Ultrabay

Ultrabay Ultrabay was IBM's, now Lenovo's name for the swappable bay. With IBM's definition2: "The ThinkPad UltraBay1, also standard with the system, is an intelligent bay that switches its pin-out signals to allow the installation of standard and optional features in what would normally be just the floppy disk drive bay." First introduced in the 355 and the 750, this technology has gone through several redesigns with almost every new generation of models, possibly leading to some confusion that is hopefully cleared up here. The following table gives an overview of the different Ultrabay types, in which models they came from and what devices are available for them. FOOTNOTES [Δ] IBM originally used the formatting 'UltraBay' with a capital letter 'B' but later switched to 'Ultrabay' with a lower-case 'b'. The reason behind this change is unknown. This definition is no longer valid as of the Ultrabay Slim and newer Ultrabay types, as it is nothing more than a IDE/SATA connector.

Overview

Over the course of time, a number of different form factors have been used for the Ultrabay. They are generally not cross-compatible, but there are some exceptions to that (see below for more details). Current ThinkPads no longer use the Ultrabay, due to severe space constraints. Only a few models do feature the Ultrabay nowadays, but they are unfortunately crippled in such a way that they no longer support Ultrabay batteries and hot-swapping.

Keep in mind that not all Ultrabays are made equal, as some lack an eject mechanism or pins that are needed to charge and discharge an Ultrabay battery. Some Ultrabays might also not support hot and/or warm swapping, even if they are capable of doing so in a different model (e.g. a high-end model supports hot, warm, and cold swapping, but the other lower-end model supports only cold swapping despite having the same Ultrabay type). These crippled Ultrabay variants are generally found on the low-end models, although they can also be rarely found on high-end models.

Linux support

The pinout switching is performed by the BIOS and embedded controller, so that it is completely transparent to the operating system.

• Floppy drives are supported by the standard floppy driver.
• ZIP drive support is possible through the ide-disk driver.
• IDE hard disks and optical drives are supported by the ata_piix or older ide-disk driver in the linux kernel.
• Batteries are automatically handled by the hardware, but can be controlled further by using tp_smapi.
• Ultrabay Plus devices should be handled by the USB subsystem, but if the actual devices are is not known.

Compatibility

type	featured in	available devices
UltraBay	355, 355C, 355CS, 360, 360C, 360CS, 360P, 360CE, 360CSE, 360PE, 370C, 750, 750C, 750CS, 750P, 755C, 755CE, 755CS, 755CSE, 755CV, 755CX, 760C, 760L, 760E
UltraBay Thick	755CD, 755CDV, 760CD, 760E, 760ED, 760EL, 760ELD, 760LD, 760XD, 760XL, 765D, 765L, SelectaDock I, SelectaDock II
UltraBay II	770, 770E, 770ED, 770X, 770Z, SelectaDock III
UltraBay FX	390, 390E, 390X, i Series 1720, i Series 1721	+ +
UltraslimBay	600, 600E, 600X, UltraBase, Portable Drive Bay
Ultrabay 2000	A20m, A20p, A21e, A21m, A21p, A22e, A22m, A22p, A30, A30p, A31, A31p, T20, T21, T22, Dock, Dock II, X2 UltraBase, Portable Drive Bay 2000
Ultrabay Plus	A30, A30p, A31, A31p, R30, R31, R32, R40, T23, T30, X3 UltraBase
Ultrabay Slim	T40, T40p, T41, T41p, T42, T42p, T43, T43p, T60, T60p, T61, T61p, Z60t, Z61t, X4 UltraBase, X4 Dock, X6 UltraBase, X6 Tablet UltraBase
Ultrabay Enhanced	R50, R50e, R50p, R51, R51e, R52, R60, R60i, R60e, R61, R61i, R61e, G41, G50, Z60m, Z61e, Z61m, Z61p, Advanced Dock
Ultrabay Thin	X300, X301
Serial Ultrabay Slim	Template:P70, Template:P71, W500, W540, W541, T400, T400s, T410, T410i, T410s, T410si, T420s, T420si, T430s, T430si, T440p, T500, T540p, L440, L540, Template:L560, Template:L570, X200 UltraBase, UltraBase Series 3
Serial Ultrabay Enhanced	W510, W520, W530, W700, W700ds, W701, W701ds, T420, T420i, T430, T430i, T510, T510i, T520, T520i, T530, T530i, L410, L412, L420, L421, L430, L512, L512, L520, L530, R400, R500

Compatibility Table

type	slot	slot	slot	slot	slot	slot	slot	slot	slot	slot	slot	slot
device	yes	yes	Adapter	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no
device	no	yes	Adapter	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no
device	no	no	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no
device	no	no	no	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no
device	no	no	no	no	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no	no
device	no	no	no	no	no	yes	yes	no	no	no	no	no
device	no	no	no	no	no	no	yes	no	no	no	no	no
device	no	no	no	no	no	Adapter	Adapter	yes	yes	no	no	no
device	no	no	no	no	no	Adapter	Adapter	no	yes	no	no	no
device	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	yes	no	no
device	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	yes	yes
device	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	yes

Characteristics Table

type	cold-swapping	warm-swapping	hot-swapping	bay bezel shape	bay connector	bay height
	yes	no	no	flat rectangle, no cut-outs or bevels	unknown	15 mm
	yes	no	no	flat rectangle, cut-out on the bottom right corner; no bevels	unknown	19 mm
	yes	yes	yes	flat rectangle, cut-out on the bottom right corner; no bevels	unknown	17 mm
	yes	yes	no	wedge, cut out on the top right corner; no bevels	unknown	19 mm
	yes	yes	yes	flat rectangle, no cut-outs; has a beveled bottom	unknown	12.7 mm
	yes	yes	yes	flat rectangle, cut-out on the bottom right corner; has a beveled-to-flat bottom	proprietary 80-pin Molex	12.7 mm
	yes	yes	yes	flat rectangle, cut-out on the bottom right corner; has a beveled-to-flat bottom	proprietary 80-pin Molex	12.7 mm
	yes	yes	yes	flat rectangle, cut-out on the bottom right corner; bevels varies on model	proprietary JAE PM1F050N1AE	9.5 mm
	yes	yes	yes	flat rectangle, cut-out on the bottom right corner; bevels varies on model	proprietary JAE PM1F050N1AE	12.7 mm
	yes	no	no	flat rectangle, no cut-outs; has a beveled bottom	standard slimline IDE	7 mm
	yes	yes	yes	flat rectangle, cut-out on the bottom right corner; bevels varies on model	standard MicroSATA	9.5 mm
	yes	yes	yes	flat rectangle, cut-out on the bottom right corner; bevels varies on model	standard MicroSATA	12.7 mm

Notes

The Ultrabay 2000 was the first Ultrabay type to include crippled variants. Cold-swap-only (with no Ultrabay battery support) Ultrabay 2000 bays were notably installed in the A21e and the A22e, both models being MT 2655. This is not to be confused with the MT 2628 A21e, as it has a fully-featured Ultrabay 2000 bay. Eject mechanisms were still available on these crippled variants.

Cold-swap-only Ultrabay Plus bays were installed in the R30, R31, and the R32. The only redeeming fact about these crippled bays, is that the R32 had the ability to support Ultrabay batteries (as it has the pins needed to interface with one). All of them still featured eject mechanisms.

Cold-swap-only Ultrabay Enhanced bays (with no Ultrabay battery support) were installed in the R50e, R51e, R60e, R61i (some), R61e, G41, and the G50. With the exception of the R50e and the R51e, all of Ultrabay Enhanced implementations in the other models had no eject mechanisms.

Cold-swap-only Serial Ultrabay Slim bays (with no Ultrabay battery support) were installed in the P70, P71, W541, W540, T440p, T540p, L440, L540, L560, and the L570. All implementations of this specific Ultrabay type in said models did not have an eject mechanism.

Cold-swap-only Serial Ultrabay Enhanced bays (with no Ultrabay battery support) were installed in the L410, L412, L420, L421, L430, L510, L512, L520, and the L530. All implementations of this specific Ultrabay type in said models did not have an eject mechanism.

See also

• Ultrabay Devices
• How to build your own Ultrabay drive
• How to hotswap Ultrabay devices