2nd bay hard drive

[W.R.A.I.T.H]

I have Compaq NW8000 and would like to finally take advantage of the multibay it features and stick in a second 2,5" hard drive disk. Now I've done some googling and turns out 2nd bay hdd's, if marked as such, seem to be atrociously expensive, about twice the price for a 'regular' IDE disk. Compare for example:

160GB 2,5" PATA IDE, 5400rpm, by HP, "2nd bay"
http://www.cmsproducts.com/detail.aspx?ID=951
USD 319

vs.

160GB 2,5 PATA IDE, 5400rpm, by Seagate
http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=9998
£40

Am I being taken for a ride or is there a genuine reason why a normal, regular IDE hdd, hosted in a proper docking caddy that can be obtained for $30, should not be used in a multibay? I've asked my colleagues around and they seem to think the former. Do fellow ppruners have any relevant experience/advice?

[hellsbrink]

Lookie here (About half way to two thirds down, part number swdc-cqE500)!!

http://www.vinecomputer.net/hdd/note/Laptop-caddies_compaq.htm

Now, note it says that the drive must be 12.7mm "thick" or less so your price of drive may go sideways. But at least you won't be tied to the 80Gb Compaq offer.

[Saab Dastard]

If you have the correct HDD caddy for the multibay and can ascertain that the drive that goes into it is a plain vanilla 2.5" drive IDE drive, then you can simply plug in whatever disk that takes your fancy - and again confirm whether it takes 12 or 9.5mm high disks (or either).

If, however, the caddy requires a different (proprietary) interface to the HDD, then you are stuck with the OEM version.

I suspect that the latter is unlikely in an IDE setup.

The only time I have seen this has been with hot-pluggable SCSI disks - not really necessary here!

SD

[W.R.A.I.T.H]

Thx guys,

I've decided that the whole 2nd bay thing is a bit fishy and lenghty & will be going for a whole new system instead.