CF-28 Hard Drive Caddy Question

I have taken apart a lot of CF-28s and just ran into what I think was my first "virgin" hard drive and caddy. The interior was not bent anywhere and I found out that I have been putting mine together slightly incorrectly. Nothing that would harm anything... It's just a matter of how things are "layered"...

Anyway... I also came across something that I have never seen on any of the drives that I have had. It looks black in the pictures but it is actually a shiny silver pattern that is wrapped around the hard drive. It is an electrical device of some sort because it has a four-wire plug that attaches to it. The top picture shows the plug... In the picture it looks like it is attached to the hard drive PC board but it's not... The wires go to the silver covering. So it's not just a fancy wrapper... It is held on with tape. Does anyone know what this is? At first I thought it might be a hard drive heater for arctic conditions but this came from a Sheriffs Dept in Arizona. I doubt they have much call for that... Plus there is no adjustment for it in the BIOS.





Thoughts?

 

Toughbook................my hard drive is exactly, the same on both cf-28 as the one you are showing, i thought it was harsh conditions.....etc........
i'll take a closer look tomorrow to see what it is for........

 

too funny. it does look like one of those bogus cellphone antenna booster stickers! I'm gonna guess it is a heating element. the reason why i say that is because of the (comparatively) heavy gage wiring going to the plug. you wouldn't need that for a logic-level signal, it must be carrying some power. and that would be a totally insane place to put an antenna.

So as for why they would have ordered that in Arizona.. ya got me. Maybe it's part of a special state trooper package that they peddle to all the states. I'm sure it is thermostatically controlled, so it would just be a useless appendage. stick your toughbook in the freezer, power it up, and see what happens

 

My 1ghz also has it. It reminded me of those cheap cell phone antenna boosters. From what I have read these are hard drive warmers. They prabably found that it was more cost effective to add it to all, instead of doing it just for certain orders.

 

I wonder if it requires a special program... I didn't see anything in the BIOS about it. I know they make CF series for cold weather... I guess it does get a little chilly in the desert at night.

 

After a little research it appears that the covering is in fact a hard drive heater. Now I just need to find out if this is an automatic thing or do I need a special program to enable it. In the BIOS the only options are normal and high temp. Does anyone know for sure?

 

I would think that temperature would be the only determining factor. Did you by chance trace the wires back to see where they plug into?

 

Kind of... The wires attach to the "bogus cell phone ant" and then lead to the plug you see on the top. I didn't trace them further... Like into the plug to see where they go on the mobo.

 

Maybe I should put the Toughbook in the freezer and then pull it out in 30 minutes and feel the hard drive!?

 

i think the only option for it is the high temp in the bios, think it is just extra protection for really cold weathers.............
keeping the hard drive running at the right temp for perfect speed.............

 

Mine has the warmer too. I don't know when it turns on/off though plugged in or nott plugged in????. The HOT and Normal temps in the bios are just for charging the battery in different environments. 80% total charge for HOT conditions to keep the battery from damaging itself at High temps. It would be neat to know how well the warmer works.
What do you think is a safe Min operating temp for Laptops? I'll probably use this outside alot this winter in -20 weather. So it will be interesting to see how well it holds up. My friend I work with has a 17inch HP machine and he treats it as poorly as I treat my CF-28. I give it 'till Christmas at most.

 

Well I've talked with a very knowledgeable person about this... Supposedly the heater has no control other than stopping the laptop from starting in cold weather. Supposedly there is a sensor somewhere that reads the temperature. If it is below specs... The heater kicks on and starts to warm the hard drive. When it is warm enough it allows the laptop to start normally.
Interesting... It doesn't trun on when the laptop is on as the hard drive generates it own heat after that.

 

you know, i wonder why there isn't an LCD heater. Don't LCD panels not work properly at low temps?

 

Gravitar, that is correct. I've never turned one on while freezing, but I know they look funny while off, and from all my understanding they do have a very bad look to them while operating as well.

Just a side note, I was in Arizona 9 days ago, and at about 2am I was FREEZING when I was pumping gas into the truck... and I'm from a state with snow, and lived in Alaska for a short time. Those heaters could be useful if they actually did any heating.

 

i suppose as the lcd is well protected in the alloy casing it helps it from over freezing,
i used mine once from ice cold,
it was left in a air bag(waterproofer camping bag), over night while camping and by morning it had snowed alot and when i switch the toughbook on it came on straight away without any problems plus even thought the whole thing was ice cold to touch.............
plus i never changed the setting in bios for cold temp start.......