconnect the two cables that go to the rear cover

before you disconnect the flex cable mark one end so you know where it was.

then disconnect the HD.

remove the HD from the FS-4 and put the new HD in.

reconnect the flex cable and reconnect the two wires and close the unit

power up and enjoy

Don Boosinger · April 19th, 2006, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Salzlechner

Don

make sure the flex cable is correct. If you switch connectors you will get exactly what you are getting. HD not recognised but works fine.

Flip the connector around (take the end that is connected to the HD and connect it to the FS4 PCB and connect the other end to the HD)

Mike

Mike

I’m guessing that is not the case. As you can see by the attached link http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-07.jpg
the cable is well marked for you. Of course it is possible that the silk screen is incorrect but I think doubtful. As you can see in the picture pin 2 seems to be a power lead. I don’t know the pin out of the HDD but I’m guessing that is correct. I really do suspect that one of the traces is broken. This type of cable is notorious for breaking especially when folded hard like in the FS-4. You can’t see it in the picture but there are actually indentations of SMT components in the cable. So what I plan to do next is to locate a 44-pin ribbon cable long enough that I do not have to put the unit back together and try it. If it works then at least I will have an answer.

Don Boosinger · April 19th, 2006, 06:00 PM

I just went on the Hitachi web site and found the pin out. Pin 2 is a ground pin so according to the picture I'm thinking it is inserted properly. So now to find a 44 pin cable.

Michael Salzlechner · April 19th, 2006, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Boosinger

Mike

I’m guessing that is not the case. As you can see by the attached link http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-07.jpg

Interesting. Mine doesnt look like that. Mine looked like a regular cable such as the one you have in PC's. No markings at all

I had mine working with the HD not installed but connected and then when i installed and closed it it had the same problem. The next day i had this goofy idea of flipping the connectors and voila it worked.

But you are correct> looks like yours is seated correctly.

Do you see all the pins on both ends. Maybe one got bent ?

Don Boosinger · April 20th, 2006, 02:34 AM

Mike

Thanks for all the thoughts, but a bent pin is the first thing I check for as well as being offset by one pin. Any way will get a ribbon cable in the morning and try it. Otherwise guess I will send it in.

As far as yours having a ribbon cable instead of a flex type. I believe that mine might be an older unit than yours. I believe that they now come with a ribbon type, which should prevent this problem. I think mine sat on the shelf of the store where I purchased it for quite a while. It has a manufacture date of 3105. Anyway I will see how it goes.

Don Boosinger · April 20th, 2006, 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Salzlechner

I bought a 100GB toshiba drive from newegg
i formatted the drive but under winxp or win2k you can not format the drive properly as it has to be formatted as Fat32. i used a little command line utility off the net to format the drive

I also got mine (Hitachi HTS541010G9AT00) from Newegg, best price I could find $130 shipped to the door and fast service. The old one is Hitachi HTS541040G9AT00 so I went the same route. From what I understand the formatting should be able to be done from the FS-4 but just incase it can’t where did you find the utility? As I use XP….
Thanks

Don

Don Boosinger · April 20th, 2006, 06:44 AM

Never mind, got the format done….

Michael Salzlechner · April 22nd, 2006, 10:03 AM

Don

sorry i didnt see this earlier. The utility is called MKDOSFS. It is a port of a linux utitlity

Mike

Don Boosinger · April 22nd, 2006, 01:26 PM

Some progress has been made.

I went out today in search of 44-pin ribbon cable and quickly found out that they are not a commonly carried item. At least not around here. So I purchased (2) 44 pin to 40 pin standard adaptors. When I got home I connected one adaptor to the FS-4 and the other to the original hard drive. Connected a standard ide cable between the two and powered up. It worked the first time around, no problem. So I shut everything down and connected the new 100-gig drive. Powered up and no problem worked the first time. So to me it is clearly a problem with the flex cable. It was also nice to see the increase form 173 to 458 minutes of recording time.

http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-08.jpg

So now just need to find a ribbon cable of the proper size. Where’s my search engine……
My next step is to actually record some video after I charge the battery….

John Mitchell · April 23rd, 2006, 09:11 AM

Don, have you thought about just checking the cable with a multimeter, finding the broken link and soldering a wire bridge over the broken trace (of course completely unconnected during this procedure)?

Should be a relatively simple and painless repair.

March 21st, 2006, 03:54 AM	#1
Don Boosinger Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Rohnert Park, Ca. Posts: 99	Hard Drive Upgrade Has anyone upgraded the hard drive in the FS-4 lately? I’ve read some of the threads from about a year ago but none recently. If so which drive did you use? I noticed that the drive number is different now that it was a year ago – mine is a THS541040G9AT00 and not the HTS548040M9AT00 previously mentioned. Still FAT32 though. thanks

April 19th, 2006, 04:51 PM	#6
Michael Salzlechner Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Royal Palm Beach, FL, US Posts: 228	I bought a 100GB toshiba drive from newegg works fine. I had the same issue don is having but as i mentioned i found that i had the flex cable connectors reversed if you do the mod buy the drive and also get an external case for a 2.5" drive with USB connector i formatted the drive but under winxp or win2k you can not format the drive properly as it has to be formatted as Fat32. i used a little command line utility off the net to format the drive remove the FS-4 battery. open the FS-4. It is a little tight in there. disconnect the two cables that go to the rear cover before you disconnect the flex cable mark one end so you know where it was. then disconnect the HD. remove the HD from the FS-4 and put the new HD in. reconnect the flex cable and reconnect the two wires and close the unit power up and enjoy __________________ Michael Salzlechner

April 22nd, 2006, 10:03 AM	#13
Michael Salzlechner Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Royal Palm Beach, FL, US Posts: 228	Don sorry i didnt see this earlier. The utility is called MKDOSFS. It is a port of a linux utitlity Mike __________________ Michael Salzlechner

April 19th, 2006, 07:15 AM	#2
Don Boosinger Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Rohnert Park, Ca. Posts: 99	Well I finally decided to try the upgrade – probably should not have – developed a problem and now the hard disk is not recognized. I think that I may have somehow broken one of the connections on the flex cable between the FS-4 PCB hard drive connector and the hard drive. Hooked both the old and new hard drive to my desktop computer and they both work fine. So sent an e-mail off to Focus support yesterday to inquire as to replacement and cost. No answer yet – will keep this group informed. Remember that if your unit is under 1 year old this voids the warranty....... http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-01-01.jpg http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-02-01.jpg http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-03-01.jpg http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-04-01.jpg http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-05-01.jpg http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-06.jpg

April 19th, 2006, 01:30 PM	#3
Dan Euritt Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Carlsbad CA Posts: 1,132	so it was recognized when you first put it in there? is the master/slave jumper set correctly?

April 19th, 2006, 06:00 PM	#8
Don Boosinger Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Rohnert Park, Ca. Posts: 99	I just went on the Hitachi web site and found the pin out. Pin 2 is a ground pin so according to the picture I'm thinking it is inserted properly. So now to find a 44 pin cable.

April 20th, 2006, 02:34 AM	#10
Don Boosinger Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Rohnert Park, Ca. Posts: 99	Mike Thanks for all the thoughts, but a bent pin is the first thing I check for as well as being offset by one pin. Any way will get a ribbon cable in the morning and try it. Otherwise guess I will send it in. As far as yours having a ribbon cable instead of a flex type. I believe that mine might be an older unit than yours. I believe that they now come with a ribbon type, which should prevent this problem. I think mine sat on the shelf of the store where I purchased it for quite a while. It has a manufacture date of 3105. Anyway I will see how it goes.

April 20th, 2006, 06:44 AM	#12
Don Boosinger Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Rohnert Park, Ca. Posts: 99	Never mind, got the format done….

April 22nd, 2006, 01:26 PM	#14
Don Boosinger Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Rohnert Park, Ca. Posts: 99	Some progress has been made. I went out today in search of 44-pin ribbon cable and quickly found out that they are not a commonly carried item. At least not around here. So I purchased (2) 44 pin to 40 pin standard adaptors. When I got home I connected one adaptor to the FS-4 and the other to the original hard drive. Connected a standard ide cable between the two and powered up. It worked the first time around, no problem. So I shut everything down and connected the new 100-gig drive. Powered up and no problem worked the first time. So to me it is clearly a problem with the flex cable. It was also nice to see the increase form 173 to 458 minutes of recording time. http://www.sonic.net/kd6hq/images/Firestore-08.jpg So now just need to find a ribbon cable of the proper size. Where’s my search engine…… My next step is to actually record some video after I charge the battery….

April 23rd, 2006, 09:11 AM	#15
John Mitchell Contributor Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 873	Don, have you thought about just checking the cable with a multimeter, finding the broken link and soldering a wire bridge over the broken trace (of course completely unconnected during this procedure)? Should be a relatively simple and painless repair.