Are new line of Toshiba 1.8" PATA HDD compatible w/ x40

Message

Geektime · #1 Post by **Geektime** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:59 am

Are these hard drives compatible with x40s?

http://www.toshibastorage.com/main.aspx ... 31GAxSpecs

The provided specs are not all that clear...

sjthinkpader · #2 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:23 am

Not sure if it will be ZIF or pins for interface. May be more details later.

Dodges Unlimited Inc. · #3 Post by **Dodges Unlimited Inc.** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:04 pm

I'll be watching this closely too - Thanks!

Price? Availability? ...

Chris.

Geektime · #4 Post by **Geektime** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:47 am

I have absolutely no clue how much these cost--they're not yet on the general market. Presumably available in Japan and other east asian markets.

Let's keep our fingers crossed, as this would be an ideal upgrade for x40 HDDs.

Cheers, and please send any news about this as it appears!

Dodges Unlimited Inc. · #5 Post by **Dodges Unlimited Inc.** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:07 am

Hi @GT!

I'm still a bit puzzled as to why they would cater to such an evidently 'niche' part of the market as 1.8" PATA/IDE evidently is, but I'm not complaining as it 'breathes new life' into our babies, eh?! They will be truly a Design Classic then, as I always thought they would be! It massively raises the used value of X40s too of course ...

As a Newbie to thinkpads.com & X40s I've been a bit confused as to why the

http://www.ballicom.co.uk/storage-devic ... 53350.html

wasn't mentioned before? Perhaps it has, and I should have paid more attention/read more carefully? I'm not 'hardware techy' and connectivity issues usually 'sail right over my head'! Surely Toshiba wouldn't research and produce a HDD just for us X40 fans? It and the new model must be compatible with iPods for example? - I don't have one of these, so have not paid any interest to replacement/upgrades for them ...

I've messaged Toshiba's SSD Technical Department with a query, as perhaps others here have too (?!) - Hopefully they will get back to me with good news ...

Chris.

bananaman · #6 Post by **bananaman** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 6:43 am

Geektime wrote:Are these hard drives compatible with x40s?

http://www.toshibastorage.com/main.aspx ... 31GAxSpecs

The provided specs are not all that clear...

I seriously doubt it.

There is no indication that they have the unusual side-mounted PATA/IDE connector used by the Hitachi drives in the X4x.

The X4x replacement hard drive market just isn't big enough for a disk drive company to justify developing a special product.

sojourner · #7 Post by **sojourner** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 8:16 am

Two issues come to mind when looking at the Toshiba drives:

1. as bananaman mentioned, these drives do NOT appear to have their interface on the correct side
(X40 needs its inferface on the long side)
2. would the BIOS allow for drives over 127GB?

gongo2k1 · #8 Post by **gongo2k1** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:31 pm

well, x40/x41 weren't the only ones to use this format, there were also some mp3 players/media devices/embedded devices that used this format as well.

i think that even if a 120/240gb drive was to become available for the x40/x41 i wouldn't buy it for 2 reasons:
1. yeah, it's more storage, but it's still 4200rpm and i'm not going to be able to do so much with my x41's limited (by today's standards) cpu power.
2. it would probably be MUCH more expensive than just getting a cf card or even just selling off the x40/x41 and upgrading to a x60/x61.

admittedly, i love my x41, and though it already seems somewhat dated, it still runs hl, war3, broodwar, zsnes, dosbox, scummvm, q3a, etc. just fine... all of the lightweight stuff that i run while i'm on the road. maybe the extra space wouldn't be so bad after all...

Geektime · #9 Post by **Geektime** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:52 am

sojourner wrote:Two issues come to mind when looking at the Toshiba drives:

1. as bananaman mentioned, these drives do NOT appear to have their interface on the correct side
(X40 needs its inferface on the long side)
2. would the BIOS allow for drives over 127GB?

Would it be possible to somehow adapt the interface?

loyukfai · #10 Post by **loyukfai** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 11:31 am

Maybe? I want to know as well... There are some ZIF to ATA converters out there...

See this thread for more information.

Example...? (snatched from the above thread)

Geektime · #11 Post by **Geektime** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 3:21 am

loyukfai wrote:Maybe? I want to know as well... There are some ZIF to ATA converters out there...

See this thread for more information.

Example...? (snatched from the above thread)

Thanks to loyukfai for the links--I think that these show that the new HDD could be physically housed in the x41 with the interface adaptor. However, sojourner's point regarding the BIOS brings up the next question. In this regard I have no idea. Anyone able to provide some technical expertise?

Cheers,

GT

loyukfai · #12 Post by **loyukfai** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 12:27 pm

"127GB" should be the FAT32 limitation in certain older Windows versions.

I think sojourner meant to say the "137GB" limit which was a concern for computers well before the X4x series.

Besides, for X41, there will be another problem of not using officially supported drives (error 2010). The X40 doesn't has this problem.

(There is a report of someone successfully using a 160GB drive on a T43, which uses the same controller as the X41.)

For more information about various HDD size limit, check this out.

sparta.rising · #13 Post by **sparta.rising** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 12:55 pm

Re the lenovo board HDD in a T43 discussion:
I'm running a Western Digital 160GB in my T43 and it works fine. It gives the 2010 Error, but its just a nuisance.

Geektime · #14 Post by **Geektime** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 12:49 am

That says it all--I think that the thing to do is order one of these drives, the adaptor, and then just giv'er. I won't be able to do this myself until the new year due to my work situation right now, but if anyone does do it, please post.

Cheers!

GT

phr · #15 Post by **phr** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:36 am

No that doesn't say it all. The T43 is a much larger machine than the X40/41 and it doesn't have the physical space limitations in the drive slot. Just because some adapter setup works in a T43 doesn't mean it will fit in an X40/41. It's sort of possible a setup like this can be made to work but everything I've heard so far hasn't sounded terribly promising. I figure that 64gb CF cards will be available soon and inexpensive not too much later, so the simple X40/41 solution will be two of those cards on an Addonics CF adapter giving 128gb. I'm resisting the temptation right now to buy 32gb cards.

loyukfai · #16 Post by **loyukfai** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:32 am

The T43 example being discussed is about the maximum capacity issue instead of the physical size constraint.

We know the X4x has an 1.8" bay. But that's another issue discussed earlier in this thread.

Anyway, we're still waiting for someone to try it out, if ever. : )

Cheers.

Are new line of Toshiba 1.8" PATA HDD compatible w/ x40

Are new line of Toshiba 1.8" PATA HDD compatible w/ x40

Re: Are new line of Toshiba 1.8" PATA HDD compatible w/

pricing and availability

Re: pricing and availability

Re: Are new line of Toshiba 1.8" PATA HDD compatible w/

adapting the drive?

Re: BIOS and interface

Theoretically, then, the new drive works!

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