240X hard disk drive assembly question

[emeu1]

Hello,

I've come across a 240X in good condition for a fair price which I would like to buy. The "problem" is, the 240X has no hard disk. According to the seller, the hard disk "mounting bracket" and cover are both missing.

My question: can I simply slide in a standard 2,5" IDE drive?
Or do I need the original hard disk "mounting bracket" before a hard disk will fit?

If I need the mounting bracket, any idea where I might possible get one?

[oski]

Hi,

What you need is a HDD caddie to connect to the motherboard, and to keep the HDD in place. Have a look at the HMM.
Have a look in ebay.
Cheers

[ajkula66]

You'll have a VERY hard time finding the missing parts since they were only used on 240 series machines, and are likely to be expensive...

[hjanzen]

Here you may find a lot of items for your TP240:

http://www.pchub.com/uph/catf/SearchIte ... 0&x=24&y=5

[emeu1]

Hello,

thanks for all the responses. It;s clear to me now that the hard disk caddy has an interface connector. Without it, a 2.5" IDE hard disk will thus not fit.
Unfortunately, www.pchub.com has nog hard disk caddies for the 240 series on stock. However, they have a picture of it. See:

http://www.pchub.com/uph/model/0--157-4 ... parts.html

at page 4 you see a picture of the caddy.
Looking at it, I don't see any electronic components. So it seems like the pin's at the back of a standard 2.5" IDE drive are just connected to an other connector which fits on the connector on the motherboard.
I now ask myself if the connector on the motherboard is a 1.8" IDE drive connector. Would a 1.8" drive directly connect to the connector on the motherboard?

Anyone a clue on this?

Kind regards

Erik Meussen

[ajkula66]

No, it is not the 1.8" connector. When these babies (240 series) stopped rolling off the assembly lines someone had yet to come up with the idea of a 1.8" HDD...

[tim S]

The connector at the end of the caddy is the key.
As you can just make out in the photo there is the usual multi-pin connector on the inside that mates to any typical (thin) laptop hard drive in the caddy. The connector is soldered onto a narrow circuit board which has the mini connector on the outside that connects the whole thing to the 240/240X motherboard. It's not just an adapter, there is an electronic circuit along with a couple of diodes on it. Without it nothing works.
Tim S

[emeu1]

Thanks for the info.
If its not a 1.8" hard disk drive connector, then it's highly likely to be a CF card connector. See:

http://www.command-tab.com/2006/01/13/ipod-junior/

The connector is the same as a CF and the number of connections also. I have a 2,5" IDE to CF interface at home. On that, there are also a couple of diodes and other electronic components. Just like on the connector on the 240s HDD caddy.

So does a CF card directly fit to the connector on the motherboard of the 240X? Anyone ever checked or even tried this?

The good news is, this afternoon I ran into a new auction just entered on eBay by a German for a 240X with mobile P3 500MHz, 192MB, 12Gb disk, floppy, mouse etc. in good working and physical condition for a low price. I won the auction

My intention is to take the 240X with me (instead of the A31) on holidays to be able to:

1. store, sort, delete and view photo's made with my digital camera on it
2. be able to check my email (at a hot spot). I have a 54Mb/s PCMCIA WLAN card available.
3. view movies on DVD (for my kids) through the use of the portable Ultrabay 2000 with DVD ROM

Does anyone know if the DVD-ROM player that came with my A31 fits into the portable ultrabay 2000? Or do I need an other DVD ROM player for that? If so, which one?

Kind regards

Erik Meussen

[tim S]

I'm glad you found a complete 240X you'd have been going nuts without the correct HD caddy. I'm not sure about the Celeron models but the PIII 240X is quite a bit faster than the 240.
Based on your requirements you are about to meet the limitations of the 240 and 240X versus the newer but slightly larger X series, poor battery life, USB 1.1, 800X600 screen resolution and not enough real power for photo editing.
Surfing the Internet won't be a problem. Sorting/deleting photos may be slow depending on the MP of your camera. You may need a larger HD as well.
Watching DVDs will probably require XP and certainly Mediamatics, IBM's old DVD software. It's the only software I found that plays movies without jerking. You're going to need an adapter (USB or ATA) to connect your laptop drive to your desktop to install XP.
That said I'm not sure that USB 1.1 is fast enough to watch movies on this machine without a problem.
I went through all this with a PIII 240X. I ended up getting a 60gig 7200 rpm drive and copying compressed movies right onto it.
Eventually I gave it all up for an X40 which is only about 1/2 inch taller and wider, a little lighter but way more powerful. I use a 16Gig CF card for XP (small but fast) or the original drive with Linux (big and fast).
Good luck
Tim S

[ajkula66]

Yes, you can use the DVD-ROM from your A31 in portable Ultrabay 2000.