John Hollenberg
New member
Meta.editorial™ A researched and evaluated contribution. 2006_opf_a0001
I have had an Epson P2000 for the last year or so. The image quality on the small LCD is fantastic, but I have started to wish for a larger storage capacity and faster access to the data on the hard disk. I ran across a post on DP Review quite some time ago describing this upgrade and finally decided to attempt it myself. Note that this is provided for informational purposes only. Opening the Epson P2000 will almost certainly void your warranty (mine is expired) and any damage you do is your own responsibility.
This post (Part 1) will cover the research I have done so far, the components I have selected and the directions I have located which make this a reasonable project. Part 2 will be submitted after I attempt the upgrade and will include a report of my success (or failure), pitfalls, and recommendations.
The thread on DP Review can be found here:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=12096558
At first I was suspicious whether this was real and whether it could be accomplished by a mere mortal, but a video produced by Inkjetart.com and hosted by Google allayed my fears and gave a lot of specifics about how to do the upgrade:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3637613075261606641
Parts selection:
1) Hard disk - after reading the reviews I settled on the Hitachi 7200 RPM 100 GB IDE 2.5 inch hard disk to replace the current 40 GB hard disk. Note that you need an IDE hard disk, not SATA. The current hard disks in the 2.5 inch size are 9.5 mm thick. It isn't clear to me whether the 40 GB hard disk is the 9.5 mm thickness or an older standard of 12 mm, but from my reading I am pretty sure this disk will work fine. The increased areal density as well as the 7200 RPM speed should increase the speed of accessing data on the disk (I plan to test this with before and after). The Hitachi came in at the top of the heap for the drives that were reviewed:
http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200511/notebook_4.html
I had some concern about the amount of power needed by the higher rotational speed of this disk, but the 7200 RPM Hitachi did very well for idle power consumption compared to 5400 RPM hard disks, and had power use during a seek which was only about 20% higher than the slower hard disk average:
http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200511/notebook_7.html
This drive (Hitachi Travelstar 7K100) can be purchased from Newegg for $160 (current price):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822146052
Note that you do NOT want to get the E7K100, which is a version of the drive intended for blade servers. The E7K100 has no power management and much lower heat tolerance, so it is not a good candidate for the upgrade.
2) An external case to use for cloning the original drive to the new drive. There are some very cheap external cases, but I settled on one that is slightly more expensive but a lot more flexible--the Macally PHR-250CC Aluminum 2.5" USB + IEEE 1394 External Enclosure ($33 current price):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817146604
I chose this as a more robust enclosure with Firewire and USB connectivity and very good reviews from purchasers. In addition, I noted that a 12 mm high drive can still be used with this enclosure by leaving the top off. Apparently works well with both Mac and PC. If all goes well with the upgrade, I will install the 40 GB hard disk from the P2000 in the enclosure and use it as a small, convenient way to quickly transfer large amounts of data from one computer to another (often needed when purchasing a new computer and transferring programs and data to the new machine). This will certainly be faster and more convenient than burning CDs or DVDs to transfer the data.
3) Cloning Software - I already own Achronis True Image 8.0, which was the software used in the Google Video (about $50). Success has been reported with Norton Ghost and perhaps other software choices.
The parts (total of $216 including CA sales tax and shipping) were received today. Stay tuned for part 2, which is probably about 2 weeks away due to a backpacking/photography trip to the Sierra Nevada over Memorial Day.
--John
I have had an Epson P2000 for the last year or so. The image quality on the small LCD is fantastic, but I have started to wish for a larger storage capacity and faster access to the data on the hard disk. I ran across a post on DP Review quite some time ago describing this upgrade and finally decided to attempt it myself. Note that this is provided for informational purposes only. Opening the Epson P2000 will almost certainly void your warranty (mine is expired) and any damage you do is your own responsibility.
This post (Part 1) will cover the research I have done so far, the components I have selected and the directions I have located which make this a reasonable project. Part 2 will be submitted after I attempt the upgrade and will include a report of my success (or failure), pitfalls, and recommendations.
The thread on DP Review can be found here:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=12096558
At first I was suspicious whether this was real and whether it could be accomplished by a mere mortal, but a video produced by Inkjetart.com and hosted by Google allayed my fears and gave a lot of specifics about how to do the upgrade:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3637613075261606641
Parts selection:
1) Hard disk - after reading the reviews I settled on the Hitachi 7200 RPM 100 GB IDE 2.5 inch hard disk to replace the current 40 GB hard disk. Note that you need an IDE hard disk, not SATA. The current hard disks in the 2.5 inch size are 9.5 mm thick. It isn't clear to me whether the 40 GB hard disk is the 9.5 mm thickness or an older standard of 12 mm, but from my reading I am pretty sure this disk will work fine. The increased areal density as well as the 7200 RPM speed should increase the speed of accessing data on the disk (I plan to test this with before and after). The Hitachi came in at the top of the heap for the drives that were reviewed:
http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200511/notebook_4.html
I had some concern about the amount of power needed by the higher rotational speed of this disk, but the 7200 RPM Hitachi did very well for idle power consumption compared to 5400 RPM hard disks, and had power use during a seek which was only about 20% higher than the slower hard disk average:
http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200511/notebook_7.html
This drive (Hitachi Travelstar 7K100) can be purchased from Newegg for $160 (current price):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822146052
Note that you do NOT want to get the E7K100, which is a version of the drive intended for blade servers. The E7K100 has no power management and much lower heat tolerance, so it is not a good candidate for the upgrade.
2) An external case to use for cloning the original drive to the new drive. There are some very cheap external cases, but I settled on one that is slightly more expensive but a lot more flexible--the Macally PHR-250CC Aluminum 2.5" USB + IEEE 1394 External Enclosure ($33 current price):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817146604
I chose this as a more robust enclosure with Firewire and USB connectivity and very good reviews from purchasers. In addition, I noted that a 12 mm high drive can still be used with this enclosure by leaving the top off. Apparently works well with both Mac and PC. If all goes well with the upgrade, I will install the 40 GB hard disk from the P2000 in the enclosure and use it as a small, convenient way to quickly transfer large amounts of data from one computer to another (often needed when purchasing a new computer and transferring programs and data to the new machine). This will certainly be faster and more convenient than burning CDs or DVDs to transfer the data.
3) Cloning Software - I already own Achronis True Image 8.0, which was the software used in the Google Video (about $50). Success has been reported with Norton Ghost and perhaps other software choices.
The parts (total of $216 including CA sales tax and shipping) were received today. Stay tuned for part 2, which is probably about 2 weeks away due to a backpacking/photography trip to the Sierra Nevada over Memorial Day.
--John
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