Need help for SATA drive in Bay Adapter on a new T61p

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tjm001 · #1 Post by **tjm001** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:44 am

Apparently I’ve been deceived when I ordered my Lenovo T61p. I told the North American Lenovo sales rep that I needed an extra hard drive on which I could store images from my digital camera on while being able to run imaging processing software either on this drive, or access the images on it from a program on the main hard drive. What they sold me along with the loaded T61p lap top was the ThinkPad Serial ATA Hard Drive Bay Adapter P/N: 40Y8725 along with the ThinkPad 100GB 7200rpm ATA Hard Drive P/N: 41N3013.

The drive and the adapter came in separate sealed packages with minimal documentation and no software/firmware or any reference to any. So I installed the drive into the adapter as the minimal instructions showed and slid the assembly into the slot on the side of the T61p hoping the drive would be recognized in Windows XP Pro. No such luck!

So now I just spent over $2,100 for a computer that does not do the very thing I bought it for. After three days of trying to contact tech support I finally got a technician on the phone yesterday (I’m stationed in Germany) and she rather nastily tells me she can’t help me and that the only way I can get help is to sign up for an expensive service to talk to a technician. When I protested that the least I deserve is enough support to get it up and running after I’ve just taken it out of the box, she tells me that I should not have bought this machine because it’s only for “advanced users” and essentially I should have known better. And it does get better, because when I asked to speak to her supervisor she hung up on me!

Anyway, my question is what do I have to do to get this thing to work? The BIOS does recognize the drive & the utility that checks the drive also shows it as OK. I also plugged in a different SATA 160GB drive as a test and it also is detected by the BIOS. But how do I get this thing to show up as a usable drive in Windows Explore Start Menu? Do I have to format this drive somehow? Or is there some kind of firmware/software/driver that has to be loaded? Any help will be appreciated.

de Siem · #2 Post by **de Siem** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 5:55 am

yes you probably need to reformat it. Does it show up when you go to
administrative tools>computer management>Storage>Disk management?

tjm001 · #3 Post by **tjm001** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:21 am

No, it does not.

Brad · #4 Post by **Brad** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:25 am

Exactly what I think the problem is also.

Another way is to right click on the desktop icon MY COMPUTER. Left click on MANAGE.
Double click on STORAGE.
Double click on DISK MANAGEMENT (local)

There you should find your drive listed.

Try double clicking on your new drive and follow the instructions for preparing your new drive for use.

Formatting should take a few seconds and you will be ready to go.

Brad

Kel Ghu · #5 Post by **Kel Ghu** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:55 am

Yeah. What happens is that a partition will be created, that's what make the drive show up in "My computer". Then you will be able to format it.

tjm001 · #6 Post by **tjm001** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:06 am

It is formatting now! Lookin' good.

Brad · #7 Post by **Brad** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:12 am

Awesome dude!

Brad

tjm001 · #8 Post by **tjm001** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:50 am

Ouch! "The format did not complete succesfully"! Close but no cigar. At least it showed up in Explorer. I'll try formatting again.

tjm001 · #9 Post by **tjm001** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:09 am

Success!! Thank you all!

Now how could a Lenovo/IBM tech not be able to figure out this?

Brad · #10 Post by **Brad** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:18 am

The knowledge level can vary greatly. Another call may have had different results.

In any case this is something that any tech support person should have been able to help you, I think.

Brad

Need help for SATA drive in Bay Adapter on a new T61p

Need help for SATA drive in Bay Adapter on a new T61p

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