Laptops Laptop HDD help!

S

shr1k

Contributor
(Ok I thought I'd be smart and hack around myself once, and got moderately burned, so now I'm just going to do the sensible thing and ask TE..)

I have a 2 yr-old IBM ThinkPad R52 (1858-A64) which is in top-notch condition, and I am totally in love with it. So can't really bear to part with it - just the thought of someone else smacking my lovely with their grubby fingers..ugh..

Well, my point is, it came only with a 40gb hdd, and this was fine as long as it was just sitting in one place and I had it permanently hooked up to bigger external drives. But now my student days are over, and I'm a more 'mobile professional' now :ohyeah: so i wanted to upgrade this to at least 120 gigs. But I have no idea if my lappie's hdd is SATA or PATA...how do I find this out?? Pls pls help!

p.s: should my queries be more concise..? I tend to have typing diarrhoea..
 
0: Download and use HDtune. It will show the model number of ur HDD. Get those and google :) The first 2-3 results should give you specs of the HDD, whether SATA/PATA as well :)

1 option: search on the net for specs? :) shud be there on the lenovo/ibm lappy website?

2. simpler solution: just open up the small panel on the back which covers the HDD (I assume ur lappy has one of those :)) and read the specs written on the HDD itself?

3. Last option, remove the HDD :D if it has lots of pins at the end, its PATA :)
 
Thanks for the info, techie.

I scrounged around the IBM/Lenovo support sites (which are largely awesome, btw) but my particular product info site, under the HDD bit, says just "ATA Burst Storage" or some such, doesn't mention serial or parallel. I've gone the lappie innards route as well, and googling those gobbledygook numbers gives no great info (weird, but true)

Although I did notice a lot of pins at the end of the hdd, rather a la desktop HDDs..and I read someplace that a SATA HDD connector should look something like a card, like RAM modules?

So...lots of pins + 2 yr lappie = almost certainly PATA...unless there are other types I need to worry about...
 
shr1k said:
Thanks for the info, techie.

I scrounged around the IBM/Lenovo support sites (which are largely awesome, btw) but my particular product info site, under the HDD bit, says just "ATA Burst Storage" or some such, doesn't mention serial or parallel. I've gone the lappie innards route as well, and googling those gobbledygook numbers gives no great info (weird, but true)

Although I did notice a lot of pins at the end of the hdd, rather a la desktop HDDs..and I read someplace that a SATA HDD connector should look something like a card, like RAM modules?

So...lots of pins + 2 yr lappie = almost certainly PATA...unless there are other types I need to worry about...
Click to expand...

Lots of pins : like 20 or more in a rectangular pattern = PATA :)

SATA has just 2 connectors, no pins :)
 
shr1k said:
Ordered a 160gig PATA drive from Amarbir *fingers crossed*

Super, thanks :D
TE rocks, as always...
Click to expand...

Well ,
No Need To Cross Fingers ,I will Make sure I Post the Details Before i Send It ,We Need To Sort this Cos If you Get The Wrong One NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO USEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe
 
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