Mini-PCI wifi card, which one? Also an HD question.

[Saysana13B]

I am trying to find a Mini-PCI wifi card for my x31. I have one that fits in the Cardbus slot, but I am tired of having it stick out, and failing when I put one of my CF cards in the other slot (I attribute it to the CF card though.)

There is a bunch on ebay, but I do not know which one is best. I would like one that runs on the G signal, also the best reliability/signal.

I am also trying to upgrade my HD. I want something with some more space, also higher RPM. If I did this, how would I go about copying my current info from this HD to the other one?

[rkawakami]

Some of the X31 systems came with an IBM b/g card, using an Atheros AR5004G chipset; at least that's what the tabook.pdf describes. If you stick with the original IBM-offered equipment, then you won't have to deal with the BIOS hack (there's a "whitelist" of approved wireless cards built into the system). Part number appears to be FRU 91P7416.

ref: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-44049
ref: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/IBM_11b/g ... CI_Adapter

As for your hard drive query, the usual way to transfer your existing software would be to "clone" the existing drive onto the newer one. Several programs are available which can perform this task: Acronis True Image, Norton Ghost and some "freeware" utilities. This operation usually requires that you attach the new drive to the system and execute the disk copy operation. My preferred method is to mount the new disk drive into an Ultrabay HD adapter and then slip that into the system's Ultrabay. One slight problem with the X31 is that you would need to have a docking station as the X3x does not have a built-in Ultrabay. The other (slower) method would be to attach the new disk drive via the USB port. That means having to buy an enclosure (which are fairly cheap) which accepts the laptop drive and converts the connection to a standard USB plug.

One other possible solution might be that if you purchase the disk drive from a computer store, they may be able to transfer your data for you. However, note that Murphy's Law applies in cases like this (i.e., "whatever can go wrong, will go wrong") so you should think about backing up your documents prior to beginning any disk copy operation. Also, some installed programs may object when they find themselves running on a "different" hardware setup and request a re-activation. Adobe Creative Suite is one such animal.

[alteist]

I use CloneZilla Live CD (free, open source) for cloning or imaging HDDs. But as rkawakami wrote, Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost Live CDs will also do. For CloneZilla, download iso here, burn it on CD, restart and set CD-ROM first bootable device in BIOS. When CloneZilla boots, you can image your whole HDD to any destination, e.g. network shared folder or USB drive. Then change HDD and copy image back using Clonezilla. That would not require such additional devices as docking station or USB HDD case if you have network shared folder or USB flash drive with enough free space.

[dorronto]

I am trying to find a Mini-PCI wifi card for my x31. I have one that fits in the Cardbus slot, but I am tired of having it stick out, and failing when I put one of my CF cards in the other slot (I attribute it to the CF card though.)

There is a bunch on ebay, but I do not know which one is best. I would like one that runs on the G signal, also the best reliability/signal.

I am also trying to upgrade my HD. I want something with some more space, also higher RPM. If I did this, how would I go about copying my current info from this HD to the other one?

I've been using an Intel 200bg card with no problems. I'm not an Atheros fan but some members swear by them. I swear by Intel.

My .02 cents,
Ron

[Saysana13B]

Thanks for the reply gentlemen. Its greatly appreciated!

Also, one last question, if i do clone my HD will the partition that IBM crwates for users to boot windows off of be cloned to?

[rkawakami]

That one's a little bit harder for me to answer... I think that it depends on the cloning program and how/if you can re-size the partitions so that the hidden service partition is kept the same size. The program would also have to be smart enough to alter the partition table so that it references the correct spot on the new drive. I haven't worried about keeping most of my system's restore partitions intact since, a) the factory install of Windows in there is so old (pre-SP2) that it's not worth the effort using it, and b) I use Ghost to make images my drives in case something goes wrong so (in most cases) there's no need to fall back to a factory-fresh re-install.

[Saysana13B]

Thank you for the reply!! I will skip on the wifi card because it seems like its a lot of hassle and not worth the price (it looks like I need an antenna?).

As for the HD, it will be hard but I think I will figure it out! Thanks!

[AlanHK]

I tried several methods to clone my old drive before replacing it.

Mechanically: I got a USB/IDE cable for about $5 (USB/ATA about the same price, or double headed). No software or disk case needed, Windows sees it as a USB drive.

I think that the USB connection however was problematic for many of the clone programs (like Clonezilla) most of these use a bootable Linux CDROM. Some couldn't see the drive at all. I'm sure they'd be fine if both drives were installed in a desktop PC.

Some could copy files, but the resulting disk was not bootable, and I couldn't make it so.

Eventually I used XXclone, freeware.

It runs in Windows as a normal program, and copies the disk as files, so it can copy to any size of target disk.

Also I had some problems using an NTSF format disk. So I formatted the new disk with a couple of FAT32 partitions.

After you've transferred the files and installed the new disk, you can convert the new disk to FAT32 very quickly using the Windows convert command if you want to.

[jtt3011]

I've been wanting to make an installable system disk image copy on DVD for years, but could never find anything I could trust (or that would work) until now. But last week I took the plunge and downloaded the full version of Disk Image:

http://www.disk-image.net/

It cost me $39.95, which isn't exactly a fortune, and I now have an image of a new, updated, XP install, on a single DVD, from which I can transfer a full and bootable XP system to any of my spare HDDs (it does, generally, need to be for the same or an identical machine). This application really does seem to do exactly what it says on the tin.

If you want something to do this: check it out.

[Saysana13B]

Update, questions...

I recently purchased a Mini PCI card from another forum member.

Upon opening up my thinkpad, I was shocked to see another MCI-PCI wifi card in there. It is an Intel b/g one.

Thinking "well, its probably busted an thats why it won't work. I swapped them out, did the no-1802 fix anddd booting up, it still gives me what it gave me all along when I press fn & the wifi keey

"IBM wireless adapters (802.11 or Bluetooth) are not installed on this system."

I am just thinking "whaatt?" to myself. Its physically in there. But my laptop is not showing up anywhere that there is a card in the slot. Opening it up, I noticed there is no shield. Could that be the case?


EDIT: It turns out, the mini-pci card already in there works... its an Intel b/g 2200 one. I just needed drivers.. what a head ache!