The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Q: T61 Ultrabay SATA Adapter - SATA 1.5Gb/s or 3.0Gb/s?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by Rambler, Jul 8, 2007.

  1. Rambler

    Rambler Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    41
    Messages:
    142
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Hi,

    Im looking at purchasing the ultrabay SATA adapter for use with a 2.5" SATA disk.

    Could someone please advise what SATA transfer speed the ultrabay adapter supports?

    Is it 1.5Gb/s or 3Gb/s?

    Thanks
     
  2. furrycute

    furrycute Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    95
    Messages:
    682
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    1.5 GB/sec.

    But it's all theoretical speed. In real life I hardly see transfer speeds exceeding 25 MB/sec.

    Vista has some bugs concerning slow file transfers. MS has yet to come up with any definitive solutions.
     
  3. Tailic

    Tailic Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    78
    Messages:
    775
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I believe the "bugs" in file transfers in Vista is called "DRM".
     
  4. furrycute

    furrycute Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    95
    Messages:
    682
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I think even within Vista, there are variations in transfer speeds.

    I previously had a laptop running Vista Home Premium. Now I am running Vista Ultimate. Transfer speeds seemed faster under Vista Home Premium.
     
  5. colm

    colm Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    21
    Messages:
    126
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    These issues were with network file copies....not local hardware IO.
     
  6. furrycute

    furrycute Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    95
    Messages:
    682
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    But I am experiencing slow local file transfers as well, usually around 20mb/sec.
     
  7. cmonkey

    cmonkey Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    48
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    20MB from what to what? With an average low density 5400rpm hard drive, ~20MBps isn't far from normal.
     
  8. furrycute

    furrycute Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    95
    Messages:
    682
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    20MB/sec from the primary hard drive to the secondary hard drive mounted on the hard drive adapter.

    Transfer speeds to external USB 2 hard drives are usually a bit faster.
     
  9. f4ding

    f4ding Laptop Owner

    Reputations:
    261
    Messages:
    2,085
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Must be something with your setup. Check it again.
     
  10. Cherude

    Cherude Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    79
    Messages:
    318
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Faster with external usb HD??? Sure???
     
  11. smartins

    smartins Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    56
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Is the interface that connects to the Ultrabay IDE or SATA? I believe I recall reading that the primary hard disk was SATA but the Ultrabay connector was IDE.
     
  12. ponicg

    ponicg Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    74
    Messages:
    216
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    It's SATA. I have a T61 and I use two separate distinct OSs on it. I have XP on the primary drive, and Vista on the Ultrabay drive. I had to set the ultrabay drive as the boot priority in the BIOS, but now w/the Ultrabay drive in - it boots Vista, and with it out, it boots XP. There is a hotfix for the slow file copy, but that's Vista, and non-specific to this issue.

    I had to install Vista(needed the DVD drive) with the 2nd drive in the regular drive bay, and the DVD drive in the ultrabay. I used it that way for a day or two, and notice no performance decrease between being in the main bay or the ultrabay(and I play a few newer games... NWN2, TF2, etc).
     
  13. stallen

    stallen Thinkpad Woody

    Reputations:
    479
    Messages:
    1,737
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    55
    For the T61 the primary drive is capable of SATA II the SATA ultrabay adapter is SATA I

    I have used the SATA ultrabay adapter with a 2.5" 5400RPM HDD and an external USB drive holding a 3.5" SATA II 7500RPM drive. The SATA ultrabay adapter HDD is much faster than the external USB HDD. The USB 2.0 is quite a bottleneck.
     
  14. halobox

    halobox Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    207
    Messages:
    1,019
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    It's 1.5Gb. Until recently, there were no 2.5" 3Gb SATA drives.
     
  15. halobox

    halobox Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    207
    Messages:
    1,019
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    That's why god created eSATA and ExpressCard.