CF-29 Toughbook Hard Drive Swap Tutorial

Toughbook · 02-21-2008, 09:56 AM

I figured I would write up this little tutorial (At the behest of Pappy

) so it might make it a little easier to make the swap. The 29 is very similar to the 28 in that the hard drive is encased in a padding to protect it. The 29 is a little more involved but certainly very easy to do. I've taken pictures of the whole process so you will have a reference to use when you swap your hard drive.

To start... All you need is a small phillips head screwdriver. A 00 type should work well. The pictures pretty much say it all. At the end and after we have a few responses that might shed even more light on this... I will make this all into a PDF and upload it (or maybe Modly can host it) so that if the pictures are ever wiped off my server that we will still have the tutorial. So... Without further ado....

You will see on everything that you pull apart and then put back together the little spots of adhesive. Simply reassemble and make sure that the adhesive spots match back together!

This is pretty much it. Once you open up your hard drive you will see how simple it is. If you have any questions... Please let me know!

EDIT: After doing this about 20 more times... There is a far simpler way to do this. There really is no need to pull out the copper flashing as in picture 4. Picture 6 shows just lifting up the tab. Really... All you need to do is to break the bonds of the small pieces of tape as in the picture and then just slide the hard drive out and remove the heating element. Then just do the reverse. The copper never needs to come off. The whole thing takes me about 2-3 minutes to do... But I do several per week.

Tutorial written by Rick Kirby - Pasadena, MD

mnementh · 02-21-2008, 11:31 AM

TB - aside from the different location of the data plug, this is essentially how the HD cage on my CF-28 Mk3 is assembled. Are the older HD cages made differently?

mnem
Hmmmm.... MORE MEGABYTES! YUMMM!

pappy42 · 02-21-2008, 11:42 AM

Rick,
Good job! Thanks from all of us challenged mouth breathers out here.

The only suggestion(s) that I would add are: Make sure the computer is off, the AC power cord detached and the battery removed befor removing the hard drive carrier.

As you know; I'm waiting for the xp discs from newegg. As soon as I have those in my hot little hands; I'll do the HD swap and boot up with the new xp disc.

TBtech29 · 02-21-2008, 02:14 PM

hey tb.

the first 2 pics are the same.

theres only one screw on that side, the other side has one in the top middle and 2 on each side.

also you do not need to remove the copper heat shield. when you remove the hdd/padding, look to where the ide cable comes out of the plastic, you can lift that flap up and slide the hdd out that way.

it looks like your pulling it apart from the sides to open it.

ZeroFlight · 02-21-2008, 04:11 PM

Agreed, the plastic on the end with the cable folds over with adhesive... you just have to pull that up and slide the whole hdd/heating element from picture 9 out. You don't need to open up that clear plastic casing.

Toughbook · 02-22-2008, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TBtech29

hey tb.

the first 2 pics are the same.

theres only one screw on that side, the other side has one in the top middle and 2 on each side.

also you do not need to remove the copper heat shield. when you remove the hdd/padding, look to where the ide cable comes out of the plastic, you can lift that flap up and slide the hdd out that way.

it looks like your pulling it apart from the sides to open it.

Yup... It was something I swapped at the last second and wasn't paying attention... I'll swap the pics when I get back home...

ems_pilot · 06-30-2008, 09:34 PM

I have enabled photos in IE7 but can't view your photos. Any suggestions... Steve CF-29. (I have an ATA 160GB on the way from Newegg. Was going to upgrade to 1MB memory but discovered one stick is not removable... is that one removable if I dig a little deeper than the stock memory cover? currently 512 in that)

TBtech29 · 06-30-2008, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ems_pilot

I have enabled photos in IE7 but can't view your photos. Any suggestions... Steve CF-29. (I have an ATA 160GB on the way from Newegg. Was going to upgrade to 1MB memory but discovered one stick is not removable... is that one removable if I dig a little deeper than the stock memory cover? currently 512 in that)

im not getting his images either now. must have been deleted.

all 29's have onboard memory. i am not sure what the max is but i have seen up to 2gb in mark 5's mark 2-3 i would assume around 1024 or 1536 max.

canuckcam · 07-01-2008, 10:55 PM

Do all CF-29s have PATA drives? I just bought my first Toughbook, a CF-29L, mk4 if I read this forum correctly. But it doesn't come with a HD caddy so I need to buy one as well as a HD.

Toughbook · 07-01-2008, 11:13 PM

Yes... All 29s have PATA (Aka - IDE) drives. You can buy whatever size you want!

And I am VERY sorry the pictures aren't coming through.... I just canceled Comcast and got FIOS... I need to redo the pictures in this thread!

<Thank you for reminding me!>