I have a T43p with a 100 GB (IBM sticker - expensive) drive with the appropriate firmware to pass the BIOS check at boot (no complaint). I had a 7200 RPM 60 GB drive that failed to pass the BIOS check but it was a model that allowed a firmware update (from IBM) to pass the check. I have not heard of drives larger than 100 GB that work without the BIOS complaint but there may be some. The major issue now is that the T43p requires a PATA drive and those are not at all common now. I don't know why IBM/ Lenovo chose a SATA to PATA bridge and PATA drive for the T43p but that is part of the issue.
I think the BIOS checks for specific disk firmware that is on a list. Those drives were probably "certified" by IBM/Lenovo as working with the SATA-PATA bridge. I know (from experience) that some drives are released with flawed firmware - sometimes that can be fixed (or worked around by some software "fixes"). I assume IBM/Lenovo didn't wish to add another level of support complexity and so added the BIOS level check to warn about possible issues with disks other than those "certified" as working with the SATA-PATA bridge kludge used in the T43p. It wouldn't be necessary if the drive manufacturers didn't release drives with buggy firmware :-) I have no experience with a T60. Stuart On Jan 11, 2011, at 8:15 PM, Timothy Murphy wrote:
What is the largest hard disk for a T43 that will run without a complaint at boot-time? Does it depend on the disk manufacturer, or is it simple dependent on the size of the disk? Also, is there any such limitation for a T60?
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