Help using non-ibm hard drive with T40

[alexs123]

I have a t40 with a failed (completely dead) hard drive. I also have a spare hard drive, although this is not an IBM hard drive. Is there a way to use it in my T40, the machine doesn’t seem to recognize it all.
Any help is appreciated

[Tasurinchi]

Welcome to the Forum! You actually don't need to do anything special with the drive. Just be sure it's a 2.5" IDE model, fit it in the hard disk caddy and that should be all. Are you sure that the spare hard drive was working before?

Another useful thing would be to know your T40 model number. It's a 7 digit code that can be found on the bottom of your laptop. See my sigs below for a couple of examples.

[RealBlackStuff]

And don't forget to use the caddy, 4 screws, and put it in upside down! (label to bottom of laptop)

[GomJabbar]

If you don't use the 'caddy' [hard drive cage enclosure], make sure your drive is plugged in correctly. It is possible to get the drive plugged in - one row of pins off (been there, done that, have the t-shirt ). Have the laptop turned upside down when inserting the hard drive to help prevent this problem.