[Thinkpad] 770 ED: hard disk to go in floppy drive slot.

     I would appreciate any answers to a few questions that may seem too obvious
to need asking, but to which I've bafflingly received conflicting answers from
people I've asked. I'll put each broad category of question in a separate
posting.

     I have a 770 ED which is about 6 years old, and it has a (nearly) 8-Gb.
hard disk which is getting full; I need to get a new, larger disk, but
preferably in a configuration such that I can simultaneously use the old disk,
copy from one disk to the other, and the like. I've been told that it is
possible to get a hard disk that will fit into the slot where the floppy disk
drive is (and where a D.V.D. drive can also go). But the obstacle seems to be
this: while I can get the disk drive itself (I've been told), it appears to be
very difficult to get the special little box it must go in, maybe impossible.
     To be sure, the current hard disk has a box, but I need another box for two
reasons: (1) so I can use both disks at once; and (2) presumably the box would
have to be a different one to go in the floppy disk slot instead of the hard
disk slot on the other side of the laptop.
     I can get the disk from I.B.M. along with the box, but very expensively,
whereas I have found various dealers who can supply a disk drive for a fraction
of the price, but they can't supply the box.
     There are reasons why I don't merely want to get a hard disk that can
*replace* the current one, mainly relating to the fact that I will have at least
a fairly long transitional period when I have to be able to move stuff from one
drive to the other. Alternating the drives in the same slot would not allow
this; and I have also been told that it's a bad idea to take those drives in and
out of the slot too often, because with the slightest clumsiness in changing the
drives you can break the little pin connection sockets where the drive connects
to the computer, and that might cause the complete loss of data on that drive.
     That's why I want the new drive to go where the floppy drive and D.V.D.
drive currently go.

     Can anyone please make suggestions on how to deal with this?
     Would I.B.M. be likely to supply the box by itself? I somehow feel they
wouldn't, because they would know I intended to get the disk from someone else,
not them, and of course they would not want to encourage that.
     Are there other sources for the box?
     Should I take seriously the warning from I.B.M. I once read against using
any other brand of accessories with the laptop other than their own? Are there
good reasons for this, or is it just an attempt to persuade people to buy only
I.B.M. equipment, and pay their prices?
     My thanks for any suggestions.

                         Regards,
                          Michael Edwards.

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Received on Fri May 30 17:28:11 2003