new to thinkpad ..... need advice on HD selection

[thinkpadlion143]

Hi there, have just purchased a T42 w/o hard drive. Have been reading posts about HDs, but have not really gotten the direction of things in a solid way, so please tolerate my newbe question. Need a PATA drive, right? Everything I have read says that it must (should) be an "approved" drive, <=80GB. This is because of the firmware in the HD and the information that the T42 reads from this. If the T42 is not satisfied with the response from the HD an error message is generated, but is not fatal to the boot, and will proceed. So, I could use a larger drive ... maybe 160GB or larger? So, what drive would you recommend? It also seems to me that PATA drives are becoming scarce? Thanks for the help.

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

No size limitations on hard drives for T42, or error messages on boot - that's a T43/p forte...

My choice, if 160GB is enough for you would be this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822152110

Enjoy that T42!

[ZaZ]

Yes, you're right, you need a PATA drive and they're harder/more expensive to get. The biggest drive right now is the 320GB Western Digital. If you want a little more pep, there are 7200RPM drives available like this. They've not been made for quite some time. The only way to get them is used, which mean no warranty.

[thinkpadlion143]

Thanks for the advice. I needed an older machine to that could utilize a -232 port w/o a translator so I can run some antique software, DOS based. I like the "feel" of the thinkpad.

[ajkula66]

Huh...T42 doesn't have a serial port...

[thinkpadlion143]

It does if you use a dock.

[ajkula66]

Of course.

The same holds true for just about every other ThinkPad that I can remember and quite a few other machines...

[t43hot]

Yes, you're right, you need a PATA drive and they're harder/more expensive to get. The biggest drive right now is the 320GB Western Digital. If you want a little more pep, there are 7200RPM drives available like this. They've not been made for quite some time. The only way to get them is used, which mean no warranty.

Would this Western Digital or this work with a T43 2668 or is the WD3200BEVE the only 320gb model that would work?

Thanks

[ajkula66]

Both of the drives that you linked would work.

Once again, as long as it's 2.5"/9.5mm PATA/IDE laptop HD, you will have no issues.

[t43hot]

Both of the drives that you linked would work.

Once again, as long as it's 2.5"/9.5mm PATA/IDE laptop HD, you will have no issues.

Thank you so very much. I really appreciate your quick reply.

My original travelstar just crashed & I'm overseas and have a relative travelling here tonight so my only option is BestBuy and it turns out the local store has the 250gb in stock. So looks like that will be my new drive.