Non-IBM hard drive

[r50cheapskate]

I've asked this in the R-series forum, but I've yet to see a definitive answer:

I want to replace the stock 30GB hard drive with the biggest one available. If I buy a 120GB one from a third party vendor, what is involved? I know 2.5" is standard, but what about mountings and cases? I want to "plug and play" so to speak. (Yes, I know I build OS and such from scratch.)

The 80GB model that Lenovo claims is the biggest available is a downright overpriced antique at $299. Please advise. My computer is a tool, not my life (though close), so please forgive the non-omniscience on technical details.

[storage_man]

I checked your other post under the R series and the way it looks to me the R50 won't support a 100gb disk. It will certainly fit, but its not clear whether the BIOS or IBM's recovery process accepts it.

One thing to remember - On IBM's site for the R50 series, the maximum drive size available is 60gb. There is 2 steps that need to be successfully completed before a drive is recognized. BIOS which identifies the drive ie: #cyls, #heads, #sectors, and makes this info available to the Operating system. Then If it is recognized by the BIOS, the OS, needs to be able to support it. The person that replied to your post under the R series forum, didn't say whether it was the BIOS or the Recovery process that didn't like the disk. I would guess its the BIOS

If its bios, and there are no fixes availble to support that size of disk, your dead in the water. If the BIOS supports the drive, and the IBM recovery CD doesn't, then you will have to manually download all of the OS modifications ie: drivers that IBM, and buy a standalone version of windows, and install it along with the IBM mod's

This will be a lot of work. So why don't you look into getting a EXTERNAL USB 2.0 drive. You can buy it as a package deal with what ever size hard disk you want. You never said why you wanted a larger hard disk, but I assume you want to store Pictures, Videos - etc: It works like a charm. You can't use it for programs, but you can use it for what ever else you want. Note I would probably still stay under the 60gb limit. Remember you can have MANY external hard drives.

Hope this helps - Storage_man

[storage_man]

I forgot the following: The physical size of the drive has to be 9.5mm in height (There are different heights). All of the other spec's ie width/length are standard. Any MFG drives should work.

Storage_man