New toughbook

Hi i just received a cf-28 with a 1 ghz p3, it didn't come with a hard drive caddy, battery or power adapter. I already have a universal targus 65w charger (which will hopefully work with it) i just need to order the tip for it. A battery i can get on ebay for 50-70$. Is there any hard drive caddies out there that don't cost 70 dollars? I keep seeing these prices on ebay and it seems like quite a bit to me, but maybe its normal. I also saw this hd caddy that goes into the cd drive slot and the hard drive just sits inside for only 30$. Would that work instead? I probably would use the cd drive, i have an external anyways.

 

Hello Zig553 and welcome to the board!

While the media bay mounted HDD will not be as sturdy as the factory caddy, it would more then likely get you up and running!

You might check our for sale threads here for batteries. I have a pair of power supplies there that will work for the CF-28 as well, if you can't make the Targus work!

Welcome aboard again, honestly, if you can't find the answers to your Toughbook questions and problems, they most likely can't be resolved.

 

Thats the starting price for the caddys , about $70
That is why complete toughbooks sell for much higher prices than parts units

I am not sure about a hard drive caddy that goes in the optical bay
Could you link to where you see this

Alex

 

Those caddies were here http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330402657427&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&afsrc=1 so in theory it should work right? I just might have to change the boot settings in the laptop. And i'm wondering if it would fit in a cf-28

 

Ive seen some TB floppy drives on the bay for pretty cheap.
Anyone know if these come in a caddy?
If so one of those for parts with a modded optical drive would be an inexpensive way to go.

 

Are any other caddies from a different toughbook compatible with the cf-28? And i hear there is 2 different versions of the cf-28 caddy, one for the 600 mhz model and one for the 800-1000 mhz model, is there a model number to look for? (i have the 1ghz model)

 

No, they will not work

No, they will not work

No , you will need a cf-28 caddy for a 800 or 1000MHz to work properly
Look at this listing as its the correct part
http://cgi.ebay.com/Panasonic-Tough...C_Drives_Storage_Internal?hash=item335bbb9e5d


Alex

 

Oops I saw "optical" and was thinking CD/DVD drive, didn't realize we were talking about HDDs.

Can you use the housing off a TB floppy drive for a "master" optical drive. It is hard to tell from the pics I have seen.

 

As I said they will not work, you need an optical caddy


Alex

 

is there any markings to look out for when buying an hdd caddy? its really hard to tell from just a picture what the size of the caddy is. I also read about this heartland website, and how you can get replacement parts from them, any idea what they charge for a cf-28 caddy?

 

@zig553, There is no way to tell the difference by looking, and I am not aware of any markings which distinguish the difference. It really is just a matter of a few mms in thickness. Since you have a MK3 either model caddy will work in your machine. You might have to shim the MK1 caddy a little bit as it is the thinner of the two. In short, MK1 caddies fit all models, MK2-3 caddies will not fit in MK1 although I believe Modly got one to fit but then he might have used a hammer!
CAP

 

There is a visual difference between the two caddies. The MK1 caddies are perfectly flat on the top. The MKII/III caddies have a small step on the top casing near the pull handle. That said either caddy can be easily made to work with any unit so if you can get either one or the other caddy you woill be good to go.

 

ANY CF-28 caddy that you can find will work in your Toughbook. 600MHz models had caddies that were a little thinner... But you can add a little padding on the top so that when the bottom plate is on it presses against the caddy to keep it flopping around. This may sound like it's not a good thing to do but if done correctly will work perfectly. I have a bunch of the padded ground pads like what you see beside your modem card under the caddy on the left. I unstick it from there and stick it on the top of the caddy. Actually I use to of them.

Of course any 800MHz or 1GHz model will work for you.

There was talk years ago about adding a 2nd hard drive with the optical drive. They have kits similar to what you were looking at but you need IDE connectors... NOT SATA. I know there was talk of trying it out... But I'm not sure anyone actually has. In theory it would work as there is a rare option for a 2nd hard drive caddy for the optical bay.... They are just scarcer than



Welcome to the board... And if you need any parts... Just let us know.

 

...chicken lips?

mnem
Pucker up and bark like a dog...

 

Note there are a few caddys for the cf-28 that have the hard drive heater as well
They were on my mk-3 units ,not on my mk-1 or mk-2's


Alex

 

Yeah... The heaters were pretty much a rarity on the CF-28... Standard on the 29 and 30.....

 

I noticed my toughbook doesnt have the antenna on the top left of the screen appears to be missing, if im correct, shouldn't there be a card for a gps right under where the battery goes? because that appears to be missing too. is the antenna just for the gps? its a feature i probably won't use so no big deal. and these things don't have built in wireless do they? I also tried to bend and twist the whole laptop but that baby isnt going anywhere, just lifting it you can tell this thing is sturdy and bulletproof.

 

The antenna on the corner of the case is not for wifi, it is for the cellular type modem (CDMA, GSM depending on carrier). The wifi antennas are on either side of the LCD inside the LCD case. If you read the stickies, you can get the info on how to hack the antenna to use with wifi. Also, the OEM GPS on the 28 is pretty much worthless, and rare.