Taking apart a Maxtor external HD

[Seismo]

My Tivo hard drive is dying a slow, painful death so I'm going to cannibalize my Maxtor 3200 external drive and replace the Tivo drive with it. I can't get the dang case open, though. There are no external screws and none of those little gaps in the housing where you can press a clip in to release it.
I'm stumped. I don't want to destroy the housing. I figure I could put a larger IDE drive in it some day.

Any ideas?
This is the guy:

 

[wahnula]

Don't do it...

http://www.weaknees.com

has everything for your Tivo, including a new, larger drive with the TiVo image already on it. You will also need a set of Torx drivers. Beware of the ribbon cable at the top of the TiVo unit near the hard drive, if it's disturbed, the TiVo becomes an anchor.

TiVo runs a flavor of Linux and if your plan is to connect your Tivo drive to a Windows PC and clone it that is a bad plan, as Windows writes data to any drive connected to it. Now, it can be done, but it involves running Linux commands.

I would highly recommend you leave this to the folks who do it everyday.

Tony

 

[Seismo]

It's not that hard. Weaknees is for people not willing to get their hands dirty. I've already transplanted a new 250GB seagate drive into the Tivo - but it's a waste of space. (and I have no problem with Linux commands - I use it every day).
Still, for $50 for the 250G Seagate(on sale at Fry's!), it was worth it (Weaknees would've been $119 for a new drive).
There are plenty of websites on how to swap out the Tivo drive, including the one that I used:

http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/index9.html

But I still wouldn't mind taking out the 100GB drive from this external enclosure and using that one for the Tivo instead (replacing a bad 80GB).

 

[wahnula]

There has to be a seam somewhere...follow it and see if you can find an inconspicuous spot to try and give the box a pry...many items are snap-fit these days.

 

[Seismo]

Already tried it. I've followed the whole thing all the way around with a screwdriver.
There's nothing. I imagine the manufacturer has a secret way in but I haven't found it yet.

 

[wahnula]

Go for a chest X-ray and "accidentally" have it in your pocket...too bad this isn't yours:

http://www.erowid.org/devel/misc/archives/000083.shtml

Amusingly, double-sided sticky tape was used between the metal casing and the plastic sides to keep it all together well...

but it shows how hard they make things. "No user serviceable parts inside" or "removal voids warranty" usually means you're on the right track.