IBM Thinkpad Hard Drive Compatibility

[Don]

I was given as in "free" an IBM Thinkpad laptop (A21m) that's about six
years old. Before you tell me to trash it and get a real computer, it
was free and it works although be it a little slow by today's standards.
Not knowing that much about laptop hardware, I have a question. Can I
switch the current hard drive for a non IBM drive, say 40 gigabytes?
There is a 12 gigabyte drive in there now.

Thanks,

Don

 

[meerkat]

I was given as in "free" an IBM Thinkpad laptop (A21m) that's about
six years old. Before you tell me to trash it and get a real
computer, it was free and it works although be it a little slow by
today's standards. Not knowing that much about laptop hardware, I
have a question. Can I switch the current hard drive for a non IBM
drive, say 40 gigabytes? There is a 12 gigabyte drive in there now.

Thanks,

Hi Don, there`s a bit here about laptop H/drives.
http://www.allcamer.co.uk/products/laptophdd.html

The thing to bear in mind, is that they come in different
thicknesses.
So don`t get a thick one to go into a thin space.
Apart from that, you should be good to go.
If the BIOS can`t `see` the whole h/drive size, that can
generally be overcome.
bw..

 

[Don]

Hi Don, there`s a bit here about laptop H/drives.
http://www.allcamer.co.uk/products/laptophdd.html

The thing to bear in mind, is that they come in different
thicknesses.
So don`t get a thick one to go into a thin space.
Apart from that, you should be good to go.
If the BIOS can`t `see` the whole h/drive size, that can
generally be overcome.
bw..

Thanks, I didn't realize they come in different thicknesses. Mine is
the slimline 9.5 mm.

 

[Aging_Recycled_Scientist]

I was given as in "free" an IBM Thinkpad laptop (A21m) that's about six
years old. Before you tell me to trash it and get a real computer, it
was free and it works although be it a little slow by today's standards.
Not knowing that much about laptop hardware, I have a question. Can I
switch the current hard drive for a non IBM drive, say 40 gigabytes?
There is a 12 gigabyte drive in there now.

Thanks,

Don

Yes, no problem. plug and play.