New to Me Toughbook CF28

[pevrs114]

Gents,

So I have been searching and finally scored a Panasonic Toughbook CF28 ruggedized laptop for $220 on Ebay. Primary purpose of this computer will be navigation and file storage for trips.

The laptop did not include a hard drive or "caddy". What are some good trusted sources to get these parts, and what should I expect to pay? I would like to be able to put the entire Delorme Street Atlas 2008 and Topo USA 7.0 on the computer, as well as more mapping and file storage as I go. I figure 50GB or so would probably be good for now. What exactly do they mean by "caddy"?

Also, it currently has a 3.5" disc drive, and of course I'd like to go with a CD/DVD read drive. Anybody know of a good drive that I can exchange in place of the floppy?

I'm not a computer guy, so please be gentle!

Thanks

 

[overlander]

I use Toughbooks extensively while deployed to Iraq and still to this day with the army. I believe the caddy that you were told about is the "sleeve" that the hard drive sits in, kind of like a cdrom tray. On some laptops, and all toughbooks, you can remove the hard drive just like pulling a shelf out of a filing cabinet. the hard drive sits in that shelf-thing-caddy. in the military when deployed, we get 2 hard drives with caddies, 1 for classified, and 1 for non-classified use. swap back and forth as easily as swapping cdroms.

you can use any standard laptop harddrive, you just need the caddy. call panasonic and get the part#, then find one on ebay, or at one of the many toughbook speciality online retailers.

The CF28 is a really good toughbook. once you go touchscreen, you can never go back...

http://www.toughbookxchange.com/products/category.php?CA=18&sb=1

 

[RobinP]

The caddy is the protective unit that a standard laptop hard drive is placed in. You can get these from eBay as well. Don't spend more than $50 on one of these (you should be able to get one for considerably less).

Get a new hard drive. Don't get smaller than 80 GB, it's actually hard to find one smaller than that. When you get the caddy, you'll be able to see what kind goes in. I'm pretty sure they're standard laptop drives though - nothing special about them.

This notebook forum has lots of CF-28 enthusiasts on it. Check them out, they know a lot.

I've got a listing of ebay toughbook hard drives on OverlandResource.com - I think there's one ending in a few hours (it's 6:40 pm PST right now.)

Hope this helps,

 

[Paul R]

I'm not sure if they sell any toughbook specific HD but I have had really good luck at finding good deals on RAM and HD's from www.newegg.com... so you could try that.

 

[pevrs114]

Gents,

Thanks for the information. I had a feeling the hard drive caddy was the insulated container, now I have verified it. I will hopefully be picking one up soon, and sourcing a 100GB+ hard drive and a DVD drive.

Robin, your article on buying a used toughbook was very helpful in making this purchase.

I never thought I could get such a rugged computer for so cheap a price!

 

[roszko2]

i have an optical drive w caddy for a cf-28. if your interested just shoot me a PM.
mike

 

[hattrik21]

My dad actually works for Panasonic in the laptop division so let me ask him if he can get one or where someone could find one and I'll let you know.