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I think that there is also an IDE controller in it so you can
install IDE drives or even a TP drive ("To attach ThinkPad hard
disk drive, do the following ..."). I have NOT done anything with
the IDE stuff.
I suspect that there's no separate controller in the dock, but rather
that the TP internal controller bus is ported to the dock.
I use an IDE hard disk in the dock and it works fine. These disks are
so cheap right now that it's a great way to get lots of storage.
Additionally, I've used the TP disk adapter (an add-on option) to
mount a second TP disk inside the dock. This has been extremely
valuable for me, because I have several colleagues who also have
ThinkPads, and this provides a simple mechanism for copying operating
systems. (This is particularly easy with Linux, since the entire disk
image can just be copied onto the second disk.)