A20m - Attaching IDE to CF adapter on HDD caddy?

[ajhidell]

I intended to replace my A20m HDD with a CompactFlash card loaded with linux. But when I pulled the HDD there was no readily apparent method by which to mount the IDE-CF adapter to the HDD drive caddy. Anyone one done this successfully? Any suggestions as to how to accomplish this?

[tim S]

You need a CF to IDE adapter. Look at the Addonics website, their single adapter is only about $20.
I have an X40, a T42 and an A20m that my son used in college. I have an Extreme III card and adapter in my X40 which I just tried in the A20m. The first problem was getting the card and adapter to line up in the hard drive slot, which is nearly impossible because it's so deep. I do have the Thinkpad hard drive adapter that fits in place of the CD/DVD so I put the CF and adapter in there. Be careful of pin orientation it doesn't use the last four slots (jumpers) to the left.
Anyway, I couldn't get it to fully boot. I could have to do with the way XP installed on my CF card and you may get lucky with a fresh XP installation.
I think it's more likely that the A series, especially the early 20 series, are just too old to use this cutting edge hardware.
Tim S

[sjthinkpader]

I had a T23 that will boot from a PATA/CF adapter in an Ultrabay tray. Someone had reported that the Ultrabay is much slower than the PATA/HDD slot.

That same PATA/CF adapter is now in the X40 and works fine as the primary drive.

I had to remove the palmrest to insert the adapter properly.

[ajhidell]

Thanks for the reply.

I already had the CF-IDE adapter, but could not figure mount it to the A20m caddy. The adapter is about 2 1/4 inch square and the screw holes on it do not align with the A20m caddy.

Is my only option to remove the palm rest so that it can mounted? I hate to go to all that trouble. I do not want to use the ultrabay tray, so unfortunately this may be my only option. Am I correct?

By the way, I am going to run a linux distro and should not have trouble getting this to fully boot.

Thanks

[tim S]

Seems like you've got the wrong adapter. The correct ones are only about a 1/4" wider on each side than the CF card and maybe 1/2 inch longer.
Tim S

[tim S]

I just re-read your post. The CF adapter isn't a perfect fit in hard drive caddy but duct tape should do the job.
Look at how the original hard drive sits in the caddy then use layers of tape to raise and hold the adapter in place. At the very least use tape to insulate between the adapter and the caddy. It's not going to be easy but it should work.
Tim S

[sjthinkpader]

There are some adapter that are made to a 2.5 inch HDD length. It is still a little difficult but with some care, you can insert it without removing the palm rest.