I recently purchased a 500GB LaCie LittleDisk external hard drive. This is a nice little external 2.5″ form-factor drive, completely bus-powered, and quite compact. At $99 from newegg, it was a good deal. However, I wanted to swap the drive with the one in my laptop, which is only 250 gigs.
It is easy to take the drive apart, once you know how it is made:
- Do this on the “top” side (marked “LaCie” on the case, and “Design by Sam Hecht” on the insert).
- Slide a credit card between the external casing and the insert, pushing the two sections apart.
- As you can see in the picture, the insert is connected to the outside case by two plastic tabs which were glued in place. Slide the card horizontally to break this bond on both tabs.
- Pull out the insert.
You could also use a knife, but a plastic card helps prevent damage to the case. There were 2 further tabs on the other side which were not glued on my model. It took a fair amount of force to pull the insert out (the padding provides a tight friction fit), and when I re-assembled the case with my old laptop drive in it, I did not bother to re-glue the tabs. Additionally, you may need to replace the fuzzy padding strips (particularly the thin ones) as they have a tendency to tear when you remove them from the drive.
Mine had a Samsung model HM500LI SATA drive in it, which is now happily running my Thinkpad X61. One nice side-effect of running Ubuntu is that I was able to swap the drives, and then boot directly from the old disk via the usb enclosure. Not something you can do with windows.
Comments
Oh, it was one of the LaCie LittleDisks? Yeah, those are a nuisance to disassemble without damaging them. Glad it’s working well for you now.
Posted 03 Jan 2009 at 8:44 PM ¶Thanks for a nice guide, helped me to open my LittleDisk without damaging anything!
Posted 13 Feb 2009 at 8:50 AM ¶Thanks a lot for this information, made the disassembly of my recently purchased LaCie little disk a cinch. Would probably have struggled some without the tip on using a plastic card to loosen up the glue spots.
I even managed to put together the little disk in decent shape afterwards and now my laptop has a nice big internal 500GB drive.
Posted 06 Mar 2009 at 1:56 PM ¶Thanks for the guide.
Posted 14 Mar 2009 at 7:59 AM ¶My Lacie 500GB stopped working, after 4 motnhs, with the built in USB cable and requires a second USB cable for power.
I will open it up and check the wire connection. If not fixed then I will install it on another 2.5 case.
Anyone with similar problems ?
Incredibly useful information here! You rock!
Posted 10 Jul 2009 at 12:21 AM ¶All the above are correct. I’ve read and applied! However my plastic card goes all the way to the 3 corners-ends of the plastic case. I can’t slide py plastic card on the 4th corner-end;the one where LaCie is written.it stops to the beggining of the letter ‘C’. I’ve put massive strength, hit the card against a desc but this is as far as the card slides to. isn’t it supposed to go till the end of the corner? i also heard only one pop from the top side;bottom side had no glue spots. what should i do ? I also 2 plastic cards to release the clips but couldn’t pull the disk off.
Posted 27 Aug 2009 at 1:01 AM ¶It sounds like your last dollop of glue is more stubborn than most. I’d say you should try something metal, and maybe hit it with a rubber mallet.
Posted 27 Aug 2009 at 7:59 AM ¶Nice guide
Posted 03 Oct 2009 at 7:16 AM ¶Mine was glued on the deep end of the harddrive as well
took loads of force to get him loose.
i did glue the lid back to prevent pulling the entire drive back out.
Thanks for that, was a breeze.
Posted 15 Oct 2009 at 2:28 PM ¶I like this case (the retractable USB is pretty handy)
Pity LaCie put shit drives in them though.
Thanx so much, it helped easily recovering my data and keeping the warranty!
Posted 17 Oct 2009 at 10:40 AM ¶Perfect solution, that’s what I want to do with my Macbook. Just like Linux I can boot from my old drive in the external.
Posted 13 Nov 2009 at 2:01 PM ¶Like others, my retractable usb is damaged. Doesn’t surprise me, but it has actually partially severed at the top where the connecter is. Doesn’t help that I loaned it to my brother.
I’m planning to open it up and put it into a new case, hopefully it will still work!
If not, it was free with my laptop!!
Posted 21 Dec 2009 at 1:40 AM ¶Hi,
Posted 24 Dec 2009 at 6:32 AM ¶I’have this disk as well, but the usb cable got broken. I tried to fix it and disassembled the cable from the plug. Now I lost the connection scheme of the cable. Could you be so kind to send me a picture of the other side of the disk, or tell me where I can find one.
Many thanks
Fede
PS: I know I have been very stupid
Hi, i have the fucking usb cable problem, extremely annoying. i cant hack into the glue under the c though! its very strong.
also, i didnt register my warranty, do i just not have it anymore ?
Any reply would help soo much
Posted 29 Dec 2009 at 3:07 PM ¶What is the name of the connection that the usb cord uses? I want a replacement cord but don’t know what to search for online.
Posted 09 Feb 2010 at 7:19 AM ¶Bought one of these; USB cable black wire unsurprisingly snapped after approx 30 uses (the load bearing shielding and shroud have been removed, so work-hardening had it’s wicked way on the little fellas). Sam Hecht was clearly having a bad day. Lacie support were vague and took about 1.5 – 2 days to respond to anything I put on the ticket.
After eventually managing to get some other vague employee on the phone, i managed to whip them into a ‘clarity frenzy’ in which they said that because i’d cracked it open to check the hard drive wasn’t on fire or dead, they didn’t want to help me.
Lacie is apparently french for ‘we don’t care about you or what we sell you’. I think i might eat lots of (belgian) chocolate to feel better.
Posted 24 Feb 2010 at 4:06 AM ¶Can anyone tell me what kind of glue is best to use when glueing the back end’s lid back on an external hard drive? I was thinking of using Crazy Glue but that might let off strong fumes and I don’t want to jeopardize the integrity of the drive. Any recommendations will be appreciated.
Posted 06 Mar 2010 at 11:40 AM ¶Hi, I got broken the retractable cable too, does anybody know where to buy a new one? or may be where to buy another box for this HD interface?? Thanks a lot
Posted 22 May 2010 at 1:44 AM ¶Thank you so much for the clear guide!
Posted 31 May 2010 at 2:06 AM ¶Our Lacie little disk stopt working via the attached usb cable. Because the disk would turn on with the extra power cable we knew that the disk was still okay. After taking the case apart we saw that the usb cable was completely ripped apart at the corner inside the case.
Luckely we could recover all the data with a sata 2,5″ external bay.
So does anyone know how to replace this usb cable? Mines definitely broken, and I did have a temporary fix by soldering it, but now it broke again and Id like to replace it if thats possible but I cant figure out what kind of connection it is. Any help?
Posted 01 Jul 2010 at 2:50 PM ¶Thanks for the guide. only 5 minutes.
Posted 31 Aug 2010 at 1:14 AM ¶Bye
Hey man, thanks.
First result on google, and VERY helpful. I wouldn’t have thought about the glue.
Thanks a lot.
Posted 07 Oct 2010 at 5:55 AM ¶Thank you, your info was useful to me!
Posted 14 Oct 2010 at 11:07 PM ¶cable died; was gonna try for support. can’t find the receipt so bugger it, i’ll take the drive out and get a new case. thanks – it came out so easily!
Posted 01 Dec 2010 at 7:35 PM ¶Really useful tip to get inside the case, thanks!
Posted 04 Dec 2010 at 4:35 PM ¶It’s work. Just did it with my three little guys.
Thank you for this tips.
Posted 12 Dec 2010 at 6:11 AM ¶Thanks mate,
now my T60 will be upgraded with a 320GB Hitachi HDD from LaCie Sam Hecht:)
Jan
Posted 25 Dec 2010 at 4:53 PM ¶Hi, I’ve got the same problem with the cable… Thanks Lacie :-((…
I search a new one… Somebody knows which cable we need???
Thanks a lot…
Pedro
Posted 11 Jan 2011 at 2:29 AM ¶My cable is severed at the usb connector as well…Anyone know how to replace it? I’ll have to do it myself since my warranty ran out. lucky me
Posted 23 Apr 2011 at 12:41 PM ¶In my case, I change all the HDD enclosure.
Because Lacie don’t sell just the cable…
The HDD enclosure cost in France 13.10€
http://www.pixmania.com/fr/fr/3135418/art/maxinpower/boitier-externe-2-5-bemip.html
And now I don’t have any problem…
Posted 27 Apr 2011 at 11:03 PM ¶Was a good tip, but damaged the controler :o( If you need to open this case, go *NOT* deeper than 9mm into the case, because there is very small cable which will damage if you go deeper.
In my case I DON’T buy this crappy disk again !!
Posted 29 Apr 2011 at 1:59 AM ¶Very simple but not obvious. You saved my day. Thank you!
Posted 30 Jun 2011 at 9:17 AM ¶Thanks for the useful guide. I have a problem with the USB connection… I knew the flimsy cable would wear out after a certain time and thanks to your guide I know that is the issue.
Posted 12 Aug 2011 at 6:03 AM ¶Many thanks for this – my retractable USB cable wasn’t behaving itself and I was able to stow it back in the case before it broke.
Posted 04 Nov 2011 at 3:58 AM ¶Post a Comment