The DijonStock Yamaha AW16G, AW1600 & AW2400 digital recording support forum

Hello friends,

I just found that the hard drive on my G's finally dead. It started with some clicking noise from the machine and the whole thing froze. It happened on and off until recently it won't even boot up. Confirmed with a Yamaha tech that it's a goner... Sad... My question is, are there any equivalent harddrives that we can use to substitute the original 20GB 4200RPM IBM Travelstar?

Also, will the G support bigger sized hard drives such as 80GB and above with higher RPM like 5200 or 7200RPM? I kinda noticed from the other threads that they seem to support 40GB hard drives too.... Please help, apparently there's a new replacement drive from Yamaha but it's gonna cost like 600 bucks or more according to the tech! And that's just the hard drive.... sigh...

Hi Mr. Wong,

You can replace the HD, a few people on the forum did that before. Do a search and I'm sure you will find the details. Or in some time someone will come along and be more specific, but I thought I'd reassure you telling you it'll be possible for, what, less than a hundred bucks maybe? In any case, nothing like the 600 bucks the tech was telling you about.

Hi Mr Wong. Welcome to the forum.

Don't worry. If you are a little bit tech savy, have a steady hand and can keep cool you can replace the harddisk yourself. It's not that hard. You just need to be carefull opening the G.

Since this question is often asked and sometimes answered with confusing info i have copied the procedure i used below as oposed to showing you a link. Just follow the procedure. I have used a 40 GB drive and i know of at least one person who succesfully used a 80GB one. You won't be able to use any space beyond 40GB though and i wouldn't install a 7200 drive as it puts a higher load on the power parts. If you want you can use a second hand IDE laptop 2,5 inch HD. The only thing that is important is that you need to erase the master boot record. This is done with a tool you can download from the manufacter. If you have more questions feel free to ask here. W'll do our best to help you out.

Copy of previous post :

To all those that are scared to do the update, don't be. I bought a none functional aw16g and repaired it. (broken harddisk) i have posted on the forum a couple of month's ago how i did it. Maybe we can find the details back. If the device says can't load os the cd has a format that can't be read by the device. It needs a certain format. I'll try to find it back.


Oh just found the details so i will post again.

I also remember that i had to erase the master boot record but that only has to be done if you change the harddisk. See below for the procedure.

Step 1
Make sure the CDRW drive is empty and the power is unplugged from the unit before you begin. There are dozens of static-sensitive components inside this unit. Again, if you are doing this, you should know better. A wrist ground strap is a wonderful thing!
(Follow along with the Pictorial Tutorial)

Stand the unit on its left side with the CDRW up. (see picture)

Step 2, 3, 4 and 5

Remove the 10 chassis screws from the case bottom
(note: You do not remove ANY buttons or knobs)


Remove the bezel from the CDRW
Note: The screw that holds this plastic bezel is a machine screw, NOT a self tapping screw.

Remove the 3 chassis screws on the rear of the unit.


Note: Now is the time to start being really careful. The upper half of the unit with all the knobs, sliders and controls is extremely top heavy. It will fall if it is bumped and could destroy the LDC, knobs or anything if it lands hard. Be careful!

Step 6 and 7

Separate the 2 halves of the unit AT THE REAR about 2 inches ONLY! There are ribbon cables connecting the 2 halves.

Disengage the lip edge from the front and draw the CDRW out only enough to clear the slot.

Set the 2 halves next to each other. Notice the ribbion cables THAT YOU DO NOT WANT TO DISTURB!

Step 8 and 9

From the front of the unit, lower the bottom chassis to the right, onto your work area - constantly mindful of the cables.

Notice the location of the HDD and CDRW components.

Step 10 and 11

Remove the 4 screws holding the HDD to the caddy. You will need a long-shafted screw driver to remove the back-left screw. Be careful not to damage the voltage regulator.

Step 12 and 13

Remove the old HDD by carefully pulling STRAIGHT BACK! If you pull up on it, you'll destroy it along with your system!

Step 14

Install the new HDD.

Be especially careful to line-up the pins correctly. Should you bend one, it's all over. Take your time.
Note: Yamaha does not recommend anything larger than a 40g drive as the internal components of the AW16G may not handle the added current load.


Step 15

Repalce the screws holding the drive on the caddy.

You can now re-assemble the unit.

Note: If some thing doesn't seem to fit correctly, DON'T force it! Do not tighten any screws unitil you have started them all! The 2 halves of the case will "seek" a correct aligment once all of the screws have been replaced. Only then it is okay to tighten everything up.


Okay! Now for the magic!

Plug the AW16G power adapter into the unit. It will boot with the Yamaha logo.

INSERT THE YAMAHA-PROVIDED CD and close the drive.

Power the unit OFF
Note: I do not know what would happen if you should perform this operation WITHOUT An OS DISK IN THE DRIVE! It may scrub a working system!

Step 16, 17 and 18

While holding the SONG and REMOTE buttons down, turn the unit on.

Keep holding the bottons. Once the cycle has started, you can release them. You will see the following prompt while the OS boots from the CDROM:

AW16G UPDATER
Checking HDD...
LOADING OS FROM CDROM...

Once the OS has loaded, you will be given an option to UPDATE to the new OS. Press ENTER to continue and CANCEL to exit.

(cross your fingers!)

Once the unit has finished, remove the CDROM and restart the unit. If all is well, you should now have twice the storage as before and a new OS.

The replacement drive used was:
Hitachi TravelStar 4K40
HTS424040M9AT00

Special Note: DO NOT FORMAT THIS DRIVE OR FDISK IT IN A WINDOWS MACHINE BEFORE INSTALING IT! IT MUST BE NEW/ VIRGIN WITHOUT ANY OS OR FORMAT PARTITION OF ANY KIND!

Best of luck!

Hi guys, thanks a lot for your replies. I'm in the search for the hard drive at the moment. But it seems rather difficult to locate one locally. Just wondering, would it damage the G if a higher rpm hdd were to be installed? Anyway, from the looks of it, the yamaha service centre here's really slaughtering on the replacement hdd. Tough luck here.

Don't you have a decommisioned laptop lying arround ? A friend ? An old second hand ?

Hi fordirk,

I've just managed to get an old 40GB Toshiba HDD from a friend to try it out. However it didn't state any RPM number. Hope this works. Getting my friend who's the tech to try putting it in for me. Apparently the replacement HDD Yamaha stocks is probably something a bit special. Got a feeling it's modified to work with the G's specs. Maybe that's why it's expensive. Some costings for the customisation. But then again, I feel it's still too high. Might as well invest in a multichannel interface these days....

Hi L.K.

Don't part from your money. My G is running happily on a second hand (old laptop) drive. There is nothing custom about it. Remember that you will have to erase the master boot record ! This is very important or it won't work. But if you have a cd with the bin file on it that is all there is to it...