Anyone got a hold of one of these yet? Seems they would make a nice replacement as my drive is showing signs of imminent death with various skips and audio errors. Five years in the FL heat was too much for it.

Oooh! clicky-clicky!

Five years is pretty good I don't think I have had a HDD last that long under any conditions.

Very nice! Pity the capacity is so low, though. Still, for most people it would be a very good option.

We ended up with - at least one user on here knows how, as he shipped them to us - some pre-production automotive spec 20GB Hitachi drives - DK23FA-20J's.. They are in theory good down to low temperatures, etc, but not exactly high capacity. Still, if you live somewhere very cold, they might come in handy...

Given that they are not actual production spec drives, but rather normal drives with something different in them (grease? no idea!), I've also no idea how reliable they might be, but hey, worth a try

Given that they're just collecting dust, is there anyone who has a real need for a cold-temperature drive who fancies a couple? I've got 6 in total, sealed & new in bags. Probably best in pairs as you get 40GB then!

Hugo

Ooooh... It is soooo tempting to say yes. But I will let people who really live in cold weather and can actually test them answer first.

How about Minnesota I have gotten the no hdd found error if I forget my empeg in the car overnight in the winter it always works again after the car warms up a little.

Well, I get that too sometimes... But Minnesota is certainly a bit cooler.

Doug ???

anyone who has a real need for a cold-temperature drive

Well, that would be me... but a 20 GB drive (or even a pair of them) won't really be too useful in my case.

I have discovered that my IBM Travelstars (80 GB each) will start up and run at temperatures down to about minus ten degrees F, but I also discovered that my average life for my drives is less than optimal. I suspect the two discoveries might be related.

In any case, even when the empeg is warm, my amplifiers won't light off if they are at minus 30 degrees or colder. No doubt a relay somewhere in the system won't trip at that temperature. It's never been worth the trouble to me to try and figure it out exactly -- could be the Sony switch, could be the Bosch relay on the amp remote line, could be relays inside the amps... might even be some electronic component in the amp that needs warmer temperature.

tanstaafl.

I wouldn't mind giving them a try. I lost one hard drive my first winter with my empeg. Now the empegs stay in the house during the winter as our drive to work only takes about 5 minutes and I'm afraid to kill the drives again. Considering her empeg only has a 10 gig in it it would also make for a nice upgrade for her.

Rene

How's this for timing. We had frost last night with a low temp (on my digital thermometer) of 0.9 Degrees Celsius.

Hope we have lots of snow this winter!

Rene

Ok, well there seem to be just a few people really interested (ie: could possibly fit their music onto 2x20G drives and live somewhere cold - I know Doug wins on that, but the pain of picking a subset of music is worse than the pain of replacing a big hdd every now and again, right?)...

If oliver, msaeger and shadowman want a couple of these each, please PM me with address/phone number (needed for the carrier) and I'll send them off

Hugo

I too live in Syracuse, and I too noticed that my old travelstar would boot all the way to -10F at times. However my new (30x2) drives wont be "found" even down to +30F. I was just hoping to score some "cold rated" drives before this winter as the empeg will now be my only source (with tuner) in my new car.

How much are these anyway? Id love to get my grubby paws on at least one...

Jeff

If your in Syracuse, and If I get 2 drives from Hugo, I could give one to you for the winter (and save Hugo some shipping). I'm hoping to get all my music onto one, but I'd rather more users testing these drives than worrying about adding extra music this winter to my empeg.

I'd most certainly be interested in that :-) I was really impressed by the original drive's ability to boot so cold. It was never really a big deal in my old Jeep tho, as I kept the stock radio. Now with ONLY the empeg for a stereo I worry about driving in silence several hours a day. I know I can carry the empeg around with me and keep it warm, however experience has taught me that - around here at least - the safest place for it is IN the car. I do not want to drop it :-)

Let me know if Hugo sends you drives, as Id certainly be interested :-)

Jeff

About those drives, I couldn't possibly say, but if I were to guess I would say something like....

Those 20J drives are meant to be good for operating between -20 and +85°C. They have fluid bearings in instead of grease to enable this. The shock is also improved to automotive spec (100G operating IIRC but don't quote me), and the operating vibration limits are also higher (which is a big reason for the lower capacity).

They "should" be pretty good, and were more than prototypes, although they may not be exactly the same as the final versions.

I may be able to find a couple more drives which are still "in transit" to Hugo, if there weren't enough.

I would definitely be interested in anyone's feedback in how they perform...

Nick

Id love to be on board for a pair, and would happily provide feedback from the land of frozen tundra (in a couple months). Man a minus 15F morning here in the winter.

I PMed Hugo my contact info, I can provide if needed.

Thanks
Jeff

Just an update on this: I've been very busy/lax (maybe lax) and the drives have been sitting on my desk waiting for me to get round to finding some shipping material. I'll buy some jiffybags over the weekend and they *will* go out on monday. Honest!

Thanks for everyone's patience!

Hugo