YH J70: replace harddisk

[queue]

Hello everyone,

Having noticed that in the last time, several threads were started containing photos of disassembled YH J70s and people stating that they disassembled their own, I wonder if anyone has ever tried to replace the harddisk with something with a higher capacity.
I have a YH J70 with 20GB and I'd like to replace the harddisk with a harddisk with at least 30GB (60 or 80 preferably). I checked Toshiba's site to see what drives are available. From the photos in this forum I can see, that the J70 doesn't use the LIF connector (flat foil cable) directly but instead uses an adapter to some 50 pin connector similar to those found on 2,5" laptop harddisks (though they usually only have 44 pins and are female). Toshiba seems to not build high-capacity disks with those connectors, only the non CE products have those connectors (e.g. MK6006GAH is not a CE drive and has the pin connector, MK6008GAH is a CE drive and uses LIF-connector).
On the drives, the LIF connector is roughly in the middle, while the J70 seems to have it near the right edge of the device.
In addition, the 20GB and 30GB drives are available in heights of 0.2" (5mm) while some (e.g. the MK6006GAH) are 0.315" (8mm) high.

My questions:
1. Has anyone successfully replaced the harddisk of his J70?
2. Is there enough space to fit in one of the 8mm high harddisks??
3. Is it possible to connect the foil cable to harddisks with LIF connectors?
4. Is there some 32GB limit or similar on the J70's controller or firmware? Can it access 40, 60 or even 80GB without problems?
5. Is there anything vital stored on the harddisk that does not appear in the filesystem and needs to be transferred to the new harddisk or is it sufficient to create the directory structure and that's it?

Thanks for your help!

[lebellium]

All I can tell you is that you can put into the YH-J70 a higher capacity HDD: I know someone who put a 60gb HDD into
But personnaly I never changed mine although I was thinking about! I find it is too expensive. I prefer wait for the cowon X7 ^^

[queue]

Originally Posted by lebellium

All I can tell you is that you can put into the YH-J70 a higher capacity HDD: I know someone who put a 60gb HDD into

Thanks, that means that at least the firmware/controller supports it.
I'd be happy if you could point him to this thread or, if he doesn't want to post here, give me his email adress or give him mine (just PM me)

But personnaly I never changed mine although I was thinking about! I find it is too expensive. I prefer wait for the cowon X7 ^^

Well, I bought the J70 for 100 Euro (about 150 USD) and a 100GB HDD is available here for 154 Euro, used 60GB drives go for about 50-60 Euro - I doubt that the X7 can meet this price

[lebellium]

It's a messenger contact so I don't see him often but next time he is online I will tell him about this thread

60GB HDD for 50€?! With the good specifications (connector...) ?

[queue]

Originally Posted by lebellium

It's a messenger contact so I don't see him often but next time he is online I will tell him about this thread

Thank you!

Originally Posted by lebellium

60GB HDD for 50€?! With the good specifications (connector...) ?

That's the problem, as far as I am aware of, Toshiba did not built suitable harddisks with more than 40GB capacity, (the MK4007GAL being that last one with pin connector and 5mm height and the 60GB model being 8mm high which would not fit my J70) so I don't know whether they are usable for this purpose (and that's why I need your contact to tell which disk is safe to buy ).
And 50€ was the ebay price I optimistaclly estimated if one is patient enough. There should be enough opportunities to buy "broken" mp3 players on ebay to get to a cheap disk.

[lebellium]

Ok I sent you a PM

[bwprius]

I am on the brink of getting a 30 GB replacement disk for my YH-J70.

I am not sure whether I have previously seen instructions of how to get a new disk working on my player.

Does anyone remember and can give me a hint where to find some advise or instructions?

bwprius