Project: 160gb HDD in X41 Tablet

[un-n]

Hello,
Next week I’m going to attempt to install a 160gb hard drive into a spare x41 tablet (1869-csu). Yesterday I ordered the following two items from ebay:

1.8” Hard Drive HDD ZIF to 2.5 IDE Adapter
Samsung HS161JQ 1.8" CEATA 160GB Hard Drive iPod HDD

I plan to follow the guidance of Frank and HarryC (thanks guys)

Not being very technically sophisticated, I’m wondering if anyone has any pearls of wisdom before I undertake this operation.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Ben

[aaa]

There's a voltage issue, you need to modify something. It's documented here.

[RealBlackStuff]

Harryc's post explains it all, incl. pictures.

[K0LO]

The disk that you are proposing to use is a 4200 rpm drive. Harry's project used a 120 GB 5400 rpm disk - you may find the faster transfer rate to be more helpful than the additional disk space.

[un-n]

Thank you for all the advice, everyone. I just received all the parts, and unfortunately, I've just hit my first snag: The zif connector on the adapter and the disk drive are different.

The adapter's connector is about 2.8cm across, while the Samsung disk drive's connector is a very tiny 8mm across.

Am I up a creek? Is there a flat cable that can connect these different-sized connectors? I'd like to make this work, but I may have to move to a Hitachi or Toshiba drive, which apparently use the more-standard-issue 2.8cm zif connector.

Many thanks for your thoughts.

Ben

[uux]

The adapter's connector is about 2.8cm across, while the Samsung disk drive's connector is a very tiny 8mm across.

Your Samsung drive uses a CE-ATA interface, which is not compatible with the adapter Frank and Harryc used.

[sjthinkpader]

The 8mm wide connector is probably SATA version. You need the PATA version.

[uux]

The 8mm wide connector is probably SATA version. You need the PATA version.

It's CE-ATA, as he stated in the original post.

[sjthinkpader]

...

It's CE-ATA, as he stated in the original post.

Yes, CE-ATA is serial. So it doesn't work in X40/X41s.

Quoted from the CE-ATA.org website:
"What is CE-ATA?
CE-ATA is based on the MMC electrical interface, also using an optimized subset of the ATA command set to improve performance for multimedia applications in handheld and consumer electronic devices."

MMC like SD is a serial interface.

[uux]

Yes, CE-ATA is serial. So it doesn't work in X40/X41s.

It may transmit data in serial, but it still does not use the SATA interface. I don't really see where you're going with this.

Your Samsung drive uses a CE-ATA interface, which is not compatible with the adapter Frank and Harryc used.

Was there something in my post that you disagree with?

[sjthinkpader]

...

Was there something in my post that you disagree with?

My apologies, except those quoting your posts, others are directed to OP.