HDD replacement.Do I need those rubber rails? T400

[amy55407]

I have a refurbished T400 that I bought about 1 1/2 years ago. It came with a 128gb SSD. I use a secondary drive in the bay. I'm kind of tired of not having a dvd drive in my computer and bought a Seagate Mmomentus XT 500gb drive to replace both drives. I decided, to avoid hair tear out, to just clone the SSD and then I'll transfer over the files from the other drive.

I had no idea what an SSD looked like so when I pulled it out, I thought I was in the wrong place! Of course the cage/caddy for the SSD is not the same as one for an HDD. I have the drive cage from the external caddy that I can put the seagate into but I've misplaced the rubber rails (they didn't fit into the caddy). How important are those rubber rails? Will the drive move around too much or be unstable without them?

I'll look around here for the rails I have but it will probably be faster to buy new ones. I just thought I'd see first if I can go without.

Thanks for your help.

[amy55407]

I decided to go ahead and order another cage with the rails. If I can still do it without I might before it arrives.

[ZaZ]

I never used them myself and never had any issues with it, but I don't know if that's the official word.

[redhook]

The instructions for the caddy say to remove the rubber rails, the drive will not fit with them. Just make sure the drive is screwed into the cage and it'll lock in place.

[Harryc]

I don't understand or agree with any of the advice given here. If you removed your SSD and it was not in the usual caddy with the rubber rails, then it is either a 1.8" SSD (conventional is 2.5") or it was installed incorrectly. You absolutely should use the rails and a caddy with the Seagate drive in the drive bay because it is a 2.5" drive. The rails act as a shock absorber and are needed. I have that same drive in my T61 hard drive bay and use a caddy and the rails.

[redhook]

I don't understand or agree with any of the advice given here. If you removed your SSD and it was not in the usual caddy with the rubber rails, then it is either a 1.8" SSD (conventional is 2.5") or it was installed incorrectly. You absolutely should use the rails and a caddy with the Seagate drive in the drive bay because it is a 2.5" drive. The rails act as a shock absorber and are needed. I have that same drive in my T61 hard drive bay and use a caddy and the rails.

The rubber rails do not fit in the ultrabay caddy.

[Harryc]

Yes, and the OP is not going to use the Ultrabay caddy. He is replacing it with a DVD drive. The caddy I am referring to is a steel cage for hard drives installed in the main drive bay. It requires rubber rails. Discussion about the Ultrabay caddy is irrelevant because it will not be used in the new configuration. Understand now?

[amy55407]

Yes, the new drive is in the main drive bay and the dvd player is back in the ultrabay. I have the caddy and the rails now and it fits fine. I can't really tell much difference at the moment between the performance of the seagate hybrid and the SSD. Thanks.