Thinkpads Forum

Hello from the Philippines, this is my first post. I'm using an old TP570E at home and I'm trying to perform a HDD swap.

The old HDD which came with the TP570E is a DARA-206000 (6Gb, ATA-4, 4200 RPM) is not enough for my purposes. I have a Fujitsu MHT2020AT (20Gb, ATA-6, 4200 RPM) which I'm not currently using. I intend to use Windows 2000 as the OS. BTW, I have the docking bay.

I went ahead last night with the HDD swap and hit several roadblocks.
1) The new Fujitsu HDD is not detected when I have the CD-ROM inserted in the docking bay. Can't be seen via BIOS. But Win2000 setup/installer properly sees the HD during the setup process. So I proceed with the OS installation.

2) The formatted Fujitsu HDD will not boot! I have the bootable Win2000 CD installer, repartitioned the HDD, formatted using NTFS, and installed the OS. No problem with the setup, but upon reboot the system hangs. (The CD-ROM is still not inserted in the docking bay)


I've read this post here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... =ata4+ata6


I'm currently stumped. It should work but it doesn't

Any information you can give will be highly appreciated.

Just want to post my experience with the MHT2020AT and my 570E. This puts a closure to my plight.


I knew there was a problem when I used the MHT2020AT, went to the boot media selection screen (via F12) and there was NO Hard Disk detected. A few week after I posted my question I gave up and just ran the 6Gb that was included in my 570E. I was enduring the noise and slow 6Gb until I got a digital camera and noticed that I had only 1Gb of space left on my drive! I NEEDED MORE STORAGE SPACE. The hunt was on again to get a new HD fitted to my 570E.

My excitement was overwhelming when I browsed the IBM site yesterday. Seems that there is a new firmware upgrade for the MHT2020AT (FWHD3317.exe). I might have just missed this back then. It gave me hope. I also read a topic in the forums regarding the Seagate Momentus drives. I bought one of these babies (40Gb) as a backup drive.

Got home, downloaded the FW upgrade, remove 6Gb HD and installed the MHT2020AT then rebooted. The FW update diskette detected the MHT2020AT but it could NOT upgrade the firmware! Dang! For the last time I removed the MHT2020AT drive and put on the Momentus on the 570E's rack. Booted the laptop and went to the boot media selection screen via F12. Saw the 40Gb Momentus listed as Hard Disk!!! YEHEEY!!! I was in luck.

The MHT2020AT now resides in a USB case and acts as my backup drive. I'm using the Momentus NOW! (as I type, oh ssssoooo verryy quite and the speed difference as compared to the original 6Gb disk was noticeable). No problem with the "metal lip" mentioned in the Momentus post that I read.


I guess the MHT2020AT has some issues with my 570E.


Happy happy happy!!!!! (I'll post a pic of my rig later)