X40: Preconfigured ZIF to IDD Hard Drive Upgrade Adapter

[bapatterson]

I just found this on E-Bay and looks like a copy of the recent Lenovo adapter to allow "regular" ZIF hard drives to be used in the X40.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Upgrade-IBM-X40-X41 ... 286.c0.m14

I just bought one and will post on the success of using it when it arrives.

I also purchased a Samsung HS122JC 120GB 5400RPM drive to use with it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Samsung-120-GB-1.8% ... 4001r10104

I am hoping this will be the most convenient way to upgrade my X40. SSDs are, to me, still too expensive to justify in such an older computer, and I prefer the additional capacity this hard drive will give me, along with decent speed.

[sjthinkpader]

That HS122JC is a great drive; fast and with good capacity. You got a good price too.

The only complaint I have is that it is noisier than the 4200rpm versions.

[jimrin]

I'm very interested in replacing my hard drive on my X41 and I'm looking for an affordable, minimal effort option... Please keep us posted (although I can imagine you're in for at least a one week wait for the arrival of the adapter)...

[sjthinkpader]

Welcome to the forum.

I'm very interested in replacing my hard drive on my X41 and I'm looking for an affordable, minimal effort option... Please keep us posted (although I can imagine you're in for at least a one week wait for the arrival of the adapter)...

Yes, if you are in Dallas. I was in Hong Kong last week and picked up two adapters for HK$38 each, about US$5. Yes, I got a pointer from a member in HKG.

[jimrin]

Thanks. Did your adapters require modding? If not, are the same adapters available online?

Also, you mentioned that the HS122JC is a bit noisy. Would you have other recommendations for high capacity ZIF drives to use?

[sjthinkpader]

Yes, for use in X40/X41/X41t, the regulator needs to be bypass. I just soldered a small wire between the input and output of the regulator.

The 4200rpm HS122JB (8MB cache) and HS120JB (2MB cache) are more quiet.

[bapatterson]

That HS122JC is a great drive; fast and with good capacity. You got a good price too.

The only complaint I have is that it is noisier than the 4200rpm versions.

It is quiet as can be compared to the original Hitachi drive. No more loud clicking.

[bapatterson]

I'm very interested in replacing my hard drive on my X41 and I'm looking for an affordable, minimal effort option... Please keep us posted (although I can imagine you're in for at least a one week wait for the arrival of the adapter)...

I had to wait for the adapter and for the hard drive to both arrive. I finally received them both after I returned from a business trip and installed them last night.

The adapter was missing one of two small screws to hold the ribbon on which the pins are mounted in place on the side of the adapter. I had one that fit, but it is a very small screw. It probably wouldn't matter once installed anyway.

I had never used a ZIF drive before so it took me a little bit of time and research to ascertain there actually is a very small bar that has to be raised with your fingernail and then locked back in place in order to insert the cable into the drive. The ZIF drive seems a very flimsy connection compared to a regular hard drive cable, but it seems to work ok.

Once you install the ribbon cable from the adapter into the drive, you flip the drive over into the adapter. It just sits there with one small prong to sort of hold it together.

There is no way to mount the original IBM hard drive caddy to the adapter or drive.

I removed the keyboard and palm rest from my X40 to ensure the drive was seated well enough (I thought I was going to have to place some padding or something around the drive to keep it in place, but I didn't have to. It fits just snug enough that it is fine all on its own.

There was actually no reason to remove the keyboard and palm rest to do the installation.

I screwed the original plastic hard drive bezel back in place and, although not physically attached to the drive assembly as it is from the factory, it hold the assembly in place just fine.

Although the whole assembly seems flimsy and unsecured, once it is in the computer, it is fine. No apparent movement at all.

I had used Acronis True Image to back-up (not clone) the original drive to an external hard drive. I have an external DVD drive that I used to boot to Acronis once the new drive was installed and then did a full restore to the new hard drive from the external USB drive. Worked fine.

In summary, it all worked quite well. It is as close to a minimal effort as I think you can find.

The new drive, in addition to three times the capacity of the original 40GB drive, is immeasurably quieter and significantly faster. Well worth the effort to me and will probably give me a couple of more years out of my X40.

[Frobe70]

This interface finally allowed me to use a 60GB Hitachi ZIF drive I had tried installing in my X40 earlier.
With the old straight wire ZIF-IDE adapters and cables from eBay I got data corruption when the IDE-interface was running full speed. I was able to boot XP in safe mode only, trying to boot in normal mode always ended in blue screen.
With this new adapter it has performed full speed without any problems.
The flexible foil tracks looks like they are properly designed for impedance and speed, some are straight while others are zigzaging.

[sjthinkpader]

The signal quality is very poor with these flex cables. I put a thin piece of foam and it would eliminated BSOD.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f228/ ... ide1-2.jpg

Note that there is a cut out to accommodate where the cable bends. I use this foam method with both HDD and SSD.

[mofotech]

You guys think that preconfigured zif caddy will work with a SUPER TALENT 16gb model FEM16GF13M ? I also bought the same caddy from that seller elecchina. Super talent also has a standard zif 40 pin connection and it is 3.3v. They have at newegg for $59.I am about to buy it and take the plunge to see if it works. I will post back to you guys end of this week.

[sjthinkpader]

Many of the board level SSDs use a reverse pinout that need a cable with contacts on the other side. This were the case with intel Z-P230 and similar Sandisk board level SSD. After market adapter and a "flip" cable should work.

Added:
Here is what the Sandisk 8GB SSD SDPA1AA-08G looked like in the X40. Note that pin 1 is near the "Sandisk" label end.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f228/ ... CN9931.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f228/ ... CN9652.jpg

[mofotech]

so u think that adapter may not work and I need some other after market cable?

check out how super talent card looks like

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage ... -%20Retail

[sjthinkpader]

Yes, in your photos, pin one should be to the left. Also, the intel Z-P230 also use the Phison controller. You can expect same performance listed in my benchmark thread.

[mofotech]

Ok cool. So do you have any suggested zif to ide convertors in mind that I can use? Whichever is the one I need to make the ssd work. if you can link me I can appreciate it. I am getting the 16 gb super talent on thurday or friday of this week. Crap this suxs I cant use that preconfigured zif thing I bought from china now!!! What a waste of money! loll

thanks

[sjthinkpader]

You need two items:

1. IDE-ZIF adapter 44 pin
2. Flip ZIF cable

Just search for them on eBay.

The the SSD board should work as in the picture I posted.

[mofotech]

i see alot of different flip cables for different brands.... toshiba, samsung, hitachi? which one do i get? whoa this is from china again.. ah I dont want to wait out shipping time.

[sjthinkpader]

They are actually all the same cable. This is what you need if you want to run these ZIF SSD boards.

[johnn31]

The adapter from China works great in adapting a ZIF Toshiba harddrive for the X40 (and I assume the X41). I just installed a 120 gb Toshiba GAH harddrive with no problems - everything fit smoothly. The hard drive fits snugly in the adapter. All I had to do was slide the entire assembly into the X40. The Bios recognized the harddrive immediately. No error message on boot. The harddrive is very quiet, fast, and does not throw off much heat. I did a fresh install of windows 7 and I am satisfied with the results. My problem with windows 7 on the X40 is not being albe to find a windows 7 or vista driver for the built in video card. I'ed recommend the adapter and harddrive for a quick transplant for the X40. It's very nice having the 120gb capacity.

[jimrin]

Installing Windows 7 on my X41 is exactly the reason why I want to get this... I'm curious to see the tablet capabilities of Windows 7...

[sjthinkpader]

I finally went and bought that adapter. It does look pretty nice but lacking FRU numbers on the pieces is likely a copy of the Lenovo original. The metal pieces and the flex cable look to be high quality. The 44 pin header was hand assembled and there is a small amount of misalignment but still went in the IDE header easily.

Here is the IDE-CF adapter and a RiDATA 233x 32GB card originally in my X40.
CF solution

Here is a Samsung HS122JC fit neatly with the adapter in the HDD slot
Upgrade adapter

The Sandisk SLC 1.8 inch SSD didn't fit well.
Not everything fit
The two tabs on the right side held up the SSD. I will cut them off with a Dremel tool in the next few days.

All in all a much neater solution than the $10 IDE-ZIF adapters I've been using.
cheap adapter+HDD
cheap adapter+SSD

[iThinkPad]

For an easy install of a ZIF drive I recommend this Adapter:
IBM X40 X41 X41t HDD 1.8" ZIF to IDE Converter Adapter (Hitachi)

The Adapter for Toshiba and Samsung drives is sold out at the moment.
I bought this one Samsung adapter & drive

[mofotech]

wussup guys

I finally got the super talent 16gb ssd model FEM16GF13M working in my sister's x40. Its not that bad and the system runs very fast with windows 7. I still have the china preconfigured zif to ide connector I can use it in the future if needed. I havent tweaked any settings but I probably won't have to as the system runs very nice. I will see if I can benchmark with crystalmark and see what it scores.

[sjthinkpader]

Does this Super Talent SSD takes the "flip" cable like other intel and Sandisk board level SSDs?

[mofotech]

Yes it does, i needed to buy a flip zif cable and a 44 pin to zif connector. I opened the palm rest and did a kinda of ghetto installation. If you do use the 44 pin to zif like the ones on ebay. Put some duct tape on the underside of the palm rest where it covers the hdd area. because that metal sheet on the palm rest contacts the pins of the 44 pin to zif connector causing it to kinda of short and the laptop won't turn on then. So I just put like 2 or 3 layers of duct tape around that area and covered up the metallic part of the palm rest and its fine. Use some sort of cushioning or i don;t know but try to be creative and just secure the super talent down. ( i used lolol alot of duct type and crap plus I had that hdd caddy from preconfigured zif I bought from china and I just some how fitted it into that, also I used some foam padding) and remember to install the 44 pin to zif connector upside down where the LED lights are facing down and not upward. (you would think the nice led lights would be facing up uhh??? loll) Plus remove the jumper cable on the 44 pin connector.

One thing I also noticed the super talent supports up to ata 100 but my super talent currently running at dma 2 mode which gives like 33mb/s , Doesn't the x40 at least do 66mb/s ??? I used crystal mark to see the dma 2 mode. I think I have to adjust some registry or something. But its running nice.

[sjthinkpader]

The intel SSD board also ran in UDMA2 but the Sandisk SSD board ran in UDMA4.

There is really no need to use any part of the Lenovo adapter clone. The cable orientation is not right. Just use the IDE-ZIF adapter board and a "flip" cable. I also taped the back side, with electrical tape. The 3.3V regulator on the adapter board should be bypassed, for X40/X41/X41t since they are 3.3V already. The SSD board is held in the computer with a piece of foam.

Please post a Crystalmark benchmark.

[Tojar]

Hi!
Sorry to post to old thread but previous messages were at same subject.
Are these all needed and compatible with X40?

SSD

Adapter

Cable

[Tasurinchi]

Welcome to the forum Tojar!

There are ready-to-use adapters like this one. And there are also some SSDs like the Kingspecs and Lenovo ones that can be installed with no adapter at all.

You may also want to check the sticky thread about SSDs here