ZIF HDD in X41t- What are the options?

[un-n]

Hello,
Can anyone point me towards the hard drives that should work in an X41t upgrade? Manufacturer and model numbers would be helpful. I made the mistake of buying a 160gb Samsung HS161JQ drive with a CE-ATA interface. This, apparently, won't work.

My relevant parameters are: size (big), speed (fast), cost (cheap), availability (yes).

Thanks for the help everyone.
Ben

[Smokestoomuch]

I have the exact same questions...

[Harryc]

Samsung Spinpoint 120GB 5400 RPM HS122JC ZIF PATA 1.8"

You also need a Zif adapter. Details in this thread.

[sjthinkpader]

I am using a somewhat slower Hitachi HTC426060G8CE00 60GB PATA drive also via an IDE to ZIF converter.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 1&start=30
(posted on March 21st)

The 3.3V voltage regulator was bypassed on the IDE/ZIFconverter. The X41t drive bay guide was removed.

Here it is in the X41t drive bay:



I didn't removed the 3.3V regulator but simply shorted the input to output.

[syhead]

how about an SSD?

http://cgi.ebay.com/KingSpec-1-8-IDE-SS ... 1|294%3A50

I ordered this one... should be here in a few days.

[sjthinkpader]

The cost of that drive is almost the cost of a X41t, double of comparable 2.5 inch SSD, and coming from an unknown manufacturer. At that price, getting a X6x will be better.

[dwilsonfl]

Thing is, many of us can swallow the incremental rather than the whole enchilada buying a newer machine would be. You'd have to sell the machine you use and turn around and put that $$ with the money you have already for the SSD.

I'm very interested in SSD solutions for the X4x series and have almost bought that specific drive but the unknown vendor gave me pause. Still $165 for a 32GIG that's plug and play might grab me.

So anyone who plunges ahead, let me know how it goes.

[sjthinkpader]

...

I'm very interested in SSD solutions for the X4x series and have almost bought that specific drive but the unknown vendor gave me pause. Still $165 for a 32GIG that's plug and play might grab me.
....

I think 20% premium is plenty for a 1.8 inch PATA SSD over 2.5 inch version. Unfortunately this particular vendor decided they can get this big premium. So I am happy with the 60GB ZIF HDD solution.

[ricerocket]

It's not a huge premium, I'd imagine a lot of the cost involved is overseas shipping from China.

The drives retail for ~$50 less than what they're available on eBay for.

There's also a seller who's letting them go for .99 cents no reserve, so you can have your hand at it there as well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/KingSpec-64GB-SSD-1 ... 1629wt_907

[gongo2k1]

It's not a huge premium, I'd imagine a lot of the cost involved is overseas shipping from China.

It doesn't ever cost $50 to ship ANYTHING from China.
They charge for expensive shipping and then throw it on a boat for $2 and it gets to you 4-6 weeks later.

[sjthinkpader]

I pickup a Samsung HS040HB 40GB ZIF drive on ebay for $23. A quick comparison as following:

Hitachi HTC426020G7CE00, 20GB, 7mm thick, 4200RPM (pix)
Hitachi HTC426040G8CE00, 40GB, 9.5mm thick, 4200RPM (pix)
Hitachi HTC426060G9CE00, 60GB, 9.5mm thick, 4200RPM
Samsung HS040HB, 40GB, 5mm thick, 4200RPM (pix)
Samsung HS122JC, 120GB, 8mm thick, 5400RPM

In the Samsung naming convention; A=3600RPM, B=4200RPM, C=5400RPM, H=5mm thickness, J=8mm thickness. The 5mm drives are very thin. The fifth character indicates variants such as 2MB, 8MB cache etc.

Both Hitachi and Samsung drives use the same cable connector pin 1 orientation. The black electrical tape covering the metal area above the Samsung drives' ZIF connector shown in Harry's 'project' post is very important to prevent shorting exposed metal traces on the cable ends.

I don't have any Toshiba drives yet but it seems they use a different IDE-ZIF adapter with the connector mounted upside down.

I will post performance benchmarking data of these drives later.

[doylnea]

Sigh. Six months ago, I upgraded my T41 from a 4200rpm drive to the 7200rpm drive and have been raving about what a great performance boost I saw. I convinced a friend to upgrade his X41 HD with the intention of improving general performance (boot time, file access, etc).

However, I bought a 2.5inch 80GB 7200ROM IDE drive and of course I've now learned that won't work in his X41. I've read quite a few threads here, and there appear to be a couple of options - either a Samsung Spinpoint 5400 RPM with the ZIF adapter, or the KingSpec SSD correct?

Is the Samsung drive going to provide a marked improvement in speed for the X41? A $100 upgrade is within the budget, but unfortunately, I think the KingSpec is outside of the price range.

However, I understand using either the Samsung drive or SSD causes a boot error that can be bypassed in the bios, but still beeps on every boot correct?

[sjthinkpader]

Yes, the X41/X41t will return a 2010 error on other drives at boot time, but there are no other adverse effect during operation.

The Samsung HS122JC is not cheap either, around $150 also. It does give you a lot of space. The 40GB HS040JB is a very reasonably priced option.

[doylnea]

Thanks very much. I presume that once the BIOS is set to ignore the 2010 error, it beeps, but then continues booting normally?

[sjthinkpader]

Yes, it beeps then continue to boot normally.

[unaie]

I have put to X41 Tablet this adapter from Ebay and a Zif HD 120GB Toshiba MK1214GAH.

http://cgi.ebay.es/Upgrade-IBM-X40-X41- ... 3ca349c816

Results & impressions:

- Known Bios Error at Startup: 2010, but no problem.

- Benchmark with HD Tune

HD Tune: TOSHIBA MK1214GAH Benchmark (Values for original Hitachi 40GB)
Transfer Rate Minimum : 1.7 MB/sec -- 3.1
Transfer Rate Maximum : 30.6 MB/sec -- 19.4
Transfer Rate Average : 20.9 MB/sec -- 16.2
Access Time : 24.5 ms -- 19.7
Burst Rate : 66.6 MB/sec -- 71.1
CPU Usage : 2.3% -- 12%



As you can see in the graph, it oscillates down and up. I Think is a cache problem. HD Tune reports 0 cache, but Toshiba info for this HD reports cache 8MB. ¿A Sata-Pata Adapter Problem?

Also Toshiba info for this Drive reports speed transfer rate 61MB/s and access 15ms, (20.9MB/sec and 24.5 ms in this test with HD Tune)

Speed improvements does not seem significative, only gain in drive space. Question: Perhaps a Samsung 1.8'' Zif 120 GB instead of Toshiba might improve results? But adapter (Ribbon thick) is different.

[sjthinkpader]

Welcome to the forum.

It will will be helpful to see CrystalDiskMark since most people here report that. I tested a smaller Toshiba drive and it reported decent performance. The MK1214GAH should have high areal density thus good performance.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 1&start=30

Toshiba and Samsung use the same cable thickness. Hitachi uses thicker cable.

[unaie]

Hi.

This is the result with CrystalDiskMark:

--------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 2.2 (C) 2007-2008 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
--------------------------------------------------

Sequential Read : 20.955 MB/s
Sequential Write : 16.405 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 11.594 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 7.061 MB/s
Random Read 4KB : 0.176 MB/s
Random Write 4KB : 0.345 MB/s

Test Size : 100 MB

----------------------------------------------------------


I think it is a poor performance, and I don't know why, perhaps a cache problem as you can see in graph.

[sjthinkpader]

Yes, this result is slower than a MK8009GAH I tested, which is not normal.

[keithsketchley]

<Toshiba and Samsung use the same cable thickness. Hitachi uses thicker cable.>

Adapter vendor think8088 on eBay says the 3600rpm Hitachi uses the thinner cable, the 4200rpm Hitachi the thicker cable.

[sjthinkpader]

May very well be. 3600rpm HDD was just too slow so I never bothered to look for these drives and test them.

[Temetka]

Dumb question.

Are there any 5400RPM drives that will work in the X41t?

[sjthinkpader]

Yes, these are 5400rpm drives:

HS122JC
HS08XJC

I haven't tested the HS08XJC but I believe this two platter drive (40GB/platter) is actually slower than the single platter, 4200rpm HS082HB. That HS122JC is the fastest HDD for X40/X41/X41t.

[Temetka]

Excellent.

The 120GB 5400RPM drive is exactly what I am looking for.

Based on some google research it should solve all of my problems WRT internal data capacity and increase the overall speed of my system by use of a higher RPM and areal density.

The price for the drive $150+ is not a problem for me. I understand that the 1.8" interface makes procuring large, modern drive expensive and sometimes hard to locate. Considering I didn't pay anything for the X41T I have in my possession now, I think investing in a bigger, better HD is financially sound.