Okay, I think I'm finally ready to add a second hard disk to my 4gb Empeg.

It seems to me, from looking at Pricewatch, that the 6-gig range is the current "sweet spot" for notebook hard drives. For instance, there are some 6.4-gig drives at GlobalMicro for $156.00, but if I want to go to 8 gigs, the price doubles to over $300.00.

I'm ready to hit the "buy" button on a 6.4-gig drive at GlobalMicro. But before I do, I'd like to know which one I should get. There are two Fujitsu drives there for $156.00. One of them is a "slim" 12.5mm drive (MHE2064AT), the other is an "ultra slim" 9.5mm drive (MHH2064AT). Which should I get?

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

I'm finally ready to add a second hard disk. Which should I get?

Tony,
I just added an extra Toshiba HDD myself. The one I got is 12.5mm tall and fits easily inside the Empeg. No reason to base your decision on the physical difference in drive height. Either will fit without any problem. More important are (IMHO):

Shock proofing
Can they withstand the same G-forces as the Toshiba's selected by the empeg team?

Electrical Load
Can the empeg power supply handle the required current? Note that the new 25GB IBMs need a beefed up PS in Mark2.

Noise
Most specs don't tell you how much noise they make. My new 18GB makes a rattling noise and is not as silent as the 6.4GB Toshiba one that the player came with. It's (mine) OK, but if you have a chance, find out before you buy, or gamble.

Henno
PS1: I have a spare Videk cable. Do you want it?
PS2: Make sure you have 4 short screws handy to mount the disk. The ones for regular HDDs are too long

Henno
# 00120 (6GB+18)

Thanks for that info, Henno.

Yes, I'd like that cable. I'll contact you via direct e-mail to work something out.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

Both, silly!!

Either would be a good choice. I recommend Toshiba, Fujitsu AV and IBM DD as a matter of course these days. Think about how noisy they are during seek and power on (head rattle).

Neither.

You've already spent $1500 on your empeg. You've got another $1000 worth of amps and speakers in your car. You've got thousands, maybe tens of thousands of dollars invested in your music collection. You've spent scores, maybe hundreds of hours ripping, encoding, and loading music into your empeg.

And here you sit, bemoaning the fact that another two gigs is going to cost you a measly hundred bucks.

Do it right. Go at least 10 gigs for the second drive. So it costs you $500 instead of a hundred and a half. A year from now when you're listening to your music and still have room to add more, you'll never miss that $350.

"The bitterness of low quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has been forgotten."

Don't cheap out on us now, Tony. Do it right in the first place and you won't regret it.

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

ummm... where are you guys buying your hard drives from?? Purchasing two 10gb drives (for a total of 20gb space on my empeg) only costed me $526 including shipping...
-mark

...proud to have one of the first Mark I units

bwahahahahaha... ooh.. that's priceless.

(O|||||O)

Priceless? Actually, the price was $526.

-- Bleys

"If you would judge, understand." -- Seneca

Don't cheap out on us now, Tony. Do it right in the first place and you won't regret it

Well said Doug! And, of course, Tony knows this damn well himself

And a sizeable drive won't even cost $500. I picked up my 18GB Toshiba for US$ 414 (plus shipping to Europe, import duties, local sales tax etc. You Americans don't know how lucky you are ) - shipping within the US included. Tony, your difference is a mere US$ 258 and I send you the cable for free

A year from now when you're listening to your music and still have room to add more

Henno
# 00120 (6GB+18)

My goodness. I ask for a simple choice between a 9mm and a 12mm drive, and I get lectured.

Of course I understand the need to buy what's right rather than what's cheap. But I also don't spend extra money unless I need it. Especially if it's in computer parts: Prices on hard disks are dropping. The beauty of the whole thing is that if I need more space in the future, I can upgrade the hard disk with very little trouble, and spend less on that upgrade than I would by buying a bigger one now.

Right now, the 4gb disk holds all of my favorite albums. There are perhaps maybe five or seven more albums' worth of music I would want to install right now. On my PC's hard disk, I have reserved an 8gb drive purely for MP3's. So really, all I need for Emma right now is another 4gb. That gives me enough room to put on everything I want to, plus room for maybe another 1-3 year's worth of expansion. But when investigating prices, it seemed to me that 6 was the current sweet spot, pricewise. So I settled on that.

In the end, I ended up getting the 12.5mm 6.4gb drive. I should have it within the next few days. Rob, if you're listening, do you happen to have a pre-made image for the MHE2064AT, so I can install that drive directly without going through Dmoore's developer install?

Oh boy, I'm about to break the warranty seals on my Empeg for the first time. Exciting.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

> do you happen to have a pre-made image for the MHE2064AT

The latest version of our disk initialiser works with arbitrary drives. If you want it, email mike@empeg.com - but be warned, it was developed for internal use and it's not too difficult to erase your existing drive if you don't take care.

Rob

The latest version of our disk initialiser works with arbitrary drives. If you want it, email mike@empeg.com - but be warned, it was developed for internal use and it's not too difficult to erase your existing drive if you don't take care.

Fantastic! I have no problem using stuff like that, so everything should be OK. Assuming it runs in Windows, that is. If it's a Linux app, I'll be forced to use DMoore's method, since I don't have Linux on any of my boxes. I'll mail Mike right away.

Thanks Lionel, er, I mean Rob.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

I'm about to break the warranty seals on my Empeg for the first time

Just be very careful and gentle to Emma. Except for the sticky tape that's curled up over some of the components underneath the drive platter, Emma's internals are just as impressive as her external build.

BTW: Bet you'll need more diskspace a year from now

Henno
# 00120 (6GB+18)

It runs on the empeg itself - you drop it into the emplode upgrade tool and sit back. It's a good idea to disconnect your existing drive first (in fact, it may be necessary to do so, I'm not sure). Mike will advise you on this.

Rob

It runs on the empeg itself - you drop it into the emplode upgrade tool and sit back. It's a good idea to disconnect your existing drive first (in fact, it may be necessary to do so, I'm not sure).

Ah, I get it. That sounds pretty easy, especially if it'll work with only drive 2 hooked up.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144