X41 2.5" HDD in 1.8" slot Please someone set me straight!

[Smokestoomuch]

I've been struggling all day trying to make my X41 Tablet usable. I know this is a frustration for all of us familiar with these machines. I had it hooked up to a 4200rpm 1.8" hdd via a short ZIF cable and it was just so painfully slow I just couldn't take it any more. It's like owning a 300 MHz laptop. Click on the most insignificant item and you wait and wait and zzzzzzzzzzzzzz! I decided the solution was to stick a 7200rpm 2.5" drive in it and if the drive hangs out the front, well, that's much better than a machine that's too frustrating to use. I believe that I have talked myself into doing something that cannot be done. Somehow I got the idea that a 2.5" drive will work if you slide it directly into the hdd connectors meant for the 1.8" hdd. I have lost my way, brethren! Is there a little in between plug/adapter that allows you to (more or less) plug a 2.5" drive directly into a 1.8" socket?

[rek]

The X41 has a 1.8" drive cavity, but uses an interface typical of a 2.5" PATA drive. Your 2.5" drive will be able to connect electrically with the computer and function, but as you have found out, it will not fit into the case - it'll stick out the front of the case and there is nothing that can be done about it.

The two most common ways of upgrading the disk in these laptops (techniques now also used by Lenovo for service parts) are to either use a 1.8" ZIF-connector PATA hard disk with one of these cradle things, or use a 1.8" PATA SSD. The third option is to use CompactFlash cards along with a PATA-to-CF bridge card.

I believe that you can avoid the beep-beep error on startup, if you use one of the Lenovo sourced solutions above (they come up on eBay every now and again, alongside the others)

[sjthinkpader]

The X41 has a 1.8" drive cavity, but uses an interface typical of a 2.5" PATA drive. Your 2.5" drive will be able to connect electrically with the computer and function...

I beg to differ. The X40/X41/X41 Tablet HDD slots are 3.3V and all 2.5 inch HDDs use 5V. So the 2.5 inch drives can plug-in but will not function.

The original Hitachi HTC42xxxx drives used in X40/X41/X41 Tablet are 3.3V/5V dual voltage rated. They can work in both the HDD slot and in Ultrabay trays. All ZIF 1.8 inch drives I've seen are 3.3V only. I managed to bunt up a working HS122JC 120GB drive in an Ultrabay tray with a no-3.3V-regulator adapter board.

[Frobe70]

Sjthinkpader beat me to it, he is correct.

According to UPS my 32GB Runcore 1.8" IDE SSD is finally shipped from MDD in US, I hope to receive it next week

[sjthinkpader]

I've been struggling all day trying to make my X41 Tablet usable. I know this is a frustration for all of us familiar with these machines. I had it hooked up to a 4200rpm 1.8" hdd via a short ZIF cable and it was just so painfully slow I just couldn't take it any more. It's like owning a 300 MHz laptop. Click on the most insignificant item and you wait and wait and zzzzzzzzzzzzzz! ...

I just installed a 120GB Samsung HS122HB in a X40 with one of those $20 IDE-ZIF adapters similar to the Lenovo OEM version. This is a 4200rpm drive with high areal density and 8MB cache. I thought it is pretty fast. Low capacity drives would be slow due to low areal density.

[bgx]

Sjthinkpader beat me to it, he is correct.

According to UPS my 32GB Runcore 1.8" IDE SSD is finally shipped from MDD in US, I hope to receive it next week

same here, i should receive it on monday! we ll see who post the benchmark first :p.

should be the best solution for X40, albeit quite expansive

[Frobe70]

same here, i should receive it on monday! we ll see who post the benchmark first :p.

should be the best solution for X40, albeit quite expansive

I will probably not be first to benchmark it.
Mine is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, but I will not be back home before Saturday myself.
The Norwegian Customs will probably add about $50 to the price...

[Smokestoomuch]

I've been looking for an adapter to go from a 1.8" PATA socket to a 2.5" PATA drive. There are plenty on the market that allow you to hook a 1.8" drive to 2.5" drive but not the other way. I'm guessing there is no such product because the 2.5" drive requires additional voltage. Anybody heard tell of such an adapter?

[sjthinkpader]

The X40/X41/X41t HDD slots are 3.3V and 2.5 inch HDDs are 5V. Interfacing these is complex.

[virge]

You might be able to find some dual voltage 2.5" drives. I recall that the lightweight Toughbooks used 2.5" drives that ran at 3.3v.

[defor]

Actually, it's not complex at all.. IF you don't mind cutting 2 traces, and wiring a single wire.
I decided enough was enough with this more or less project-condition (read: busted) x41, so downloaded the schematics this morning and mapped out sata and ide both. Pins 3 and 4 on the 1.8" connector are +3v normally. the 2 vias to the other side of the board with the caps on ground hit a midplane level which contains the 3v trace.

Thus, cut the trace that joins both pins BEFORE the vias, THEN wire to pretty much any 5v in the system. (a nice one is found on the backside of this area, right after the fan controller's fuse F16. both sides of F16 are connected to VCC5B, perfect for driving a drive, and putting it on the test point after the fuse protects the rest of the board against any drive wierdness should any arise.

The best part is that the original drives are dual 3.3/5v, so they'll keep working as well!

If there's interest, I'll post up some pictures.

edit: as a side note- you'll notice the 1.8" pinout is identical to a normal 44-pin 2.5 layout, just with the numbering reversed- BUT the signals are the same, this is why it stays compatible.

[sjthinkpader]

5V is TTL or CMOS level and 3.3V is LVTTL or LVCMOS level. Some may work and some may not, depends on implementation of the interface on X40/X41 and the drive being used. It is not as simple as just tap the correct Vcc.

Someone had posted a SATA tap a while back but it will be good for you to post some pictures and a connection diagram.

[mikeh]

I decided the solution was to stick a 7200rpm 2.5" drive in it and if the drive hangs out the front, well,

If you are going to have a 2.5" drive hanging out, why not just use an external USB drive? (choose one with a compact and lightweight case)
You can velcro it to the back of the screen.
Thats easier than trying to modify the IDE connector from 3.3 to 5V, and you can use a now-standard SATA drive.

Will the USB interface affect performance or battery life much, compared to just IDE? Of course, you do loose.

I tested booting the X40 with Linux from USB a while back, and the only problem I remember was that hibernate did not work. Thats probably fixable, but I just use suspend/sleep anyway.

How is Win XP with a USB boot drive? Any effort to get it working?

[Temetka]

If it is just about speed why not pick up an SSD for the machine and move on with your life?

I myself have been somewhat looking at a larger HD for my X41T.

I haven't opened up the machine to verify this but here is my thinking.

I might be able to shoehorn a 2.5" HD in there in the correct orientation (i.e. so it doesn't stick out) by taking the bottom of the machine off and installing the drive underneath the mouse button and in the HD cage. This way 90% of the HD installed in the HD bay and just .5" installed under the trackpad buttons.

All I would need would be a cable that folds 90 degrees and allows me to interface the HD to the laptop.

Other than that I could just buy one of those 120GB units off of e-bay and move on with my life. I do know that I do not want a HD hanging out of the front of this otherwise pristine and fully functional machine.

[benoar]

I would like to thanks defor for his suggestion; I just fixed my X40 by cutting the trace of pin 3 & 4, and wiring them to some 5V. On the X40, the fan fuse (on the back) is F13, if my memory serves me well. Beware not to cut the trace too deep, as it may touch some other plane; I kept accidently tying the pins to the ground. And I ended up by blasting the via altogether to avoid 3,3V sneaking in back.

I don't understand your remark about the 1,8" pinout being “reversed”: it's exactly the same as the 2,5" one, and the voltage levels are the same. An old 2,5" disk is running smoothly in it right now. Of course, it hangs out, but I use my X40 (with broken screen and dismantled keyboard) as a server.