Help with Ultrabay Slim 2nd HDD Adapter

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chiaseth · #1 Post by **chiaseth** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:39 pm

I'm glad I found this forum, I'm a long-time user (and enthusiast) of Thinkpads, and this problem I'm having has me *STUMPED*.

So I recently bought the Ultrabay Slim 2nd HDD Adapter for my T42 (2379-DXU is my Thinkpad model). I have a Hitachi Travelstar 60GB HDD to put into it - it tested fine the last time I checked it out (not long before trying it here). I popped in the HD and tried hot-swapping adapter into the bay, and it doesn't recognize it ANYWHERE. not in the device mgr, not after "scan for hardware changes", not in Disk Management, not after reboot... nowhere I can find it.

Also, when I replaced the CD/DVD drive in the bay (hot-swap again) after the failed attempt with the HDD adapter, it worked perfectly... so it seems to me that they bay is a-ok.

This machine has the latest BIOS & Embedded Controller level, and runs on Win XP SP2. I've only had the system for a month (my 3rd Thinkpad), but it has given me no problems at all... as of yet.

If anybody has any clue of what to do (I don't need any additional drivers, do i?) or things to check out, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!
-Seth

christopher_wolf · #2 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:45 pm

Welcome to the Thinkpad Forums

That should work like that; although the only thing I can think of is mounting the disk through Windows...That clearly isn't the issue here.

I have the 2nd HDD adapter and a 60GB 7200RPM Hitachi in it in my T43 and it seems to work fine although I do have to mount it as a Linux partition and get ext2fs to read/write to it.

Have you tried a cold swap and then boot?

chiaseth · #3 Post by **chiaseth** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:52 pm

Yup, tried that too. This one really has me stumped, because, like you said, it shouldn't require anything special.

dbertoni5000 · #4 Post by **dbertoni5000** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 9:35 pm

Do you by any chance have a power on password set for the drive? If so, you'll need to reboot with the drive in the bay. Otherwise, Windows will not be able to read from the drive.

You can also hibernate, then power on, which should prompt you for the password.

chiaseth · #5 Post by **chiaseth** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 10:28 pm

Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about... I actually had to have one on my old laptop's hard drive. This drive, however, definitely does not have a password.

So... not that either... any other ideas?

ryan42 · #6 Post by **ryan42** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:44 am

This may sound dumb, but I almost made this mistake:

Is the drive in the adaptor upside down?

chiaseth · #7 Post by **chiaseth** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 8:11 am

Haha, nope! It only fits one way, upside down the pins vertically don't line up with the socket.

Next...?

hoya · #8 Post by **hoya** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:29 am

can you see the drive in Disk Manager? (control panel, administrative tools, storage, disk management)

one more thing: my 2nd hdd adapter requires a lot of force to insert the drive and then successfully depress the lock (small black handle) in order for windows to 'see' the drive.

chiaseth · #9 Post by **chiaseth** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:40 am

I can't see the drive in disk manager (see the original post). I tried your idea with using a bit more force, it didn't seem to make a difference. Thanks though.

hoya · #10 Post by **hoya** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 11:21 am

did you confirm that the hdd is firmly seated in the adapter? you might try re-seating it and looking for any broken pins, etc.

do you have a usb enclosure to test the hdd again? if not you could always swap it with the internal drive.

if all else fails, I would call IBM and have them send another hdd adapter. I did that with a hdd adapter (the first one was an extremely tight fit) and they sent another the next day. they shuffled me around a bit since it was a part rather than a system, but they'll take care of you eventually.

leegaard · #11 Post by **leegaard** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 11:43 am

When fitting a disk in without the "IBM alu-wrap" I put some plastic foil in the bottom of the adapter to avoid short-circuiting the harddrive.

I give it a few drops of glue, but some packing tape should do the job too.

At least I see it as a nessecary precaution, and all my disks have always been working

andrey · #12 Post by **andrey** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:21 pm

chiaseth,

are you sure the hard drive is working and not defective? have you tested the hard drive in USB enclosure to ensure it works?

-- Andrey

#13 Post by **bill bolton** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:21 pm

If you take out your primary HDD and put the HDD you have been trying in the 2nd HDD carrier into the primary HDD slot, is it recognised by your laptop?

If its not recognised you have a drive problem, but if it is recognised you have a 2nd HDD carrier problem.

Cheers,

Bill

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