ThinkPad X61s --- Serial ATA Hard Drive Bay Adapter

[trapeze]

Hi

i saw this adapter on laptop customization page on lenovo website..

does this mean this adpater can let me have the performance of SATA 3.0 Gbit/s when using SATA 3.0 HD or the performance of SATA 1.5 Gbit/s when using SATA 1.5 HD ??

btw, when is lenovo going to have their next BIG sale !? anyone knows ? thx !

[aaa]

It does not matter. Test an HD and you'll see they only go to about 60MB/s, so why worry over 150MB/s vs 300MB/s when that's not the bottleneck?

Anyways, supposedly your chipset supports SATA 300, but I'm not sure if it actually is enabled (as it would use more electricity).

[trapeze]

It does not matter. Test an HD and you'll see they only go to about 60MB/s, so why worry over 150MB/s vs 300MB/s when that's not the bottleneck?

Anyways, supposedly your chipset supports SATA 300, but I'm not sure if it actually is enabled (as it would use more electricity).

thanks.

i am using T43. if i go buy this adapter, put SATA HD, and put it in my bay area, will i gain performance ?

[qviri]

I don't understand your question. The topic mentions an X61s and your post mentions a T43; which one are you using or planning to use? Are you aware that an X61s does not support any modular bay devices, except when docked in its Ultrabase? Are you aware that a T43 natively uses PATA rather than SATA drives? What precisely is the adapter you are looking at? Ultrabay Slim or USB?

[trapeze]

I don't understand your question. The topic mentions an X61s and your post mentions a T43; which one are you using or planning to use? Are you aware that an X61s does not support any modular bay devices, except when docked in its Ultrabase? Are you aware that a T43 natively uses PATA rather than SATA drives? What precisely is the adapter you are looking at? Ultrabay Slim or USB?

thanks!

1. i'm using T43. then, from the previous description, will i gain performance ? i know T43 natively uses PATA rather than SATA. but, i suppose that this adapter can let T43 use SATA.

2. if i had X61s and this adapter, would i have the same performance when using SATA HD in this adapter compared with a regular internal SATA HD that comes with the laptop ?

[tinue]

1. i'm using T43. then, from the previous description, will i gain performance ? i know T43 natively uses PATA rather than SATA. but, i suppose that this adapter can let T43 use SATA.?

No, it doesn't. A SATA Laptop (such as the X61) can do both PATA and SATA, and thus accepts both types of adapters. A PATA Laptop (such as your T42) only does PATA, and thus only accepts the PATA adapter.
The adapter doesn't have any electronics on it (such as a SATA chipset), it in merely an electrical adapter.

2. if i had X61s and this adapter, would i have the same performance when using SATA HD in this adapter compared with a regular internal SATA HD that comes with the laptop ?

Yes, I've measured this with HDTune. The adapter goes into the Ultrabay instead of the CD or DVD drive.

[trapeze]

1. i'm using T43. then, from the previous description, will i gain performance ? i know T43 natively uses PATA rather than SATA. but, i suppose that this adapter can let T43 use SATA.?

No, it doesn't. A SATA Laptop (such as the X61) can do both PATA and SATA, and thus accepts both types of adapters. A PATA Laptop (such as your T42) only does PATA, and thus only accepts the PATA adapter.
The adapter doesn't have any electronics on it (such as a SATA chipset), it in merely an electrical adapter.

Thanks !

But, this adapter is to be put into ultraslim bay slot. if this adapter can accommodate SATA HD, why can't I put it into my T43's bay slot and use a SATA HD ?

[qviri]

1. i'm using T43. then, from the previous description, will i gain performance ? i know T43 natively uses PATA rather than SATA. but, i suppose that this adapter can let T43 use SATA.?

No, it doesn't. A SATA Laptop (such as the X61) can do both PATA and SATA, and thus accepts both types of adapters. A PATA Laptop (such as your T42) only does PATA, and thus only accepts the PATA adapter.
The adapter doesn't have any electronics on it (such as a SATA chipset), it in merely an electrical adapter.

While this is true, trapeze has a T43. T43 is a bit of a complicated case as it has a SATA chipset and a SATA-to-PATA bridge. I am not sure what the compability is like in his case, though the lack of performance gain even if support is there may render the question moot.

[tamasrepus]

I remember seeing this on these forums before: the Ultrabay SATA adapter is not native SATA.

The Ultrabay only supports PATA, as the primary use of the Ultrabay is for optical media drives, which are all still PATA (for Lenovo). The SATA HDD Ultrabay adapter uses a built-in SATA->PATA convertor so SATA disks can be used, but it's not going through the motherboard's onboard SATA chipset.

The performance is supposedly terrible. Search the forums for reviews.

With this in mind there probably isn't any reason why you can't said Ultrabay adapter in a T42/T43 (check with Lenovo first)--but since the OP seemed to care most about performance, they aren't going to get it when using this thing.

[tinue]

I remember seeing this on these forums before: the Ultrabay SATA adapter is not native SATA.

I stand corrected: You are right. I've looked in device manager, and the Ultrabay SATA disk is indeed listed under the IDE channel, and not along with the internal SATA disk under the AHCI controller.

I wonder whether it really matters, though: I've tried out Vista 64 recently. I initially installed it with my spare drive in the internal slot. After the initial install I moved the disk to the ultrabay and booted via F12 from this disk. I couldn't tell the difference.

Regards, Martin