Replacing a hard disk in a ThinkPad
ThinkPad laptops appear to use a standard 2.5" form factor hard disk. Late model units use SATA drives, earlier ones ATA types. If you try to upgrade a ThinkPad with an off the shelf 2.5" hard disk you will have a problem. Hard disks made for IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads have custom firmware on them to work with the patented active protection system. This feature will park the heads on the hard disk when the laptop is subject to a G load over a critical amount. The special firmware in the disk drive can park the heads quickly without loss of data. The system also relies on modifications to the disk drivers in the OS, firmware support in the bios, and extra hardware in the computer. The end result is that the ThinkPad does require special hard disks, and Windows drivers present in the version of Windows shipped with the computer. A Generic Microsoft Windows upgrade package won't have the special drivers (though you might be able to download the drivers from the Lenovo website). You can also download firmware updates for certain models of disk drives so they will be compatible, but the number of certified disk drive models is limited.
If you do attempt to use an off the shelf disk drive to upgrade your ThinkPad you will probably get the dreaded "Error 2100 disk initialization failure" message when you turn on the computer. You will still be able to boot the computer from an external USB connected drive or a CD/DVD disk to install an OS on the new hard disk, but you won't be able to boot from the new hard disk. On power up the bios will detect that the disk drive lacks the special firmware and will issue the "Error 2100" message and refuse to boot from the disk. So it appears that you have to buy a replacement hard disk from Lenovo or a certified dealer.
However there IS a work around, at least it works on my R60 laptop. Power up the computer and as soon as the splash screen appears press the 'blue button' (ThinkVantage key). A new menu screen will appear with three choices for entering the bios setup menu, selecting a new boot device, or exiting directly to the bootstrap. If you do nothing and wait eight seconds the screen will time out an take the boot option. Press the <esc> key to enter the boot option or let the screen timeout. The bios will then skip the self test on the hard disk and boot into the OS. You won't have the active protection system, but many new disk drives have a similar protection scheme built into the drive's firmware that does not require interaction with the computer bios or driver. Such a feature isn't as good as the ThinkPad active protection software, but is still quite good. Also note that if you do have the active protection system engaged in the ThinkPad OS disk drivers and don't have a hard disk with the correct firmware you may still end up with an "Error 2100" being issued with the OS halting or freezing up. In my case, I'm running Linux on the laptop so this is not an issue.
I've also heard there is a similar issue with Wifi cards. ThinkPad Wifi cards also have special firmware and if you try to use a third party Wifi card the bios may also refuse to boot the computer unless you disable the Wifi in the bios. Maybe my disk work around will also work in this case.
If you do attempt to use an off the shelf disk drive to upgrade your ThinkPad you will probably get the dreaded "Error 2100 disk initialization failure" message when you turn on the computer. You will still be able to boot the computer from an external USB connected drive or a CD/DVD disk to install an OS on the new hard disk, but you won't be able to boot from the new hard disk. On power up the bios will detect that the disk drive lacks the special firmware and will issue the "Error 2100" message and refuse to boot from the disk. So it appears that you have to buy a replacement hard disk from Lenovo or a certified dealer.
However there IS a work around, at least it works on my R60 laptop. Power up the computer and as soon as the splash screen appears press the 'blue button' (ThinkVantage key). A new menu screen will appear with three choices for entering the bios setup menu, selecting a new boot device, or exiting directly to the bootstrap. If you do nothing and wait eight seconds the screen will time out an take the boot option. Press the <esc> key to enter the boot option or let the screen timeout. The bios will then skip the self test on the hard disk and boot into the OS. You won't have the active protection system, but many new disk drives have a similar protection scheme built into the drive's firmware that does not require interaction with the computer bios or driver. Such a feature isn't as good as the ThinkPad active protection software, but is still quite good. Also note that if you do have the active protection system engaged in the ThinkPad OS disk drivers and don't have a hard disk with the correct firmware you may still end up with an "Error 2100" being issued with the OS halting or freezing up. In my case, I'm running Linux on the laptop so this is not an issue.
I've also heard there is a similar issue with Wifi cards. ThinkPad Wifi cards also have special firmware and if you try to use a third party Wifi card the bios may also refuse to boot the computer unless you disable the Wifi in the bios. Maybe my disk work around will also work in this case.