It's impossible to tell before buying. One person may buy a model, and it works, you may buy the same model # from the same vendor, but get a different batch with a different firmware version which doesn't work.

That's the drag about all this.

Gotcha. That *is* a drag.

I suppose the safest way is to buy it (a drive) from the local brick & mortar store -- ensure they have a no clause, full refund policy -- and just try the thing out.

Thing is, though, it can sometimes be difficult to find an exact model of such a specialized item in stock at your local "Computers-R-Us" type establishment.

-CupOfJoe

FYI - It looks like cdw.com stocks the Seagate 7200rpm drives, and their return policy (according to the info on their website) doesn't state anything about a restocking fee.

Anyone out there had any hands-on experience ordering from cdw.com?

-CupOfJoe

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=20858

with the official firmware, there will be no warnning message

I know this is probably a shot in the dar, knowing it won't work, but i'm able to get a WD WD800 Scorpio 80 gb hd for 50 dollars brand new. Problem is, i tried this in my t43 and got the 2010 error msg. the hd itself is an EIDE, not a SATA drive.

Has anyone had any luck with this drive or should i keep the Fujusti drive in it that came wiht this machine? I just belive WD is a much better brand than Fujusti.

WD doesnt have any info for updating the firmeware on this device.

Thanks!
-B

does anyone else have this HD in their t43 machine and has it worked without any issues?

This is debatable, as the Hitachi's are also said to have only ROM, which can't be flashed.

May depend on the exact model though.

I swear that my solution is effective for any retail model. The only limitation is that the model must be difined in the FW.PRO file.

I guess that should be okay.
I have 7K100 with Firmware MCZOA40M and updated with MCZIA51A..
Everything works fine and great.

Thanks again Messar.

You may or should send this message privately to one of Lenovo/IBM CEO especially at Europe..(I heard one of them was very mad when he/she tried to upgrade HD with aftermarket one and saw the famous 2010 message and have to live with it)

I also updated my 100GB 7k100 Hitachi with the IBM/Lenovo firmware (MCZIA51A) provided by Messar. No more 2010 error on my T43.

Thanks again Messar.

now if i could only get it to do that with my WD Scorpio drive. :\

Where did you guys buy your 7K100 100G? I guess the probability of the same firmware will be bigger if buy from the same source.

ZipZoomFly http://www.zipzoomfly.com (formerly googlegear). I bought mine back in January.

Guys,

The reason you get an error when using non supporteddrives in the T43 machine 1872/2668 is that they both have a paralell to Serial bridge controller built in to the machines. Wehn using drives of non IBM/Lenovo option the machine warn the customer with the 2010 error that some instructions might not be supported on that actual drive when using specific serial ATA compatible software. So the machine works as designed.

Cheers,

I think most of us grasp the concept of the 2010 warning message (it's not a true error). Most of us doing this are willing to accept the risks in order to either have the fastest drives at our disposal, or because we want to keep a few more dollars in our pocket (or both!).

Many computers have this chipset. It's not at all uncommon. But only IBM laptops seem to have this limitation. I've been searching for another brand that uses the chipset and has such a limitation in place. To date I've found none.

I just ordered the seagate 80gb 7200 rpm that everyone's talking about. First I accidentally ordered the SATA version till I realized it was ata. I opted for the saturday delivery so I will have this ready to go by next week for my trip.

I forgot to mention that this drive is only $143.99 at Onsale.com.

Seagate 80gb 7200 rpm drive came in today. Doesn't seem that much noisier to me than the 40gb 5400 rpm that came stock. I was able to install Windows with no problem. No firmware upgrades or hacks were required to get this baby to work.

Thanks for all the help finding this drive.

I just put an Hitachi 100G 7200rpm hard drive into a T42 with no problems. No error messages, no issues. I cloned the old drive (40G) to the Hitachi 100G. This is the second Thinkpad I've upgraded HDD's on and have never had an issue. The prior one was a T23 where I replaced the orginal HDD with an Hitachi.

Hitachi was making all the OEM Thinkpad drives prior to the sale to Lenovo. The originals might have said IBM, but they were made by Hitachi. Has Lenovo started manufacturering their own drives?

No, Lenovo hasn't. Nor do I think they will, as that's an expensive industry to get into and keep up with (R&D is quite high, and it's competitive).

I'm confused... Can you explain? Should we NOT order SATA?

I just ordered a Seagate Momentus 7200.1 ST910021A 100GB drive from ZipZoomFly.com for my T43.

According to this article:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_w ... hard_disks
the ST910021A is supposed to work out of the box. That is the model number for the non-SATA drive.

Note that ZipZoomFly has both the SATA and the Ultra ATA version of this drive availabe. I ordered the Ultra ATA version (going by product number of page listed above - the SATA version is ST910021AS).

ZipZoomFly (model ordered)
Seagate Momentus 7200.1 ST910021A 100GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... ode=101599

ZipZoomFly
Seagate Momentus 7200.1 ST910021AS 100GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... ode=101520

Was this a mistake? Should I have ordered the SATA version?

Sorry if this is a stupid question. I would appreciate any advice as soon as possible - I just placed this order yesterday, so I may be able to correct the mistake before they ship.

Thanks in advance.

The T43 uses a standard IDE/ATA/IDE100/whatever hard drive.

NOT SATA.

There is an SATA bridge chipset

OK, thank you for the response.

But my understanding was that an SATA hard drive would take advantage of an SATA bridge chipset.

If this is too esoteric to explain, I understand. It sounds as if I'll be fine with the hard drive I ordered, so I'm happy on that point. But if you have time to explain this more, I'm interested.

SATA has a different connection... not sure how that would work. Nor have I read of anyone doing that.

The T60 uses SATA and can take advantage of the chipset.

The T43 has a bridge chipset, so it can use standard IDE drives, but it appears to the OS as a SATA drive.

The T43 has, for the Primary Drive, a SATA-PATA bridge with a SATA Controller; it appears to anything going through the controller and associated protocols as a SATA device. The drive, though, is PATA.

SATA II supports certain functions, such as native, this is on the hardware level without a HAL running on top, hotswap and command queueing that PATA doesn't support.

The SATA connector is keyed too, as well as slimmer and smaller than the PATA connector.

HTH

Thanks - that explains it pretty well. What is the advantage of this? Is it just a matter of compatibility?



Thanks for the explanation. This stuff is just barely within my brain's grasp, though...

For anyone following along, I found these pages helpful:
PATA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA
SATA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA

I believe it was done for cost and supply issues. SATA 2.5 inch drives are still somewhat new, and availability is more limited than IDE drives which exist in more quantities than demand requires.

I have the T43 2686m6u and just purchased the Hitachi HTS721080G9AT00 - 80 GB 7200 RPM and also have the 1.24 bios. I didn't think the bios update worked. But if I wait a few seconds after the initial 2010 error, I do not have to press the ESC key and the computer continues on after the 2010 error. I am having a little difficulty with the procedure to flash the hard drive firmware, but I will press on (having problems extracting the .img file). Besides the initial error, the T43 seems to work fine. I did notice a speed improvement from the OEM 60 GB 5400 RPM drive. The Hitachi drive is quiet and seems like a good buy. Newegg has them for around $160.

I have to say, the T43 was a bit more money, but it is really a premium product compared to the Dell's we buy at work. The bundled software, construction and this forum make me a happy customer.

anyone knows if its possible to get rid of 2010 error with
HTE726040M9AT00 - 40GB

I have the famed 39T2585 100GB 7200

Will this drive work in my r52 without a hitch, im under the impression that it shares the same chip set with the t43.