low cost replacement hard drive for IBM Thinkpad i1400 laptop

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ian Roberts
  • Start date Start date
I

Ian Roberts

Hi

Can anyone recommend a good UK supplier of used or refurbished laptop
drives?

My friends laptop drive is failing and I'm looking for a compatible
replacement.

I tried lime search and google but most suppliers dont have the lower
capacity drives in stock. As I've been unable to find out the maximum size
drive this laptop can use with I'd prefer to stick with the same size.

So I'm looking for a supplier that has them available.

Hope someone can help.

Thanks for any info.

BTW... This is the second IBM drive that has failed!! The original one was
replaced under warranty but the warranty has now expired. Apart from the
time IBM took to fix it and almost zilch customer support we dont want to
get another of their drives -especially in view of the prices they want!

Ian
 
The best way to go is online shopping. Here are two sites
http://www.pricescan.com/01011405.asp and http://www.pricewatch.com/. You
can select refurbished drives on the first site. You probably won't be able
to buy the same HD that came with the computer and the larger ones are more
expensive. The computer manufacturer can tell you what will work in the
computer which probably is much larger that the original. Some of the
vendors will probably be helpful also.
 
Jim Walker said:
The best way to go is online shopping. Here are two sites
http://www.pricescan.com/01011405.asp and http://www.pricewatch.com/. You
can select refurbished drives on the first site. You probably won't be able
to buy the same HD that came with the computer and the larger ones are more
expensive. The computer manufacturer can tell you what will work in the
computer which probably is much larger that the original. Some of the
vendors will probably be helpful also.
Click to expand...

Hi Jim

Thanks for taking the time to reply with the info and the links.

You may have missed that I asked about UK suppliers. Unfortunately both the
links only list US dealers.

Ian
 
Following my original post...

Does anyone know which IDE version the i series 1400 uses?

Some drives I have seen uses ATA 5 others use ATA100 would either of these
work with this laptop?

Some have said any 2.5" drive "should" work but as yet no one can give me a
firm YES! Obviously I don't want to order one and then find its
incompatible.

Ian
 
Hi Jim

Thanks for taking the time to reply with the info and the links.

You may have missed that I asked about UK suppliers. Unfortunately both the
links only list US dealers.

Ian
Click to expand...


I wouldn't use a refurbished/remanufactured drive on a bet.

I can't help you with a UK spupplier. In the USA I'l pay
about US$85 for a 20GB laptop drive and US$160 for a 60GB drive.

You need to match up the brackets and mounting hardware that is
specific to your laptop. Older laptop s used disks that were 12mm
think, but are no longer made, AFAIK. Current disks are 9mm think and
will work in old laptops (BIOS considerations aside if it's really old
and your new drive is really big.) You have to get the right brackets.

If you have to copy data from the old disk to the new disk there are
lots of ways to do this. Ask.
 
Al Dykes said:
I wouldn't use a refurbished/remanufactured drive on a bet.

I can't help you with a UK spupplier. In the USA I'l pay
about US$85 for a 20GB laptop drive and US$160 for a 60GB drive.

You need to match up the brackets and mounting hardware that is
specific to your laptop. Older laptop s used disks that were 12mm
think, but are no longer made, AFAIK. Current disks are 9mm think and
will work in old laptops (BIOS considerations aside if it's really old
and your new drive is really big.) You have to get the right brackets.

If you have to copy data from the old disk to the new disk there are
lots of ways to do this. Ask.
Click to expand...

Hi Al

Thanks for replying.

Yep I agree it is a bit of a bet going for a used drive but ironically
getting a new one is no guarantee either!

My friend has had two new IBM drives fail. Not the kind of performance I'd
expect from a global heavyweight!

Thanks for the heads up on the drive height. Ive since learnt that this
laptop uses 9mm drives.

I have no worries about getting the data off the drive as long as it lives
long enough! I have an external 10Gb USB Lacie drive that I can backup to. I
won it in a competition a few years back. Its been one of the most useful
things in the world I never bought! And I had never even thought of getting
one prior to winning it! Its amazingly robust - it uses a Toshiba 2.5" drive
and this thing has been bouncing around inside bags and cases for miles and
miles and its never skipped a beat.

Most dealers Ive spoken to can supply laptop drives but so far none have
been willing to give me a definite yes on compatibility. Ghee whizz do they
really expect me to buy it first and just hope it works!!!!

I'm getting pretty fed up with the shite service and abysmal product
knowledge of these suppliers - do they want to sell their products or what?

Thanks for listening. Rant Over.

Ian I^)
 
Hi Al

Thanks for replying.

Yep I agree it is a bit of a bet going for a used drive but ironically
getting a new one is no guarantee either!

My friend has had two new IBM drives fail. Not the kind of performance I'd
expect from a global heavyweight!

Thanks for the heads up on the drive height. Ive since learnt that this
laptop uses 9mm drives.

I have no worries about getting the data off the drive as long as it lives
long enough! I have an external 10Gb USB Lacie drive that I can backup to. I
won it in a competition a few years back. Its been one of the most useful
things in the world I never bought! And I had never even thought of getting
one prior to winning it! Its amazingly robust - it uses a Toshiba 2.5" drive
and this thing has been bouncing around inside bags and cases for miles and
miles and its never skipped a beat.

Most dealers Ive spoken to can supply laptop drives but so far none have
been willing to give me a definite yes on compatibility. Ghee whizz do they
really expect me to buy it first and just hope it works!!!!

I'm getting pretty fed up with the shite service and abysmal product
knowledge of these suppliers - do they want to sell their products or what?

Thanks for listening. Rant Over.

Ian I^)
Click to expand...

You might check into uk.comp.sys.laptops for local sources.

comp.sys.laptops can probably answer questions about specific models
of laptops and drives. You haven't said what model you are working on.

I don't think laptop compatibility issues are any differerent that
IDE compatibility on desktop systems. The connection dumbs down
to whichever is slower, the controller or the disk, and it works.

Some disks draw more power than others, which might reduce
battery hours a little bit.

Tom's Hardware (www.tomshardware.com) has had reviews of laptop disks.
 
Al Dykes said:
You might check into uk.comp.sys.laptops for local sources.

comp.sys.laptops can probably answer questions about specific models
of laptops and drives. You haven't said what model you are working on.
Click to expand...
I don't think laptop compatibility issues are any
differerent that IDE compatibility on desktop systems.
Click to expand...

They can be, particularly with drive capacity.

With desktop systems all you really need to worry about is whether
the bios suffers from one of the problems like the 32GB limit with
relatively modern systems. With laptops you dont necessarily even have
a proper drive table in the bios where you can set a USER drive type.
The connection dumbs down to whichever is
slower, the controller or the disk, and it works.
Click to expand...

Sure, but not necessarily with drive capacity.
 
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