WHAT TO DO?

Since the support facility is disabled at the mo', I don't have the facility to do a drive upgrade (currently 12G, Blue, but need space for 45G). If anyone has a Mk II empeg with greater than 30G capacity, I might be interested. Otherwise, with a heavy heart, I'll have to market my own one (unless current support crisis resolves) and look for alternatives. Drop us a line if any suggestions/ offers. Anyone local confident doing drive upgrades? (England).

Since the support facility is disabled at the mo',

sort of.

I don't have the facility to do a drive upgrade

La la la I don't believe you

I did a drive upgrade using only my empeg and something to connect to it serially with. If you don't have both, how the heck are you getting music on it?

Can you attach an external drive thru the serial port??

No, you need a small phillips screwdriver and a small hex key to open it and install the drive the right way. If you tell me you're trying to avoid voiding the warranty I will laugh.

Thanks for your help. Actually I'm quite a home opening up someones' belly and taking out their rotten appendix....I'm an MD....but don't ask me to open a friggin' piece of gizmo like the Empeg!!! Each to their own.

If you haven't killed anyone yet, the FAQ should tell you in sufficient detail how to also not kill your empeg.

It seems that there are enough empeg owners in England, that surely someone could upgrade your drives for you. I don't think that you'll have to sell it.

I'd rather have a dead patient than a dead Empeg!! EWhich would you love more??!!

I'm a bitter cranky person. I don't love anyone.

Ask my wife!

If there is someone in UK able to do the job, I'll gladly let them and for a decent price.

Yes you are

You really don't need anything special to upgrade your empeg, except for a new HD, a screwdriver, a hex tool and the FAQ which you've already been linked to. Everything else you need was shipped with your Empeg when you bought it.

Just follow the FAQ, it's really easy and pretty bulletproof.

Bitter and cranky is all I ever feel too, trying to squish the choiciest bits of 45G worth of music onto a 12G player!

Any suggestions for a decent drive; u never know, I might try my hand someday out of desperation!!

Give someone time to answer. Most of the people check the boards during the week. Weekends are a little slow, especially in the warmer months.

Pretty much any laptop drive. Don't spend the extra on a fast rpm as the car won't utilize it any better. Hitachi Travelstars seem to be the drive of choice.

Go with the Hitachi 80GB, that way you will have room to grow in the future.

Yes, accept nothing but a Hitachi (formerly IBM) travelstar drive. I've never known one of those to fail. You can find them up to 80gig nowadays, but in your case a 60gig or even a 40gig will do fine.

Everyone here is encouraging you to do the drive upgrade yourself. I agree that it's do-able by just about anyone (and many here will attest to the completeness of the instructions). But we should all keep in mind there are people in the world who are downright dangerous with a screwdriver. If you're one of those people, then yeah, find someone nearby who'll do the upgrade for you. Like you said, a dead empeg is a scary thing, and for you, it might be worth the peace of mind to have an experienced person do the work.

Hitachi Travelstars

Which, more often than not, carry the IBM Travelstar branding instead.

And??

I'd rather have a dead patient than a dead Empeg!! EWhich would you love more??!!

Note to self: When sick or injured in the UK, if at all possible, wait until returning home before seeking medical attention.

Yeah, I don't like taking a screwdriver to a gadget....have put plenty of bits of metal into broken hips and ankles though!! And yes, they were successful and walked again!!

Just pointing it out in case he wants to do a Pricewatch search or something...

Note to self: When sick or injured in the UK, if at all possible, wait until returning home before seeking medical attention.

Heh, I had the opposite reaction. I trust a man who's got his priorities straight.

Unless you're the patient!

Oh right, I thought there was something about the drives being different or something. Sorry

Greetings!

Okay, I read the board in flat mode, so I may be in the wrong thread, but...

Where are you in England? If you are in the Cambridge area, you might be able to make a house call (sorry, I had to do that) to Empeg Towers and have someone there do your upgrade.

I strongly recommend the 80GB drives, so you have the space to grow. It sounds like you likely have a one drive configuration, so you should just be able to add on rather than replace your existing drive.

And I can understand your reluctance. Some people are not comfortable messing around with devices / electronics / tools. I am certain someone here will be able to assist.

Rob is still accepting orders on behalf of SB through the end of May, and is on contract to work through June to ensure he has time to take care of them. Between you, me and the world there will continue to be a support service after that also - details to be announced.

Rob

You just like to pretend like your a bitter cranky person...

My 30GB travelstar died a horrible death, so they're not foolproof. Still a good choice, though.

-ml

I'd rather have a dead patient than a dead Empeg!! EWhich would you love more??!!

I guess my question would be, what would you do if one of your patients had an empeg, and didn't want to leave it in his car before having surgery.

Would you...
Think nothing of it, and help him out
Take his empeg, and still be nice and help him out, but sneak out before he wakes back up
Take his empeg, "pretend" to help him, but actually kill him
Just kill him, after taking him empeg

I'm just kidding with all of this, but its still pretty funny reading that quote

I voted for the first one, but what if I didn't already have an empeg. Then it would probably be the second one. I'm just glad I have my baby.

You just like to pretend like your a bitter cranky person...

Is it believable? I can try harder...

I'm thinking, MD... works in hospital... lots of high-tech equiopment... probably has a few IT guys around that would be perfectly safe (especially with a copy of the instructions) to work on a "relatively simple" hard drive change?

If you still want someone to do the upgrade for you I can do it.
I live reasonably close to you too so it shouldn't be too much hassle.

Between you, me and the world there will continue to be a support service after that also - details to be announced.

That's nice to hear.

Actually, I was looking for the 'Keep it safe for them, but copy all the music I wanted from it while the patient was in post-op' option in the poll

I know that there is at least one offer already, but if you are really considering selling the empeg just to get a drive upgrade, I'm happy to do the upgrade for you.

I've already successfully done one transplant on my empeg and it's still working (which is nice). In fact I need to do another one anyway, so it might be opportune timing.

Although I will say that it's actually a pretty easy process - probably hardest is getting the damn case apart, but if you are careful and read the FAQ carefully it's no problem.

Cheers,

Paul. (Reading, UK)

I'd love to help but I'm in the States. The drive upgrade is quite easy, I wouldn't fret it at all. It just involves 12 screws - eight of which you can see from the outside of the empeg.

The only other tricky piece is attaching a hard drive cable.

An MD is just like an engineer, they both fix broken things and make existing systems work better!

True. But I can understand the concern. I am not that mechanically inclined, and have managed to injure myself on more than one occasion doing something simple. Even Mark, accomplished woodworker that he is (thanks! those docks are great!), still injured himself while working on them. I can easily see this being a concern for a surgeon - I personally would not want to take that risk, especially if I was not very comfortable working with computer hardware.

I could be wrong, but I think he injured himself while packaging one.

It could very well be, but it is still an injury. Most injuries (and accidents) happen under rather mundane and sometimes embarassing circumstances.

In reply to:

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Most injuries (and accidents) happen under rather mundane and sometimes embarassing circumstances.

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You mean like in There's Something About Mary ?

Stu

Yeah, I mean you hear the stats on the radio every year...

258 people were injured by putting on their socks etc etc