Thinkpads Forum

2613CTO T60p

WIN XP SP3 latest and great updates.

I want to upgrade my hard drive (107GB) with something like this 500GB drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136856

How do I figure out if it will physically fit and connect electronically, as well as find out if my BIOS will work with the size?

I have upgraded/cloned a bunch of desktop hard drives. They are easy to do since there is ability to connect two drives very simply, and boot the cloning software i.e. Acronis True Image.

So, where/how can I find out if this 500GB drive will work, as well as what else do I need to do the cloning/upgrade?

TIA

Hard drives are a standard size dimensionally and the Western Digital drive you referenced is 9.5mm thick so it will fit. 500GB is no problem for the bios in a T60. Since you are using Windows XP, avoid the advanced format drives and pick up the older style instead. At New Egg that is their type number N82E16822136692, a Western Digital WD5000BEKT.

In a nut shell, why avoid the advance function with XP? What if at some future date I will upgrade to latest Windoze?

Thanks for the reply.

BillP wrote:avoid the advanced format drives and pick up the older style instead. At New Egg that is their type number N82E16822136692, a Western Digital WD5000BEKT.

The drive you mentioned cost $10 more than the other.... just wondering why the older style is more $ when at quick glance they appear to be equivalent, minus the Advance format. Any insight would be helpful - I don't know much about the intricacies of the features.

Thanks again.

WalkGood wrote:In a nut shell, why avoid the advance function with XP? What if at some future date I will upgrade to latest Windoze?

Thanks for the reply.

XP does not run well on advanced format drives unles you run alignment software. You didn't say anything about upgrading to a newer OS so it would be easier to avoid the alignment issue if you stay with XP. Prices on Newegg vary depending on what their inventory is and what is on sale. As the older drives are phased out the price will rise compared to the advanced format types. The difference at this point is small. Further details on advanced format drives can be found at the links below.

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/W ... 771430.pdf
http://www.wdc.com/global/products/feat ... language=1

I knew about this XP not liking the new format drives, but is there a quick way to know which drives are which, for example, I just bought these drives and were planning to use them with XP - how do I know if they are advanced format or old format?

an example:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136279

Western Digital drives smaller than 500GB are not advanced format types. Advanced format drive model numbers end with BPKT while the non advanced format drive model numbers end in BEKT. See the Scorpio selector guide at http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/S ... 701275.pdf

BillP wrote: XP does not run well on advanced format drives unles you run alignment software.

I see that WD does offer alignment software. Does this work well and smoothly? Or is it a kluge that slows down I/O to the drive and/or slows the PC in general?

I am just curious about experiences with using the alignment software.

Thanks again.

thanks for the info Bill, is there a way to tell if other brands are advanced format, such as Fujitsu, Samsung, etc.?

I have only used alignment software on an external drive in a USB enclosure. It worked well in that application but I have not used alignment software on a bootable drive.

Western Digital's competitors do offer advanced format drives but I have no specific information on their model numbers. A visit to the manufacturer's website should clarify which models are advanced format and which are not.

I am not having much luck finding out if this drive is advanced format

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822116160

this is all the data I can find on it:

http://www3.toshiba.co.jp/storage/engli ... 2XXXBJ.htm

This page http://www3.toshiba.co.jp/storage/engli ... /index.htm implies that only the largest drives, 750GB and 1TB are advanced format. I would expect everything else in the list is not advanced format.

thanks so much for getting me straightened out on this!

I read this thread and still have a question:
Now, I have T60 2007-FUG, with 3GB ram that runs XP Pro + Win7 Ultimate in dual boot on a western digital blue scorpio 500GB BEVT with 5400rpm. I decided to improve the performance of it by buying a new HDD that will be 7200rpm. What are my options if I want a bigger drive and more speed in terms of read/write ? (SSD drives are too small and expensive but I would consider them if it the best option).
I looking after WD 750GB black scorpio BPKT but can't find really a nice offer on it. After reading this thread I understood that I can have problems with it.
So what to buy (price range is till 120$) ? where to buy (need shipping to Israel (have paypal) ?
Thank you
Lior

Sounds from my reading online that if you are gonna stick with a Scorpio 750GB black in a multi-boot situation, you will have to run the alignment software WDalign (free download) to get the great performance from XP - as far as shipping to Israel, I would find a U.S.A. ebay seller (http://www.ebay.com) with a 99.8% or higher feedback score that ships internationally and purchase a brand new drive from him. This is a fairly common item on USA's ebay.

ok, and now with my 500GB scorpio blue model WD5000BPVT do I need WD align ? Never used it before. Can't find info if I really need it under my XP specifically for this model of HDD.
Can somebody confirm this matter ?

yes, the WD5000BPVT is advanced format and so yes, you are losing a huge amount of performance under XP if you are not using WDalign


you can find the data sheet here:

http://datasheet.octopart.com/WD5000BPV ... 026705.pdf

Sorry, but I wrote the false model. I have WDC WD5000BEVT and by this data sheet it is not an advanced format.
Thank you for helping me figure this out

So, After thinking I decided to go for the 500GB because I can buy it in my country (in ebay difficult to find a seller that will postage the 750GB to Israel) and buy an adapter instead of my optical drive for my blue scorpio (anybody wants to sell me an adapter for honest price?).
What is the difference between these to models of black scorpio 500GB:
WD5000BEKT
vs
WD5000BPKT

The first one I can buy for an about 10$ less but want to be sure and buy the best model because it will by my primary HDD in my beloved T60.

I asked that same question at the beginning of this thread. PKT is the Advanced Format.

So I received my new WD balck scorpio 750GB WD7500BPKT.
I have a problem:
WDC site won't let me to download the align tool. I tried to register the new drive but always receive an error.
Does anyone can give me link to actual download or send me this software by email ?
Thank you guys.
Lior

Just Google for WDalign and get it at whatever link works for you.

I can't find the newer version of it (AcronisAlignTool_s_e_2_0_107.exe).
Also, how to apply this tool if I have dual boot (XP pro + Win7 Ultimate) ?

you need to stick with the true authorized version from Western Digital, available here:

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloadsw.asp?sid=128


cheers!

wild bill
PS - even though you are dual booting, just for these purposes, pretend you have 100% XP

So, at the end I found it in the web. Installed and wanted to align, but it wrote that all my partitions already aligned.
At first use of HDD, I clone my old scorpio blue 500GB to the new scorpio black with acronis disk director.