ThinkPad SATA Hard Drive Bay Adapter for T61

Ok, so I bought a Chinese knock off HD bay adapter for T61 in Ebay.

What I am trying to accomplish is running two harddrives with my T61, each with it's own OS, and being able to switch OS according to which harddrive I decide to bootup first....

Question 1 - Can this be done with the HD bay adapter?

Question 2 - Do I need to enable anything in the BIOS? As I am having issues with the knock off HD bay adapter... my laptop will detect the harddrive mounted to this HD bay adapter (I see it showing in the BIOS), but it will not do anything and crash the system.... I am hoping it is not the HD bay adapter itself that's causing the issue.

Thx

 

You do not have to enable/disable anything in the BIOS.

All you have to do is the following.
1. Install the first hard drive into the ThinkPad [not the ultrabay adapter].
2. Install the first OS onto the first hard drive.
3. Remove first hard drive and install the second hard drive.
4. Install the second OS onto the second hard drive.
5. Now install one hard drive internally [depending on which OS you want to use more frequently] and which one you want on the ultrabay adapter. Install them accordingly.

 

I did just that...

It seems my ultrabay is malfunction... this sucks...


Say I go buy a 2.5" USB Enclosure and put this second harddrive with OS into it. Is there a way to boot the OS via USB???

 

yes.   enter the BIOS and navigate to Startup > Boot and add "USB HDD" to the list (if it's not already there).

but, buying a proper lenovo ultrabay adapter would make more sense.   besides the convenience, you'd get much better bandwidth.

 

It depends on which OS you want to boot via USB. Windows XP/Vista/7 will not boot via USB. You may be able to boot linux via USB, but not Windows.

 

You are right.... I try doing this with Vista 64, I got the blue screen of death~

 

maybe idk what im talking about.. but with my other laptop, i would get the blue screen of death if SATA wasnt enabled in the BIOS, or if i had it set to IDE emulation when i installed the OS on SATA..
does that make any sense?

 

First of all, the ultrabay hard drive adaptor and drive MUST be added to the list of boot devices in the BIOS. There is a bug in the T61 series BIOS that forces this even if the drive is only used for data storage.

After that, how you boot varies by OS. For instance, you could boot Windows 7 from inside a .VHD file that is stored on the hard drive in the ultrabay hard drive adaptor and second spindle.

 

search google for "boot windows USB" and you'll find articles on how to set it up.   the process is the same for USB flash drives and hard drives.

 

While this may be true, the burden of "making it work" lies on the OPs hands. It may be feasible but not practical and as such, it may be more a headache than the OP would want [keeping it simple].

 

Is this the correct Ultrabay for my T61?

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...BAB3C417CA9D77F5867D31462&&hide_menu_area=yes

Model: 40Y8725

Compatible with ThinkPad R60, T60, X60, and Z60 Series notebooks, these that mean T60 laptop only or T61 included? Not very clear....

 

they are compatible with the T61, since it will use a PATA interface, the hdd caddy for T400/T500/W500 use a SATA interface and therefore is not compatible with the T61.

 

that's exactly why i said that buying the proper ultrabay adapter would make more sense and provide better bandwidth.

yes, 40Y8725 is what you want.

 

thanks guys!

If this works, is $60cad well spend...