problem with HDD in ultrabay adapter

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winslow · #1 Post by **winslow** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:22 am

When I put a new hard drive in the ultrabay via a HDD adapter the system detects it but cannot format it. When I put a formatted drive in the adapter the systems detects it but reads it as an unformatted drive. Anyone have any experience of this nature? Know of any solutions? I plan on using a new drive in the adapter for data but can't get it to format properly. It seems to go almost all the way through the formatting process but displays an error message that the disk couldn't be formatted.

dsigma6 · #2 Post by **dsigma6** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:49 am

What are you using to format the drive?

winslow · #3 Post by **winslow** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:09 pm

I tried using the utility in disk management and I tried using partition magic, neither worked. It also cann't read a formatted disk. I detects it in the BIOS and the system, but it reads it as unformatted.

winslow · #4 Post by **winslow** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:15 pm

has anyone successfully formatted or been able to read a formatted drive in an ultrabay 2000 HDD adapter?

phelix · #5 Post by **phelix** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:37 pm

I've formatted and/or cloned a few different drives in a few different T20's using the same UltraBay adapter.

Are you sure the drive's OK?

winslow · #6 Post by **winslow** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:19 pm

the drive I couldn't format or read in the ultrabat adapter is now my main drive. I switched it out and formatted and loaded with recovery disks. The drive I removed I then put it into the HDD adapter in the ultrabay and it couldn't br read. It is recognized in the BIOS but windows sees it as an unformatted drive. The drive I couldn't formatt in the adapter formatted fine in the regular bay and is working good. Can't figure what the problem is. I have another 80 GB drive I intended on putting in the adapter and using it for data but can't get the system to format or read formatted drives in the ultrabay 2000. My CD drive and floppy drive work fine in the ultrabay 2000.

#7 Post by **rkawakami** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 2:37 am

From your descriptions the only thing I can think of is that the Ultrabay HD adapter is defective. There's not much that can go wrong with something so simple but I suppose a broken or dirty connection could give you problems like that.

Since you say the CD drive appears to be working correctly and it should also use the same IDE interface that the hard disk drive does, that's my best guess. If you have a magnifying glass, look closely at the traces inside the connector at the rear of the Ultrabay HD adapter (I know it's hard; I've got one in my hands at the moment). There should be several traces (8 total, 4 on each side) that look different from the others; they stick out further than the rest. That's normal. What you are looking for are any missing traces or any obvious contamination inside the connector. If all appears well, you could try disassembling it and taking a closer look at the connector:

http://www.rkawakami.net/ibm_t2x/ub2khda/

The next to last picture shows the entire connector assembly. Look for any broken connections, especially in the pins that are connected to the Ultrabay port (the brown one in that picture). It's probably not too easy to repair but if you can verify that something is wrong with the adapter, it would tend to eliminate your motherboard or hard drives as the source of the problem.

I have installed a hard drive adapter and formatted the disk using the tools provided by Windows XP (Adminstrator Tools/Computer Management/Disk Management), but probably only a couple of times. I mainly use the HD adapter for backing up my drives. It's an easy matter to boot Ghost and clone the main drive onto the one in the Ultrabay adapter.

Nolonemo · #8 Post by **Nolonemo** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:03 pm

Nice pics, thanks!

problem with HDD in ultrabay adapter

problem with HDD in ultrabay adapter

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