T23 hard drive; model 2647 vs 2648

[granta]

I'm looking for a 'new' HDD for my T23 model 2647 - I just use it for non-web stuff. One vendor stresses that there is a difference between HDDs for the model 2647 and 2648 T23s and not to order the wrong one. Is this correct? I've never seen this mentioned anywhere else. The price is certainly different - ~$30 for the 2647 and ~$120 for the 2648! If this is true how can I be sure I'm getting the right one from another source such as eBay. The aforementioned vendor charges an arm and a leg to ship to Canada otherwise I'd go that route.

Thanks for your help. As my T23 ages even further (fingers crossed) I'm sure I'll be on this forum more often!

[automobus]

All Ttwenties (T20 T21 T22 T23) accept SFF standard Parallel ATA 2.5-inch-class drives, up to 12.7 mm tall. A very old 17mm-tall disc will not fit. A common 9.5mm-thick, or 7mm, or 5mm, will fit. Be sure to use a caddy and screws. I do not know, whether T23 BIOS supports 48-bit LBA.

[ajkula66]

The only difference between 2647 and 2648 was warranty entitlement when new.

What hard drives are you considering?

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Walk away from that seller. About the only difference between 2647 and 2648 was that the 2648 had an extended warranty. Physically, both models take the same type of hard drive. I've had over 50 T23 systems and I've put in Seagate, Hitachi, IBM, and Fujitsu HDD without any issues.

You are going to find that it will be hard (if not impossible) to get a "new" PATA drive today*. I recently had to install W98 in a T23 so I went on eBay to find some "small" PATA drives. I was low on these drives so beside the one I needed for the W98 project, I wanted a few more. I paid from $14 to $18 (shipped, from US seller) for 40GB and 60GB Seagate Momentus 5400 and 7200RPM drives. All 9 drives passed the SeaTools diagnostic. I always look at the Power On Hours (POH) figure that is reported by SeaTools to get an exact idea of how much the drive has been used. Lowest was 62 hours (60GB 5400.2). Highest POH was 35276, another 60GB 5400.2 drive. As far as I can tell, the date codes on the drives say they were built in 2006.

*edit: I was called out by a member for saying that PATA/IDE drives would be hard to find, "if not impossible". There ARE companies still making PATA drives but a quick check at newegg.com (where I bought my last "new" drives), shows that the cheapest PATA drive is a Fujitsu 60GB 4200RPM for $100 (shipped). So I will qualify my original statement by saying that it will be hard to get a new PATA drive cheaply at this time.

A check at frys.com shows no PATA notebook/laptop/2.5" drives for sale.

[granta]

Many thanks to those who replied and provided good info. I did avoid that vendor and bought a generic warrantied HDD on eBay. I didn't find any brand name drives but the price was right - again, fingers crossed!

Alan