Take a look at our
ThinkPads.com HOME PAGE
For those who might want to contribute to the blog, start here: Editors Alley Topic
Then contact Bill with a Private Message

Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

T40/T41/T42/T43 Series
Post Reply
Message
Author
xpr
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: toronto, ontario Canada

Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#1 Post by xpr » Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:43 pm

My original 60G hard drive now has some bad tracks. The system, Windows XP, prompts me to check the hardware each time I restart my computer. I just ignore the prompt and everything still works fine.


Is this a big deal?

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 17303
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#2 Post by ajkula66 » Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:47 pm

Yes.

Backup your data immediately and start shopping for a replacement drive.

Good luck.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

xpr
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: toronto, ontario Canada

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#3 Post by xpr » Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:54 pm

But my hard drive has a preloaded Windows XP system, along with other IBM utility softwares. If I buy a new one, how can I recover them?

ajkula66 wrote:Yes.

Backup your data immediately and start shopping for a replacement drive.

Good luck.

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 17303
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#4 Post by ajkula66 » Thu Mar 08, 2012 5:16 pm

You can burn a set of recover CDs (presuming that the recovery partition hasn't been corrupted) or buy a set.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

Orclas
Sophomore Member
Posts: 192
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 4:12 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#5 Post by Orclas » Thu Mar 08, 2012 7:35 pm

And don't wait, don't even use the machine except for preparations for a new drive. It will fail, it's just a matter of time.
T61 (8895-2FG) T8100/Intel X3100/SXGA+/Intel 320 SSD/4GB/Win7 x64 Pro
T400 (retired, couldn't quite stand it)
T40 (retired and missed)

jayton4
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 619
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:00 am
Location: United States

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#6 Post by jayton4 » Thu Mar 08, 2012 8:25 pm

run a program that can do a SMART system scan to see if you have reallocated sectors.

Try Crystal Disk Info at: http://release.crystaldew.info/redirect ... nfoSetupEn
jayton4
Current models/upgrades:
T410 2518X01- 8GB, Corsair Force GT 120GB
T410s 2901A3U- 8GB, Intel 6300 WiFi, Crucial m4 256GB w/ mSATA>microSATA adapter
T420s 4174PPU- 16GB, Intel 520 180GB, Crucial M550 512GB mSATA, Intel 6300 WiFi
and a stack of classics in storage

xpr
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: toronto, ontario Canada

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#7 Post by xpr » Thu Mar 08, 2012 11:22 pm

Thanks but I don't have an idea on how to "burn a set of recovery CDs" from my machine. Forgive me since I never did that before.

I visited a computer store this afternoon. The store owner said replacing a 60G hard drive with Windows XP installed would cost $75 (not including tax). I am not sure whether it is a reasonable price. He also said I could purchase the same hard drive but without Windows XP installed at a lower price.

So here comes my question:

Is it tedious to install Windows XP onto a new hard drive using the "set of recovery CDs".



ajkula66 wrote:You can burn a set of recover CDs (presuming that the recovery partition hasn't been corrupted) or buy a set.

RealBlackStuff
Admin Emeritus
Admin Emeritus
Posts: 23809
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
Location: Loch Garman, Éire

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#8 Post by RealBlackStuff » Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:30 am

Start reading the HOW TO... Forum and search other postings.
Here's the FAQ "How to use Recovery CD Disc Set"
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

Orclas
Sophomore Member
Posts: 192
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 4:12 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#9 Post by Orclas » Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:40 am

And no, it's not hard, nor really tedious if you know your way around at all with Windows.

It will take some time though, initial install perhaps a little more than an hour and then another few hours to download and install all the accumulated Windows updates (including service packs). Most of that time you can just leave it to run and drop by every once in a while to see if it's done and needs a restart.

Have you moved your personal files from the old HDD yet? I would do that asap if I were you, to a USB disk, network share or similar. Don't forget stuff like browser favourites, any locally stored mail etc.
T61 (8895-2FG) T8100/Intel X3100/SXGA+/Intel 320 SSD/4GB/Win7 x64 Pro
T400 (retired, couldn't quite stand it)
T40 (retired and missed)

xpr
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: toronto, ontario Canada

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#10 Post by xpr » Fri Mar 09, 2012 10:19 am

Thanks. But it is too long and most importantly, it does not tell how to burn these CDs.
RealBlackStuff wrote:Start reading the HOW TO... Forum and search other postings.
Here's the FAQ "How to use Recovery CD Disc Set"

xpr
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: toronto, ontario Canada

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#11 Post by xpr » Fri Mar 09, 2012 10:30 am

Will the "red point" (the red button in the middle of the keyboard) still work after reinstalling the system?

RealBlackStuff
Admin Emeritus
Admin Emeritus
Posts: 23809
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
Location: Loch Garman, Éire

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#12 Post by RealBlackStuff » Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:08 am

Take the finger out and do some homework!
Use this special Google Forum-search to find answers here.
All of this has been chewed over ad nauseam!
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

FTC
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 343
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2005 10:02 am
Location: Barcelona, Spain

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#13 Post by FTC » Tue Mar 13, 2012 9:31 am

Hi, even better.. look for a disk imaging utility such as drive snapshot, norton ghost, acronis true image or such and clone your disk into a new one. This way you avoid to have to 'reinstall' all the sw... Note that some/most drive manufacturers do even offer such utilities from their web page for installing their drives. (WD, seagate do). You will need however some way to connect your new disk while still using the old one, but this is easy if you have a USB enclosure or similar.
760CD -> 770X -> 600E -> T23 -> T40 -> T42 -> T400 -> T430
Thinkpad T430 i5 3320M 320GB HD, 8GB Mem

Orclas
Sophomore Member
Posts: 192
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 4:12 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#14 Post by Orclas » Tue Mar 13, 2012 3:19 pm

FTC wrote:Hi, even better.. look for a disk imaging utility such as drive snapshot, norton ghost, acronis true image or such and clone your disk into a new one.
As much as I like cloning myself, I wouldn't recommend that for a disk reporting bad sectors.
T61 (8895-2FG) T8100/Intel X3100/SXGA+/Intel 320 SSD/4GB/Win7 x64 Pro
T400 (retired, couldn't quite stand it)
T40 (retired and missed)

xpr
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: toronto, ontario Canada

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#15 Post by xpr » Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:55 pm

Today I asked a computer technician to replace my hard drive. But the old drive does not copy.

fschwep
Sophomore Member
Posts: 142
Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2004 9:51 am
Location: France + Netherlands

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#16 Post by fschwep » Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:30 pm

xpr wrote:Today I asked a computer technician to replace my hard drive. But the old drive does not copy.
generic computer technicians do not neccessarily know the Thinkpad way of doing things.
In any case, if the old drive has been used for years it is a good idea to do a fresh install. But if the old drive is still working for now, first make the set of recovery CDs. It's simple: go to Start-All Programs---> Access IBM --> Create Recovery discs. Then simply follow the instructions. This is assuming that recovery discs were never made from this computer - it can be done only once and is meant to be done by the first owner as soon as he starts up his new machine. I assume that this has been described to death in the How To section as well... (and Access IBM is also available direct, by pressing that big blue button in the top left corner of the keyboard, the computer will then explain to you how to do these things. It's an IBM, it was built by smart people to be used by non-tech corporate users on the road away from their IT departments).

Of course you or your tech will need to reinstall all your favorite applications as well. That takes time.

If your Thinkpad is still OK apart from the harddisk, I'd advise you to get a nice large new harddisk. They are relatively cheap compared to the old days (apart from the shortage caused by the floods in Thailand) and it remains to be seen how long PATA laptop drives will still be manufactured. Probably the best you can get is a Western Digital Scorpio drive, they exist up to 320 GB in the 2.5 inch PATA format and work without a hitch in a T42. In any case, no need to play around with say a 60 GB drive if you can get five times that size for a few dollars more. The only reason a store will offer you the 60 GB is that it's the only old-style PATA laptop drive they have had in stock since a long time and they want to get rid of it.
T42 (14"/250GB/1.5GB; NL; with minidock); R51 (15" flexview/40GB/1 GB). X31 (12"/320GB/1GB); T42 (14"/60GB/1GB; FR)

xpr
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: toronto, ontario Canada

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#17 Post by xpr » Wed Mar 14, 2012 8:57 pm

Thanks for your helpful reply, fschwep.


I bought a used 80GB hitachi from a small computer store, manufactured in May 2005.


This morning I made 1 CD, using "Create Rescue Media". It seemed successful. I assume this CD does not contain Windows XP or IBM softwares.


I'll try "Create Recovery Discs" tomorrow. (Actually I opened the program yesterday and it started to decompress stuff but since I did not have CDs nearby, I cancelled the program after it finished decompression. I hope this decompression would not use up the "only one time" policy.) I need to buy 7 CDs? That's a lot. Can I use an 8GB USB key instead? But there seems to be no such option.

xpr
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: toronto, ontario Canada

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#18 Post by xpr » Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:59 am

I have successfully made 7 recovery CDs (1 Rescue and Recovery CD + 6 Product Recovery CDs), using the "Create Rescue Discs" program. It took about one hour.


Then I swapped the new hard drive, powered on my computer, and insert the Rescue and Recovery CD into the CD-ROM. The installation seems work well.

Orclas
Sophomore Member
Posts: 192
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 4:12 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#19 Post by Orclas » Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:35 pm

Excellent.

If you have any content you still want from the old drive, then it may well be worth to buy a USB adapter and hook up your old drive. Unless it's totally gone it will show up as an external drive with the entire file tree available and many files can often be copied.
T61 (8895-2FG) T8100/Intel X3100/SXGA+/Intel 320 SSD/4GB/Win7 x64 Pro
T400 (retired, couldn't quite stand it)
T40 (retired and missed)

xpr
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: toronto, ontario Canada

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#20 Post by xpr » Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:08 pm

I found, using the software HD Tune Pro, that the new hard drive has actually been used for ~5,000 hours, even worse, it has pending sectors ...


I went back to the store and the owner gave me another one. However, it also does not work: blue screen at the 5th product disc.


Where can I buy an unused hard drive for T42? I am in Canada.


Interestingly, the same store has a second-hand Thinkpad T42 for sale at a price of $150, but replacing my battery and hard drive has cost me $110. My fan is also quite noisy now; it would cost another $45 if I replace it.
Last edited by xpr on Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 17303
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#21 Post by ajkula66 » Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:27 pm

You can get a good fan for well under $25 depending on the type that you need.

Try NewEgg in Canada and see what hard drives they can offer...as well as eBay...

Good luck.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

Orclas
Sophomore Member
Posts: 192
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 4:12 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#22 Post by Orclas » Fri Mar 16, 2012 1:38 am

Sorry to hear about your problems and well done finding and using a disk diagnosis tool!

I would definitely ask for all money back on the HDDs. Selling a used disk is fine, but the dealer should at least take responsibility for it having no errors at purchase, it's a very simple thing to check (as you noticed yourself).

2.5" PATA drives at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... 2f%20ATA-6

Forum thread about T42 fan replacement: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=96111
T61 (8895-2FG) T8100/Intel X3100/SXGA+/Intel 320 SSD/4GB/Win7 x64 Pro
T400 (retired, couldn't quite stand it)
T40 (retired and missed)

xpr
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: toronto, ontario Canada

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#23 Post by xpr » Fri Mar 16, 2012 2:12 pm

HD Tune Pro reports the following on my current hard drive:


ID Current Worst Threshold Data Status
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reallocated Event Count 100 100 0 275 warning
Current Pending Sector 100 100 0 21 warning

jayton4
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 619
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:00 am
Location: United States

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#24 Post by jayton4 » Sat Mar 17, 2012 6:36 am

xpr wrote: Where can I buy an unused hard drive for T42? I am in Canada.
You have TigerDirect.ca stores around Toronto. The hard drive prices are low, but tech services are priced kind of high.
jayton4
Current models/upgrades:
T410 2518X01- 8GB, Corsair Force GT 120GB
T410s 2901A3U- 8GB, Intel 6300 WiFi, Crucial m4 256GB w/ mSATA>microSATA adapter
T420s 4174PPU- 16GB, Intel 520 180GB, Crucial M550 512GB mSATA, Intel 6300 WiFi
and a stack of classics in storage

xpr
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: toronto, ontario Canada

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#25 Post by xpr » Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:32 am

Thanks everyone. Finally I returned the hard drive and got half of the money back.

I decide to buy a new one. Do you have any to recommend? Below are my most important requirements:

(1) Good screen. I do a lot of programming, web browsing, and pdf file reviewing.
(2) Quite.
(3) Portable (for a man)
(4) Can last at least 3 years without trouble.

robert213
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 479
Joined: Tue May 16, 2006 11:17 am
Location: IN: Indianapolis

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#26 Post by robert213 » Thu Mar 21, 2013 4:19 pm

fschwep wrote:In any case, if the old drive has been used for years it is a good idea to do a fresh install. But if the old drive is still working for now, first make the set of recovery CDs. It's simple: go to Start-All Programs---> Access IBM --> Create Recovery discs. Then simply follow the instructions. This is assuming that recovery discs were never made from this computer - it can be done only once and is meant to be done by the first owner as soon as he starts up his new machine.
Sitting on my desk is a IBM T40 that I purchased but powered-up perhaps 3 or 4 times -- just to verify that battery stills holds a charge. The Windows desktop has all of the familiar IBM-related things like Access IBM and Battery MaxMiser.

I would like to burn Windows Recovery CD(s).

I start "Access IBM"
Under "Learn", I see...
Use System Features, Configure, Protect & recover, Download & upgrade and Stay current
Under Protec&recover, I see...
Protect computer data, Secure your computer, Diagnose a problem, Recover you computer data.

Using Control Panel, Administration Tools, Computer Management, Disk Management
I verify that the "Service Partition" is present (FAT32, 4.10GB)

Can I presume that recovery discs were previously made from this computer?

On eBay, there is a listing for official IBM T41 2373 Recovery CD. My machine is T40 2373. Will this T41 recovery CD be able to install Windows on my machine?
TuuS-built T61: T8100 2.1 GHz, SXGA+, NVS140M, Patriot 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800, Samsung 840 Pro; Thinkpad T30: P4M 1.8 GHz, HYNIX 512 MB PC2700S DDR, Hitachi Travelstar 7K100; SilverStone Raven RVS01; 97 Volvo 850-R, 85 Mitsubishi Starion-ES, Keilwerth SX-90R, Ensoniq TS-12, Kawai EP-608

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 17303
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#27 Post by ajkula66 » Thu Mar 21, 2013 5:13 pm

robert213 wrote:
On eBay, there is a listing for official IBM T41 2373 Recovery CD. My machine is T40 2373. Will this T41 recovery CD be able to install Windows on my machine?
Yes, no problem.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

systemBuilder
Sophomore Member
Posts: 216
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 5:11 am
Location: Palo Alto, CA

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#28 Post by systemBuilder » Tue Apr 30, 2013 12:07 am

Recovery CDs are nice if somebody else is making them. But, they don't always work, and eventually you may need to restore a machine without owning recovery CDs.

The first thing you need to do is to get the Thinkpad drivers for your machine onto a flash drive, mainly the 802.11 or other networking driver, because you are going to reinstall Windows-XP from an install-CD, and you'll need the networking drivers so you can download the rest of the drivers from the Lenovo support website after XP is running. No networking = chicken and egg problem after Windows XP installed.

Then, buy a Dell Windows-XP SP3 CD on Ebay for $12 or whatever. Every Dell computer came with a Windows-XP clone disk (thanks for NOTHING, IBM). The activation code on the bottom of your machine will allow you reinstall Windows-XP from the SP3 CD. After Windows-XP installed (and by the way, this might require a phone call to microsoft support where you talk to a very nice Indian guy), you are ready to turn your generic XP machine back into a Thinkpad.

Now, suck down every last thing you find on the thinkpad driver download website. I recommend downloading first, the "ThinkVantage Updater", because that one utility will scan your machine and download 300 MB of tools (15 separate tools) for your laptop, after Windows XP is installed.

Good luck !! I did this over xmas 2012 when my disk went bad, and it killed the crypto service. Turns out, without a crypto service, your laptop is useless. 820.11 wep doesn't work. Installation of ANYTHING does NOT work because it cannot check the digest key. Useless !! Windows XP was designed by monkies all of them on typewriters !!
=======================
Lots of thinkpads (10+) but I would never be so stupid as to list them all because that would spam everybody's searches and people who *do* try to list them all would be jerks.

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
SuperUserGeorge
Posts: 17303
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: Thinkaod T42 hard drive replacement

#29 Post by ajkula66 » Tue Apr 30, 2013 12:14 am

systemBuilder wrote:The first thing you need to do is to get the Thinkpad drivers for your machine onto a flash drive, mainly the 802.11 or other networking driver, because you are going to install Windows-XP from a raw disk, and you'll need the networking drivers so you can download the rest of the drivers from the Lenovo support website.
No need for that if he's installing XP from the original restore set...
Then, buy a Dell Windows-XP SP3 CD on Ebay for $12 or whatever. Every Dell computer came with a Windows-XP clone disk (thanks for NOTHING, IBM). The activation code on the bottom of your machine will allow you reinstall Windows-XP from the SP3 CD. After Windows-XP installed (and by the way, this might require a phone call to microsoft support where you talk to a very nice Indian guy), you are ready to turn your generic XP machine back into a Thinkpad.
SP3 is available as a free download... :roll:
Now, suck down every last thing you find on the thinkpad driver download website. I recommend downloading first, the "ThinkVantage Updater", because that one utility will sample your machine and download 300 MB of tools (15 separate tools) for your laptop, after Windows XP is installed.
It's called "System Update" and one should choose carefully what to install so they don't end up with more bloat than really needed...
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “ThinkPad T40/T41/T42/T43 Series”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 70 guests