Thinkpads Forum

Is HDD Ultrabay from R61 going to be compatible with T430/T530?

It would never be possible. r61 is IDE and T430/T530 is SATA.

Source:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid= ... 1+ultrabay

You are mistaken. R61 is SATA, too.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290725302841? ... 1423.l2649

Actually he is not mistaken. The adapter you linked to is a PATA/IDE interface to SATA adater. This is like a T61. T400 onwards are SATA interface to SATA drive. Again where the adapter hooks up to the computer is PATA on a R61/T61 whereas newer machines are SATA interface.

This is what is stated on the link you poseted:

Item number

290725302841
Brand Generic, Unbranded
Height/Thickness 12.7 mm
Interface SATA to PATA/IDE

But Ultrabay in R61 is described as using SATA II connection.

Lockheed wrote:But Ultrabay in R61 is described as using SATA II connection.

Wrong.

Prior to *00 series, all ThinkPads had PATA connection in the UltraBay.

Starting with T400/500, R400/500 and W500, this has changed to a physical SATA connection.

That's why you'll find UltraBay adapters for *00 and later series being different (a pin in the middle of adapter on the side going into the laptop) from earlier ones usable in T4x/R5x and R6x/T6x/Z6x...

What I mean is that physical connection might be PATA, but electically and speed-wise, it is in SATA II standard without negative impact on performance of SATAII HDDs placed into it.
At least that's what I read on various forums.

If it is the same connection as the T61, which I think it is, then no a SATA HDD in the Ultrabay is nowhere near SATA II speed. For me it got nowhere near saturating SATA I. On benchmarks (ATTO) of the same 7200 rpm HDD I was hitting 75ish MB/s in the main bay while only getting 15-20ish MB/s in the Ultrabay. It's no competition with a SSD. After Middleton BIOS flash I was hitting 185ish MB/s in the main bay while still the anemic 20ish MB/s in the Ultrabay.

Also AFAIK, like a T61, don't you have to flash Middleton BIOS to get SATA II speed in a R61? If so you'll only get SATA II speed on the main SATA line not on the PATA line (which is what is connected to the Ultrabay).

Only way to know for certain is to benchmark yourself. And as stated above, T430/T530 Ultrabay adapter won't physically fit the R61.

Lockheed wrote:What I mean is that physical connection might be PATA, but electically and speed-wise, it is in SATA II standard without negative impact on performance of SATAII HDDs placed into it.
At least that's what I read on various forums.

You do understand that what you wrote above makes absolutely no sense, right?

There is absolutely, positively NO way to pull SATA II speeds through a PATA connection...

Cigarguy wrote:If it is the same connection as the T61, which I think it is, then no a SATA HDD in the Ultrabay is nowhere near SATA II speed. For me it got nowhere near saturating SATA I. On benchmarks (ATTO) of the same 7200 rpm HDD I was hitting 75ish MB/s in the main bay while only getting 15-20ish MB/s in the Ultrabay. It's no competition with a SSD. After Middleton BIOS flash I was hitting 185ish MB/s in the main bay while still the anemic 20ish MB/s in the Ultrabay.

Also AFAIK, like a T61, don't you have to flash Middleton BIOS to get SATA II speed in a R61? If so you'll only get SATA II speed on the main SATA line not on the PATA line (which is what is connected to the Ultrabay).

Only way to know for certain is to benchmark yourself. And as stated above, T430/T530 Ultrabay adapter won't physically fit the R61.

That's a bummer. I used to be convinced by my findings that HDD performance is equal in and outside of ultrabay.

Anyways, your benchmark seems a bit low. I just found a post by a guy who was getting SATA I speeds out of Ultrabay HDD in T61 (here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=106731 ).
Perhaps there is a firmware bug, as described here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/ ... reads.html

Lockheed wrote:What I mean is that physical connection might be PATA, but electically and speed-wise, it is in SATA II standard without negative impact on performance of SATAII HDDs placed into it.
At least that's what I read on various forums.

This is a false and misleading statement. The BIOS does not operate at SATA2 speeds as Lenovo purposely hacked it to slow it down.

Starting with T400/500, R400/500 and W500, this has changed to a physical SATA connection.

That's why you'll find UltraBay adapters for *00 and later series being different (a pin in the middle of adapter on the side going into the laptop) from earlier ones usable in T4x/R5x and R6x/T6x/Z6x...[/quote]
How about the X201? Aight.