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    W500 has bluray - will it work in a T61p?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by Grench, Aug 20, 2008.

  1. Grench

    Grench Notebook Enthusiast

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    The W500 can be configured with bluray.

    ThinkPad Blu-ray Recordable Ultrabay Slim

    Will the same drive work in a T61p?

    No signs of it being offered as a stand alone or replacement part yet. Should only be a matter of time. But will it work?
     
    Grench, Aug 20, 2008
    #1
  2. Paul386

    Paul386 Notebook Evangelist

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    I believe that the connection in the W500 / W700 / T400 / T500 is different from the one found in the T61 / T61p.
     
    Paul386, Aug 20, 2008
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  3. djh01

    djh01 Notebook Consultant

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    The connection is SATA whereas the older connection was based on PATA.
     
    djh01, Aug 20, 2008
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  4. Grench

    Grench Notebook Enthusiast

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    Really? The T61p HDD is SATA... The T61p ultrabay slim HDD adapter fits a SATA drive... Is the ultrabay slim HDD adapter translating from SATA to PATA then? The 2nd drive adapter doesn't look like it has much room for a translation chipset. I haven't cracked mine apart though.

    Wouldn't that also run into issues with running legacy ultrabay slim devices in the W500 computers? Or is there now two types of ultrabay slim device hardware layouts?
     
    Grench, Aug 20, 2008
    #4
  5. PocketAces21

    PocketAces21 Notebook Evangelist

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    djh01 is right. They are not compatible.
     
    PocketAces21, Aug 20, 2008
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  6. dietcokefiend

    dietcokefiend DietGreenTeaFiend

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    The old bay connection supported both SATA/PATA/legacy, and the new one has an entirely different connector. Wont work.
     
    dietcokefiend, Aug 20, 2008
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  7. Grench

    Grench Notebook Enthusiast

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    If that is the case and the old ultrabay slim laptops and devices are not usable with the new ultrabay slim laptops and devices I can see Lenovo having a support headache on it's horizon. If they changed the connector, why didn't they change the name?
     
    Grench, Aug 21, 2008
    #7
  8. a.k.a.

    a.k.a. Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hello everyone,

    I hate to bump an old thread, but this is important, and this is the most concrete conversation I've found on the subject.

    Can any of you guys point me to a document or a more concrete thread that says DEFINITIVELY that the T61-generation Ultrabay Slim has a PATA (EIDE) controller despite having a SATA connection?

    I'm getting some extremely nasty BSODs, and I need to pin down what happened. It's one of my hunches that the controller in/for the Ultrabay is involved, but that's too tangential. All I need on this thread is info about the Ultrabay controller.

    Thanks a lot for the assistance.

    a.k.a.
     
    a.k.a., Jan 10, 2009
    #8
  9. Jesper Juul

    Jesper Juul Notebook Consultant

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    It won't work, I have both a T400 and T61P, and they have two completely different connectors on the Ultrabay drives.
     
    Jesper Juul, Jan 10, 2009
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  10. a.k.a.

    a.k.a. Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey, Jesper,

    (Cool name!)

    I'm actually asking about something slightly different than Blu-ray or Ultrabay COMPATIBILITY. I need more information about the controller / translation chip inside the Ultrabay -- is it really a SATA-to-PATA controller? That's the reason I had to resurrect the old thread, and so I'm going to repeat the question, lest the question get lost again in the shuffle.

    I'm asking because I'm getting some really incurable BSODs, and I think it traces to conflicts between, on the one hand, the PATA controller in the (SATA) Ultrabay Slim for the T series, and on the other hand, the ability to go with an AHCI setting in BIOS.

    If that's what's been killing my Vista installations, I want a d*** RMA, or barring that, a BIOS fix, because MS told them about this issue in November 2007, and they still haven't done a thing with the info. See this blog post at MS.
    http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs...ing-windows-vista-x64-on-a-thinkpad-t61p.aspx

    a.k.a.
     
    a.k.a., Jan 10, 2009
    #10
  11. Jesper Juul

    Jesper Juul Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks, it's a very common name in Denmark ;-)

    I don't know about the internal chip in the ultrabay connections only the outer connections, so sorry, I can't help you there.
     
    Jesper Juul, Jan 15, 2009
    #11