Zelda Drive 1.0

Welcome to the Zelda Drive howto 1.0. With this page, I hope to show you how to turn this:

Into this:

The first thing that you need to do, is get a NES cartridge. If you dont have one, used video game stores usually still have a few. I had two copies of Zelda, so I chose to use that one.
Next, you need a laptop drive of some sort. I started this with an OLD ~1000 RPM laptop drive. I swear I could piss bits faster than this thing could read/write. BUT it worked.
And then you need to get a hold of a USB/drive converter appropriate to the drive you are using. I got mine from geeks.com. It came with this steel black enclosure that my old drive didnt even fit in, which is why I did this.
Lastly, source a bit to open the cartridge. Its an 8mm nintendo bit. I got mine from playasia.com. From there, you need to pull the three screws in the back. Sometimes, there is only two, or there might be four. It all depends on the cartridge you use. If you pick the right cartridge, you wont even need the bit.

Once you get the screws out, the look like this. If you want, you can go to the hardware store to get some replacements. It will making getting back into the case a little easier.

Pull the shells gently apart, and take the game out gingerly. If you have a spare, I would still reccomend keeping the one out of the cartridge you are using. There is no telling if you might need it. This is what the shells and the game look like apart:

Take the bottom shell, and take a look at it. It will look like this.

You are going to need to remove the areas I pointed to in red, as well as removing the end cap lip so there is room for the adapter to stick out. I used a pair of wire cutters and some force to get mine out. This is alot easier with the dremel. Also, the center screw mounts have to come out. I used a drill the very first time I did this. It works pretty well. I tried using cutters this time, and it didnt work well.

Next, You are going to have to do the same thing to the other side. Remove the areas in red. You are going to have to use the cutter/dremel on this side. The drill will go through the front case.

AFTER:

The next part is the hardest part of doing this. You are going to have to line the drive up and drill some holes. I only used two mounting holes. I used the cage that the old drive came with as kind of a template. My drive mounted by the sides, so I only had one way to really guage a single set of screws. I scored the drive with a knife in the center of the side mounting holes, and moved in a bit more to make up for the width difference on the bottom. I drilled one hole, and made sure the drive lined up. It was pretty close:

After that, I used My handly little template and did the next hole. It seems pretty sturdy with just two holding it in. As a friend of mine says, if two wont hold it, 4 never will.

After the drilling comes the mounting. Doesnt that sound like fun? The first thing you are going to want to do, is put a piece of electrical tape over the screw hole that you removed. You probably dont have to do this, but I just wanted to keep junk out of there.
I was able to use the old mounting screws because they were long enough. Make sure that yours are as well. If not, try to find a fastener dealer, and let them know what you need, usually they can get it.

After you have the drive mounted, and the case back on, Take it to your b0xen, and hook it up. If its a good drive, it should just work. I used one from an upgrade, and didnt format it at all. Windows just picked it up.

Thats really it. It isnt even that hard. Its a pretty geeky mod, and its a good use of an old laptop drive. Just remember, that it is a hard drive, and it wont take TOO much abuse. Try not to drop the thing.

WARNING! I take no responsibility for any hardware damage, software damage, or bodily harm as a result of attpemting this. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

Holy hits batman! I had to shrink some of these images to keep the bandwidth down so that all of you could see this. The original photos are here as long as that bandwidth holds up.
Made with vi