All hard drives will eventually fail, and sometimes the ports are the first point of failure. I've dealt with dozens of LaCie drives in my TV post production job and, most often, units that seem dead still work in a drive dock. If a problematic drive is what brought you here, this is how to get that Porsche housing opened, so you can test that drive elsewhere...
Tools needed: -thin flat-head screwdriver -Phillips screwdriver
Before you begin, be sure to unplug the external power going to the hard drive and to discharge all potential static built up on you/your clothing by touching a grounded, metal object that is not the hard drive…. It seems like simple stuff, but it's really important.
Steps: 1) Turn the hard drive over. Gently wedge the flat-head screwdriver between the hard drive enclosure’s base plate and the main body of the enclosure. Begin to slowly pry so that the side of the enclosure begins to bow outward. Continue until the base plate pops out. Keep the popped out side close to seam (so the still-attached side of the base plate doesn’t get bent). Perform the same pry technique on the other side of the base to fully remove the plate.
2) Now that the hard drive is exposed, you will notice three, small aluminum brackets on both sides of the drive. Bend those upward – this can be done by hand.
3) Use the Phillips screwdriver to remove the four screws binding the hard drive to the enclosure. Once removed, bend the aluminum screw brackets upward.
4) With the exception of the power and data cables, the drive is free at this point. Carefully turn the enclosure over so that the drive slips out of the case. Gently pull the slack out the cables that are still plugged into the drive and begin wiggling the power cable out (the transparent connector with four wires).
5) Once the power connector is unplugged, do the same for the data cable. Do not be forceful with the ribbon cable. Through trial and error, I have pulled these cables apart before, and they aren’t fun to try to fix. Additionally, you don’t want to end up with bent pins on the hard drive itself. If the ribbon connector doesn’t come off easily, unplug the other end from the board attached to the enclosure. Since the drive will then be free, you will have plenty of leverage to remove the cable from the drive.
At this point, the drive is completely free from the enclosure. Congratulations!
Also, see my LaCie Rugged Hard Drive Disassembly post here.
Written by Justin Kilmer
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