Re: Disk Add on

[strat@atfs0.dsd.northrop.com (Scott Stratmoen)]

> I was quoted $420.  I went ahead and bought one (I figured since it was
> local if anything went wrong I could drive there and complain in person).
> I also got a price list which I didn't check until I got home.  It lists the
> drive at $399.  Oh well.  They said the drive is new, not refurbished, and
> it certainly is an IBM drive that fits in the TP750.  I think they had one
> left - even IBM doesn't have these in stock right now.

They can get more. I know that they had to order the drive for me. I
assume that they ordered to at that time. Anyone else should ask for
the $420 price!  (It's going to take a little while for me to get over
the $70....)

> Not quite.  The pins on the drive are offset from the pins on the 170MB
> drive by one.  i.e. the pins are in the same location relative to each
> other, but the pins on the 340MB drive are shifted about 2mm to the left.
> I went ahead and forced the cable that goes from the pins to the hard drive
> socket to fit (a little bit of creative folding, but it's still under some
> stress) and the drive works fine (I'm typing up on it right now).  I'm going
> to try to find a case though because I'm not comfortable with the way the
> cable doesn't quite fit.  Maybe now that I have a true blue IBM hard drive
> without a case I'll have a little more clout?

Very strange. Did you remove the jumper on one end of the connector? You
don't need it. The 340MB is exactly the same form, fit and function as
the 170MB drive. The cable plugs on without any folding, bending, etc.
Are you sure that you have the exact drive I purchased?

I would like another case and cable assembly, to put the 170MB drive in.
I don't know how practical it is to swap the drives though. The life of
the connectors are limited.

I assume that you didn't mess up the label over the screws. A floppy
label's backing makes a great way to preserve the glue surface!

> As a last resort I suppose I could leave it in and tell IBM to fix it if it
> breaks.

The only difference is that these drives have "IBM OEM" on the lable. The
ThinkPad drive is labeled for internal consumption only.

-- 
Scott A. Stratmoen | strat@ast.dsd.northrop.com
                   | (708) 259-9600 (ex 24762)