Thinkpads Forum

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In Short:

Anyone here have an ultrabay PATA HD adaptor suitable for
use with an IBM Thinkpad R52 which you're willing to sell?
If so, how much you want for it? (I get paid this Friday,
so I'll be able to buy at that time, if its not too expensive.)

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The Full Story:

As to why I'm looking for this gizmo... well, that's a long
story. In case anyone's interested, story follows.
Feel free to skip remainder if you find this boring.

The situation is this: the MB on my R51 went south about
10 days ago. I got the shop I bought it from (used, about
1 year ago) to basically give me a functional used R52
with my old hard disk plugged into it for $175.

But the disk isn't compatible. Not only does the R52 use
the same non-standard LBA geometry as the R51
(240 heads instead of the usual 255), but the R52 (along
with the T43) uses HDs with a couple of extra ATA commands
built into their firmware. So R52/T43 HDs won't work with
any other computers, and standard HDs won't work in
R52 or T43.

The reason for this is that R52 & T43 use SATA HD controllers
on the MB, but use PATA HDs, via a cockamamie built-in
"convertor" gizmo, hence the extra ATA commands in the
HD firmware. Seems bizarre to me, but that's how IBM
chose to do it.

The "superbay" on the R52, however, uses it's own separate
HD controller, which is straight PATA, no SATA/PATA
convertor gizmo involved. So it can use standard PATA
HDs.

I'm guessing the R52 does the same stupid stunt as R51 with
re-mapping 255 head HDs as if they were 240, but one good
thing about 48-bit LBA is, it's very "remappable", so that's not
a problem. One needs only erase all existing partitions and
repartition and reformat with a program such as
Acronis Disk Director, before installing OS, progs, and data.
(Or if using an HD from an R51, as I am, don't even need to
do that; should be able to drop it right in.)

Hence, my need for a superbay PATA HD adaptor, so I can
boot my original HD from the ultrabay. (I tried booting it
in the regular HD slot, but the BIOS gives "incompatible
hard disk" error, and Windows gives BSD.)

Maybe I'm reading this all wrong but a few things:

I just tried 4 different brands at two different speeds in my T43 and they all work fine (PATA and non-approved). I do have a modded bios and I am aware of the chips (I'm actually about to mod mine to use SATA from the chip instead of PATA) but I just don't know what you mean by "standard HDs won't work in R52 or T43".

That being said, if you are getting the 2010 error then you need to use modded bios. There are several forum threads here about it that should be able to help you.

Not that the ultrabay is a bad idea... I just always considered the advantage to one being that you can use massive sata HDDs in them and pay a ton less than the IDEs.

Maybe I'm way off base and not even in the ballpark of what you're talking about, if that's the case I'm sorry, just trying to help.

Good luck!

LagrangeL2 wrote:

Hence, my need for a superbay PATA HD adaptor, so I can
boot my original HD from the ultrabay. (I tried booting it
in the regular HD slot, but the BIOS gives "incompatible
hard disk" error, and Windows gives BSD.)

I've got news for you: BSOD you've experienced has nothing to do with heads re-mapping, but has everything to do with a different HAL that T43/p and R52 use when compared to all the previous T4x/R5x units. Although they are quite close in age, the hardware is significantly different - hence a different HAL.

Standard drives most certainly do work in T43/p and R52. I've owned hundreds of these ThinkPads and used just about every drive imaginable. Nothing to do with LBA, which has been quite standard on all ThinkPads since at least A3x generation, which was 2002. Sure, you'll get a "2010 error" unless you use an old (1.03 or older) BIOS or a modded one. Big deal. I've used a non-approved Seagate 80/7200 in a variety of T43/p units for over three years, plug and play from one into another, never a problem. That drive is now retired and working (with a fresh OS install) in my A31p. So much for drives not working and/or being interchangeable.

You'll be much better off saving any important stuff that you have on that drive, and doing a fresh install, then re-applying your documents, programs and what not.

Good luck.