T41: Which HDD to buy? .. and Samsung HM160HC issues.

marYn · **Posted:** Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:34 pm

Hello everyone,
I'm thinking about replacing my current Seagate HDD with larger one. It's 5400 RPM, 120GB and quite audiable - I mean when it's idle, not while in seek. Because the largest ATA 2.5" drive has only 100GB, I'm looking for 5400RPM drive.

My favourite is Seagate Momentus 5400.3, 160 GB. It should be quiet and quite fast.
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/laptops/momentus/momentus_5400.3/?vgnextrefresh=1

The alternative is 250GB WD Scorpio but I'm not sure if my ThinkPad can work with such a large drive.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=346

What's your opinion? Which drive I shall take? I'd like to have 250GB but with all the advantages of Seagate.. :?:

rbena · **Posted:** Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:28 pm

I'm also interested in quiet drives. Recently purchased the Samsung HM160HC 160GB (single platter) , and is very quiet. Thanks to forum member FTC for recommending this.

You'll have slightly more noise on idle with a 2-platter drive, and the specs reflect this.

I greatly value a quiet working unit, and my strategy is to go with the largest single platter drive, and store any large non-critical files on a 2nd hdd.

marYn · **Posted:** Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:19 am

That single platter Samsung seems good. I didn't know there is single platter with 160GB.

Does somebody know whether T41 can work with 250 GB drive? Isn't there some limit?

FTC · **Posted:** Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:43 am

Hi,

My samsung 160 is still going strong, fast and silent. Very good drive.

I would not be affraid of trying a 250 Gigger.. since the highest 'limit' before that size if any is at the 120GB line and it has been proven (by the use of 160's) that T4Xs do have support to overcome it.

Regards

KristianJ · **Posted:** Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:09 am

marYn wrote:

Does somebody know whether T41 can work with 250 GB drive? Isn't there some limit?

Someone here on the forum has a T41 w/ 250GB drive listed in their signature, so it is doable.

Johan · **Posted:** Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:45 pm

KristianJ wrote:

Someone here on the forum has a T41 w/ 250GB drive listed in their signature, so it is doable.

You must still be young, Kristian, since you are so good at remembering :-)

... see the thread T42 blown Fuse *PIC* the post by sojourner of Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:09 pm ... and the signature:

IBM Thinkpad T41
250GB HDD, 1.7GHz Dothan, 1.5GB RAM, IBM 11b/g, DVD Multi-Burner, Multi-Boot (98se, W2k, XP, Ubuntu Linux).

The noise-performance of the 5k 250 GB WD drive is discussed in the thread 5k 250G from western digital applicable for T43?.

Best regards,

Johan

marYn · **Posted:** Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:55 pm

Hello everyone, thanks for your help. I have read WD 250 topic and now I'm decided to get that Samsung HM160HC 160GB (single platter). :wink:

yak · **Posted:** Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:23 pm

Since you're talking about T41 and non-IBM/Lenovo drives. What about APS (Active Protection System) then? Will it still work? I've read somewhere that it requires the drive to handle some extra ATA commands (immediate parking).

awolfe63 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:27 pm

I just put the 250 into a T42. Seems to be doing great. Very quiet.

KristianJ · **Posted:** Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:35 pm

Johan wrote:

KristianJ wrote:

Someone here on the forum has a T41 w/ 250GB drive listed in their signature, so it is doable.

You must still be young, Kristian, since you are so good at remembering :-)

... see the thread T42 blown Fuse *PIC* the post by sojourner of Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:09 pm ... and the signature:

IBM Thinkpad T41
250GB HDD, 1.7GHz Dothan, 1.5GB RAM, IBM 11b/g, DVD Multi-Burner, Multi-Boot (98se, W2k, XP, Ubuntu Linux).

The noise-performance of the 5k 250 GB WD drive is discussed in the thread 5k 250G from western digital applicable for T43?.

Best regards,

Johan

Quarter of a century old today, actually :lol:

cmarti · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:47 am

I have a WD 250gb in my X60 and i haven't hear any difference from the 7K100 100Gb that i had previously installed.

awolfe63 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:55 am

Actually, I had a 7K100 in before too. Neither one seems really noisy to me.

yak · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:29 am

Quiet is nice but what about the APS? Will the APS diagnostic in PC Doctor show if it's supported by the drive or not? Can you guys with these new drives confirm that they pass the test in PC Doctor?

TIA

PC Doctor for Windows
PC Doctor for DOS, bootable CD image

cmarti · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:27 pm

yak wrote:

Quiet is nice but what about the APS? Will the APS diagnostic in PC Doctor show if it's supported by the drive or not? Can you guys with these new drives confirm that they pass the test in PC Doctor?

TIA

PC Doctor for Windows
PC Doctor for DOS, bootable CD image

Yes is pass the test, ive runned it before.

tin · **Posted:** Wed Jan 23, 2008 12:46 pm

Hi,

what about APS and Samsung's HM160HC 160GB? I would prefer this single platter device. Could anyone please try APS diagnostic test in PC Doctor on HM160HC? Does it show that APS is supported by the drive or not? I would be very happy :-)

Thank you,

Tin

rbena · **Posted:** Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:13 pm

I have Thinkvantage APS installed on the Samsung HM160HC in my T42. The APS options and settings are all available and functioning, and the icon switches to yellow when a shock is experienced by the notebook.

I also have PC Doctor for DOS 2006 (ver 2.0.1469), and all hard drive tests 'pass'.

SteveS · **Posted:** Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:31 pm

rbena wrote:

Quote:

I have Thinkvantage APS installed on the Samsung HM160HC in my T42. The APS options and settings are all available and functioning, and the icon switches to yellow when a shock is experienced by the notebook.

I also have PC Doctor for DOS 2006 (ver 2.0.1469), and all hard drive tests 'pass'.

Does anybody know if PC doctor actually tests APS at the disk level? The yellow icon shows that the accelerometer circuit on the system board is working. But perhaps it is sending a command the drive does not recognize and nothing happens.

I know with the T43, when it actually works, the PC freezes if any process that required reading from the disk was in process. But, perhaps the APS circuit also knows how long the disk will be parked, and stops all transfer requests from the system board side. If PC doctor does not check it in the disk (and I can’t think of how it actually would), then probably the only way to test it would be to run the drive from an extension cable, so you could hear it work, and then expose the laptop to enough vibration or shock to activate APS and listen to hear if the drive actually parks the head. This requires quite a dedicated effort.

superboss · **Posted:** Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:26 am

Is there anyway to get the HM160HC to work on a T43 without the dreaded 2010 error code?

yak · **Posted:** Sun Feb 03, 2008 11:44 am

@SteveS

I don't know how silent the HM160HC is but when I put my ear to the palmrest and move my T41, I can hear my 40GB Toshiba drive parking. Maybe the same simple test could be used to check if APS works on HM160HC too.

joe19812 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:49 am

[quote="rbena"]I'm also interested in quiet drives. Recently purchased the Samsung HM160HC 160GB (single platter) , and is very quiet. Thanks to forum member FTC for recommending this.

You'll have slightly more noise on idle with a 2-platter drive, and the specs reflect this.

I greatly value a quiet working unit, and my strategy is to go with the largest single platter drive, and store any large non-critical files on a 2nd hdd.[/quote]

I'm looking to upgrade my 40gb hd to the Samsung 160gb recommended here however when I called my local electronics store they didn't carry this particular model. They have alternates they want to sell me so I said I needed an ATA type and they asked if it had a 24pin connector? Can anybody tell me exactly what specs I need to know to get a correct swap replacement: ATA, #pins, size(2.5 or 3.5), etc? Any types I should definately avoid?
Thanks,
Joe

yak · **Posted:** Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:34 pm

The most important thing is that you get a 2,5" PATA (ParallelATA) drive, NOT a SATA (SerialATA) drive. This is because a T40 (and T41/2/3) works with 2,5" PATA drives only. The 2,5" PATA connector has 44 pins.

Here are some pictures (look at the connectors).

PATA 2,5":
http://wellcom.co.il/catalog/images/Sam ... gHdd25.jpg

SATA:
http://blog.lap-power.de/wp-content/upl ... 0-SATA.jpg

Other than that, you can pick up any drive you like.

yak · **Posted:** Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:42 pm

I've got my Samsung HM160HC today. Migrating went ok (using Acronis Migrate Easy).

The drive is nice and quiet. The transfers are fast, access times similar to other 5400 RPM drives.

I've done the APS check using PC Doctor for DOS but as outlined in this thread before, it seems to test the acceleratometer chip only. However, the APS seems to work. When I move my T41 while holding my ear near the drive, I can hear it parking. The "tick" is similar to my original 40GB Toshiba drive. The transfers to/from the disk stop as expected.

So I guess this is a nice drive to have in a T4x ThinkPad.

marYn · **Posted:** Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:19 am

Finally I also got new Samsung HM160HC on Friday and it seems the upgrade was worth it. It's much quieter than my previous Seagate Momentus 5400.2...

yak · **Posted:** Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:04 pm

My HM160HC has strangely clicked several times. I think it happened when the laptop was idle for some time. It isn't APS sice the laptop was on the table. The old 40GB Toshiba haven't done this AFAIR. Should I worry? marYn, do you have this too?

marYn · **Posted:** Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:28 pm

yak wrote:

My HM160HC has strangely clicked several times. I think it happened when the laptop was idle for some time. It isn't APS sice the laptop was on the table. The old 40GB Toshiba haven't done this AFAIR. Should I worry? marYn, do you have this too?

hello Yak, don't worry, my Samsung does it too. It's quite audiable "superclick"

and it happens randomly, even when the laptop is on the table and doesn't move.

Since we both have the same experience, I think this is nothing to be worried about.

yak · **Posted:** Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:07 pm

marYn wrote:

hello Yak, don't worry, my Samsung does it too. It's quite audiable "superclick" Smile and it happens randomly, even when the laptop is on the table and doesn't move.

Since we both have the same experience, I think this is nothing to be worried about.

Yes, exactly as you described it, a quite audiable "superclick". Nice to hear you have this too. Thanks for the info.

Johan · **Posted:** Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:41 pm

According to the post by dentnz of Dec 27, 2007 4:17 PM in the thread Changing APM/S.M.A.R.T setting for my harddrive the program hdparm may be used to get rid of this noise (hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda). Have a look at the page ETSU - Hard Drive Measurements and download a Windows XP version of hdparm from --> here.

If it works for any of you, remember to post back here!

Hint: Use Windows auto-schedule feature at boot to run hdparm automatically - see how to do this many places, e.g. How to Autostart a program in Windows XP.

Best regards,

Johan

stuartf · **Posted:** Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:34 pm

I also purchased the Samsung 160 gb, it was way cheaper than the Seagate. Unfortunately, I ran into a problem with it and have just shipped it back to the vendor.

My T43 would freeze, once a day, with the drive installed. I initially did a clone of the old 40gb drive, when that caused the freeze I did a clean install from the recovery and same thing happened. Maybe a bad unit, I will try again!! The only recovery was to unplug, pull the battery and get going again!!

marYn · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:37 am

Johan wrote:

According to the post by dentnz of Dec 27, 2007 4:17 PM in the thread Changing APM/S.M.A.R.T setting for my harddrive the program hdparm may be used to get rid of this noise (hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda). Have a look at the page ETSU - Hard Drive Measurements and download a Windows XP version of hdparm from --> here.

If it works for any of you, remember to post back here!

Hint: Use Windows auto-schedule feature at boot to run hdparm automatically - see how to do this many places, e.g. How to Autostart a program in Windows XP.

Best regards,

Johan

Hi Johan, thanks for your info! Anyway, now I'm starting to worry about the drive..

I'm going to try your workaround.

EDIT: It seems that Notebook hardware control can change APM and also Acousctic Management settings too.[/b]

yak · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:42 pm

I don't think the "clunk" we observed in HM160HC is caused by the drive's head load/unload.

My drive's load/unload cycle count is 2150 now (out of 600000 guaranteed by Samsung). I'm not sure if this is a lot but I definitely didn't hear so many loud clunks.

I had this drive for almost a week now, it was working most of the day, every day. I run Win XP mainly but I've also installed Ubuntu during this time (Ubuntu is supposed to wear the drive a lot faster).

maYn, what's your value? You can observe it in HD Tune:
http://www.hdtune.com/

T41: Which HDD to buy? .. and Samsung HM160HC issues.

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