w510 ultrabay -- terrible design

[bthlonewolf]

I have to say I'm really, really annoyed by the new design of the ultrabay. Before, you'd have a little tab to pull out the bay -- now, it's all underneath and incredibly awkward (not to mention difficult) to eject the drive.

Several of the problems: you need to lift the laptop on it's side a bit to get at it -- not convenient. But by far, the biggest problem I've had is accidentally ejecting the bay about a dozen times in the past week because the table I'm setting down on, or my hand, or another object, accidentally flips the spring-loaded switch. This doesn't eject the drive, but it does 'stop' the drive so it is safe to be ejected. I can put a screw in the bay to prevent that, but that is only useful if you plan on never ejecting the drive.

So far, I love lenovo for the keyboard, etc., but my experience with the W510 is so far disappointing.

[GrandMasterKhan]

Not sure how anyone could accidently eject it. BTW I think the people at Yamato are design geniuses and its probably the best design. Maybe its more a matter of getting accustomed to it?

[thePCxp]

I agree with GrandMasterKhan.

[bthlonewolf]

When I say accidentally eject, I don't mean actually popping the drive out but rather slightly hitting the levers on the bottom. As a mobile user (I do presenting all the time so I'm always opening/closing/moving the machine), I'm constantly brushing the latches slightly which causes the drive to be stopped (message that it can now be safely ejected). If you don't know what this is like, run your hand on the bottom right of the machine and lightly nudge the release switches.

I'll need to put a screw in there to secure it, which should stop this problem, but of course makes swapping the drive a pain.

Since I'm ranting, I wonder why they made the ultrabay have that little gap (about 3mm)? I'm guessing to make it work in other models.

I dunno -- we all have opinions, I just can't see why this design would _ever_ be better than the pull latch? There must be a benefit I'm not seeing.

[Rochefort]

Do you know the right part number for the W 510 HDD ultrabay ?
Thx

[dr_st]

Design geniuses or not, if I was a person who frequently swapped ultrabay devices, I would greatly prefer the old design. Having to lift the machine to swap out a device is inconvenient.

For the record, though, to me it seems like the old design is actually more prone to accidentally ejecting devices when the laptop is carried around in a bag. Happened to me at least 3 times that the optical drive got disconnected from my T60 and stayed inside the bag as I pulled the laptop out.

[Oaklodge]

Guess Lenovo can't please all it's customers ... I loved the ultrabay in the T60 never had any problems with it. With the W510 it's a royal pain to swap it out. And as others have said when the laptop is on my lap I sometimes have found that the drive either pops open or WIndows thinks the bay has been ejected.

[Marin85]

Does anyone here have any picture of the new ejecting mechanism (only external) that comes with the W510 units? I am curious to see what the differences between the new and the old design are.

[chairsky]

the former design is absolutely better.

For T400s/T410s, I can understand that due to limited space, they need to do a new structure.

However, for T410/W510, they should keep the former one, which is much easier to use

[tbone89]

Agreed that the former ultrabay release design was better (T40/60's). The new design that I have on my W510, when using the mini dock, goes from being unweildy to ridiculous. Unless you have the hands of a small child, one must now gingerly lift the laptop + dock simultaneously so that you can reach one hand underneath the laptop in order to toggle the spring loaded release mechanism. Then while holding the toggle with one finger (spring loaded), use another finger of the same hand to apply enough force so as to slide the eject mechanism for the ultra-bay, all through feel/touch since you cannot see the release and toggle unless you flip everything over (cords and all). Add to the fact that the new dock does not grab the laptop as securely, any movement causes the electrical connection between dock and laptop to be lost. I haven't been able to hot swap once without the proverbial USB sound as all my connections are interrupted.

I would love to see an explanation (to include useability trial notes) from Lenovo on why they thought this design was better after using it in the real world... with the dock.

Been a loyal TP user for 14 years, owning 7 different models but this redesign has earned my "WTF?!" Award.
_________________________________________________________________
760, 510, T23, T30, T43p + dock, T61p + dock, W510 + dock

[dr_st]

The new design that I have on my W510, when using the mini dock, goes from being unweildy to ridiculous. Unless you have the hands of a small child, one must now gingerly lift the laptop + dock simultaneously so that you can reach one hand underneath the laptop in order to toggle the spring loaded release mechanism. Then while holding the toggle with one finger (spring loaded), use another finger of the same hand to apply enough force so as to slide the eject mechanism for the ultra-bay, all through feel/touch since you cannot see the release and toggle unless you flip everything over (cords and all).

And that's with the 15.6" model. On the smaller 14" model, it is simply impossible to remove the ultrabay while docked, unless your fingers are small enough to actually push between the laptop and the dock (with the possibility of breaking the connection that comes with it).

[tpribors]

I agree that it is incredibly clumsy. Also makes changing the UB device when in a dock impossible. The T6x design was fine. I don't know why they had to take something that was efficient and probably cheaper and make it more expensive and harder to use. Oh well, it is what it is.

[craigmontHunter]

IMHO, the T4x had the best latch design, since the bevel prevented the drive from ejecting by accident, but you could still work the drive while it was docked. On my T61, I found that the lever would get knocked when I was sliding it in or out of my case, which then causes the tab to get mangled. I put a screw in it since I don't use it anyway. That is one change that I do not understand.

[lukaszsw]

I agree that the old mechanism was better. At the same time I have never eve accidentally ejected the driver from any of them (R60,T60,T61, W500 and W51). The new mechanism is so hard to operate that I have problems removing it even intentionally.

On the other hand side Ultrabay is becoming obsolete:
-as an additional hardrive bay it is faster and smoother than external drive on usb (or is it now with 3.0) but I've found myself using it so sporadically that I might have used an usb drive as well.
-additional battery offers little more uptime
-Less and less cds are used. And most device drivers can be downloaded quickly

I would MUCH rather see W510 slimmer (why is it so thick?) without ultrabay. End of off-topic

[tpribors]

I agree that the old mechanism was better. At the same time I have never eve accidentally ejected the driver from any of them (R60,T60,T61, W500 and W51). The new mechanism is so hard to operate that I have problems removing it even intentionally.

On the other hand side Ultrabay is becoming obsolete:
-as an additional hardrive bay it is faster and smoother than external drive on usb (or is it now with 3.0) but I've found myself using it so sporadically that I might have used an usb drive as well.
-additional battery offers little more uptime
-Less and less cds are used. And most device drivers can be downloaded quickly

I would MUCH rather see W510 slimmer (why is it so thick?) without ultrabay. End of off-topic

I use the Ultrabay to almost permanently house a second hard drive. USB devices are not that portable nor even with USB3 do they have the performance as a second internal SATA drive.