A reader named Alex wrote asking about the
method used to window mod the drives in my HL2 Project which we did a Case
Study on here. There you go Alex. I hope this answers your
questions.
Hard drive mod's are one of the coolest mod’s going, and
have been for quite some
time now. What separates them from most
if not all other mod’s is that
they actually spotlight the only real moving/mechanical parts of a computer system. If you have ever seen the arm moving across
the face of a hard
disk during a seek/read/write, then you know what I mean.
Obviously,
the reason we don't see this attractive mod more is the inherent
danger of dorking a drive. In order to
pull this one off, you have to
remove the cover of your expensive drive and replace it with a
clear cover made of Plex or Lexan. Get
even a tiny particle of dust or
some other grit inside and your drive is now a paperweight.
The
solution is to recreate the environment your drive was assembled in as closely
as possible. A clean room is a very
difficult and costly space to
maintain, so we are aiming for a Clean Box.
An environment we have a
larger measure of control over. The
biggest offender in contaminating
any space is you...you shed all manner of little "stuff" like dead
skin cells, etc.
Since we
don't have access to a sterile/clean environment with air-locks and
some
form of mechanical manipulation like robotic arms we have to use our
own
hands, just coated in rubber and surrounded by a "cleaner" environment.
What follows is the method I use. It is simple to the point of
being--well, simple.
One last
thing to take into consideration before you undertake this mod.
There is no real advantage in
modding your drive if it is located in such a way that the effect isn't
readily visible...this mod like most, is about changing the way something
looks.
I am not
going to cover the actual procedure because it has been done. Rather, I
am going to show a good method of combating the most dangerous
element...F.
O. D. or Foreign Object Damage. If there
is enough interest,
I will do a
second part or companion to this article showing how I do the mod itself.
;)
;)
;)
