laptop hard disk, desktop controller

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

You can buy adapters that let you hook the 2.5" laptop HD to a desktop
machine, but my experience with the one we bought wasn't good. Seemed to be
fussy about which drives it would allow you to connect.

A better solution might be to buy a 2.5" external USB case. That way, you
can continue to use the drive as removable/portable storage. Ebay or any
on-line retailer would have them, as well as (probably) your local vendors.
I'd guess you can probably buy one for around $25, but I'm just pulling a
number out of my butt.

Clint

"Tom Purvis" <team_bfd@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:bd8fbcd1.0408090802.37d001c1@posting.google.com...
> I've done a bit of google searching, so I expect this will be
> do-able, but I was hoping to get a bit of helpful information
> first. In exchange, I've got a story that will almost certainly
> be funny to this group.
>
> Here's the story: took the wife out camping for our anniversary
> a week ago. When we got home, I saw that my office door had been
> left open. Normally it's kept closed to keep the cats out.
>
> My ThinkPad T22 sits on a stand I made so that I can use its
> display, while I have a seperate keyboard-mouse setup. I hit
> the power button to check email and it didn't come up. One of
> the indicator lights came on, but no action. More trys at
> getting it to power up failed with various results.
>
> Eventually I picked up the box, turned it around, and started
> looking for clues. Little bit of odd looking liquid on the back.
> Slippery to the touch. Hmmm. Snif? Cat pee.
>
> Yes friends, my wife's neutered male cat entered my office, and
> made a little "comment" about me taking her away for a few days.
> Impressive surgical strike. There wasn't any fluid on the desk,
> or even on the stand. It all went right into the machine's network
> jack, with a little oversplash going through the opening between
> display and lower case to the power switch.
>
> Long story short, the machine won't power up. Of course, I NEED
> the data on the HD. I can't really afford or justify the cost it
> would take to get the data officially recovered. The machine itself
> is old enough that I can't justify more than $100 or so for repairs.
> If I can get the data from the disk, I may just shitcan the rest
> of the machine, or sell it cheap for parts.
>
> So the disk in there is just a plain ol' IDE drive, but with a
> smaller connector? I can get an adapter cable to connect it as
> slave to an ordinary IDE controller? Is the disk power standard,
> so I'll be able to hook it up to a power cable from a desktop
> machine's power supply?
>
> Any help appreciated. And I hope I gave you something to giggle
> about on a Monday.
> --
> Tom Purvis - http://www.arkansasvalley.net/tpurvis/

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

(May be a repeat of what the others have said, but what the hey.)

Tom Purvis wrote:
[snip]

> So the disk in there is just a plain ol' IDE drive, but with a
> smaller connector?

Essentially, yeah. This is true for pretty much *ALL*
ATAPI/PC-compatible laptop drives.



> I can get an adapter cable to connect it as
> slave to an ordinary IDE controller?

Yep. These adapters can be had pretty cheap on eBay. But be forewarned,
the IDE connectors on the laptop end of these adapters tend to be rather
stiff, and are difficult to insert and remove. Be careful not to break
anything on the drive's DELICATE circuit board.

If you don't want to fidget with jumpers and such (slave/master), just
plug it into your PC's secondary IDE channel (assuming there's nothing
already connected there).



> Is the disk power standard,
> so I'll be able to hook it up to a power cable from a desktop
> machine's power supply?

The hookup is built into the adapter and will plug into a regular HDD
molex plug. (FYI: desktop drives run on +12 and +5 VDC; laptop drives
run on +5 VDC only. That's why the adapter's plug will only have 2 wires
instead of four.)

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

There really should be no problems hooking the drive to a desktop using
an adapter.


Clint wrote:

> You can buy adapters that let you hook the 2.5" laptop HD to a desktop
> machine, but my experience with the one we bought wasn't good. Seemed to be
> fussy about which drives it would allow you to connect.
>
> A better solution might be to buy a 2.5" external USB case. That way, you
> can continue to use the drive as removable/portable storage. Ebay or any
> on-line retailer would have them, as well as (probably) your local vendors.
> I'd guess you can probably buy one for around $25, but I'm just pulling a
> number out of my butt.
>
> Clint
>
> "Tom Purvis" <team_bfd@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:bd8fbcd1.0408090802.37d001c1@posting.google.com...
>
>>I've done a bit of google searching, so I expect this will be
>>do-able, but I was hoping to get a bit of helpful information
>>first. In exchange, I've got a story that will almost certainly
>>be funny to this group.
>>
>>Here's the story: took the wife out camping for our anniversary
>>a week ago. When we got home, I saw that my office door had been
>>left open. Normally it's kept closed to keep the cats out.
>>
>>My ThinkPad T22 sits on a stand I made so that I can use its
>>display, while I have a seperate keyboard-mouse setup. I hit
>>the power button to check email and it didn't come up. One of
>>the indicator lights came on, but no action. More trys at
>>getting it to power up failed with various results.
>>
>>Eventually I picked up the box, turned it around, and started
>>looking for clues. Little bit of odd looking liquid on the back.
>>Slippery to the touch. Hmmm. Snif? Cat pee.
>>
>>Yes friends, my wife's neutered male cat entered my office, and
>>made a little "comment" about me taking her away for a few days.
>>Impressive surgical strike. There wasn't any fluid on the desk,
>>or even on the stand. It all went right into the machine's network
>>jack, with a little oversplash going through the opening between
>>display and lower case to the power switch.
>>
>>Long story short, the machine won't power up. Of course, I NEED
>>the data on the HD. I can't really afford or justify the cost it
>>would take to get the data officially recovered. The machine itself
>>is old enough that I can't justify more than $100 or so for repairs.
>>If I can get the data from the disk, I may just shitcan the rest
>>of the machine, or sell it cheap for parts.
>>
>>So the disk in there is just a plain ol' IDE drive, but with a
>>smaller connector? I can get an adapter cable to connect it as
>>slave to an ordinary IDE controller? Is the disk power standard,
>>so I'll be able to hook it up to a power cable from a desktop
>>machine's power supply?
>>
>>Any help appreciated. And I hope I gave you something to giggle
>>about on a Monday.
>>--
>>Tom Purvis - http://www.arkansasvalley.net/tpurvis/
>
>
>

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Tom Purvis <team_bfd@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Thanks everyone for the advice. I've ordered the 2.5" to 3.5"
> converter I'll need through eBay. Now I just need to figure
> out how to hack my way into the T22 to get the drive out.
> I'll hopefully be able to download a schematic/manual that
> will offer a clue.

Watch the movie!

http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/ [...] MIGR-45817

--
Regards,

James

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