If any TR1 owners are interested, you can potentially upgrade your TR’s 30GB drive to a 40GB drive. I checked around and a lot of places have the 40GB drive in stock.
They are $229-250 depending on the vendor. So, if you need a replacement drive or feel like adding an additional 10GB of space so you can hang with the TR2 and TR3 folks then this might be for you.
In a weird sort of way, it’s not too bad. Toshiba’s 5GB PC Card is around $150. Two of those would be $300 which is much more than the asking price for this drive.
I’m hoping that the availability of these drives means that Toshiba will start pushing out larger density drives. I think 80GB is probably too optimistic but I’d take 50 or 60GB if they can manage it. Faster RPMs aren’t a necessity although a more robust cache would be nice.
Wow, it’s surprising how many upgrades you can do to the TR, you could almost turn a TR1 onto a TR2/3 by adding multiband wireless, a DVD writer, and a new hard drive. I’m still wavering on the internal Bluetooth upgrade, I did manage to get it to work, but you can’t turn it off and lose the USB port.
Well, i hope Erik is successful. I suspect he purchased a 12.5mm DVD burner which I don’t believe it compatible with the TR’s chassis. I could swear that the Sony TR uses a 9.5mm optical drive. As of right now, there’s only one DVD burner that’s 9.5mm, the Panasonic UJ-812 that has 2x DVD-R/RW/RAM abilities. I hope he was able to get that drive.
Yeah, the TR may not be the most upgradeable system but at least there are options. The Bluetooth upgrade still intrigues me…I don’t want to lose the port though…I keep wondering if there’s a way to install a mini hub inside to that you can keep the port. It does seem messy even if it was possible so I’ll probably stick with the dongle for now.
[quote author=“cellery”]Wow, it’s surprising how many upgrades you can do to the TR, you could almost turn a TR1 onto a TR2/3 by adding multiband wireless, a DVD writer, and a new hard drive.
They must have realized their error and have responded with the X505.
[quote author=“gr00vy0ne”]The Bluetooth upgrade still intrigues me…I don’t want to lose the port though…I keep wondering if there’s a way to install a mini hub inside to that you can keep the port.
I have a TR3SP on order now from iCube so I’m looking forward to getting that and joining the TR crowd.
I had a Sony Z1 model when they first came out in the UK which had bluetooth built in and I’m sure the bluetooth appeared to the computer as if it was a USB device attached to the PC. My theory is there is an extra USB header on the mobo somewhere, most likely just some pins with nothing connected. Does anyone have a large picture of the mobo for me to look at? The chipset supports either 4 or 6 USB 2 ports, cannot remember which off the top of my head but more than the 2 that are on the TR’s external side. It’s the easiest and cheapest way for Sony to do it.
I’m sure it said in Erik’s post that he had got a 9.5mm DVD writer but maybe I’m just imagining it. Your right groovy, it is 9.5mm for the optical drive on the TR.
Nice to hear about the HDD’s, 80GB would be amazing but 60 is most likely the next step and would be a nice jump.
Well, I’m almost positive that the TR does have more than 4 ports but one is being used by the Motion Eye capture device and the other is being used by the Memory Stick slot. With the two free ports, that’s 4 total already. So, it might be wishful thinking to have 2 more ports…although it might be possible.
I may have to open up my system again to take a gander at it. I’ll take more photos of the insides also…just so I don’t have to open it so often. ;-p
Well I just checked and the ICH4-M supports 6 x USB 2 devices. So I still think it’ll be USB. How else are Sony going to connect it easily? I really doubt it’s a different mobo from country to country. Too expensive, easier to have a module which plugs in and it’ll be very easy if it’s a USB device as adding some extra USB pins is extremely cheap.
Ok, I don’t know why I didn’t check earlier…but if you look at the TR1’s service manual, the Bluetooth module (shown as an optional part) connects to Port 5 (which is 6 since they start at 0). Of course, the diagrams aren’t too helpful as they don’t give enough information. The Bluetooth module should be right above the hard disk on the left side of the palm rest. I’ll have to open up the system to see if I can find possible connectors.
So, can the 1.8” drive fit into the PCMCIA slot without sticking out and compromising its looks? A second drive would be great but may take a toll on the battery life.
[quote author=“taipan”]So, can the 1.8” drive fit into the PCMCIA slot without sticking out and compromising its looks? A second drive would be great but may take a toll on the battery life.
No, the 40GB unit is a Type III form factor, it is too thick to fit into the TR’s Type II PCMCIA slot because it has two hard drive platters. Toshiba also makes a 20GB unit used in the 20GB iPod and VAIO X505 that only has one platter and could fit into a Type II slot. I think the connector is different on the drive as well (i.e. not PCMCIA pins), but don’t quote me on that.
Ah so it is USB. I thought as much. Most likely your just looking for a pins, might not be labelled up but you seem like you know your stuff so I’m sure you’ll probably find it.
