USB Shell swap?

[DanteCoal]

Hey all,

So I've got a USB drive that I'd like to continue using, for purely cosmetic reasons.  A bit dumb, I know, but it's the Diablo 3 CE Soulstone drive, and I love the stupid thing to bits.  So, I'm wondering if there's a way to gut the drive, and install a larger / more modern drive into it.  The current drive is a paltry 4GB USB 2.0, and I'd really love to put the guts from something like a little more modern into it; hopefully with the LED still as a feature, but that's not quite as important to me as the drive being larger.

Note - I'm very mechanically inclined, and rather tech savvy, but never dipped into something like gutting a USB drive, so please feel free to talk to me like I'm a total novice.

[jaslion]

Depending on how it's inserted and molded it could just be a plastic cast, a bit of hot glue inside and they jammed in a usb drive.

 

As for what usb well basically anything that has the dimensions of the usb stick you pull out will work. Led same thing a lot of usb sticks still have a activity led inside that is VERY bright actually just muted because of a small hole in the plastic shell.

 

From the low res pics I can see online it really just looks like there is a usb sticks insides hot glued to the plastic. So should be quite easily replaceable.

 

EDIT!!!!!!!!!!!!: Someone dit it already

 

It's just pressure fitted and can be pried open with a thin guitar pick.

 

The usb is a bit different but basically any small drive can be used. Then a 5v compatible led could be soldered to the power pins of the usb stick and be used as the light. However it seems the usb stick and the led pcb are actually different parts from eachother so technically you could separate them and reuse the led.

[DanteCoal]

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

Depending on how it's inserted and molded it could just be a plastic cast, a bit of hot glue inside and they jammed in a usb drive.

 

As for what usb well basically anything that has the dimensions of the usb stick you pull out will work. Led same thing a lot of usb sticks still have a activity led inside that is VERY bright actually just muted because of a small hole in the plastic shell.

 

From the low res pics I can see online it really just looks like there is a usb sticks insides hot glued to the plastic. So should be quite easily replaceable.

 

EDIT!!!!!!!!!!!!: Someone dit it already

 

It's just pressure fitted and can be pried open with a thin guitar pick.

 

The usb is a bit different but basically any small drive can be used. Then a 5v compatible led could be soldered to the power pins of the usb stick and be used as the light. However it seems the usb stick and the led pcb are actually different parts from eachother so technically you could separate them and reuse the led.

So I'd seen that thread, but it doesn't seem like they ever found a real fit.  It was more of a "here's what I have" post, but no actual outcome or details beyond the initial disassembly.  Found a couple other threads about it too, but I haven't seen anything where someone pulled it off and has a finished product.

[jaslion]

5 minutes ago, DanteCoal said:

So I'd seen that thread, but it doesn't seem like they ever found a real fit.  It was more of a "here's what I have" post, but no actual outcome or details beyond the initial disassembly.  Found a couple other threads about it too, but I haven't seen anything where someone pulled it off and has a finished product.

You got a random usb you don't care about?

 

Pop it open and try to see if it fits. The stick in there is a generic flatter board one. Aka most sticks will fit.

 

For the led all you will need to do it seems is give it power. So basically get a multimeter, plug the old usb stick in, measure the voltage and amperage going over the led and well if it's just 5v probably directly connected to the 5v usb power. Aka solder it to 5v usb power of the replacement stick and done.

[AndreiArgeanu]

You could try the sandisk ultra, looks to have a similar fitment, but might not be as long. Some hot glue might get it in properly and it shouldn't stop you from removing the drive from the enclosure at a later date.