Ebay CF-29 HD Caddy ??

Is this a viable option or are they going for a fast buck ???


http://cgi.ebay.com/Panasonic-Tough...iewItemQQptZLaptops_Nov05?hash=item4cee468aa1

Item #330415114913

 

Seems to me a bit absurd, trying to market a plastic caddy as "designed as a complement to your current caddy, when metal content becomes a concern" on a ToughBook... for most of us, the concern is to HAVE AS MUCH METAL CONTENT AS POSSIBLE...

Sounds to me like they're trying to sell cheap, aftermarket parts without getting sued by offering them as "alternative feature" type product...

That said... I dunno if the difference between their price and the going price on FleaBay is worth NOT USING GENUINE PANASONIC PARTS in this case...

They want $63 Shipped/BIN; while the latest closed listings show OEM going for $56 Shipped/Auction to $75-$90 Shipped/BIN.

mnem
Fortunately, I am NOT stuck within this dilemma... YET.

 

S.T.U.P.I.D! lol

 

The day when OEM HDD caddies hit the roof and these "compatible" ones goes for like US$30 shipped, I'll bet you'd see a few of us using it to swap trial or different OSes but I won't vouch for it working in the field.

Quality aside, if not for the fun of it, why not? Gotta give it to some people for being creative/innovative/<fill in your own>. Similar analogy of using SATA drives in non-SATA configured TBs... who would have thought that it will work??!!

 

FYI !




There is some aftermarket CF-18 and CF-29 China make caddy selling in China , for RMB200 ( about USD 30 ).

But I've not try it !

 

It looks to me as a solution ,looking for a problem
Most ,if not all of the mods that we do around here make sence, the standard caddy works perfect, so I don't see a need for it


Alex

 

Well for $30.00 bucks for a CF-18 sure I would try it......that is IF I could get one of them but I will not pay $130-$150

 

Interesting, and I understand the desire to quickly recover the investment to produce these, but over-priced for what they are.

It would have been nice made them more desirable if they had made some efforts to ease SATA installation in these.

I think I will ignore the "over-metal" hype and wait until they come down.

EDIT: I just noticed, these do not appear to support the OEM HDD heater.

 

I got a chuckle out of that.

 

The CF-29 Panasonic caddies are made out of cheap flimsy coke can aluminum and sponge for the padding unlike the older stainless steel ones from the CF-27 and CF-28 with polymer gel.. So maybe acrylic is an improvement over the current OEM design?

 

"Coke Can aluminum" is a pretty tough alloy there, booboo.

You think about what it takes to make a container that can withstand 60PSI, hold up 250 lbs, (the design spec for a soda can) and only 12 mils thick... it's actually very similar composition to aircraft aluminum.

As an aside, when I was a volunteer firefighter we used to break off & save the tabs from beer & soda cans for a local businessman who would donate 5c each to St Jude's for kidney dialysis for kids; the tabs are supposedly made of a pretty expensive alloy he liked to use for billet parts for his racecar.

So... think twice before you go knocking "Coke Cans"... they really are some pretty high-tech stuff.

mnem
I can.

 

Two completely different applications boob you can't really compare the two. Panasonic really needs to go back to stainless steel and gel.

 

I don't see a problem or issue with the new caddies
The best gel has not been used since the old cf-25 series
The gel used in that model was superior to the foam padding used today
The coke can aluminum has some flex in comparison to SS but I have had no issues with them



Alex

 

Why? What improvement does SS make over Al, aside from weighing 3x as much? Both models are encased in a watertight AL/MG alloy case that weighs kilos anyway, so protection of that HDD is not relevant - it's provided by the chassis, not the caddy. Nor is waterproof-ness when it's inside a water-tight chamber anyways.

As for the gel... well, there are two ways to look at it. The Gel cradles DO provide better shock absorption WHEN THEY ARE NEW... but they ALSO degrade over time MUCH more rapidly than the elastomer memory foam.

When HDD manufacturers started making drives with a drop sensor that is when Panasonic went to the elastomer cradles, because they hold up better and there's no chance of them weeping under heat/age like the gel ones CAN.

I'd say it's more a matter of advancing technology; if they save 100g per unit with the new caddies, that adds up when you're paying for freight from Japan... plus the Al caddies may very well be made from recycled metal, so better for everybody as well as costing less.

mnem<~~~Pro-boob... VERY Pro-boob ~~~<<<

 

Nah that gel is present in all the CF-27's CF-71's and CF-M33's just different thicknesses. All are superior to the crap Pana is puttting out for the CF-29,CF-18 and CF-30. Sponge is good for cleaning and coke can alum is good for sweet beverages but Stainless and gel is the best for protecting a hard drive.

 

It less about advancing technology and more about reducing costs. Quality always suffers when the bean counters get involved in engineering.

 

Agree X2

Thats what I was saying
I would still like to see the better gel though
But I have moved to solid state drives now

Alex

 

I guess I didn't make my point clearly; when the technology in hard drives advanced, there wasn't a NEED to cradle the hard drive as gently, especially when the HDD manufacturers were GUARANTEEING a 10fold increase in running g-force survivability.

Panasonic felt (and I think quite rightly so) that their money was better spent engineering brighter displays and better GPS than protecting a HDD from G-forces it SUPPOSEDLY was now able to withstand (Too bad they didn't spend it on a more durable touchscreen).

So... now the question becomes... once SSDs become the standard, what kind of protection will they need then? Double-stick tape to a piece of PCB? Zip-tied to the chassis itself?

Like I said... advances in technology allow a manufacturer to spend their money differently from one generation to the next.

mnem
I find myself doing the same thing with my own children...

 

The CF-18, CF-29 were released with the crappy caddies even when they came from the factory with the older drives so your theory about what Panasonic was thinking does not add up. The whole problem is that they are now marketing Toughbooks to regular consumers and so they are cutting corners in all aspects of their engineering this was obvious long before these new miracle drives that by the way continue to crash at even greater rates than the older technology. So if someone comes up with a better caddy that is going to protect my data despite what the Toughbook goes through I say more power to them.

 

I plan on velcroing mine to the chassie LOL

 

What your child or your drive?

 

Both velcro is a wonderful thing LOL

 

I dunno where you got the idea that drop-sensors were a new technology; they're OLD NEWS now. My CF-28 came with a MK3021GS; it has the technology... so do many other drives from that vintage.
I'm not entirely convinced that ABS plastic is ANY kind of improvement over stamped Al; and if you take a look at the close-up view of the product you'll see it is not some "custom-tooled" improved design, but rather a bit of "Polish-Engineering" hacked together from pieces of nuts & bolts and some kind of generic plastic instrument case like the ones I buy from DigiKey or Grainger to build electronic projects into. Yes, the clear window on top is acrylic; the rest is ordinary ABS.


Heck, they even left the end cover off the box and the HDD exposed on the end; if the laptop is dropped on that side, the HDD is going slam into the unprotected HDD door.

I stand by my original diagnosis: Someone trying to sell their product without getting sued by Panasonic.

mnem
Trust me: Polish Engineer KNOWS Polish-Engineering when he sees it.

 

Or duct tape...

mnem
Why is Duckie up there too? Cuz HE STARTED IT!

 

I'm happy with the CF-29 caddies. The CF-28 type were great for hat they were... But they were meant to be handled a little differently and had a manual interface. As you recall.... You needed to push the connector in place and then slide the lock bars to keep it from moving.

The CF-29 slides in and makes contact with a little push... Keeping the port cover closed locks it in place. Plus I would think that the thinner aluminum would help to dissipate heat a little better than the old SS CF-28 types.... Especially since they were locked inside an SS box with nothing to really breathe through... Except the top... Which was plastered against the bottom.

At least the CF-29 has (I feel) better "breather holes" and you really don't have to worry about how tough they are unless you want to perform durability tests while they are outside the laptop. (In which case the CF-28s would win) But with the faster processors and hard drives.... I'm happy with the caddies for the CF-29....

Now.. The link above.... I'll keep an eye on it and may bid just to see what's what. I don't think I would give it quite the wall Street "write up" that the seller on ebay does.... But I'd be interested in trying it out.... The China types.... Nah.... I'd rather pay the duckets...

I'm STILL waiting for the "New Cache" of HD and CD Rom caddies to be found and advertised.

 

Interesting statement! As a owner of one of the "crap" CF-29s I want to hear more!

Do you have any facts, figures or even anecdotal references showing massive HDD failures as a result of the switch to aluminum and foam in the newer models? Have you ever seen an aluminum HDD caddy that was crushed while the drive was mounted and inside the magnesium case?

Or is this all just something that you feel in your gut, you know, after a few Jacks?

 

So where can you find these plastic caddies now? they are all but gone on ebay.

 

Replaced by another "knockoff": Caddy for Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 laptop hard drive

 

The seller stopped selling them due to the BAD feedback he was getting

 

The best of many arguments against a plastic caddy is the lack of heat transfer

Stay away from plastic caddys


Alex

 

What about plastic Lincolns?

 

has anyone tried out the metal third party caddy? I dont think it looks all that bad.

 

Some might have it but don't know it.

 

I was comparing my OEM to it, and it was real hard to see any difference.

 

I am that seller on eBay, I have sold and used many of them in our own toughbooks. The metal on the original caddy is stronger, and we do not have the "heater" cable but if you are not using your laptop in sub-zero temperatures this should not affect performance. Otherwise works great for us and we have have sold quite a few.

One day I will get off my butt and setup my website techtough.com and give you guys a 10% discount off my posted eBay prices.

Later.

 

:wink: What you need, when you need it :wink: catchy slogan

 

Someone post the link or PM me with it for the China caddys. I will get
some and give them a try and let you all know how they are.

 

Here is the link to techtough's fleabay page.

cf 29 caddy