Help! How to use a replaced HD as an external one?

[NJRonbo]

I bought a T60 that comes with a 100 GB SATA 5400 Hard Drive.

When the T60 arrives, I am replacing it with a 100GB SATA
7200 Hard Drive because 5400 is too slow.

It was suggested in another thread that I can use the 5400
that I removed as a secondary EXTERNAL drive for the notebook
in a 2.5 case, but honestly, I know so little about this.

In that same thread I was told that there is no external case
for the 2.5" SATA, only for the 3.5" drives.

It was also suggested that I could buy a ultrabay slim sata hdd
caddy and put it in my ultrabay.

I have no idea what any of that means and the person that
was giving me advice suddenly stopped

What I need is an explanation of how this works, and even
better, a link to an actual product on the Internet that I can buy.

Is it a simple matter that the SATA drive fits in a caddy and the
caddy hooks into the laptop as a USB device?

Would greatly appreciate any help you can give.

[davidspalding]

Search on IBM or Lenovo for Ultrabay slim second HDD adapter [edit]part number 40Y8725 as the admin correctly pointed out. Selling for under US$50 or so. Just got one myself.

As far as a USB case, I'm not familiar with them, but I'm sure they're out there. [edit] You'll want to be sure that you get the kind that will support that SATA drive.

[davidspalding]

Since hitting Tiger Direct and a few other places, I can confirm that there ARE USB enclosures for notebook drives, just have to shop for one.

[JHEM]

Search on IBM or Lenovo for Ultrabay slim second HDD adapter part number 62P4554.

Won't work!

What the OP needs is the Ultrabay Slim 40Y8725 serial adapter for the T60 and SATA HDs. Only available from Lenovo.

http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/store ... d=10000001

What you referenced Dave is the Ultrabay Slim adapter for the T4X series machines which will only work with PATA HDs.

Regards,

James

[JHEM]

Since hitting Tiger Direct and a few other places, I can confirm that there ARE USB enclosures for notebook drives, just have to shop for one.

Won't help the OP as there are no readily available USB enclosures for 2.5" SATA HDs.

USB2.0 enclosures for 2.5" PATA HDs are widely available, sometimes for less than $10.

Regards,

James

[deforest]

Here's a 2.5" sata enclosure:

http://www.cooldrives.com/almiposa25in.html


Google reveals that several companies that you can buy from.

Price seems around $20~30.

[davidspalding]

Won't work!

Thank you, James, I deserved and accept that thwack. I overlooked that he's expecting a T60. That Ultrabay Slim caddy ought to also match the non-angled bezel of the Z/T60.

OP, you mentioned that 5400 rpm won't do ... but you haven't received your TP? Just curious why you make this assessment ... are you using software that mandates a fast drive, or are you basing your expectation on hearsay? Frankly, I would imagine that the SATA drive might have good performance for your needs. Of course, you know your situation better than I.

I face an interesting dilemma ... Adobe Premiere Elements "requires" a 7200 rpm drive ... which my T43 doesn't have. I've had some glitches doing 60-minute captures, but the error was reported against the ATI driver. Haven't tried with my USB 2.0 Maxtor drive (7200 rpm), but got the UltraBay adapter so I could put a fast drive right in the machine, vice connecting a fast one to USB 2.0 or Firewire 800. But if it turns out to be no effect, I'm tempted to put the 7200 rpm drive as my primary, system drive, and get slightly faster overall performance (questionable; some report 5400 vs 7200 shows no noticeable improvement). Ah, options, options, options.... But I can assure you that a 5400 rpm system drive is no slouch.

Deforest - very cool. And a nice price.

[JHEM]

Adobe Premiere Elements "requires" a 7200 rpm drive ....

I thought that was only applicable to desktops???

Thwack was meant to be forceful, but gentle.

After all, I'm the keeper of the Stick.

But Nonny has the FISH!

Regards,

James

[JHEM]

Here's a 2.5" sata enclosure:

http://www.cooldrives.com/almiposa25in.html

Google reveals that several companies that you can buy from.

Price seems around $20~30.

Excellent find and worth repeating!

I had seen a few listed a few weeks ago, but they were all saying "out of stock".

Regards,

James

[davidspalding]

Here's a 2.5" sata enclosure:

http://www.cooldrives.com/almiposa25in.html

Wow, these guys offer Firewire 800 enclosures as well.

[archer6]

I face an interesting dilemma ... Adobe Premiere Elements "requires" a 7200 rpm drive ... which my T43 doesn't have.

Deforest - very cool. And a nice price.

I have the same issue with my T60 & Adobe Premiere Elements. Currently I have a 5400rpm drive. My thought, is to purchase the optional 7200rpm drive from Lenovo to install as my primary drive. I know that the drive comes "blank".

How to I get the XP OS installed on it as well as the hidden Recovery & Restore. I really like having that hidden restore partition, as it works well, and have found it fairly speedy too.

Thanks, Archer6

[davidspalding]

My solution is that I'll use a SECOND drive, not the system drive, for video capture and multimedia editing. I'm betting that I'll get a performance boost, as well, since Premiere Elements will not be doing work on the primary disk. We shall see....

[archer6]

My solution is that I'll use a SECOND drive for video capture and multimedia editing.

That's an idea that crossed my mind. Since I travel a lot, I would have to put it in the ultra slim bay. Not a bad solution, but ties up the bay, and while the optical drive is light, it's bulky in my already stuffed computer case. I have so much to travel with, I try to keep my laptop stuff to a minimum.

Thanks for you feedback

archer6