Thinkpads Forum

I am looking at getting a T61p, but am annoyed that the only 7200 RPM drive is 100 GB. What would people get with it? 100 GB 7200 RPM, 160 GB 5400 RPM, or 160 GB 5400 RPM w/ Encryption, or just get the cheapest and buy a 7K200?

160 GB 5400, buy a 7K200 and stick the 160 GB in an external USB housing. That's my X61 plan ...

tomh009 wrote:160 GB 5400, buy a 7K200 and stick the 160 GB in an external USB housing.

Brilliant plan. These external USB cases for 2.5" HDDs are very cheap, about $10 shipped.

I say get the cheapest 60GB (or if they have that HDD sale, the one that's $10 more), backup the rescue/restore partition, wipe the drive, and sell it.

Then purchase whatever real drive you want (my vote's for the 7k200 as well).

Kenn wrote:I say get the cheapest 60GB (or if they have that HDD sale, the one that's $10 more), backup the rescue/restore partition, wipe the drive, and sell it.

Then purchase whatever real drive you want (my vote's for the 7k200 as well).

I would second Kenn's motion on both counts. Take the least expensive drive they offer and either resell or keep as a backup or second drive. Th 7k200 is currently available at Cost Central for $222, just over a dollar a gig. See http://www.costcentral.com/proddetail/H ... 40/N05405/

Also, check out Bill's Hard Drive Cloning How to at http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=27721. There are several other threads on the forum on this.

Finally, there's a very informative step by step by Paul Pavlik over at http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... t=apricorn
Good luck,
DenTP4rm

Continuing on from the OP's original question... is there going be a huge difference in overall computer speed between the 100GB 7K2 drive and the 160GB 5K4 drives?

I already have several external drives that most of my data is stored on so am not terribly concerned about getting the biggest drive in my laptop. It would be nice to have 160GB but I'll happily settle for 100GB if there's a significant difference in computer performance. They're both the same price.

Dell has the Seagate 160GB 7200.2 drive for $130. While the Hitachi is a bit faster I don't know it justifies the extra cost.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod ... u=341-4636

Does some one know a good US website witch can ship a 7K200 to Europe ? I can't find any one here.

tomh009 wrote:160 GB 5400, buy a 7K200 and stick the 160 GB in an external USB housing. That's my X61 plan ...

Nice plan, except one thing... I'm hearing the 160gb is delaying orders by several weeks for a machine not in inventory.
Indeed, the lenovo site states inside the T61 customization that choosing 160gb may delay your shipment 3-4 weeks. Oddly, it doesn't say that for customizing other machine models.

Does anyone know which algorithm the encrypted disk uses?

It sounds a straight forward solution, much easier than dm-crypt on Linux and the hassle that brings. Though it does open the possibility of back doors...

I was interested in an encrypted drive as well. The Seagate FDD units have gotten my interest but I cant seem to find any vendors offering it?!

The 7K200 drive is definately an improvement. But be aware the external USB drive enclosure you buy must be compatible with SATA notebook drives.

In reply to my own post, it could be this one here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/04 ... ok_drives/

A 160Gb Seagate Momentus 5400 FDE.2 with 128bit AES. Anyone know if that's the one?

I bought my T61 with the 5400 160Gig drive. I picked up a 7200 for 1/3rd the price on new egg.