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Subject: 60GB drive source for Karma
With all this Vibez news floating around, I didn't want people to forget about the Karma. This is a repost of a riovolution.com thread which nobody noticed because everyone's moved here 
If you're interested in buying a 1.8" 60GB 9.5mm high drive to upgrade your Karma, you may like to know that Compuvest (USA) is selling them for about $145. That's the cheapest I could find, but shipping is expensive at ~$50 including a transaction fee. I got stung by customs (~£11, fair enough) and a Parcel Force "clearance fee" of ~£14 (hideous; Royal Mail levied no such charge for a duty-payable package last week and it's basically the same company). At least delivery took only 6 days for a well packed, brand new drive.
http://www.compuvest.com/
Search for "08K1529" using the search box at the top right. You should get two hits for similar looking drives. The first hit carries the full Hitachi product code ("HTC426060G9AT00") indicating an ATA connector ("AT00" rather than "CE00") but no other product details. The second one (SKU: 601002887-02) has more information and explicitly states in the extended details that the drive has the ATA connector, so that's the one I went for. It's the correct drive. Unfortunately they don't have the 08K1531 30GB drive, which fits into the Karma without any case mods.
When I placed my order the site had the drives on special at $105. The offer disappeared the same day (!). $145 is less attractive, but might still tempt some people here - or you could wait and see if the $105 offer comes back.
Having hacked, snipped, filed and sanded away at a Karma I got off eBay (broken, used existing spares to bring it back to life) I've now got a 60GB machine (but no lock switch, gah!). It's fragile; some of the hand grip locking clips had to go and the metal bracket that holds bottom of the case together had to be removed. The thicker drive rests on the bracket. I had to cut down the bracket's plastic mounting to make room, but of course the metal itself no longer lines up with the case's screw holes. I just discarded it and rely on the grip to hold the case together - safe in the dock and OK if carried around with care in a decent quality, tight fitting soft case.
Not for the faint hearted I suppose, but if you're careful and confident it is worth a go.
If you're interested in buying a 1.8" 60GB 9.5mm high drive to upgrade your Karma, you may like to know that Compuvest (USA) is selling them for about $145. That's the cheapest I could find, but shipping is expensive at ~$50 including a transaction fee. I got stung by customs (~£11, fair enough) and a Parcel Force "clearance fee" of ~£14 (hideous; Royal Mail levied no such charge for a duty-payable package last week and it's basically the same company). At least delivery took only 6 days for a well packed, brand new drive.
http://www.compuvest.com/
Search for "08K1529" using the search box at the top right. You should get two hits for similar looking drives. The first hit carries the full Hitachi product code ("HTC426060G9AT00") indicating an ATA connector ("AT00" rather than "CE00") but no other product details. The second one (SKU: 601002887-02) has more information and explicitly states in the extended details that the drive has the ATA connector, so that's the one I went for. It's the correct drive. Unfortunately they don't have the 08K1531 30GB drive, which fits into the Karma without any case mods.
When I placed my order the site had the drives on special at $105. The offer disappeared the same day (!). $145 is less attractive, but might still tempt some people here - or you could wait and see if the $105 offer comes back.
Having hacked, snipped, filed and sanded away at a Karma I got off eBay (broken, used existing spares to bring it back to life) I've now got a 60GB machine (but no lock switch, gah!). It's fragile; some of the hand grip locking clips had to go and the metal bracket that holds bottom of the case together had to be removed. The thicker drive rests on the bracket. I had to cut down the bracket's plastic mounting to make room, but of course the metal itself no longer lines up with the case's screw holes. I just discarded it and rely on the grip to hold the case together - safe in the dock and OK if carried around with care in a decent quality, tight fitting soft case.
Not for the faint hearted I suppose, but if you're careful and confident it is worth a go.
Pond (on behalf of myself, not my employer) at pond.org.uk.
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This post was edited on 2007-02-02, 08:06 by ![[Image: http://pond.org.uk/images/for_forum/riovolution/about_this_karma.jpg]](http://pond.org.uk/images/for_forum/riovolution/about_this_karma.jpg "http://pond.org.uk/images/for_forum/riovolution/about_this_karma.jpg")
![[Image: http://pond.org.uk/images/for_forum/riovolution/nice_touch.jpg]](http://pond.org.uk/images/for_forum/riovolution/nice_touch.jpg "http://pond.org.uk/images/for_forum/riovolution/nice_touch.jpg")
