T400s/X301 1.8" Drive Bay

So I know the T400s/X301 have a 1.8" drive bay. But what's the maximum thickness of drive that they can support? Standard for that size is 5mm, but I saw a picture of the 250G HDD somewhere (couldn't find it again) that showed the slot as 5mm, and the drive was thicker, but had a "bubble" for the extra platter, so it still fit in the 5mm slot.
Can anyone confirm this? Is it also the case for the 128G SSD?

Finally, can anyone comment about these sizes on the new (or old) Intel 160GB drives? I found this page:
http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-na/eng/products/nand/feature/index.htm
Which listes it as 8mm (the 80GB is 5mm, and so is fine), I'm really wondering if the 160GB model would still fit.

Anyone have experience here?

 

1.8" drives have a maximum thickness of 7.5mm.   both the T400s and X301 support this thickness of drive.

 

Yeah, and the X200 supports 2.5" drives....

 

So the 7.5 mm is a standard size/form factor - they'll all be the 5mm on the edges (for sliding into the slot), but larger in the middle? Or will any be the 7.5mm thickness all over?
The Intel page linked says the drive is 8mm. Is that likely to be just rounding?

Also, what does the X200 have to do with the topic?

 

they're 3mm at the edges, not 5mm.   all of them have a bulge in the middle in varying degrees.

iirc, the spec for 1.8" micro-SATA drives is 7.5mm maximum thickness.   intel is either rounding or decided that the extra 0.5mm wouldn't be an issue.

in any case, sitting on my desk is a samsung 1.8" SLC SSD pulled from an X301 and it's 3mm at the edge and 7.5mm in the center.   these dimensions are correct per spec and are what the T400s and X300/X301 are designed to accept.

 

Ahh, that makes a lot more sense. Thanks for the clarification!
That's a nice sounding SSD, there. Is a SLC what comes stock with the X301, these days??

 

Lenovo hasn't been shipping SLCs for a while as far as I know...

 

it used to be.   i got the drive from an X301 late last year and things have changed since then.   because everyone is fighting to make PCs as affordable as possible, most if not all of the current bid contracts for SSDs have been for MLC drives.

keep in mind that most consumers are happy with both the price and performance of MLC technology.   those who want the latest and greatest drive will simply buy what they want on their own.

 

OK, quick follow-up question. I see a bunch of places referencing the Serial Hard Drive Bay adapter (fits in the ultrabay slim slot) for the T400s as being a 9.5mm device. Does that mean that it will fit a standard 2.5"x 9.5mm laptop drive, or is the slot itself 9.5mm, and so you have to step down to the 7.5mm (I think that's right) drives?

Does anyone know if there's a similar drive bay that can fit inside the X301's slot? Yes, I realize it's not hot-swappable, but it might be nicer than shelling out the $225 for the dvd drive.

 

The T400s bay is 9.5mm and it will fit standard 2.5"x9.5mm drives with the appropriate adapter (Ultrabay Adapter III). You could also use 1.8"x7.5mm drives by chaining two adapters (Ultrabay Adapter III + 1.8" SSD Adapter).

Conversely, the x301 uses a slimmer 7mm optical bay. To my knowledge there is no available alternatives (optical, HDD, or SSD) for this bay aside from the $225 Lenovo DVD drive.