Thinkpads Forum

Will Ultrabay Slim Optical drives and ThinkPad X4 Dock bay modules work/fit in the newer Docking Station for X200 (X200 UltraBase). In other words is it reverse compatible with those?

Any comments or better first hand experience is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Yes serial ultrabay slim drives will work in an X200 Ultrabase, however only those with a flat front face plate (T60 and newer) will fit without a space showing up at the top of the slot. Older ultrabay slim drives have a curved front bezel.

Braddah Harry, along the same lines of Q&A, will a T61 UltraBay (HDD) be useable in an x200 base? Seems to have different part numbers per the official literature.

Yes it will work OK. T60 and T61 Ultrabay devices are functionally equivalent.

I beleive you but why different part numbers for a T61 versus x201 Ultrabay other than the SATA 1 v 2? I mean is there a risk of shorting out either the Ultrabay or the base?

ccd wrote:Will Ultrabay Slim Optical drives and ThinkPad X4 Dock bay modules work/fit in the newer Docking Station for X200 (X200 UltraBase). In other words is it reverse compatible with those?

Any comments or better first hand experience is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

According to ThinkWiki, the Ultrabay Slim is not compatible with the X200 Ultrabase, and you need to use the Serial Ultrabay Slim with the X200:

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ultrabay

(Do a Google image search for Ultrabay Slim... you'll find it has a different, i.e. non-SATA, connector to the Serial UltraBay Slim.)

According to IBM it is ... but they've been known to be wrong about their own products before. It wouldn't surprise me.

An Ultrabay Slim for device expansion

* Supports Ultrabay Slim Blu-ray, CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo and Multi-Burner drives
* Provides storage capacity for a second Serial-ATA hard drive

http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bi ... anguage=en

I think you'll find that information is incorrect, especially given the fact that the OP is enquiring about compatibility with X4x series devices.

Until Harry spoke on it, I had thought they were not compatible based on different model numbers. Isnt UltraBay more a marketing name ie there are UBs across TP models. Not necessarily universally interchangeable.

If you study the linked wiki chart, you'll find that there are several types of Ultrabays that Thinkpads came with, some are compatible with others, some not.
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ultrabay

After some research I agree with ansible212 that the X200 Ultrabase uses the Serial Ultrabay Slim drives. That is common only to T400, T400s, T410, T410i, T410s, T410si, T500, W500, X200 UltraBase

Harryc wrote:Yes serial ultrabay slim drives will work in an X200 Ultrabase, however only those with a flat front face plate (T60 and newer) will fit without a space showing up at the top of the slot. Older ultrabay slim drives have a curved front bezel.

Thanks, it seems a form factor issue, not the connection per se which is the same.

You can't use a T4x or T6x Ultrabay Slim drive in a X200 UltraBase. The X200 UltraBase only accepts Serial Ultrabay Slim devices such as found on T400, T410 etc.

I think 732 is right. Unless someone has tried it and comfirms it works its imprudent to beleive it might work because IBM has made "mistakes" in the past. Why would Lenovo use different part numbers. I know Harry's point about yes it works but the fit may not be perfect but does that mean it might short the drive or the machine by forcing this? The analogy here is maybe you can put a different spec tire on a car. Yes you can drive it with such tires but is in the the LT best interest of the tire or the vehicle?

Can an Ultrabay adaptor for a T61 series work in the X200/X201 base? Has anyone tried? BTW I know the T61 Ultrabay adaptor is SATA to PATA right? But the X200/X201 is pure SATA so it would not work? Phyically putting it in is not what I'm worried about. Damaging the electronics is my concern. Please if you have successfully tried this then affirm (or deconfirm) it works?
Thanks.

You need a special Ultrabay adapter for an X200 Ultrabase - ThinkPad Serial ATA Hard Drive Bay Adapter II or III. The T61 adapter will not work.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 73170.html
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 70090.html

From the X200/T400 generation onwards, Lenovo introduced a new ultrabay connection based on a standard SATA connectors. Before that, the ultrabay connection was a PATA hot-plug connector, the slim version was introduced in T40 and continued till T61.

T40 Ultrabays devices can plug into T60 and T61 as well the X6 ultrabase.
T60/61 Ultrabay devices cannot plug into T4x as there is a extra plastic tab on those to prevent insertion into older bays.
T60/61 Ultrabay devices cannot plug into T4x0/X200 Ultrabase as connector type is totally different shape.

There is Ultrabay adapter for a SATA HDD for the T6x series which is expensive as it has a SATA-to-PATA convertor circuit inside to present a native SATA HDD through the Ultrabay PATA port to the mainboard. I am using one currently.

The newer Ultrabay adapters are cheaper as the conversion circuitry is no longer required, since the output connection is also native SATA.

BTW I own a T40 (dead), have the T40 Ultrabay adapter, used the T60p (previous work), T61 (curent work), own a X200 with a X200 Ultrabase.

Thanks for the clarification. Just what I wanted to know and shows you know the technology down cold. Actually they are about the same price with standard deviation of + or = USD $5. Have and extra one of the old that I wanted to put to good use.