Largest drive supported on T43p?

[Indiana Eyes]

Hello ThinkPad world,

Can anyone tell me what is the largest drive supported on a T43p? The biggest I can find in PATA is 320gb (Western Digital WD3200BEVE). There is also a 250gb (Western Digital ScorpioBlue WD2500BEVE), and 160gb drives from WD and Seagate. I have seen a T43 for sale with a 160, so I assume that would definitely work. I understand the non-IBM drive error on boot, and can live with that.

Thanks for any advice,
Herb in Indiana

[underclocker]

Welcome to the forum. All of the drives you've listed will work. The 320GB is the biggest at this point, and it will definitely work. I've used one. It does produce the error at boot.

[Indiana Eyes]

Thanks, underclocker, for the confirmation. It's so nice to register and be able to post so quickly, then to get my answer almost immediately.

I have used mostly Thinkpads for about 5-6 years, starting with a couple of T23's (one at home, one at work). The T23 at work, which I still use, is especially nice because of its size and weight. Also, many of the things I use it for require a serial port, and none of the new machines have serial. The serial adapters are tricky to set up and one more thing to haul around, lose, or break.

I needed to get a new home machine, looked around at what was available new, and decided that all the new, SHINY AND GOOFY LOOKING machines were not my style. The resolution of the widescreen machines was especially problematic, so I waited for the right T43p to show up on eBay. I should have it in a couple of days. When it arrrives, I will install a new HD and bump the RAM, and get to work on making it mine. I have tried to install OSX on several Thinkpads with vairied success, and will try again with the T43p. If I can get it to work well enough, it'll be set up for dual boot to Linux and OSX, with Windows on Virtual Box (I don't use Windows much at home) in Linux.

So that's my story.

Thanks again for the info. It looks like you spend significant time here, based on the number of posts shown on your profile.

Herb

[underclocker]

Indeed. You've found the right forum. Many members prefer a used ThinkPad to a new non-ThinkPad, myself included. I have spent quite a bit of time here over the years, but there are worse vices. One thing that I forgot to mention, and I'm surprised no one else chimed in yet, is that I assumed you wanted the drive in the primary drive bay. Apparently, there is a way to use a SATA 500GB drive in a drive carrier in the UltraBay. If interested, you can search the forum for more info on that one.

[SkiBunny]

This is the cheapest ultrabay adapter I know of that people have reportedly used successfully in the T43 ultrabay with a SATA drive. There's PATA versions too which are convenient for cloning/upgrading primary drives. By the way I think a faster drive won't be faster in the bay, I think.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT

The largest TP43-compatible drive (won't cause the 2010 error) is the wonderful 120GB Fujitsu MVH2120AH. Although some people run incompatible drives, there is a deeper issue than just the annoyance of a boot warning.
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_w ... hard_disks

If you want to upgrade the drive, I happen to have a new one of both the WD 250gb and MVH2120AH available PM if interested.

[sgarza]

hello everybody,nice to read you!
(my first post, greets from Italy)

BTT
what about installing the OS on the 2nd HDD ,500gb Sata, in the ultrabay?
I use the cd-dvd drive through USB anyway...

How often would you switch/ remove the 1. HDD from the Caddy?
could be used for storing or backups....

goodnight