Ebay Ultrabay HD tray Review + T400 Flex Fix !

Hellllloooo

ULTRABAY SATA TRAY
Lets start with the tray review. While researching on if Ebay ultrabay Sata trays, I found out that people really weren't sure which were good, which was this, that, basically everything was complicated so I figured I do a review on the product I bought.

For the record the seller I bought from was "thinkpan" on ebay and the official name for the product was : "SATA 2nd HDD Caddy IBM/Lenovo T400 T500 R400 W500 W700"

here are some pics



I believe the tray isn't OEM but the tray works great!. It has a blue led if anyone wanted to compare with previous models and such. Not much to say other than that it works great, easy to setup, drive that I'm using is a Hitachi 7200rpm 160gb sata 3.0gb/s.

*random site note: My laptop initially came with a VERY BUGGY AND HORRIBLE Seagate 7200rpm 160gb Momentus 1.5gb/s. This thing.... First off the thing did not spit error codes during the HDD diagnostic but it was TERRIBLE in Windows. It would make a weird spinning noise then right during the noise the computer would freeze for like 2-3 seconds. And it would happen about 5 times a MINUTE. It has these freezes during games, when choosing new songs in iTunes, and even during INTERNET BROWSING. Bottom line, it was just ridiculous and it makes me very hesitant to ever buy Seagate products again

I called Lenovo and bugged the guy a bit and he sent the Hitachi over which came overnight which has been working great so far. GJ Lenovo. BOO Seagate.

T400 GHETTO (but functional) FLEX FIX

I based this around this guide
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/385913-t500-keyboard-flex-fix-mod.html

I realized that the flexing problems on the T400/500 keyboard was isolated mostly in the left area of the keyboard, near the WASD keys. I have both the T400 keyboard and the T61 keyboard but I observed that the flex issues wasn't solely dependent on the keyboard itself but more of the sunken frame of the left side.

That's why when I read that guide it really made sense to me. Instead of bulky felt however I used these


You can pick these up at a Staples or any related store and the great thing about these is that they are easily manipulated into any shape. I cut these up into small squares and put them where I thought it needed additional height so that the keyboard doesn't sink. For me it was near the W key, and one near the F key on the FRAME and NOT UNDERSIDE OF THE KEYBOARD. I stress this because I'm not a computer expert but i'm sure Scotch Foam isn't meant to go anywhere it wants on the inside of our laptops. Also might not wanna get the double sided foam. If you do, don't take off the side that will touch your keyboard since you don't want these to stick to both your keyboard and the frame.

Eyeball carefully where the frame would be safe in correlation to the keyboard, cut the foam and stick it on! It did wonders for me.

 

thanks for sharing the detail with us.

 

nice tip!

 

I got my ultrabay tray from eBay seller nypc-tech for $11.99 and free shipping. It came very quickly, unlike a Hong Kong purchase. The tray works perfectly.

I must have gotten lucky with my T400 as I can detect no flexing on the keyboard. Lenovo must have corrected this problem somewhere along the line.

Thanks for the tips on the Seagate Momentus drives. I'm currently shopping for cheap drives on eBay and will avoid Seagate. I've read some other negative observations re the earlier series Momentus drives so thanks.

 

wait your t400 flexes?

 

i just ordered the $60 THINKPAD SERIAL ATA HARD DRIVE BAY ADAPTER III myself today from Lenovo.

was considering the ebay stuff but i want everything to be authentic.

anyone know if i can get a better price on the lenovo one somewhere else?

 

you probably can get a second hand one at better price, but 60 dollars is not a bad price for OEM product.

 

i actually just canceled that order and ordered thru ibm epp for only $47.
completely forgot about my epp account.