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    Reducing vibration in T420 ultrabay HDD

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by iljajj, Jun 9, 2012.

  1. iljajj

    iljajj Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi all, couldn't find an answer to this question anywhere so I hope I won't duplicate anything.

    When I recently got a T420 I replaced the internal HDD with an SSD and put a 750GB HDD in the Ultradrive bay. What struck me, however, was how loosely the drive fitted the adapter, without any form of cushioning. In daily life, that means that I can sense quite an amount of vibration in the palmrests - on both sides.

    Can anyone recommend a solution to this problem, or is there a better-cushioned bay drawer to fit my drive in? I thought of fitting some rubber strips myself, but as the thing has to slide in and out of the bay, I'm not sure that I'd be doing myself a favour there. By the way, this one fits the bay perfectly, no gaps or anything.

    Thanks in advance.
     
    iljajj, Jun 9, 2012
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  2. Kaso

    Kaso Notebook Virtuoso

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    There are always gaps in the caddy as there are slight +/- variations in the physical dimensions of the drives.

    You must use the supplied (tiny) screws to secure the drive to the caddy: bottom, sideways, top-down via tabs, whatever... depending on the caddy design.

    Now, the drive itself may inherently noisy and/or cause vibrations when doing its work. Once, I replaced a Seagate 750GB HDD with a Samsung 1TB HDD and, poof, everything was quiet and smooth. (Of course, my "solution" is not universal: every drive has its personality! Extra space was my motivation when doing drive change.)
     
    Kaso, Jun 9, 2012
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  3. iljajj

    iljajj Notebook Enthusiast

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    The problem is that the drive is clamped into position, and not screwed. I've put a rubber band under it, which seems to stop some of the vibration, but I'd like a better solution. Is a 750GB Seagate though, I may try your Samsung option...
     
    iljajj, Jun 10, 2012
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  4. olester

    olester Newbie

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    I am doing the same thing in my T420. But I will keep the HDD in the HDDbay (the rubber mounting is far superiour) and the SSD sits good enough in the Ultradrive bay. Only backside is ofcourse i cannot hotswap the "storage" drive for DVD etc. But I never use it, and will get a USB one anyway.
    Why dont you just do this? The vibration will surely be gone, and also, your mechanical drive will surely be better protected against shocks.

    Another reason for this, I suspect the active protection only works on the internally mounted HDD. Can anyone confirm this?
     
    olester, Jun 11, 2012
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