Just some info for those who want it. The T61 out of the factory has SATA I (1.5 gb/s) for the main internal HDD. The Ultrabay is PATA only. Installing the Middleton BIOS will allow the main HDD to reach SATA II (3.0 gb/s) but should be done with caution as you can brick the laptop. Even with the Middleton BIOS the Ultrabay will still only run at PATA speeds. There is no way around it. Most people install an SSD in the main bay for the SATA II speed with Middleton BIOS, and install a regular 7200rpm HDD in the Ultrabay for storage as it is not really useful for anything else because of the limited PATA speed.
+Mauro Romero It's not necessarily useless but until you re-flash the bios to Middleton you will never reach SATA II speed on the main HDD bay. The ultra bay will always run at PATA speed no matter what.
I installed the original hhd back to the ultrabay. But it showed Error 2102 hdd1 hard disk drive in ultrabay initialization error. are there any ways to solve it? thanks!
Re something mentioned briefly in vid, the Thinkpad T61 actually does have SATA 3 GB/s [often called "SATA 2"] capability but BIOS limits the SATA interface to 1.5 GB/s. However, there is an unofficial patch created by MIDDLETON that you can run [at your own risk] to unlock the 3 GB/s drive speed.
Thankyou so much for this video, I really appreciate the help! I liked that you dropped the screws because I was doing the same thing. It meant I didn't need to rewind haha!
Hi, I've got some questions... where did you buy that Hard Drive Bay, it's originaly from Lenovo with part no. 43N3412? Or is it some kind of 10 dollars copy, possible to buy on eBay or Amazon? I suppose, it's 9,5mm high, does it fit well? And question mentioned below, what about Midleton BIOS update to gettin full SATA II?
I am not much of a computer expert, but i had two questions: Why do you need to install a second HDD/SSD via Ultrabay? like what does it do... After you install the new hard drive, what OS is on it, or need to put, and how do I do that? thanks for the video!
I got one of these so I can boot a operating system from it, but everything I try and boot it comes up with just a flashing _ at the top left of the screen, any ideas?
can you put down a link for where you got the hard drive bay adapter. also i was planning on getting a second hard drive for my t61 and i wanted to know are there any hard drive that just aren't compatible to use with the t61? if there are i would appreciate if you could list them or at least say why certain drives aren't compatible
Hi, Nice video... Im looking at doing the same upgrade on my T61 7665 13G T7500 2.20ghz 4GB. Does it matter on the size of the SSD, i have seen there are some at 7.5mm and some at 9.3mm, Any info is much appreciated.
There are 3 different thicknesses of SSD in general use at the moment. 9.5, 8.0 & 6.0(or very close to those dimnensions-l'm on the road at the moment). with the Lenovo, because of the rubbers on the side of the HDD Caddy you get a very good fit. So the only element you need to be sure of is the position/height of the SSD when you screw it into the original HDD Caddy. l've done it with 2 SSDs of different thicknesses, both of them Lenovo T500. You need to have a good look inside the empty HDD Bay to see exactly how high the female receiving port is to accept the male connection from the new SSD. Even if the port is only a little bit out don't jam it in because you will likely succeed but there will be tension at the connection which will gradually break & destroy you SSD &/OR your female receiving port on your motherboard. In the 1st case that l did with the thicker SSD I just screwed it into the Caddy + l had the means to measure the relative 'Offsetts'. lt fitted perfectly. On the other T500 there seemed to be a small(0.2mm app) offset so l used 2 very thin pieces of plastic which l cut to size & fitted into the rubbers that take the caddy so that it nudged the SSD up that small amount so that everything aligned perfectly. It slotted in perfectly & no troubles after 2 years. l think the manufacturers of the SSDs align the holes in the sides of the SSDs to account for the know offsets in the different thicknesses, so it may not be an issue unless you unluckily get some early stock before this was taken into consideration. It may be that l was just overly careful & that l may not have needed the 2 pieces of packing plastic but the SSD just fitted in more positively when they were included. I think it might be best if you just do the job patiently & look closely at the alignment of the SSD port with the Laptop port & if you feel it's necessary do a small bit of packing on the rubbers. because the rubbers were a tiny bit firmer to slide in on the SSD with the plastic packers/padders l used a VERY Small amount of talcum powder which l rubbed in on the bottom of the rubbers to ease them in. Again, perhaps l could have just pushed them in more firmly without any probs but I'm not a trained PC Person but since it only takes 5 mins extra to be sure you have it all done accurately you have complete peace of mind afterwards. Maybe l should 'Hit it with a bigger hammer' but l suspect that might have gone in the opposite direction ;~). My relationship with my T500 goes up & down a bit sometimes, falling in & out & then back in love again occasionally..............maybe l should get myself a woman instead - all reasonable suggestions accepted. Ciao,Con
Hi, I have a T61 too, and I am considering buying an SSD drive for it. What SATA interface does it have? Can I buy SATA III drives? What version interface did you buy in this video? Thanks for your answer.
Upgrade to Middleton's BIOS to get full SATA II transfer rates. More info can be found at thinkpads(dot)com, forum. But don't take a BIOS upgrade lightly, it can ruin the computer under certain circumstances.
OOPS another scratch. I have an i7 T430, an i7 T420, a i5 X220T and a T61. My T61 has the best build quality and design but also the slowest. Not bad w SSD and more RAM.
