My RMA’d notebook harddrive that I was going to use in my Mini-ITX system came in the mail yesterday, and I’ve been fiddling around trying to get it working. So far I haven’t had any luck. I don’t think the drive even works. I went over to PC Club and picked up a 2.5 to 3.5 IDE converter. First I hooked it up to the mini, but the BIOS didn’t detect the harddrive. I figured the cables were just being picky so I took it out and tried just a regular sized IDE harddrive, and that loaded up just fine. Hmm. Then I tried the cable in my desktop, and same thing. BIOS doesn’t make a peep, and booting a Linux LiveCD doesn’t mention anything about the IDE that indicates there is a disk there. I tried booting up again, and this time I held the drive in my hand I couldn’t feel any activity from it whatsoever. I’m guessing it was DOA.
So right now I have two options: get a new notebook harddrive or put an IDE harddrive in my mini case. Physically, I can fit it in the case, but it’s like cramming twelve Twinkies in your mouth. Sure you can do it, but it’s not a great idea. Ah well. I hate to spend even more money on this thing, but it sure would be fun to have it working 100%.