T420 not detecting second HDD?

[protomic]

I just got my new T420 and everything looks to be ok so far. However, I wanted to add a second HDD in place of the optical drive and it is not being detected by the system. I am using the same adapter and HDD that I had before in my T400, and it still works fine there.

Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this problem?

[ExJamJus]

protomic,

in device manager, is it there? done a hardware scan? In power manager, do you have optical drive turned off?

[protomic]

Hi ExJamJus,

The second HDD does not show up in Device Manager, including after scanning for hardware changes. How do you disable the optical drive in power manager?

I've also tried looking at the BIOS but the options are limited.

[ExJamJus]

If you were to swap back to the optical drive, it works fine?

In power manager, there is an "Idle settings" in Advance Mode. Check for the "Turn off optical drive to save power" something like that. (do not have a ThinkPad with me, am using an IdeaPad now)

[protomic]

The optical drive is recognized immediately when I swap it back in, and I can swap an optical drive into my T400 and it is also OK. I will try the power management option, but I'm not sure it will make a difference (I don't use power manager on my T400).

Any other possibilities? The drive does not show up in BIOS under the boot order options. Is it confirmed that the hard drive bay expansion for the T400 is compatible with the T420?

[ThorsHammer]

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protomic wrote:

I am using the same adapter and HDD that I had before in my T400, and it still works fine there.

Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this problem?

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The T400 adaptor is not compatible with the T420.  You need a ThinkPad Serial ATA Hard Drive 9.5mm Bay Adapter III Part # 43N3412 or compatible equivalent.  The Adapter II from the T400 isn't. 

[protomic]

Hmm... well that's not great news, but thanks for the answer. I already had to buy a new dock for the T420... Would the part you quoted support a larger drive like the 12.5mm 1TB that are available now? The gap seems large enough.

[ahsan]

Hello Experts,

I have a T420 and I want to add a 2nd HDD to it. I have got a 500 GB SATA HDD made for Lenovo and a TP SATA HDD Bay Adapter III (Part Number 43N3413). When I add the HDD in bay, slide it in, boot the laptop..2nd HDD is not showing up in My Computer/Windows Explorer. I can see the HDD in Device Manager as a Disk Drive. Not sure how to access this 2nd Hard Drive.

Please help me get the 2nd HDD working.

Thanks,

Ahsan

[tripplec]

Well is device manager is seeing it then.

The drive must be partitioned

The drive must be formated (NTFS)

Then applications will see it and Windows Explorer will show it. Blank drives will NEVER appear.

[ExJamJus]

@Protomic.

Not sure if this will help but see the specs here.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?...

@ahsan,

Good point from tripplec, try to search for Windows Partition tools on Google. There are a few good ones. Or you can use a desktop, plug in the HDD then use Windows retail CD to create partition.