My Dell X1 notebook could really use a new hard drive -- something larger capacity and faster than the ancient Toshiba MK6006GAH (60GB) that's in there right now.

The existing 1.8" drive uses an IDE connector; most new drives of better capacity use ZIF connectors. I've never had a ZIF drive in my hands, so I don't know if they're compatible or not.

Hugo?

The internals of the notebook include an IDE-to-ZIF conversion cable for the current drive, so I'm guessing that a ZIF drive could probably slide in as a replacement. But what about the ZIF cable?

Do ZIF drives include a short ZIF cable, say about an inch long?

Will an Apple iPod drive (120 - 250GB) work as well as a store-bought Toshiba ZIF drive, or is the firmware weird on those?

???




Attachments
ribbon.jpg

Description: The 1.8" hard drive bay, with ZIF-to-IDE cable.

pins.jpg

Description: The IDE (pins) end of the cable.

zif.jpg

Description: The ZIF end of the cable, inserted into the motherboard ZIF socket.