Judging by the number of emails I receive about the DMT8, there's still a fair number of these beasts out there. Most emails inform me about a successful operation based on the instructions below, so, if you're swithering, take heart.

Changing the hard disc of the Fostex DMT8 is no picnic. I've had to do it twice, the first time without any assistance, which took me the best part of 4 hours. Mind you, this was only a few days after I'd bought it from new, so my reticence of not wanting to bust up a £1500 piece of equipment is perhaps understandable. But if you have some degree of electrical / mechanical skill, chances are you'll manage fine.

You'll need the usual assortment of screwdrivers and wire cutters, but no special tools, nor soldering equipment. Best to place the unit on a soft blanket or largish pillow, especially in the beginning, since it has to be turned on its head to remove all chassis screws underneath.

I cannot give any advice as to what hard drive is compatible with its operating system, but have found that my old (1997) PC 6.5 GB drive worked fine. Make sure it is jumpered to "Master" setting. Op system 2.0 can manage up to 2 GB of hard disc space, anything larger will just be ignored. As far as I know, earlier op systems can only manage the factory fitted 512 MB.

Finally, note that these instructions are only valid for the Fostex DMT8 model - any subsequent Fostex models look different, and have their drives in an altogether more accessible position. 
Oh yes - naturally I can take no responsibility for the success (or failure) of any work carried out on the DMT8 following these instructions.
 
 
 

	Step 1: Remove all chassis screws from underside of DMT8, remove 2 input boards as shown, flip up top panel and rest against a heavy object to maintain it at about right angles to unit.
	Step 2: Remove top shield above hard drive
	Step 3: Unplug both white and black connectors shown top left by carefully levering them apart with screwdriver blade. Then cut cable ties around both magnetic sleeves top left and top right. Now undo screws securing steel box beneath hard drive to plastic chassis.
	Finally remove other screw holding ground strip. The steel box should now be lose, though still connected to the cable loom top right.
	Step 4: Raise steel box as much as necessary to gain access to the screws at the base of the box. Undo all screws. The top and bottom half of the box can now be separated. The screws holding the hard drive can be accessed through recesses in the circuit board, once the thin metal screen has been partially removed
	Step 5: Carefully remove data cable and power connector from hard drive, and it's yours!

And as they casually say in car manuals - assembly in reverse order! Don't forget the magnetic sleeves. Before you replace the top panel, have a look inside to make sure no wires got trapped between the plastic ribs or the outer edge of the casing.

When you first switch on the DMT8 after a new drive has been fitted, it should automatically prompt you to format it. Depending on its size, this may take a while, and the ETA display is not correct. In my case, it indicated 39 minutes, but after that went twice round the clock again until it finished. Mind you, one DMT8 second equals only about 1/2 an earth second.

Good luck!

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