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I'm looking at replacing the actual disk in my external hard disk (USB) with one with higher storage capacity. Based on the connectors, it seems to take any 3.5 SATA drive, but I wonder if all disks are equally suitable. I could imagine that some disks might need more cooling than the tight, fanless enclosure provides, or need more power than it gets through the enclosure, etc.
So, my questions is, can I just use any 3.5 SATA drive, or if not what do I need to look out for?
those special MyBook "firmware" features probably use a tiny partition on the drive for storing the "firmware". i'd bet you could copy that over to the new drive and keep those features working. good points about the heat on high-RPM drives. – quack quixote – 2010-01-17T23:03:33.560
Actually it is indeed a firmware feature and a pain as you can't access the partition to recover the 600 MB or so of space that it takes up if you don't want to use the tools. I'm a software engineer, I know the difference between a partition and a completely hidden area thats obscured by firmware ;) You can disable the VCD so it doesn't show up in "My Computer" but you cannot reclaim the space. Read more about it here: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdsmartwareutilities
– Marcin – 2010-01-17T23:20:14.003oh, i'm aware of what WD support has to say. doesn't mean they don't implement it using a hidden partition, or some other obfuscation technique. (they are the drive manufacturer, after all.) i haven't had one to play with so i can't tell you how you could copy (or delete) that data, but unless they've tweaked the drive firmware to hide it it can be copied (or, again, deleted). (not that i'd put tweaking the firmware past them -- like i said, they are the drive manufacturer.) – quack quixote – 2010-01-18T20:00:48.320
I have the drive. GParted doesn't see the partition(it doesn't even detect it as unknown), so the firmware hides it completely. I removed the drive from the enclosure and hooked it up with a SATA cable directly to the motherboard, same story. So it's not just hidden by the USB controller in the enclosure. – Marcin – 2010-01-18T23:16:01.443