Hard Drive upgrade in R51

R, A, G and Z series specific matters only
Post Reply
Message
Author
heeltoejoe
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:58 pm
Location: Casper, WY

Hard Drive upgrade in R51

#1 Post by heeltoejoe » Fri Aug 28, 2009 4:37 pm

My 40 G hard drive crashed last week in my 1836 machine. I purchased and installed a 160 G IDE and ordered the Recovery and Rescue disks from Lenovo. After initiating the Setup Utility Program and installing the first of the Recovery disks, I get a message stating "Error in the installation". Talking with a Lenovo technician, we attempted to use the F5 or F6 buttons to move the HDD02 up into the list that could be "seen" by the machine. According to the tech, the 160 G HD is too large to be seen by my 5 year old machine. The drive appears in the list but is in the "Excluded" portion of the list. I would be one grateful bloke in Wyoming if there is someone out there that could help. Thank you!

BillMorrow
*Senior* Admin
*Senior* Admin
Posts: 7154
Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2004 9:40 pm
Location: San Francisco -> Florida -> Georgia
Contact:

Re: Hard Drive upgrade in R51

#2 Post by BillMorrow » Fri Aug 28, 2009 4:51 pm

it looks like you will need a smaller HDD>.

but don't take my word for it..

it has been at least 3 years since i did any HDD upgrades..

nevermind, the HMM is not what you want..
i need to find the TABOOK for that thinkpad model..

i'll do more searching..
Bill Morrow, kept by parrots :parrot: & cockatoos
Sysop - forum.thinkpads.com

*
She was not what you would call refined,
She was not what you would call unrefined,
She was the type of person who kept a parrot.
~~~Mark Twain~~~

heeltoejoe
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:58 pm
Location: Casper, WY

Re: Hard Drive upgrade in R51

#3 Post by heeltoejoe » Fri Aug 28, 2009 5:00 pm

Thanks Bill. According to the manual, it looks like 60 G is the largest HD my machine can support. Does anyone know a way around this where I can use the 160 G HD?

BillMorrow
*Senior* Admin
*Senior* Admin
Posts: 7154
Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2004 9:40 pm
Location: San Francisco -> Florida -> Georgia
Contact:

Re: Hard Drive upgrade in R51

#4 Post by BillMorrow » Fri Aug 28, 2009 5:09 pm

i was looking for the TAWBOOK.pdf..
but i can't find it right now..

if the 60gig is max, and i'm not surprised, then thats pretty much it since that limitation is part of the chipset..
you might be able to fool the bios but i'm not the one to ask..

ray will have an answer..
just give him time to log on..
Bill Morrow, kept by parrots :parrot: & cockatoos
Sysop - forum.thinkpads.com

*
She was not what you would call refined,
She was not what you would call unrefined,
She was the type of person who kept a parrot.
~~~Mark Twain~~~

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 15740
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania

Re: Hard Drive upgrade in R51

#5 Post by ajkula66 » Fri Aug 28, 2009 6:47 pm

I'm sorry to disagree with Bill on this one...and Lenovo needs to re-train certain people...

That machine WILL run a 160GB drive, no questions asked.

Your problem is somewhere else. My bet would be that one or more disks in the recovery set are defective.

I had 250GB in one of my R50p units...and it worked fine. There's no known HD limit for ThinkPads of this generation.

Error in the installation message has NOTHING to do with a HD size.

Restore defaults in BIOS and try again.

Good luck and keep us posted.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

AARP club members:A31p, T43pSF

Abused daily: T61p

PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

Harryc
Moderator Emeritus
Moderator Emeritus
Posts: 13228
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:23 am
Location: Upstate New York

Re: Hard Drive upgrade in R51

#6 Post by Harryc » Fri Aug 28, 2009 7:52 pm

I agree with George, bad media, defective hard drive, or possibly a boot sector issue. Try running active kill disk before loading the R&R discs.
http://www.killdisk.com/

heeltoejoe
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:58 pm
Location: Casper, WY

Re: Hard Drive upgrade in R51

#7 Post by heeltoejoe » Mon Aug 31, 2009 1:17 pm

Bill, George, and Harryc,

All is well. After reading your suggestions I went back first to check that I had installed the HD correctly. I had not. The Best Buy "Geek" and I had installed it upside down. After flipping it over and reinstalling the rest of the Rescue and Recovery process went smooth as silk.

With much gratitude and respect,

Heeltoejoe

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “ThinkPad R, A, G and Z Series”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests