Thinkpads Forum

Hi, i can't find any official ultrabay slim for a second hdd. Anyone has tested a compatible one to advice? I ask to mods if it's allowed to post links to ebay or similar. TIA.

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Are you referring to the tray / adapter that fits in a T40 series or T60 series? Those are not always available, but they do show up from time to time.

Check ThinkWiki out and verify what you you need. You can also search for it by the FRUs listed:

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ultrabay

If international shipping was more reasonable I'd offer to sell you one of my spares.

devinfriday wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 21, 2020 5:28 pm

Hi, i can't find any official ultrabay slim for a second hdd. Anyone has tested a compatible one to advice? I ask to mods if it's allowed to post links to ebay or similar. TIA.

Inviato dal mio FRD-L09 utilizzando Tapatalk

Non-official aftermarket ones with a SATA connector on the inside are everywhere on eBay because the Chinese manufacturers see a demand for hybrid drive solutions (small SSD + large HDD).
I have one such adapter in my T43 (which the media bay for everything other than the battery and serial port module is compatible minus a different shaped front faceplate) because its primary HDD slot died (Southbridge issue), and so far I have no issues aside from the absolutely blinding blue HDD LED that I taped over.

kfzhu1229 wrote:

devinfriday wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 21, 2020 5:28 pm

Hi, i can't find any official ultrabay slim for a second hdd. Anyone has tested a compatible one to advice? I ask to mods if it's allowed to post links to ebay or similar. TIA.

Inviato dal mio FRD-L09 utilizzando Tapatalk

Non-official aftermarket ones with a SATA connector on the inside are everywhere on eBay because the Chinese manufacturers see a demand for hybrid drive solutions (small SSD + large HDD).
I have one such adapter in my T43 (which the media bay for everything other than the battery and serial port module is compatible minus a different shaped front faceplate) because its primary HDD slot died (Southbridge issue), and so far I have no issues aside from the absolutely blinding blue HDD LED that I taped over.

So you confirm that a sata-to-pata caddy will work? Because i can find many like that...

Inviato dal mio FRD-L09 utilizzando Tapatalk

devinfriday wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 21, 2020 5:50 pm

So you confirm that a sata-to-pata caddy will work? Because i can find many like that...

Yes, of course. The PATA caddy was used in the T4x generation, and the SATA caddy was used in the T6x generation, because they wanted to offer an adapter for whatever kind of drive was used in the system's main bay at the time. However, since the underlying connection in the Ultrabay itself is PATA on both generations, both kinds should be compatible. The SATA caddy includes a bridge chip.

I have a third-party SATA caddy which I've used multiple times in my T60, with no issues.

I have the same aftermarket (knock off, whatever you want to call them) adapter trays here in addition to the Original IBM and Lenovo ones, and they all work fine.

Thank u guys, will search for one of them.

Inviato dal mio FRD-L09 utilizzando Tapatalk

@devinfriday:

devinfriday wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 22, 2020 5:19 am

Inviato dal mio FRD-L09 utilizzando Tapatalk

Please have a look here: viewtopic.php?f=61&t=124261

RealBlackStuff wrote:@devinfriday:

devinfriday wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 22, 2020 5:19 am

Inviato dal mio FRD-L09 utilizzando Tapatalk

Please have a look here: viewtopic.php?f=61&t=124261

Got it.

devinfriday wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 21, 2020 5:50 pm

So you confirm that a sata-to-pata caddy will work? Because i can find many like that...

In functionality side of things, that is the best solutions considering how relatively speaking, dirt cheap they are. As for the quality it varies from seller to seller. While I only got one of those caddies for a T4x, I got two standard laptop optical drive IDE port to SATA (2.5") to go in some generic laptops and some Dell Latitude D series (They just use a passive adapter to convert that to a D-bay connector) and those turned out to be very well built considering how much I paid for.
Besides, large SATA mechanical drives (or even SSD) are readily available and you just put whatever drive you can find locally and chances are it will work just fine - however at Ultra ATA 100 speeds as I don't believe they support Ultra ATA 133. Most mechanical drives are most likely not fast enough for you to see the bottleneck unless under extreme situations but it is noticeable on SSD.
Be mindful about the front face plate of the one you are purchasing btw. Since T4x/T6x uses proprietary connector they will either come with the T4x slanted faceplate or the T6x straight faceplate (unlike the one for Latitude D series where you have to swap across the faceplate and fingers crossed the face plate mounts are actually the same on the adapter vs the optical drive I am sacrificing), you only have that to deal with. Buying the one with the wrong face plate in this case will just give you a little annoyance if you have OCD.
Also, one aspect that I would think this might not work well is if you are using Windows 9x or DOS on a T4x. In that case the SATA drives may not give you the same compatibility as the IDE drives.

I'm also looking to an an Ultrabay HDD caddy. However, the ones on Ebay seem to have a slightly different connector to the DVD reader presently in my T60. Are these compatible?

You need to match the connector on the back of the 2nd HDD adapter tray / caddy to the connector on the back of your optical drive. The later ones for T/W 400/500 & newer are different.