Booting from HD in ultrabay on T61?

[kblackwell]

Hi
I think I found the answer with the search option while waiting for my account to be activated
BUT just to be sure... if I buy one of those ultrabay HD caddies... I can boot off of the HD in there, right?
I was going to get a 2nd HD.... pop it in the regular HD place... install Linux on it, then put the Windows HD back in the regular HD place, put the Linux HD in the ultrabay caddy thing, and have the option to hit F12 and boot into linux if I want.

That should work, right?

And to answer your question, no, I don't want to set it up as a dual-boot, and virtualization (MS Virtual PC and vmware both) gives me BSODs and I'm sick of fighting it. So I figured it would be nice to just have a separate drive to boot into when I want to use Linux.

Thanks!

[Marin85]

Shortly, YES! BTW, I think it would be cool if it was possible to boot in both OSes separately but on the same machine and switch between them on the fly depending on what you need to do, something like the multiple desktops in Linux, just different OSes (I guess I have to patent that idea... )

Marin

[kblackwell]

Thanks.
Usually, you can do something like that, if you use a virtual machine... you can flip between the host OS and the VM.

[Marin85]

Thanks.
Usually, you can do something like that, if you use a virtual machine... you can flip between the host OS and the VM.

Yes, thanks, I´m aware of that, but it´s far not the same, there are plenty of limitations regarding VM (although I happen to use it to test different things etc...), in particular the graphics subsystem ...

Marin

[SafeHarbor]

Hi, kblackwell,

You can push F12 while the Thinkpad splash screen is showing, and the BIOS will make a list of available start-up drives.

Right now I have Suse booting first, Windows 7 second, and my original hard drive booting Vista in the ultrabay. F12 gives me access to all three.

Lamar

[kblackwell]

Groovy. I ordered a caddy thing and a HD today!

[Mr-Pacman]

Groovy. I ordered a caddy thing and a HD today!

Do you have to order a specific Lenovo Hd to fit in the caddy, or can you pop any 2.5' drive in there and have it fit?

I recall reading that some members found non-lenovo drives to flop around when they were in the caddy and had to tape them in.

I want to order one for my T61 and I have an extra 60 gig drive sitting around. I was hoping just to pop it in the caddy and go from there, but not sure if I have to order and extra part (perhaps a set of rails) to make it fit inside.

James

[Marin85]

Do you have to order a specific Lenovo Hd to fit in the caddy, or can you pop any 2.5' drive in there and have it fit?

I recall reading that some members found non-lenovo drives to flop around when they were in the caddy and had to tape them in.

To the first question: yes, you can use any 2.5'' drive. To the second question: the hard drive caddy (take a look at the forum banners - Hard Drive Caddys ) is the metal frame that envelops the drive. Together with it you put it in a bigger ultrabay bed that fits in the ultrabay slot just like a DVD-drive The drive caddy is needed for the drive to not sit loose in the bed. But even if you don´t use a caddy, it´s not a big problem if you don´t move your laptop/ultrabay bed too much, otherwise there exists the danger for the HD connectors to be damaged.

Hope this helps

Marin

[SafeHarbor]

Actually, with the Lenovo ultrabay caddy, you don't need the rubber rails of the box-like frame that the original drive used. I move the frame and rails to the new drive in the normal position. I have heard of the drive flopping around if you don't mount the frame on the new drive. The frameless hard drive was such a nice fit in the caddy that I don't think it will move around.

And what I'm calling a caddy is the whole thing. The CD/DVD drive came out and the new caddy exactly replaced it, latched in the same way, and it has a drive activity light like the CD/DVD drive. It was Lenovo part no. 40Y8725, and I ordered it from newegg.

Lamar

[Marin85]

I almost forgot about the rubber rails, but true that they are not needed for the ultrabay setup. As to what caddy actually is, I´m really not sure, tried to orientate according to the banner picture above , hence my "figurative" explanation. Frankly, I wouldn´t travel with the laptop with HD in the ultrabay without the frame installed. If you look carefully, you will see that there somewhat tiny space between them which - with no frame installed - allows slight movement to the sides.

Marin

[pae77]

I just always put completely bare drives in the T61's ultrabay caddy. It fits real securely in there. It's not going to rattle around at all after you snap the little plastic part at the back end of it into place.

Btw, you guys have just convinced me to download and play around with Windows 7 from the ultrabay on a spare drive I have laying around.

[yak]

Do you guys use genuine Lenovo 2nd HDD caddys or some of these cheap eBay ones? I would like to get a PATA one to put my spare Samsung HM160HC I bought shortly before my T41 died. Are the cheap ones good enough when it comes to build quality?

[SafeHarbor]

Don't know, Yak. I tried the site that advertised here, but there was no glowing neon sign that said it would fit in my T61p, so I ordered the real deal.

What I'm wondering now is if the Lenovo replacement hard drives actually come with the little frame that the pull flap is attached to. I pulled the drive out and looked, and, yes, it could bounce around a tiny bit. Of course, it flies with me, and it would only bounce around if *I* get bounced around, which HAS happened.

Lamar

[PhilD]

What I'm wondering now is if the Lenovo replacement hard drives actually come with the little frame that the pull flap is attached to. I pulled the drive out and looked, and, yes, it could bounce around a tiny bit. Of course, it flies with me, and it would only bounce around if *I* get bounced around, which HAS happened.

replacement hard drives purchased from Lenovo include the "metal frame with pull flap" already attached.

i never mount a bare hard drive in my ultrabay slim adapter because the bottom of the adapter is metal and the non-Lenovo replacement hard drives i use (Western Digital) appear to have exposed "circuit board contacts" on the bottom. i worry that these may make contact with the metal bottom of the ultraybay slim adapter causing electrical damage to the hard drive. not sure if my concern is really justified, but life is too short to waste worrying about such things.

[phr]

It didn't occur to me that there were rubber rails or anything like that for the ultrabay slim enclosure. I bought the lenovo enclosure and put in a bare Samsung 320 gb drive and it works like a charm, first time I ever got a 2nd hdd to work, out of several attempts in previous thinkpads. No probs at all so far. But, I've only used the machine (T61) on my desk, haven't used it mobile yet.

[jimmy274]

I have the original ultrabay hdd cradle, bought new from the official IBM reseller here in Serbia - came in a sealed box, warranty and big useless manual included - nothing else! When I thought of putting my old 5400 toshiba in it, it came to me that it's not that sane to put a hdd inside without properly covering the bottom (since it's metal and most of the modern 2.5" hard-drives have exposed electronics on the underside) even when the USELESS dumb manual told me to do so (no pix in manual of any rubber pads for hdd). So I folded A4 (or half of A4, I don't remember), put it on the metal and tried it out - worked fine. Then, when I got it out again, I've noticed that the hdd moves up and down thus probably causing unnecessary force on the SATA connectors - so I screwed in two screws to the rightmost 2 holes (the holes that are not close to connector) and l'voila - it hold in place with isolation. I guess this is a bit harsh as a DIY guide, but hey - gets the job done.

[Marin85]

That became now scary. Before this thread I haven´t realized that the HD electronics on its bottom is directly exposed to the metal of the caddy. What is worse, I don´t have a second frame set for the ultrabay drive. I guess I´ll have to find one By then I may use your paper solution

Thanks,

Marin

[jimmy274]

That became now scary. Before this thread I haven´t realized that the HD electronics on its bottom is directly exposed to the metal of the caddy. What is worse, I don´t have a second frame set for the ultrabay drive. I guess I´ll have to find one By then I may use your paper solution

Thanks,

Marin

You're welcome... Judging from how much time you spend on these forums, you'll soon develop a couple of more phobias Seriously dude, you've been online since this morning - if you continue, you'll be more experienced than anyone of us in no time:D

[Marin85]

You're welcome... Judging from how much time you spend on these forums, you'll soon develop a couple of more phobias Seriously dude, you've been online since this morning - if you continue, you'll be more experienced than anyone of us in no time:D

Haha, I like that I see that I´m not the only one that has been online since this morning Actually, I often forget to log out or to close my browser since my ThinkPad is 24/7 up...

Pozdravi

Marin

[jimmy274]

Actually, I often forget to log out or to close my browser since my ThinkPad is 24/7 up...

Excuses, excuses...

Pozdravi

Marin

As always, SFRJ continues to live pretty normally outside of it's doomed territories. That's what I like!
Oh yeah, I didn't have any sleep last night - that's why I'm on the forum all morning, and yes - my T60 is ALWAYS on and sometimes I do wonder how long will it last
Pozdrav iz BGa,

Ivan

[Marin85]

Off topic: just for the record I´m not from SFRJ, but let´s say I´m a similar soul Not having sleep in normal time is not good. Some time ago I often happened to omit my sleep for 24-48 hours, I don´t like doing this anymore and always find a way to avoid such situations. Last two weeks I though I´m getting insomnia as I couldn´t sleep at all (no apparent reason). I could only advise you to get your sleep (just talking from my own experience with sleep- or lack-of-that-matters)... As for the 24/7 run, well, that´s why we use ThinkPads, right?

I suggest we stay from now on on topic If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Thanks,

Marin

[kblackwell]

Good News!
Today I received my ultrabay caddy!
Since it took a while to get here from Hong Kong, I had time to install XP onto my new 320gb drive, and installed Ubuntu onto my old 100gb drive.
Then tonight I popped the Ubuntu drive into the ultrabay caddy thing and can now successfully boot up off either the primary XP drive, or the Ubuntu drive in the ultrabay thing.
In fact, I'm using Ubuntu now!

[pae77]

Never had a problem with the exposed bottom of the drive against the bare metal of the ultrabay hard drive adapter in over 8 years of doing it that way with many different drives. I suspect the actual components that matter are recessed into the PCB just enough so they don't actually make contact with the metal. In any case, I'm not going to start worrying about that now, since it obviously is NOT a problem at all, at least ime over all this time and that's good enough for me.

[octix]

Hello everyone, perhaps you could advice how to fix my issue.

In short, I want to add 2nd hdd(momentus 7200.4) using ultrabay slim(for T61), but i have hard time getting it working
properly. My guess is that hdd from ultrabay is not powered "enough", to be initialized, because
sometimes it works, sometimes not. I would say led from ultrabay it's kind of an indicator, when it works and it's recognized
it's dimmer, but when it's bright green, it's not initialized.

It's the same as with optical drive when it doesn't do anything, led is bright green, but when it reads a CD/DVD then it's dimmer...
although my optical drive works fine.

So, the problem is that hdd from ultrabay is not initialized each time, every 2nd or 3rd it works. I get
"ERROR 2102 Initialization error on HDD1 (Ultrabay hard drive)". So I have to force shutdown and try again

I don't have an original ultrabay from Lenovo/IBM. I bought a cheaper one from ebay, i think it's LQE.
Could this be the cause? What makes them different? May be drive is too power hungry? I just don't know...

I tried both AHCI and compatible mode, i used "metal frame with pull flap" from main bay, but got same result
sometimes it works, sometime not...(right now it's a piece of paper at the bottom of hdd, just in case).

Any thoughts are welcome.

Thank you in advance.

PS: I apologize for my English.

[Marin85]

@octix: Did you try to initialize the drive form the Disk Management console (Administrative tools -> Computer Management -> Storage) first? Non-Lenovo ultrabay caddys are known to make problems as well.

[octix]

No, I didn't. Will give a try to see how it goes.

But what does this mean? It's one time operation or I'll have to do it every time?
Because I intend to use a non-windows os..

hm... perhaps it will be smarter...anyway, last time I even didn't see new drive in Disk managements .... Storage

[octix]

Small update.

I was adviced to try to limit data transfer from 3.0 to 1.5 Gbits per second, using a jumper, like here http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/s ... ite=jumper

So far it works. I was able to start it each time I booted my laptop.

Will see how it goes further....

[Marin85]

It will be interesting to know if the drive would work with a genuine Lenovo caddy All recent threads in this forum on the new 7200.4 are about some problems with this drive, which is basically normal in such a forum, yet somewhat negative for those like me who might be considering getting one when it becomes available to the "general public"...

[Crunch]

What I've gotten used to doing as of late in situations where the boot files are corrupt, or if you want to fix something and need the source files for your operating system is to use a BOOTABLE USB flash drive.

I asked as to how to do this on here a long time ago, but figured it out for myself. A 4GB would suffice for any of the current OS's, including Windows 7, so if you have a dual-boot configuration set up, it can be very useful to have multiple flash drives. Linux will work, too.

You have to change the boot order in the BIOS sometimes to where the flash drive is ABOVE whatever drive it is that is giving you problems. Also, enable USB functionality, if your BIOS has it disabled.

I love this setup, as I virtually never use DVD's, or CD's for that matter, and I'd much rather have my 2nd 200GB HDD in the Ultrabay slot.

Hope this helps.