dmgadget

Success! I have successfully upgraded my HDD on my Sony Viao from the factory Fujitsu 40GB to the WD Passport 80 that I bought a long time back as an external drive and put the Sony in the Passport case! The most difficult part of the process after the physical swap was moving the data from one drive to the other. I used EZ GigII and help from my father, a computer techie since before the mouse to walk me through it. Unfortunately, I don't think you can get the 75MB software by itself...it comes as part of a kit with it's own backup/external drive for doing just what I did. I was able to use Skype to download it directly from my father who owned the kit and had previously given it to me for a Toshiba 1.8in 5GB drive but forgot the software. Anyway, Good luck to all and here's the link to my Yahoo 360 page where I've posted the pics for taking this apart: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dmgadget/alb...re2&.view=t

Hi...I don't know if your passport is in the same case as mine, but I have the brushed aluminum and blue rubber case for the 80 GB WD Passport. I was looking to use one (of the 2 I have) to upgrade the 40 GB HD in my Vaio and swap the two. I have successfully, albeit not without minor glitches, opened the case! No, you don't have to drop it on the ground. No, there are no screws involved. No, it's no sealed. If you want the pictures I took showing the inside of the case and showing what it takes to open in, email me at inyourhome@gmail.com and I'll send them to you. As for a simple answer, my Passport has a small, rubber "door" cover over the mini USB port and optional 5V power input. Inside, under the cover, on the upper side of the cavity created when you pull out the cover, is a small silver (same color as the other half of the case) tab. Usually, one might expect (as I did) that if you pushed this down it would allow you to slide the case away from the rubber bottom half. Wrong! Right spot, wrong action. Actually, you need to slip a small, flat head screw driver in between the outermost edge of the tab and the blue rubber case and pry gently and NOT TOO FAR--DOWN, away from the silver case housing. Now, the hard part... Once you have pried GENTLY down (away from the top) on the small silver tab inside the case opening, you have to find a way to slide the aluminum case half parallel and away from the blue rubber half. It is very similar to most other external drive cases I have worked with where the drive goes inside and a "coffin" type lid slides over the bottom half and latches in place. It's all about knowing where the release is and finding the way to pull the two halves apart. I had to put my fingernails in the small gap and use some serious friction pushing and pulling in opposite directions to separate the halves. It's not that it is that much force required as it is difficult to get a grip on the parts. I made the mistake in my initial attempt to open the case of pulling APART on the two halves and proceeded to break off the small, uni-directional tabs that were on the inside of the lid. The bottom (inside the blue half) tabs, or hooks maybe, remained intact. The case has four tabs on the sides, two on each side, and one at each end. Both ends are still intact and will still hold the case firmly closed, I just lost the catches on the mid body of the case. Once inside it's all pretty self-explanitory. The drive is held in place by two rubber "gaskets" the run the length of the HD. There is a very small fixture that houses the blue light, the power port, the mini USB port and has a metal plate that is taped in two places and screwed to the drive with two screws. I haven't made the swap yet so that's as far as I've gotten. If all goes well, I'll double my hard drive size and be back up in no time. I'm going to Ghost my drive to the external Passport next and then see about the swap. Wish me luck!