Thinkpads Forum

Hello, I recently purchased a refurbished T430 with no RAM or HDD. I plan to use the computer for Vmware and as such need several hard drives. I have successfully installed a 240GB Intel SSD in the primary slot, a 120GB Samsung mSATA drive, and 2 x 8GB of 1600MHz RAM. The machine runs fine, both Windows and Ubuntu work perfectly but I have run into a problem with installing an HDD in the ultrabay.

I have a SilverStone 12.7mm TS09 ODD conversion tray and a Western Digital 750GB 2.5" SATA 3GB/s black series HDD. I removed the functioning disc drive and installed the HDD and conversion tray. On boot, the light on the tray flashes once. I can not ascertain whether or not the drive spins up, maybe I need to listen harder. The HDD is not detected in the BIOS, even after changing a few settings. Windows disk utility does not find it, nor can Ubuntu. I am not sure what the problem can be, everything else on the laptop works, the HDD is brand new, and I tried several BIOS settings and even updated a few drivers I thought may have been pertinent.

Any help is greatly appreciated, I am simply not sure what else to do.


Also this is my first post and first Thinkpad, with which I am so far very impressed with.

I just found this post by richk

I believe that adapter will not work in your machine. I have never used one, but I have read that it will work in a T400, but not in a T410 or newer. I know that the adapters that Lenovo sold for the T400 will not work in a T410, but the adapters for a T410 or later will work in a T400 also. (The optical drives for all the machines are electrically interchangeable. I have always intended to take them apart to see why they work that way. I would guess that one connection is not passed through to the drive and the T410 needs it and the T400 does not. (Everywhere I said T410, I really mean T410/T420/T430/T510, etc.)



sorry, I should have looked harder before posting.