Thinkpads Forum

Are there any Front Panel dock bay's for Desktop/ Server boxes that can quickly be used to connect/ fit in 2.5" HDDs / SSDs AS IS WHEN REMOVED from Thinkpad Ultrabays

How "as is" are we talking about?

Still inside the UltraBay adapter: so you basically need an UltraBay dock. I haven't seen any hotswappable PATA UltraBay docks anywhere. Haven't seen any hotswappable SATA UltraBay docks either, but it looks like SATA UltraBay devices have the same slimline SATA connector as any other slimline optical drive, so you may be able to concoct something from generic slimline optical drive bays?

2.5 inch drive removed from UltraBay adapter: so is it an official UltraBay adapter, where you use a caddy on the hard drive, or is it a 3rd-party adapter where you only put screws on the hard drive but not a caddy? Without the caddy, hard drives may fit into many trayless hotswap bays; with the caddy, probably not.

You could probably make one from the usb ultrabay cable. I dont see the point though with usb3 cases being so cheap.

So the motivation was being able to pull Drives from Thinkpad Ultrabays and pop them into Desktop Workstation/ Tower for the Higher CPU power.

USB 3 could work, but it wont be as good as SATA. I could connect via a eSATA connection but it would mean the drive is hanging out.

I was wondering if there was something like that out there (esp Think focussed). Something that kind of looks almost like a DAT/ Tape popped into the Machine Body, used and then popped out when done.

Update: Found an image I'd seen elsewhere. Something like this?

If you don't put a tray around the HD/SSD, something like this could probably do: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181270184720