This is a little mini-review of my experience installing a 2nd drive in my Empeg (and thus voiding my warranty.) First off, many thanks to Tfabris and Dmoore who provided excellent guides to the process.
Installing a 2nd drive was mostly a hassle-free experience. I chose the shortest path possible, adding a 2nd drive and performing formatting and mounting steps manually (rather than switching my old drive out.) I did this for several reasons, one of which was a desire not to undo the hot-melt glue that holds the IDE cable on. It was pretty firm, and I didn't want to tear the IDE cable, nor did I want to have to melt the glue and risk it getting all over the drive or my Empeg. So I just installed the new drive as a slave.
I did have some problems with the hdb versus hdc issue pointed out in an old thread, where one must mount the drive as hdc, but the system thinks it's hdb (or something like that.) After enough trial and error (and searching the BBS) I figured it out.
The most distressing time during the operation was when I plugged in my power and my Empeg didn't turn on. It turns out the HD jumper I chose was either defective or not the right size, and wasn't making proper contact with the Master/Slave pins. After locating a better jumper, my Empeg worked fine. Believe you me, I was soiling myself at the thought of having to send for repairs at my own expense.
All in all, I think installing a drive is less perilous than one may think considering how complex the Empeg hardware is. The design makes it easy to lift out the cradle, install a drive, and connect it. Having the 2-connector cable in the MkII helps a lot. If anyone is considering the self-upgrade option, be careful, but it's not rocket science, and you'll love the extra space!
-Tony
MkII #554
Previous Topic
Index