Thinkpads Forum

Im looking forward to receiving the T60 I bought last week, hope it arrives soon

In the mean time Im looking to upgrade its 60GB HDD to something with more room, Im thinking a 500GB since the prices are so cheap these days.

I can get a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB 2.5 SATA 5400RPM 8MB Notebook Hard Drive OEM 3YR MFR Warranty on special for about $85USD shipped but really want to make sure I get the best drive I can. Ive been reading a lot of the user comments on the NewEgg site.

So what drives (size/manufacturer/rpm/etc...) are you guys running in your T6x machines...any comments are really appreciated.

My choice:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... e=10008671

ajkula66 wrote:My choice:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... e=10008671

That seems to be a very highly regarded drive in the 320Gb size...do you know if the 500GB version is just as robust?

(I used to loooooooove Seagates for my desktop and bought a 1TB then found out it was recalled or had faulty fw or something, LOL, youve got to always keep on top of everything...)

Please see the forum rules on inline pictures. You must put a warning in the subject line. I broke the img tag on your pic.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14339

The WD Scorpio Blue is definitely a good choice, especially given the price. I have one in the Ultrabay of a T41 and it is quiet and cool. It's also got a high ratio of good reviews on Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductRe ... 6822136314

I would choose this over the Seagate 7200.4 500GB on any day. Sure, with the same areal density, a 7200rpm drive certainly outperforms a 5400rpm one, but we are talking about a 20% to 30% difference in here (correct me if I am way off on this). But I like my computers nice and quiet, and for me, the slight edge in performance simply does not justify the extra heat, noise and power consumption.

Of course, if I happen to have tons of cash lying around, I will put an Intel 160GB SSD in everything I own that has a SATA connection. By the way, the second generation of this drive just became available on the Egg for $449:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820167017

Personally I just can't see myself spending the equivalence of a decent T60 on a hard drive, but I am really tempted to snatch an 80GB one.

Running Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 7200rpm in my T60. It's been a nice boost for me since it replaced a stock 60GB 5400rpm Fujitsu. I'm not sure how it compares to the newest 5400rpm drives but it definitely isn't slower and it is quite quiet.

I recently upgraded my T61 with a Hitachi Travelstar 7K320 320GB 7200 RPM drive with 16MB cache. It certainly boots into Vista a lot faster than with the original Hitachi 120GB 5400 RPM drive. And it runs cool and quiet.

georgelam wrote:The WD Scorpio Blue is definitely a good choice, especially given the price. I have one in the Ultrabay of a T41 and it is quiet and cool. It's also got a high ratio of good reviews on Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductRe ... 6822136314

I would choose this over the Seagate 7200.4 500GB on any day. Sure, with the same areal density, a 7200rpm drive certainly outperforms a 5400rpm one, but we are talking about a 20% to 30% difference in here (correct me if I am way off on this). But I like my computers nice and quiet, and for me, the slight edge in performance simply does not justify the extra heat, noise and power consumption.

Personally I just can't see myself spending the equivalence of a decent T60 on a hard drive, but I am really tempted to snatch an 80GB one.

I second this! I run a WD Scorpio Blue in my t61.

I ordered a WD 320gb Scorpio Black on Friday from newegg since it's only $5 more than the 250gb because of free shipping.

It was down to the Blue and Black, since Seagate quality seems to be iffy these days and many report it to be noisy. Going through the archives here showed that a few people complain about heat with the Hitachi. On the other hand, the WD drives seem to get overwhelmingly positive reviews in general and from users here. A few people who've used both the Blue and Black said that the speed difference was very noticeable, so I figured an extra $15-20 now for a faster hd that I hope to keep for a few years is worth it.

PS: there's a newegg coupon code HDDSALE15 from newegg. 15% off all hd's, expires on Wednesday I think. If it doesn't let you apply it in cart, call customer service and they'll credit you the amount after you place the order.

I'm running a Fujitsu MHZ2320BJ-G2. 320GB, 7200RPM, 16MB cache. It runs cool, pretty quiet, and fast. I'm overall pleased with it, at any rate... a decent amount of space at only $70 from Newegg. I forget which thread I found it in, but it was highly recommended by another forum member, as well as the G.Skill RAM I bought at the same time.

Consider also a ssd, its fast, expensive and reliable.

yak wrote:Running Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 7200rpm in my T60. It's been a nice boost for me since it replaced a stock 60GB 5400rpm Fujitsu. I'm not sure how it compares to the newest 5400rpm drives but it definitely isn't slower and it is quite quiet.

Same here... runs smooth, quite and... cool

Just picked up the Hitachi 250GB 7k320 for my R60e. It seems to run pretty cool and quiet.

I've had my share of bad experiences with IBM/Hitachi hard drives, and unsurprisingly the Hitachi hdd on my ThinkPad started developing bad sectors after about 1 year of use.

So I used that as an excuse and upgraded to a cheap 200gb 7k2 rpm Fujitsu hdd and I've been very happy with the results.
Despite being a little noisy, it's a lot faster than the Hitachi, and works with APS natively.

Another vote for WD Scorpio Blue.

Running the 500GB Scorpio Blue here too...

I am planning to upgarde my T61 from stock 120G HDD to 128G SSD HDD for faster performance. If you wish to get traditional HDD then Fujitsu HDD with 7200rpm. They make the best internal HDD for laptop (from my experience). WD's is fine too but not Seagate's one. (my macbook pro's seagate 80G stuffed after 1.5yrs, people said they have faults on it..anyway)

edit: get HDD with 320G+

Swapped the 80 Hitachi for a 320 WD Scorpio Black, stuck another Scorpio Black in an ultrabay, bought an ext. enclosure to use the 80 Hit as an ext usb. Bought another 320 Scorpio Blue for another USB ext. Both internal drives run cool, quiet and fast. With everything plugged in thats a lotta space! Using the GSA-E50L if a burner/CD/DVD is needed. Everything works great. Can't ask for more than that.

My bias but I don't really trust WD. I have an IBM-branded Hitachi 160GB @ 7200 drive that was swapped into my T60 three years ago to replace the original 60GB @ 7200. This drive has been left on for very long periods of time. Perfect so far, knock wood. Way better than those previous 80GB pata DeathStars!

SkiBunny wrote:My bias but I don't really trust WD.

Why not WD?

My favorite brands are Hitachi first and WD second. The stock 80GB my T61 shipped with was cool and quiet, I recently went and bought the Hitachi 5K500.B 250GB single platter, can't be much happier, it vibrates a little bit more than the stock drive but is very quiet and to be honest I've tried a lot of models, I first tested the Hitachi 5K320 (noisy) then the WD Scorpio Black (fast but noisier and clickier), bought a Hitachi WD3200BEVT Blue just to use as a external storage and it also wooshes as the previous ones. I prefer single platter models because there is less moving parts.

agarza wrote:bought a Hitachi WD3200BEVT Blue

WD32000BEVT is from Western Digital Corporation, not Hitachi.

I've had great luck with all the various 7200 rpm Hitachis I've had over the years starting with the 60 GB models. Most recently, I've been pretty happy so far with my pair of Hitachi 7k320s (320 GB @ 7200 rpm). One or the other has been on almost 24 hours a day since I got them many months ago and no problems yet. They are quiet and pretty snappy. Only criticism I have, and it's a minor one, is that they get a little hot when there is heavy usage, like for example, when defragmenting. Already, I would like even more capacity though.

JohnB2000 wrote:Im looking forward to receiving the T60 I bought last week, hope it arrives soon

In the mean time Im looking to upgrade its 60GB HDD to something with more room, Im thinking a 500GB since the prices are so cheap these days.

I can get a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB 2.5 SATA 5400RPM 8MB Notebook Hard Drive OEM 3YR MFR Warranty on special for about $85USD shipped but really want to make sure I get the best drive I can. Ive been reading a lot of the user comments on the NewEgg site.

So what drives (size/manufacturer/rpm/etc...) are you guys running in your T6x machines...any comments are really appreciated.

I made a big jump and installed an Intel X25-M solid state hard drive. Fun and fast!! 30% to 60% faster depending on the operating system and which programs are running. Even pulling multimedia files off the regular mechanical drive in the Ultra Bay is nearly instantaneous.

I am running a 250GB Seagate ST9250421AS Drive. It runs @ 7200RPM and features a 16MB cache which helps in just about every program I can load on my machine.

The manufacturer page is here.

And here is the NewEgg page.

It is a very fast drive, nice and quiet, runs pretty darn cool at around 38c idle and 40-42 under load. I got mine about 8 months ago and it hasn't given me any problems yet. I would highly recommend this drive to people.

I updated my original 80GB to a 250GB 7200rpm Samsung.
Fast, silent and cheap.

I replaced my T60's stock 80gb 5400 hdd with the WD Scorpio Black 320gb 7200 and it is neither warmer nor louder. Also,there is no clicking sounds. This is a fantastic hdd. For more speed and space, I recommend it. At present, at newegg.com, I believe that it is on sale
($69.00).

Hi everybody! I replaced my hitachi sata hard drive 60 Gb with Hitachi sata 2 capacity 250 Gb

JohnB2000 wrote:I can get a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB 2.5 SATA 5400RPM 8MB Notebook Hard Drive OEM 3YR MFR Warranty on special for about $85USD shipped but really want to make sure I get the best drive I can. Ive been reading a lot of the user comments on the NewEgg site.

I'm thinking of purchasing this drive for my T61. JohnB2000, have you upgraded the drive already? Has anyone upgraded their T61 with this WD HDD? Will the Active Protection System continue to work? (I found a very extensive thread on APS and OEM drives at this forum yet still want to check)

I'm thinking of purchasing this drive for my T61. JohnB2000, have you upgraded the drive already? Has anyone upgraded their T61 with this WD HDD? Will the Active Protection System continue to work? (I found a very extensive thread on APS and OEM drives at this forum yet still want to check)

Yes, I have the hard drive in my T61. Active Protection System continues to work. I'm very pleased with my investment.