Cornice screw type?

[samuel1]

Yes, both, actually.

I don't mind daisy-chaining adapters, if that is what is necessary. I'm saying I don't see any signs of CE-ATA to *anything* adapters/converters.

Most searches on the matter result in this thread appearing!

*facepalm*

PS - with respect to obsolete technology -- hard disk drives are fascinating. Flash media, while faster/more efficient/etc. aren't nearly as interesting since their mechanics are all but silent and hidden.

 

[heymrdj]

http://www.amazon.com/ZIF-1-8-Micro-...bxgy_pc_text_c

 

[samuel1]

http://www.amazon.com/ZIF-1-8-Micro-...bxgy_pc_text_c

That's not going to work. That ZIF connector is too large. I have done a bad job of showing just how ridiculously tiny this connector is, have a look:

Clearly, that Amazon connector, which is designed for a 1.8" HDD, will not fit.

 

[heymrdj]

That looks like a 1" not a 1.8". If it's a 1" drive, the conversion was done IC side, it didn't match IDE standards. If that is the case, then without a working original device (life if it was in an IPOD you need another IPOD) then there is no way to connect it to a PC. These devices were very proprietary.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245827-32-connect

 

[samuel1]

I've bought a ton of triwing ("Y") screw drivers in an attempt to open these Cornice drives. ALL of the screw drivers are too large. The "DS" screws are about double the size of these teeny tiny screws on the Cornice drives.

Do any of you know how I might be able to find a triwing screwdriver that is small enough to open such tiny screws?

What is most frustrating is the fact that there doesn't seem to be any standardized size chart. For example, this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Silverhill-Too...ref=pd_cp_hi_3

Seems small enough, maybe. And it's described as a "Size 3.0" -- 3.0 out of what? Searches everywhere reveal no results on this topic.

Help, please.

 

[Viper GTS]

It's not a unit, it's a size. Much like there are multiple sizes of philips, torx, etc.

Take a look at this:

http://apexfasteners.com/fasteners/images/ApexIndustrialFastenerTools31.pdf

In theory I'd imagine you could probably find some screw size charts and make an educated guess as to how big the actual shaft is. I'm guessing it's probably either M1.4 or M1.6.

What I'm not finding is a way to translate tri-wing sizes into physical dimensions, I think your safest bet is to find a set of tri-wing bits that covers Y0 on up.

http://www.ifixit.com/Tools/54-Bit-...t&utm_term=if145-022&utm_content=product_link

That set has Y0 and Y1, realistically one of those is probably it. And if you want to take apart a bunch of other random stuff you'll probably find it in that set.

Viper GTS

 

[samuel1]

Viper GTS -- that is an awesome toolkit. Thanks for the link.

So, the most recent triwing screwdriver I purchased is this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Screwd...ltDomain_0&hash=item4168215dd2#ht_3428wt_1145

Not sure if I can trust it, but it says that's a Y00. It's just slightly too large.

So, if I am not mistaken, what I need is a Y000. Do you think this'll work?

http://www.laptopscrews.com/Screwdriver.htm

In the Y000 size, of course.

 

[heymrdj]

Viper GTS -- that is an awesome toolkit. Thanks for the link.

So, the most recent triwing screwdriver I purchased is this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Screwd...ltDomain_0&hash=item4168215dd2#ht_3428wt_1145

Not sure if I can trust it, but it says that's a Y00. It's just slightly too large.

So, if I am not mistaken, what I need is a Y000. Do you think this'll work?

http://www.laptopscrews.com/Screwdriver.htm

In the Y000 size, of course.

Yeah Y000 is the smallest tri-wing that I know of outside of some specialty drives (which it may be, but it doesn't look like it). Here's some places that have it a little cheaper when you include shipping.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Y+0...cp.r_qf.&fp=3ba8dca76e6cdcf1&biw=1600&bih=799

 

[samuel1]

All set!

Got the Y000 screwdriver and it WORKS!

I can hardly believe it. Thank you all so much for your invaluable assistance and hand-holding through this learning experience.

 

[StarTech]

All set!

Got the Y000 screwdriver and it WORKS!

Aren't you going to tell us what is you found inside when open ?

 

[samuel1]

Apologies

 

[StarTech]

If the small drives are 1.8, what size is the large one? It appears bigger than a 3.5.

 

[samuel1]

The small drives are actually 1". They were the world's smallest for a time before Toshiba released their 0.85" drive (which I cannot get my grubby hands on).

The larger drive is a Quantum Bigfoot, a curiously large 5 1/2" drive from the 90's with a capacity of ~2GB. The Cornice drives all have a capacity of 8GB.

I'll post a video of the Bigfoot in action shortly. :biggrin:

 

[Racharound]

Hi. I have a little bit of information about the 1" microdrive. They have a company names kaser who would sell the microdrives as USB minivaults. They have a zif to USB but as far as finding one. I have had no luck, I made the mistake of saving really important pictures on one I thought was a USB flash drive because that's what it was sold as. So if anyone has any luck with finding a zif cable or someplace that still sells these besides kaser, please let me know. Thanks!

 

[samuel1]

Racharound,

Are you referring to this product?

http://www.kasercorp.com/productcart/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=4

If so, they appear to still sell it (shocker!). However, included in the massive box of Cornice drives that I purchased were several 4GB drives which were slightly larger than the tiny ones I am talking about in this thread (6-8GB versions). I believe they are more like 1.8" drives, standard microdrive size, and the ZIF connector seems to be larger with more pins.

I am still very desperate for a CE-ATA to USB adapter, but as one earlier person noted, it seems like I am going to have to identify an original product like a Rio mp3 player that used the Cornice drives once upon a time and tear it apart in order to be able to access these drives.

 

[Racharound]

Indeed, that is what I am referring to. I wonder if they have the same microdrive inside. Cornice went out of business a while back. I just need one of the boards from the usb devices but I really don't want to take a chance on the ones they have listed, if they don't have the same inside. There is no other place that I have found that sells them. Kaser does not reply to any attempts to contact them though. I tried that. As far as the 1.8 drives go I have found adapters for them. There is a microdrive in the ipod minis generation one and two but they are not the same. They do sell zif cables for these. They are made by molex I believe. Inside of the one that I have there is such a thing but I do not know if I damaged it taking it apart. I'm willing to bet that I did. I will post pictures though when I get a chance. The reason I took it apart was the usb wires came apart from the rest of the device. Dragon series of the cornice drives were touted as thinner. The storage elements that came before dragon were a little bigger as well. I bought mine from fry's a couple years ago. They have since stopped selling them. I wonder why with all the bad reviews...I will keep you up to date if I find something that works...