Black Plastic Sheet in W3J's Harddrive?

Actually this comprises two questions for all W3J owners who have changed/upgraded their harddrives:

1. Do you find a black plastic sheet that sticks to the bottom part of the original harddrive?
2. When we install the replacement harddrive, are we supposed to remove the black plastic sheet from the original harddrive and stick it to the new harddrive?

Thanks heaps...

 

That sheet of mylar is supposed to act as a thermal reflector. It's certainly helpful if you reuse it in the same manner, but it's not an issue of life or death. Pull it off the drive and just place it on top of your new one. There is adhesive along the top and the bottom of the piece.

 

OK Justin, thanks for your answer.

 

No problem

 

FYI, when I replaced the HD in my W3v, I couldn't get the laptop to even power on without putting the sheet on my new drive.

If you look at the back of the panel that covers the bottom of the compartment on the w3j (not exactly the same as the W3v), there's a thin film of metal over it. If that sheet is not in the HD, it must close some sort of circuit by contacting the HD directly and prevent the laptop from booting. With the sheet in place, it acts as an insulator. I'm guessing a couple of strips of electrical tape on the back of the cover may provide the same needed electrical insulation.

 

Lee,

You're mistaken on this.... there's no curcuit to complete... they're simply heat barriers. I'm not sure what happened in your situation, but it's purely coincidence.

 

Could be. When I first got the laptop, I did have some weird power problems (before I even tried swapping the HD). But when I got arround to swapping the HD, that's what finally got it working for me. I found the info in this thread. Mastha212 had the same problem, and eventually found the same solution (p. 5 of that thread).

If it works without it, great! I'm just suggesting that if you swap the HD and the laptop won't power on, try the moving the sticker over first before pulling all your hair out.

 

Weird... very weird in fact.. but I can say for sure that there isn't some odd circuit in that foil..