T61P and Seagate Momentus 5400.6 500GB Hard Drive ....

[Surfup]

All,

I just bought the Seagate 500GB 5400RPM to replace the Hitachi 160GB 7200RPM. I used Acronis True Image 9.5 to clone the disk. Everything copied over just fine. However, I could not boot from the new disk. The T61P did not recognized the new hard drive? I used WinXP CD and boot off of it and it did not detect the new hard drive? I also used Acronis Disk Director to ensure that the new HD is a Primary/Active?

Note, I have updated the T61P laptop to the latest firmware, and latest storage drivers prior to  clone it. Still no love.

If I connected the new HD using the SATA to USB external and boot off of the original disk. The system can see it just fine.

I am not sure what else I can try? Any advice.

Cheers,

[fmyhr]

Hi Surfup,

With the 5400.6 installed internally on SATA, if you boot from SeaTools for DOS CD does it see the 5400.6? If so, it's not a bad idea to run the SeaTools tests on your new drive.

If SeaTools does NOT see your new drive, then you might try:

1. Change the BIOS settings SATA mode from "compatible" to "AHCI";
2. Jumper the 5400.6 to force 1.5 Gb/s.

Please post back with results of above...

[globalkiwi]

Surfup,  Do you have the new drive in the UltrabBay slot or the primary HDD caddy?  I know that w/- the Seagate Momentus drives in the UltraBay you need to jumper them to force them to operate in SATA 1 mode (a T61 limitation). 

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=193775&Hilite=jumper

[Surfup]

Thanks for quick reply.

I down loaded the SeaTools and it see the new hard drive ST9500325AS (-PM) with firmware version 0001SDM1. I also down loaed the hard drive firmware FWSH24 (released 01/09/09) and boot off of the CD. However, there is no new drivers to update for the Seagate Momentus 5400.6.

So, as per your suggestion on (2) I jumped the pins to force the transfer rate to 1.5Gb/s. Still no love.

Any other suggestions?

Cheers,

[fmyhr]

So it looks like you do not have a hardware problem, since SeaTools sees the drive. Probably the 1.5 Gb/s jumper is not needed, though it's interesting to know that it might be if the drive is installed in the UltraBay (thanks globalkiwi!).

It seems to me that there must be a problem with the drive imaging/cloning. Another member is having a similar problem with their R400 and True Image. In that thread, ortegaluis suggested repeating the cloning process with your new drive installed on the internal SATA and the old drive connected via USB. Or is that how you did it the first time?

It might also help to download a trial of the latest True Image and give that a try... maybe Acronis has fixed some problems with SATA drives?

Please post back with your progress (and hopefully success). Good luck!

[ortegaluis]

I would recommend that you have the 500GB internally and your old drive in the Ultrabay adapter or USB adapter. Then use Easeus Disk Copy to clone the hard drive. It doesn't have any settings to change and does the same job. Also, it's free.

Unfortunately, there are occasions where you run into these type of complications. Fortunately it's not hardware issues and hopefully with a little time will be resolved. Please post back with any additional questions or success .

[Surfup]

Yes, I used the latest Acronis ECHO for server 9.5.x. Note, I used the older Acronis version 9.1 to cloned from the laptop original 80Gb disk to Hitachi 160GB about 6 months ago. Now, I ran out of disk space and try to clone from the Hitachi 160GB 7200RMP to the Seagate 500GB. I ran VMware ESX and Workstation on the laptop which I need disk space to create Virtual Machines.

I have the Seagate 500GB on SATA to USB connection when I cloned it. And I have not try to install it internal and re-clone, yet.

Thanks

[Surfup]

Thanks and I will give Easeus DC a try. Might be the free sofware working  better than the paid Acronis TI

Cheers,

[ortegaluis]

Not exactly. Acronis True Image has other uses besides cloning hard drives, while Easeus Disk Copy can only clone a complete hard drive or a partition.

If all you needed to do was clone a hard drive, then Easeus Disk Copy would be great for this. Remember that Acronis True Image [trial version] can also do this, but personally prefer Easeus DC.

[Surfup]

No, I installed the new drive on external SATA/USB when do the cloning. I did not know that you can connect the hard drive via theUltra Bay slot? Do you need to buy the adapter for it? Also, how much it cost? I might want to hook up another SATA disk and run software SAN like SanMelody to create a iSCSI target for testing VMware ESX?

Also, do you know what type of the PCMCIA slot on the T61P? Since, I can buy an eXpress card and connect external SATA drive as well? Just wonder which slot/bay provide fast access and cost?

Cheers,