Add second HD to T61?

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DM1 · #1 Post by **DM1** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:32 pm

Looks like some of you have a second HD in your laptop - from looking at some sys configurations in the signature area.

I'd didn't really consider this at the time I purchased my T61 - was trying to keep cost down and didn't really see the need.

As it often goes, the situation has changed and I could use a second HD.

Now, I imagine it could be different from the first, i.e. with greater capacity. IOW, no need for an identical one?

I can't imagine why - I'm not planning to create a RAID array or anything.

How complicated is it to add one? Just "plug and play"?

mixz1 · #2 Post by **mixz1** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:45 pm

You can't add a second drive internally, but you can certainly purchase a bay adapter and put in any capacity SATA drive you like, swapping it for the DVD drive, which you can always put back in when needed. The part number and description are below. The price should be around 40 dollars.

40Y8725 LENOVO THINKPAD SERIAL ATA HARD DRIVE BAY ADAPTER - STORAGE BAY ADAPTER

#3 Post by **archer6** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 3:08 pm

I have installed a 2nd hard drive in the ultra bay in my T60. This is so I can use both XP and Linux on their own drives. I saved a lot of money by buying the hard drive and adapter, both at a discount from newegg. You save a huge amount of money on the hard drive. Also they have them in stock and one doesn't have to wait like is typical with Lenovo. I avoid Lenovo whenever possible. Yet there are times I must use them and it seems to take them 3 weeks to do anything.

www.newegg.com

steveg47 · #4 Post by **steveg47** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:23 pm

You could get a new Hitachi 320gb 7200rpm drive for $199 at http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Hitachi/0A57547/

I would put the new drive in a bay adapter, clone the old drive to the new drive and then swap drives making the new drive the internal one and put the old in the bay adapter . This way you get the best performance from the new drive and have it always available when using the dvd. Make sense?

Nolonemo · #5 Post by **Nolonemo** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:25 pm

You can also order ultrabay slim adapters on eBay (Chinese vendors) for about half the price of the Lenovo ones. They come in both SATA and PATA versions. I have ordered one, but it hasn't arrived yet, so can't say anything more about the product. I'm hoping to use one of my old PATA drives for backup purposes.

#6 Post by **archer6** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:00 pm

Nolonemo wrote:You can also order ultrabay slim adapters on eBay (Chinese vendors) for about half the price of the Lenovo ones. They come in both SATA and PATA versions. I have ordered one, but it hasn't arrived yet, so can't say anything more about the product. I'm hoping to use one of my old PATA drives for backup purposes.

I have one of these, and it is undersize and would not latch securely into place. There was end play and it shifted from side to side. Hopefully you will not have this problem, I just thought I would share my experience as essentially it was money wasted.

FRiC · #7 Post by **FRiC** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 2:59 am

If you didn't buy the hard drive from Lenovo, be sure you get a hard drive caddy or else the drive would be loose inside the Ultrabay adapter. (Or you could use scotch tape.)

#8 Post by **archer6** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:05 am

FRiC wrote:If you didn't buy the hard drive from Lenovo, be sure you get a hard drive caddy or else the drive would be loose inside the Ultrabay adapter. (Or you could use scotch tape.)

I wondered what that noise was.....

puma · #9 Post by **puma** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:14 pm

FRiC wrote:If you didn't buy the hard drive from Lenovo, be sure you get a hard drive caddy or else the drive would be loose inside the Ultrabay adapter. (Or you could use scotch tape.)

Hard drive caddy? What is that? When i put the secondary HD into the drive adapter i did notice it has some play. Weird but no noise.

#10 Post by **archer6** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:36 pm

puma wrote:Hard drive caddy? What is that? When i put the secondary HD into the drive adapter i did notice it has some play. Weird but no noise.

Some of us were just joking around, about looseness and noise. In my prior post, I was relaying my ebay experience where I purchased one at a discount from eBay but it was a replica complete with decals an all. It looked like the real thing, but was undersized and out of spec.

I then proceeded to buy the authentic part, and it worked perfectly with a nice snug, close fit. No rattles or looseness

Thus for clarification, all you need is the ultrabay adapter. The hard drive installs into the adapter, and that becomes an assembly that slides into the ultrabay just like a CD/DVD Drive, or ultrabay battery does.

Here's the link:
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... 5867D31462

hellosailor · #11 Post by **hellosailor** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:43 am

I've been thinking about a 320GB drive the same way, and took a look at Newegg, where they have four. The Toshiba doesn't mention shock protection, the two WD Scorpio drives do.

First question: Does anyone know if the WD protection system interfaces with the Lenovo system and works as well? Or is licensed from?

Second question: The WD drives comes in 5400rpm/1.5Gbs model ande 7200rpm/3.0Gbs model, both SATA. Can the T61p make use of the faster drive interface, at 3G instead of 1.5G? Apparently it is a later and faster SATA standard. I see no reason to use a faster rpm drive (at a much higher price, the 5400rpm is a bargain) if the computer can't eat data that quickly.

Anyone know? I didn't see drive specs discussed in the "detailed specifications" sheet for the T61P.

basketb · #12 Post by **basketb** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:57 am

hellosailor wrote: ...
Second question: The WD drives comes in 5400rpm/1.5Gbs model ande 7200rpm/3.0Gbs model, both SATA. Can the T61p make use of the faster drive interface, at 3G instead of 1.5G? Apparently it is a later and faster SATA standard. I see no reason to use a faster rpm drive (at a much higher price, the 5400rpm is a bargain) if the computer can't eat data that quickly.

Anyone know? I didn't see drive specs discussed in the "detailed specifications" sheet for the T61P.

You can use a 3.0 GB/s SATA disk but, as far as I know, the T6x doesn't even fully utilize 1.5 GB/s (i.e., you will not see a benefit from 3.0 GB/s alone). However, you may get a benefit from a faster spinning drive given equal sizes (though I do not have any first hand experience with 7200 rpm drives).

qviri · #13 Post by **qviri** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:32 pm

hellosailor wrote:Second question: The WD drives comes in 5400rpm/1.5Gbs model ande 7200rpm/3.0Gbs model, both SATA. Can the T61p make use of the faster drive interface, at 3G instead of 1.5G? Apparently it is a later and faster SATA standard. I see no reason to use a faster rpm drive (at a much higher price, the 5400rpm is a bargain) if the computer can't eat data that quickly.

It's not a question of the T61p eating the data that quickly, it's the question of a "3.0 Gb/s" drive feeding the data that quickly. The 1.5 and 3.0 Gb/s are theoretical throughput limits on the connection, not the drive itself. Even the fastest 7200 rpm notebook hard drives have yet to exceed 100 MB/s transfer speeds; that's 0.8 Gb/s, which of course can easily be done through a 1.5 GB/s connection.

hellosailor · #14 Post by **hellosailor** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:56 pm

I expect all the rates to be burst rates out of the drive's cache, not sustained transfer rates. Still, the question is whether the laptop can make use of the faster burst at all--or if it is simply wasted.

And of course, how well the shock protection ties in.

There's a substantial difference in price, and I'm not sure I'd spring for it just to get the 7200rpm boost. (Nice, but there's a budget.)

FRiC · #15 Post by **FRiC** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:38 pm

puma wrote:
FRiC wrote:If you didn't buy the hard drive from Lenovo, be sure you get a hard drive caddy or else the drive would be loose inside the Ultrabay adapter. (Or you could use scotch tape.)
Hard drive caddy? What is that? When i put the secondary HD into the drive adapter i did notice it has some play. Weird but no noise.

The Ultrabay adapter is designed so you can remove the internal drive and put it in directly. The caddy is the thin sheet of metal with the many round holes around the drive that locks the drive into place inside the Ultrabay adapter. (Notice the Ultrabay adapter has no screws for locking the drive.) If you don't have the caddy, then the drive would only be held in place by the SATA (or IDE) connector. No problems during actual use, but if you carry your computer around a lot, the connector could get damaged because the drive will move vertically inside the adapter.

I looked for a SATA caddy for a long time, turned out there's an ad for them right above the forum posts...

I'll take some pics of my IDE and SATA Ultrabay adapters and the caddy and post them later.

Edit: oh, it's not so bad if you have a T series, since the Ultrabay is thinner and the drive could be held into place by the cage around the Ultrabay.

Edit: for future reference, I put the pics on my blog here

Add second HD to T61?

Add second HD to T61?

Anyone use the TOSHIBA or WD SCORPIO drives?

Re: Anyone use the TOSHIBA or WD SCORPIO drives?

Re: Anyone use the TOSHIBA or WD SCORPIO drives?

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