Modder stuffs 100GB HDD in Creative Zen Vision W

Frustrated with all the limitations that come with just 60GB of hard drive space? We know, it can indeed be nerve-racking, but here to lower your blood pressure is John P., who has successfully crammed a capacious 100GB HDD into the casing of Creative's Zen Vision W. The modder began by ordering a Toshiba MK1011GAH, downloading the latest Creative firmware, and stripping back the PMP to access its innards. Afterwards, a dab of tape pulling, ribbon cable insertion, and firmware loading brought the device back to life, and without much fuss at all, a 100GB Vision W was born. We know you're salivating at the thought, so go on, hit the read link for all the replication details you need.

[Via MAKE]

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2007 9:31AM]

Same thing can nearly be done with any device that has a hard drive storage system, older creative zen's, iPods (even the mini, nano(upgrade the samsung memory chips..), and more.

It's nothing besides getting the right upgraded part, making sure it'll fit by comparing measurements (e.g. height/width) and making sure it's the correct pin layout.

Next we'll be seeing iphone hard drive upgrades. (Yeap, had to throw in the iphone comment.)

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2007 10:21AM]

The iphone doesn't have a hard drive, nontheless it does even have space for one, so stuffing an iPhone with a HDD is really out of the question.

Upgrading other DAPS with hard drives like the X5 or iPod video is dead easy since it is only a matter of buying a 1.8 hard drive, doing a few kindergarten modification and then you're done. You could even change the HDD to a SDD since they have the same measurements.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2007 9:58AM]

HDD based players are easy to upgrade, but has anyone heard of upgrading flash players with CF or SD cards?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2007 10:58AM]

people have upgraded the ipod mini with larger cf drives

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2007 10:54AM]

Yes,

Check out some iPod Mini hacks, people have gotten 16gb CF cards into those things easily.

[tiuk Posted Jul 23rd 2007 10:38AM]

The only thing I've heard of is using a CF card to replace the microdrive in an iPod Mini.

[iPadKing of Tablets Posted Jul 23rd 2007 10:47AM]

Easy or not, he took the effort to do it and it's probably one of a kind. Nice mod. I'll just wait for the 120 GB iPod instead and pay the premium.

[gregleg Posted Jul 23rd 2007 11:21AM]

We've been able to do this with Creative players for years. Sitting right next to me now is my Nomad Zen Xtra 30 with an 80 gig upgrade.

It's always interesting to see people do it, but not truly noteworthy.

[Jesse S Posted Jul 23rd 2007 11:47AM]

...Why is this on Engadget? This has been done so many times across so many different devices for years...This is nothing special.

[TrueDis Posted Jul 23rd 2007 1:04PM]

Why is this news?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2007 4:17PM]

Finally, some non-iPod and non-iPhone news! And it's great that it's about the best MP3 player manufacturer, Creative.

[iggySmalls Posted Jul 23rd 2007 7:39PM]

Thats not too bad. I got 160GB in my Zen. Going to get a 250GB soon and see what happens.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 8th 2007 2:35AM]

Hey ...

I just read this and am stoked to say my computer's fried so I need to move my storage over to an external HD called the WD Passport. It's about 160GB and instead of calling it a loss now that I don't have a box, I figured I'd investigate the prospect of dropping it into my ZV:W

My question is:
Will the WD Passport fit the ZV:W, let alone run smoothly? It'd be rad if you could perhaps fill me in on the pros and cons, and/or the dos and don'ts of how to do this correctly. I see the process but will it work?

Hit me back soon I hope, ...

br0ken
[e-mail] or
[e-mail]

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2007 10:49PM]

wtf?? nice but the cost: 560 euros
180 euro for HD
380 euro for ZEN W

[ZeroCorpse Posted Jul 24th 2007 1:29AM]

I wouldn't touch a Creative MP3 player again if you gave it to me for free. I owned several of their products, and whenever they had problems (and it happened more than a few times) they had TERRIBLE customer service and a crappy set of policies regarding defects. They expected me to PAY for repairs when I was still under warranty because "we can't be sure you didn't break it." Basically, they called me a liar when it was their defective junk that was the problem.

My iPods? Never a problem. I only ever had one defective iPod, and Apple replaced it on the spot, no questions asked.

Oh, yeah, and when I call Apple's tech support, I get a friendly American citizen who speaks English as their first language, instead of an Indian citizen on the other side of the world who barely understands me, cops an attitude, and acts as I can't possibly know what I'm talking about as they read to me from a script. Screw Creative. They aren't worth the hassle their poor service put me through, and their junky MP3 players don't even play nice with non-Windows platforms.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 25th 2007 2:15AM]

Oi, are you operating in an alternate universe?