Modifying external hard drive to play .mp3's portably?

[RyanH]

Nah, laptop mod was going to run me $300 total, since I already have the laptop and I can fabricate anything else that I need. The only issue was the fact that the screen would be sitting there in the front seat visible to cops etc..and would be deemed as a driving hazard.

If I had $800 to burn, I'd just get a 40 Gig ipod, that's all I need, but I'd rather keep the money in my pocket and use what I have in hand, a 3G ipod and a 30 gig laptop HDD. I have no problem shelling out $200 if I can get 30 gigs+ of storage.

 

[_SiLv3R_]

ok ok ill just tell u an easy way to get around that.. when u fabricate the parts u need just fabricate a slider.. exactly like the one u see on keyboard traays that the wheels help it slide out.. trust me me n my sis fabricated all the custom parts for her suv ourselves.. but when you put the laptop there just wire it to the back of your deck to where your auxilary port is and run a line from ur laptop to the back (or front depends on where the port is) of ur car deck.. now when u turn on ur laptop for the first time just disable all the sleep and hybernate features and what not from "power settings" that forces the laptop to go hibernate when u shut the screen.. next just make diff playlists with diff kinds of music so that if u need to switch from one kind to another u dont have to keep the screen open for llong... also to make sure u dont reduce the life of the battery by recharging over n over again, remove the laptop battery, and run the power for ur laptop into the cars electrical lines because they both run on 12V current.. if you're not confident in doing that then just buy a converter from canadian tire that plugs into ur cigarette adapter and has a regular plug into the end.. then either hide it out of site or if u wanna keep a stock look just take it thru behind ur dash and just plug in ur laptop from there.. and viola ur set

 

[RyanH]

Ya my approach was to get a docking station, mount it under the dash without a slider, have it hibernate etc...have a remote control for the laptop(which I have and it works well) and use a stationary standard LCD screen in the front, only downside is that with either route, LCD screens emit a decent amount of light readily visible to the cops. If I hide the laptop in a pullout version using the laptop's screen, it seems to be more of a driving hazard.

 

[Harper]

Harper: Are laptop hard drives swappable with the ipod hard drive? I have a 30 gig internal HD sitting here which would be plenty of storage.

In theory, Yes. But I would want to check with some one that has actually done that before swapping the drives out.

From what I hear, the iPOD encloser is put together rather tightly.