Has anyone tried an SSD in the X41? *PICS*

[datrop]

Bah! Apparently, the white diagonal mark (upper left) in the photo above indicates pin 1 on the IDE connector. It only fits into the X40's drive bay oriented as pictured, which, as syzygy pointed out, is not happy at all: pin 1 should be on the right side. I guess I'll just have to save that for a normal 2.5" laptop or a desktop (with corresponding 3.5" adapter), unless someone wants it cheap. The sad thing is that the cheapy adapter would fit if it were a single-CF setup. As it stands, it's just entirely useless for this laptop.

I found the Addonics at Amazon for $30-31 (with free super-saver shipping). Provantage.com also sells it for $23 + shipping (it ended up being $28.59 for me). Addonics' web page conveniently notes that pin 1 is on the right side, when oriented in a consistent manner. Be careful NOT to order the "embedded version." That has a female style connector.

Too late, I just bought this from ebay as well!
Time to find another one, can you post the working one you bought on ebay? Thanks!

Yes, this is the one I bought that does not fit in the X40 drive bay. It looks fine from the photo, but as it turns out the connector is on the wrong side and is reversed (or some combination thereof). I was thinking about unsoldering the connector and putting it on the other side, but the pinout still would have been wrong.

[taile]

So the linuxbeginner's one is confirmed not working!? This is too bad, mine is still on the way and I'm In Canada, most stores in the south don't ship to here!

Bah! Apparently, the white diagonal mark (upper left) in the photo above indicates pin 1 on the IDE connector. It only fits into the X40's drive bay oriented as pictured, which, as syzygy pointed out, is not happy at all: pin 1 should be on the right side. I guess I'll just have to save that for a normal 2.5" laptop or a desktop (with corresponding 3.5" adapter), unless someone wants it cheap. The sad thing is that the cheapy adapter would fit if it were a single-CF setup. As it stands, it's just entirely useless for this laptop.

I found the Addonics at Amazon for $30-31 (with free super-saver shipping). Provantage.com also sells it for $23 + shipping (it ended up being $28.59 for me). Addonics' web page conveniently notes that pin 1 is on the right side, when oriented in a consistent manner. Be careful NOT to order the "embedded version." That has a female style connector.

[datrop]

It might not be a total wash. I'm going to desolder the CF connector on the back side (without the "CF-IDE44...ADAPTER" text). I'll lose dual functionality, but at least it won't be completely worthless. Interestingly, this backside connector is TALLER than the frontside connector by about 2mm. From the PCB layout, I see no reason for the extra height.

Yesterday, I mentioned that it might be useful in a regular 2.5" laptop. I cracked open my d-series Dell Latitude for a test, and the adapter wouldn't fit in the bay: those couple of mm on the backside connector just were not happy. Pooh!

So the linuxbeginner's one is confirmed not working!? This is too bad, mine is still on the way and I'm In Canada, most stores in the south don't ship to here!

[taile]

I did a search on ebay, it looks like most cf-ide adapters are the same as the linuxbeginner's, the 1st pin is on the left side. It's so hard to find one like the addonics's!

Is the back side slave or master?

It might not be a total wash. I'm going to desolder the CF connector on the back side (without the "CF-IDE44...ADAPTER" text). I'll lose dual functionality, but at least it won't be completely worthless. Interestingly, this backside connector is TALLER than the frontside connector by about 2mm. From the PCB layout, I see no reason for the extra height.

Yesterday, I mentioned that it might be useful in a regular 2.5" laptop. I cracked open my d-series Dell Latitude for a test, and the adapter wouldn't fit in the bay: those couple of mm on the backside connector just were not happy. Pooh!

So the linuxbeginner's one is confirmed not working!? This is too bad, mine is still on the way and I'm In Canada, most stores in the south don't ship to here!

[datrop]

There's a jumper that lets you configure one side as slave/master. From what I recall, the distinction between slave and master doesn't matter with just a single device.

In any case, removing the CF connector on the back is just a physical modification of this adapter. To the laptop, it will still appear as if just a single CF card is attached. That is only if I do not errantly drip some solder and link two data pins together.

I did a search on ebay, it looks like most cf-ide adapters are the same as the linuxbeginner's, the 1st pin is on the left side. It's so hard to find one like the addonics's!

Is the back side slave or master?

It might not be a total wash. I'm going to desolder the CF connector on the back side (without the "CF-IDE44...ADAPTER" text). I'll lose dual functionality, but at least it won't be completely worthless. Interestingly, this backside connector is TALLER than the frontside connector by about 2mm. From the PCB layout, I see no reason for the extra height.

Yesterday, I mentioned that it might be useful in a regular 2.5" laptop. I cracked open my d-series Dell Latitude for a test, and the adapter wouldn't fit in the bay: those couple of mm on the backside connector just were not happy. Pooh!

[Fox5]

So there are now 32GB cards popping up, anyone try them?

There's a Transcend 32GB card, and it's rated at up to 40MB read/ 16MB write, but I doubt actual speed is that high. I'd imagine speed is similar to the 16GB card, which I believe people had poor results with.

There's also an updated version of the Ridata card I used (the original was apparently pulled from the market). It's dirt cheap, but I'm not willing to experiment with that brand again.

[Fox5]

Well, I'm installing Ubuntu on a 32GB Transcend card now. Install is SLOOOWWW but not the slowest I've ever seen. Still, way slower than an install onto the default hard drive (which has completely died for me, forcing the switch, and I didn't feel the 16GB cards offered sufficient space).

Updates are going incredibly slow too. Apparently the write speeds on this are pretty miserable, but hopefully after all updates are done the sped won't be too bad.

[p5ycho]

This is my first post

I thought i'd share my findings with you all. Most of you probably know most of this,
but i'll share anyway.

I bought a used X41 a couple of months ago, and i came with the clicking drive issue. So i
contacted IBM for a replacement disk and got this 3 days later. The disk i god i completely
diffrent to the original. The original disk that comes with the X41 hade the connector on the
side of the disk itself. But the new one is in a differen enclosure and has a ribbon cable from
the hdd to the ata connector on the side.

You can see this new hd here: http://www.ele.uri.edu/~sclan/xjv/index ... 1t_scrnsht

The new hd ibm supplies is acctually a 1.8 hd with a ZIF connection.
So ibm is not using the other hd with the side connector nymore.
This is great for all X41 user who has the new hd ibm supplies,
because now one can use all hd's or ssd's that are 1.8 with a ZIF connection or Compact flash to 1.8 zif adapter.

I am waiting for a spare part also, and i have a Sandisk UATA5000 32GB SSD waiting to be fitted in the enclosure. Should be a very fast solution, if the bios is ok with it. I'll update my findings when the spare part arrives.

[hurdadurda]

Can you share with us the part number for that new disk or even better it's enclosure part number?

[t20user]

I got the Addonics adapter and the Kingston 266x 8GB card and I tried to start Win2000 so I could format the card, but it did not see the drive.

Is there a way of verifying if the card is lined up on the pins correctly?

The X40 BIOS does not show a drive list does it?

When I put the CF in a USB reader it shows up in XP as FAT32 so it appears it is formatted already. I am guessing it is a problem then with the Addonics adapter or it is misaligned in the HD slot. WHen I put it in it felt fine seating the pins. Any advice???

[pacalis]

I got the Addonics adapter and the Kingston 266x 8GB card and I tried to start Win2000 so I could format the card, but it did not see the drive.

Is there a way of verifying if the card is lined up on the pins correctly?

I'd say if it doesn't show it's not lined up. : )

Happened to me the first time.

But, if you look down the left side, using a flashlight, it's pretty straightforward to line up the top of the left most metal prong with the edge of the HD socket.

Also, make sure your cf card is in the master position on the addonics card.

[weepy]

My Addonics adapter is on the way ...

[pmreimer]

I just ordered the addonics single adapter along with a Kingston 8gb 266x (before the rebate expires 3/31). I'll post results, but what should i benchmark it with?

[t20user]

OK, I got it all lined up and the install went through, but when I rebooted I got the "NTLDR is missing" message. Does this mean I will need to run boot prep to set it as a fixed disk first? I thought the Kingston CF was shipped as a fixed disk.

[bartelby]

How long did the install take onto the 266x chip?

I've installed xp and gotten the "NTLDR is missing" message a few times. I've reinstalled, assuming that somehow or other I messed up. Usually on the second install I've gotten a functioning OS.

[jimizhu]

I got 8G SSD work on my X41, the installation went quite fast.

After reading this thread and waiting online order delivering for weeks, I finally got my Transcend 8G 266x CF and the 2$ CF-IDE adaptors (in case for safety, I bought 2 pcs from 2 sellers in China)

I used X4 Dock with XP installation CD, format the 8G card during the installation, and successfully went through everything without problem at the first time, just like using a normal 1.8'' HD.

The adaptor looks the same as the pictures at this thread, cheap but works just fine, a few resistor and capacitor on board, no any other electronics components on the board, so I think there is no point to pay premier to get a "Branded" one.

I just want say: Go ahead!
Have not test it by HD Tune yet, will post it later

[jimizhu]

Well, I'm installing Ubuntu on a 32GB Transcend card now. Install is SLOOOWWW but not the slowest I've ever seen. Still, way slower than an install onto the default hard drive (which has completely died for me, forcing the switch, and I didn't feel the 16GB cards offered sufficient space).

Updates are going incredibly slow too. Apparently the write speeds on this are pretty miserable, but hopefully after all updates are done the sped won't be too bad.

My solution is using a cardbus PC Card to put the 32G or 16G in the PCMCIA, they are MLC card, better working as DATA storage.
The 8G 266x one is SLC, better for working as system disk.

[p5ycho]

Can you share with us the part number for that new disk or even better it's enclosure part number?

Sorry for the late response.
I have the spare hitachi C4K60-40GB ZIF version in my hands right now, IBM FRU 42T4451. The ZIF version comes with an enclosure, but the enclosure is not separately available as far as i know. I got this as a replacement for a dead drive, and asked specifically for this FRU as replacement.

I will try the sandisk SSD drive this weekend and post back. It's electrically compatible, so as long as the ZIF connection matches and the bios doesn't complain, things should work.

edit:
ok, opened the enclosure. unfortunately the sandisk SSD expects a thin flat flex cable, and the hitachi expects a thicker cable with a reinforced backside.
I will take a look at how to remove the reinforcement, then things should fit.
I have some spare FFC's laying around, i'll practise on these first

[t20user]

How long did the install take onto the 266x chip?

I've installed xp and gotten the "NTLDR is missing" message a few times. I've reinstalled, assuming that somehow or other I messed up. Usually on the second install I've gotten a functioning OS.

I finally got it to load, everything works now. It took 2 more tries. I'm not sure what was going on, the only thing I can say is that on the last try I did a full NTFS format.

Installation took less than 45 minutes, I wasn't counting. XP boots in about 40 seconds now, this thing is fast I like it!

[jimizhu]

HD Tune, not perfect, but fast

[Nickolai]

Seems like you forgot to enable BBcode in you posts.
Even if I copy and paste your address manually, your picture doesn't show.

[pacalis]

Hi,
It's been a month since I installed my 8GB 266x Kingston. I just wanted to report that it's still working awesome. I have about 4.5GB for win xp and programs. Boot has slowed a bit, but still less than 25 seconds including bios.

I also bought a 8GB Sandisk extreme III for $38 after rebate and it's in the sd slot. As a surprise it came with a usb adapter which was not listed with it (addonics.com). Dvorak I think posted a link to the sdhc driver you might need. I've put my files on there and music - primarily read only + my working files.

I still have a cf slot open in the addonics card, and the pcmcia slot so lots of light upgrades still possible.

All told, everything is working awesome. I'm really grateful to this board.

[p5ycho]

I DID IT!



I am typing this from a X41 with a Sandisk UATA 5000 32GB SSDrive...
Booting is FAST!

It took some modifications to the bracket that comes with the new replacement ZIF C4K60 drive, but it was worth it!

I will post some pics and benchmarks and stuff tomorrow. If you have requests let me know. Maybe i can shoot a little video of the boot or something.

http://p5ycho.tweakdsl.nl/uata5000_32gb_hdtune.JPG
Note: The negative spikes are because i was impatient and started surfing.

There is a new firmware available for the drive, i'm checking with sandisk if i can upgrade this drive to improve the sustaind transfer speeds a little more.

edit: youtube vid of boot

MOD EDIT: Picture converted to link.

[weepy]

looks lovely . What about the downward spikes, some background process interferring? Could you post ATTO result? Nice boot time, trashes my de-hibernate time with clickdrive .

[p5ycho]

those spikes were from opening firefox i believe.

http://p5ycho.tweakdsl.nl/sandiskuata500_atto.JPG

now to defeat the error 2010 bios double-beep...
hibernating actually got slower by the way. writing speed really sucks with the 1.26 firmware for this disk.

Would Vista be faster than XP because of the SSD you think?

MOD EDIT: Overlimit picture has been converted to link.

[edwardoneale]

now to defeat the error 2010 bios double-beep...

I have a Toshiba 1.8" IDE ZIF drive (from an ipod) in an X41, and get the same 2010 error; the double beep is so annoying.

There is a 16 page thread about this error here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=11059, bu the solution seems to be limited to hitachi drives and a handful of others which you update the firmware. My Toshiba drive, and presumably any CF cards can't be updated like this.

Does everyone who has installed CF cards just put up with the error 2010, or is there a solution I have missed?

[p5ycho]

the only way to fix this is to reverse engineer the bios, or to adjust the drive firmware.
You could also just remove the pc speaker offcourse.

[edwardoneale]

So if I want to have the speaker working the rest of the time, and my drive doesn't have a firmware update, then the only option is to reverse engineer the BIOS? What does this involve?

[p5ycho]

the boot beep comes from a different speaker then the windows sound. If you remove that little speaker you'll just miss the system beeps.
I'm going to look into that soon.

If you have to ask what reverse engineering a bios would require, you are not up to it. I'm not up to it either. It requires assembly knowledge, programming skills, and guts.

[pmreimer]

I heard that you can take the bios back to an older version and the 2010 goes away... I don't know if this would be a good idea or not. If not, how do i make it so i do not have to hit escape to get rid of the 2010?

The thing that gets me is that even before the 2010 message comes up, the bios screen itself takes longer because its internally discussing with itself what to do about this "non standard drive". I'm still very excited because overall boot from power button press, through 2010 (and pressing escape), fingerprint recognition at logon, to usable desktop clocks at 56 seconds. Not many desktops these days can do that.


I installed a kingston 8gb 266x card (with 75 dollar rebate) plus an addonics single card adapter. I then installed a custom "stripped to the bone" version of xp and all my thinkpad drivers. Total install was less about 850 megs The longest part of boot these days is "restoring network connections" because my roommate's wrk54g (lower end wrt54g) router takes forever to connect. Even with that bottleneck, less than a minute is still okay with me.

Oh: sidenote on windows installation: I went with fat32 (full format) and so far i haven't read any reasons other than file security that would make me switch to ntfs. Fat32 is just better in my (and many people's) opinion for compact flash.

Overall the upgrade cost me 120 including shipping for everything after rebate. Well worth it. MUCH faster. I also use an a-data turbo 4gb SDHC card that i originally bought for my sprint touch phone but it was an impulse buy for 20 dollars, and the 4 gigs is much better used on my laptop than my pda. I feel a lot better using this cheap almost disposable card for storage than wasting write cycles for trivial files on my CF.