SATA retrofit idea for 15" T42p and friends

[rob613]

I want to post an inquiry about a retrofit part to possibly connect SATA drives to IDE/PATA 15" thinkpads.

Now that I have learned how to take a planar board out of a bottom case (and I am ready to try to fix my next laptop) I see that the extension board might be the ideal place to wire in some of the electronics of a SATA slide in adapter for the CD drive slot that could allow running a SATA cable out to the drive bay.

I don't know enough about the electronics inside the slide in conversion to know if that could work to pull off and still leave the CD slot functional.

My extension board is 91P7426 FRU ...27. I have a Serial ATA slide in adapter that I think cost around $10 and which has some electronics inside to make it work.

Is my idea so good that someone has already done it?

[Johan]

Suggestion: Please review the sticky (found at the top of this T4x-forum): GUIDE: Make your T4x *FAST* by replacing the HDD with a SSD! AND read the links referenced to therein... doesn't that answer your question about how to use SATA drives in T4x/p's?

Johan

[rob613]

Thank you Johan for the information. That is an interesting thread but something different, sorry if I was not clear.

I saw from another posting that there is a complicated way to bring out SATA connections from some motherboards, and a somewhat expensive modification. I didn't know about 1.8" SATA before this either.

From my starting point of interest in taking this opportunity to upgrade to 2.5" SATA at time of motherboard replacement, and knowing that there exists a CD "ultra" port to SATA, perhaps there might be a way to tap off SATA cables from the extension board, upgraded with whatever electronics are found within the CD to SATA slide in adapter, perhaps even taken right from one since they are inexpensive.

What I don't know is whether there could be a way to pull off SATA and still leave the CD port available for a CD. Perhaps there might be a master/slave issue to solve? I don't know exactly what type of signalling goes through the ultraport.

Is there enough room over the extension board to fit in some electronics? Is there any way to solve any master/slave type issues if they are applicable by cutting a trace on the extension board?

And finally, would this be worthwhile to do as a non-permanent change to the motherboard (which could remain in place when the motherboard breaks) that would allow using 2.5" SATA drives along with an intact ultraport CD drive?

[ajkula66]

Both the main bay and ultrabay on T42 and prior ThinkPads are PATA/IDE. You need a converter in order to enable the use of SATA drives.

The thread that Johan pointed out deals with the only sensible way of using SATA drives in a pre-T43 ThinkPad.

[RealBlackStuff]

T42 and older do not have any SATA electronics on board whatsoever.
In other words: forget it.
Only the T43/R52/X41 were originally designed for SATA, and then converted down to IDE via a Marvel or Silicon chip.
And just in case: this chip only allows for one SATA drive.
The Intel Southbridge (mobile version) was designed for 2 SATA ports, but nobody has ever found out where the second SATA output is located.

But if you want to replace the mobo in your machine, please know that a T43/R52 mobo will also fit in your T42p.
And provided it's a mobo with ATI graphics, it can also be SATA-modded.

[Cigarguy]

^^^ Great info RBS. Thanks.

For my T42, I've installed a SSD in the Ultrabay via an adapter and loaded Win 7 and programs. I used the primary IDE drive slot as my data drive using a conventional IDE HDD. A SSD, with 2 GB RAM and a P M 755 makes this machine still very usable for Web browsing and office work. It was worth it only because of the beautiful Flexview screen.