I just got an IBM Thinkpad 390X whose hard drive is kaput. If it can be replaced, it’s going to an 11-year-old with some version of Linux (probably antiX) on it. (These old laptops are built like tanks.)
Anyway, the hard drive looks unique. It’s covered in a thin metal “caddy” and the connector is female and looks nothing like the connector on your average modern laptop hard drive, which AFAICT is typically male.
There seems to be scant information on Google about what to do with one of these. Do you take the metal “caddy” off and remove the connector from the old hard drive, and then put them back on the new hard drive?
No – it’s completely encased in sheet metal (what I meant by “caddy”) with a pull strap on one end and the HDD connector on the other. Here’s a picture, it’s probably part #05K9181 (4.8GB), #05K9262 (6GB), #05K8934 (6.4GB), #05K8984 (10GB), or #05K9263 (12GB) per the manual. I’m guessing mine is part #05K9181, the 4.8GB model, but will have to check the numbers on the laptop itself later.
So, the little sheet metal box comes apart, the pin connector slides off, and voilà, the drive within is a 4.86GB 4200 RPM IBM Travelstar, model #DBCA-204860, etc, etc, etc. (If I hold it up to my ear and tilt it, I can hear something in there sliding around. Busted armature?)
So I had another Travelstar HDD of approximately equal capacity laying on a shelf inside a USB enclosure. Put it back together (correctly!), slide it in the laptop, and it works.