Just bought a box, Laptop drive? Laptop communication cable to usb??

[andyrew]

So I just bought my phatbox box, and it only came with a box and a cord for the car. Now, do I need to actually purchase a cradle? Or can I just buy a laptop hard drive connector to usb?
Such as
http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-TO-LAPTOP-NOTEBOOK-ADAPTER-HDD-HARD-DRIVE-ADAPTOR_W0QQitemZ330178317249QQihZ014QQcategoryZ294QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/RED-SLIM-USB-2-0-2-5-laptop-IDE-hard-drive-enclosure_W0QQitemZ150173612277QQihZ005QQcategoryZ74949QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If that, why not a whole drive setup like this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-40GB-USB-2-0-Laptop-2-5-Pocket-External-Hard-Drive_W0QQitemZ130165188494QQihZ003QQcategoryZ116254QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Is that too fast of a drive? What am I looking for for drive speed, ect.


I dont really understand what the hack is that you guys are doing to this box/ drive.. I have yet to find a valid FAQ that hasnt been corrupted by spam in Wikipedia..

Im just really confused here and looking for some direction... Is there another more active board discussing this stuff? I dont really see any activity here..

Thanks all.

[sbingner]

You need a valid DMS to apply the hack, but once you do that you could use a USB->IDE interface to get data on and off drive if you so desire...

[andyrew]

Thank you for the reply, but I am still confused.

DMS?
What IS the hack?

[VorTechS]

The factory PhatBox is designed only to run using PhatNoise approved disks which have a special signature written onto them.  Although they now ship out 120G disks, they cost the earth to buy.

The guys here have found a way to 'flash' the PhatBox so that ANY commercially suitable disk can be used with the PhatBox.  Not only this, there are also workarounds for some of the plugins which are restricted for use with only one DMS.  There is also a SIG hack available (but not released) which prevens the requirement of having many important files requiring their own 'Signature' file (.SIG)

These are the things that I know of (and I've only been around a year) - if there's more I'm sure others will chip in.  However all of these things are encompassed within the term 'hack'.

[sbingner]

DMS is the term used for a PhatNoise signed hard drive.  That is required to flash the phatbox to let you use unsigned drives...  once that has been done any drive can be used.