Before you begin, be sure to unplug all cables going to the hard drive and to discharge all potential static built up on you/your clothing by touching a grounded, metal object that is not the hard drive…. seems like simple stuff, but it’s really important.
The drive – this set of instructions applies to any of the LaCie Rugged series drive:
Remove the rubber bumper.
With care, pry the overlapping aluminum tabs on the side of the drive up to about a 45 degree angle. These tabs are fragile – four of them broke off in this disassembly process – so only pry them up far enough to clear the underlying tab. Warning! Warning! Warning! Breaking the sticker will void your warranty (if you still have one).
Again, the tabs need not be pried as far apart as shown.
At this point, the top and bottom of the case will come right off.
The plastic around the drive is very flexible, so pull the sides far enough apart and the drive will swing out.
The small, black rubber bumpers that act as a shock mount for the drive may come off… if so, no big deal, as they slide right back on when you are ready to reassemble the drive in the case.
This drive uses an IDE connection:
The tabs broken off from prying them further than needed… If the same happens to you during disassembly, bend the rest of the tabs back into place when ready, and the outer bumper should hold everything in place just fine.
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Also, see my LaCie Porsche External Hard Drive Disassembly post here.
