T43 New hard Drive

[SlamX]

I am getting an off lease t43 without a hard drive. What is max size I can put in and will the T43 recognize any brand?

thanks

[ajkula66]

You can install any PATA/IDE 2.5" laptop drive, the largest one currently being WD 320GB.

With that said, most of drives produced today will give you the "2010 error" on boot, that can be bypassed.

The last non-OEM drives that work without errors were Fujitsu MHV2120AH and 2100AH, which were 120GB/5400rpm and 100GB/5400rpm respectively.

[SlamX]

Thanks for the reply. I will be putting in only an 80 gig no need for massive storage. I read on the specs sheet that the 80gig should not cause the 2010 error. do you think that is correct?

thanks

[emeraldgirl08]

Depends on the brand and if it will accept a compatible firmware update.

I have an R52 (which is pretty much the same as an T43) with an 80 gb Seagate. It still produces the error 2010. You'll have to upgrade the BIOS if it hasn't been done already to be able to set your Thinkpad to auto-start after the beep.

It's a shame no one has developed some kind of fix for this!

Here is some reading on the compatible hard drives on wiki.

[krayzie]

Unless you get those older compatible drives even at 7200rpm is no match in terms of speed for the newer 5400rpm drives, the 2010 error will just beep twice and continues to boot on its own if u set your latest bios properly.

[Pawelek]

I can confirm that Fujitsu MHV2120AH will not cause 2010 error. I bought it some time ago and so far it works correctly. 2010 error not only produces beep sound but may also invoke some APS issues (not neceessary but still possible). You can read some valuable info on ThinkWiki about HDD compatibility issues.

[krayzie]

Most new PATA hard drives support IDLE_IMMEDIATE with UNLOAD command (you can check with hdparm) so it won't have issues with Active Protection. The 2010 error happens cuz the hard drive is not on the bios' approved table.

[SlamX]

krazyle you confused me a little. if my hd is not on the list it should still work but with the 2010 error?

[RealBlackStuff]

That's correct.

[tex-murph]

Having just installed an unsupported drive myself in my Thinkpad, I can vouch that the 2010 error is not a big deal. You can set the BIOS to just continue booting after the error, and if you mute your Thinkpad, you don't hear the beep.

This isn't breaking news exactly, but as someone who was pretty paranoid about it, I can say it's definitely worth doing. At least, so far .