Thinkpads Forum

Which is fastest PATA drive, I have T42p so no problem with various limitations. Currently I'm thinking about Hitachi 7k100, though Hitachi 5k160 costs a bit less, performs slightly slower and has more capacity.

Currently I have factory 7k60.

I'm using a Samsung HM160HC, which seems pretty fast.

My T42s (2373-K5H) originally came with 40 GB hard drive.

I've successfully upgraded it to these 2 PATA hard drives with no problems:

-Hitachi 7K60
-Hitachi 7K100

[Edit: the 7K100 is the fastest hard drive upgrade possible. That is, without using SSD's !!]

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On a related question, has anyone tried to use the BIGGEST PATA hard drives, the 250 GB 2.5" ones?

Did it work on your T42?

What brand of hard drive was it?
Did you have to flash your T42's BIOS?

(I was told that the T42 MAYBE will not recognize the 250 GB hard drive if used as the primary hard drive.)

I tried IBM 30GB drive from some old Compaq notebook it gave no errors.

I can try out the 250GB WD Scorpio and if it doesn't work I can just return it. As far as I know, the only problem is with T43 as you need to buy one of the drives that come with the notebook.


I bookmarked a comparison on storagereview , from which I can see that my 7k60 is still plenty fast drive, just not big. The 250GB WD SCORPIO (there is PATA version) is quite fast though not the fastest but 250GB is a lot.

I have a 100Gb/7200 Seagate in my wife's T42p (2378-EZU) and it feels faster than the original Hitachi.

I've used a variety of these in R50p, T42p and T43p machines and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them, especially given that they come with 5 year warranty.

Just my $0.02, obviously.