One of the problems with UMPCs is that they are small and portable and they go everywhere and get placed in dangerous positions. I’ve had the Pepper Pad 3 in the bath, the Kohjinsha balanced on top of the TV and the i7210 on the top of a microwave oven. This morning the Kohjinsha was on the sofa and as I went to open it up it slipped out of my hand and fell to the hard floor I have in my lounge. I looked at the screen and saw a bubble in the middle of the screen gradually fade away like a final heartbeat. Because I had opened the lid, it had started to resume and the disk had been spinning. Now, the only sound it makes is a click….click….click. The drive is dead.
Fortunately everything else is OK. Including the screen. It boots from my DSL USB stick and works as normal so my loss is now your gain, readers, because I’ve had to take the device apart to pull the HDD out and now you get the naked images and a How-To! I’m relieved that it really is a 2.5″ drive inside because it means a replacement will be easy and cheap. I’m also relieved that I do most of my work online and via network drives and that there was no important data on the disk.
Read on for the How-To
How to replace the hard drive on the Kohjinsha SA1.
Its not an easy job to replace the hard drive on the Kohjinsha SA1 so don’t attempt to do this unless you are confident. It goes without saying that this operation voids your warranty and that I can’t guarantee that these intstructions are perfect. Click on images for larger versions.
Start by removing the battery and flipping the unit over. There are 7 easy-to undo screws and three hidden screws. Two of them are under the rubber feet as shown in this image.
The third is only accessible after removing the keyboard. To remove the keyboard you have to remove the two-part plastic part that surrounds the swivel mechanism. First take the center piece out.
Then swivel the screen through 90% and make sure the screws are already undone. You should be able to prise the longer plastic cover away with your fingers. To remove it, lift it up from the front.
The keyboard is fairly simple to remove. There is a bit of sticky tape underneath it but a gentle lift separates the keyboard from the tape. Angle the keyboard up from the back and look behind it, you’ll see the ribbon cable.
By lifting up the light part of the ribbon cable connector, you can release the cable and remove the keyboard.Watch out for all those bagel crumbs!!
You can also remove the connector to the left of the keyboard ribbon cable.
There’s the secret last screw!
Next is the horrible bit. You have to unscrew the screen swivel mechanism. Remove the two rear screws and then position the screen flat before you remove the front two. Loosen the mechanism and lay the screen on its back. At this point you can carefully prise the two halve of the casing apart with your fingernails. Look carefully at this image. You will see that the two halves of the case are separated but you can not remove the top half. You have to rotate it anti-clockwise through 90 degrees and finally you get access to the hard drive.
You have to remove the whole drive casing which means releasing the ribbon cable. Unlock it by lifting the black part up and towards the front.
Once it is free, you can remove the drive and casing. The ribbon cable and a black plastic molding comes away from the drives IDE connector. Prise it away carefully.
Now all you have to do is put the new drive in and put it all together. Putting it together is easier than taking it apart. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to replace the drive as I need to order one but after putting it back together I booted DSL from a flash stick and it appears to be working OK. Phew!
Now I have the option. Do I go for a big hard drive that I probably won’t use or do I drop in a 4 or 8GB flash drive and improve ruggedness, power consumption and speed. With the CF and SD slots available I’m pretty tempted to go the flash drive route. Whatever i do I need to do it quickly as I’m planing to use the Kohjinsha as my main device at CeBit in 4 weeks.
