Need help and info on purchasing Hitachi 7K200

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kookatt · #1 Post by **kookatt** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:23 am

I've just bought X61 (7676A13) in Thailand. My machine come with 80GB harddisk running at 5400rpm. I would like to upgrade the hardisk to Hitachi 7K200 since it has been praised a lot by fellow member. However, I do need help to clarify the following issue before puting an order with local dealer (ther is no refund on wrong model in Thailand).

Please help me...

1) The model of harddisk I am intended to purchase is

Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00
(the package of hardisk selling in BKK is not state that it is Travelstars 7K200, only list the model number in such manner)

Can anyone confirm that it can be use in X61? Both Hitachi & IBM cannot confirm this matter. One dealer told me that such model in fact come with 9.9m in thinkness on field measurement (althought it is stated in the specification that it is 9.5m thickness) and, therefore, cannot be put in Lenovo X Serie notebook.

2) Does X61 support SATA II? I have read in this board that I might be. In such case, I would like to know whether it is worth to wait for the model with SATA II to be available in Thailand as oppose to getting the Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00 which is the model available at this moment.

3) How does the performance improve when running 7K200 with XP. I've read that only VISTA can see the big improvement. Can anyone confirm this?

Thank you in advance for all your help. I really would like to get the drive but it is very expensive in Thailand and cannot change once the seal has been open. I therefore does not have any mean to test it. I hope that some fellow member can help me on this issue

Regards,

Koo

#2 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 6:20 am

1.) Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00 is indeed the 7K200 drive and it is 9.5mm thick. It should work fine in an X61.
2.) To the best of my knowledge no Thinkpads support SATA II yet. You'd need an aftermarket card.
3.) I'll let a current owner comment.

kookatt · #3 Post by **kookatt** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 6:55 am

Thank you for speedy reply. I've phone my dealer and they still insist that they have measure the drive and it is 9.9m. Anyway, I've place an order and it should be arrive in a few days. Will report to the furum once I have manage to replace my current drive.

One more thing, I am curious since many people in Thailand claim that image copy data from old drive to the new drive might effect stability of Windows. I don't know if this is true or not. Any advice regarding this matter?

Finally, Has anyone manage to copy the drive using rescue and recovery that is preinstalled on X61. I can't afford to buy a cloning program and intend to use R&R instead. Any advice?

Thanks a lot for all the help

Koo

#4 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 7:02 am

Make sure you create R&R disks from your current image B4 you take the old drive out. If you want to preserve the entire old image and transfer it to the new drive, download a free trial copy (fully functional) of Acronis True Image 11 Home. You'll need external storage to transfer the image unless you have an external enclosure for the new drive, in which case you can just clone it. Same for a 2ND SATA HDD Adapter in a media slice if you have one. I've never experienced instability associated with cloning or restoration using R&R.

Mrbounty · #5 Post by **Mrbounty** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 2:02 pm

Already posted some first impressions on another similar thread, but a couple more remarks if that can help.

I own a X60 with a 200-gig 7K200. OS is XP Pro. You ask about the "performance increase". I'd first say it's hard to objectively answer as this depends a lot on your use of the machine (apps intensively accessing the drive, heavy data transfers, etc.) and also a matter of personal perception. For me, it's just a tad more responsive than with the previous 80-gig 5400 RPM drive.
I do not run hard drive-greedy apps, only basic stuff, and for this, no incredible performance improvement is to be expected in my perception.
However, the drive is incredibly silent, it doesn't appear to run warmer, and I'm glad about the extra 120-gig. So not a bad buy either.

If you run no apps that make intensive use or the hard drive and do not need more than 80-gig, you should think twice about the upgrade.

For the record, some HD Tune benchmarks of both the 7K200 drive and previous 5400 Hitachi unit:

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/6/hd ... hihes0.png

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/5656 ... 108vs9.png

#6 Post by **bill bolton** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 3:50 pm

kookatt wrote:One more thing, I am curious since many people in Thailand claim that image copy data from old drive to the new drive might effect stability of Windows. I don't know if this is true or not.

Its not true.

Cheers,

Bill B.

kookatt · #7 Post by **kookatt** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 6:46 pm

Thanks for all the help. I'm now a pround owner of Hitachi 7K200 and have installed it on my machine. Here is what i found out with:

1) Aconist and Symantec Ghost fail to clone my original drive to Hitachi hard drive. They both report successful cloning but once the hard disk has been swapped, the machine cannot boot into Windows. It just show blinking curser. I don't know why. I've just use automatic clone to new drive option without any special setting and connect the new hard drive though USB2 enclosure.

2) Once properly installed, the Hitachi 7k200 hard drive appears to be very quiet. I feel that it is quieter than the original 120G Seagate that came with x61.

3) On my X61, I feel a bit of vibration of Hitachi hard drive on the palm rest, but not more the original drive.

4) Temperature of the new drive does not increase more than the original Seagate

5) My X61 seems to boot and close down a bit faster (20%). Not much difference with the normal Office application, but bit difference with program that demands a lot of hard drive works e.g. Itunes, Civilization 4, Sim Life.

Thank you for all your help. In sum, I am very happy with the Hitachi hard drive and feel more like the old day with Hitachi on X61

Roadster · #8 Post by **Roadster** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:10 pm

kookatt, how did you get the new drive installed if the cloning software didn't work?

I ask this question because I just purchased a remanufactured X60 for my daughter, and I am interested in using my Ultrabay adapter from my T60p to upgrade her hard drive from 40 Gb to 100 Gb. (I have an extra HTS 100 Gb drive laying around, and I'd like to put it to good use.)

#9 Post by **bill bolton** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:35 pm

kookatt wrote:1) Aconist and Symantec Ghost fail to clone my original drive to Hitachi hard drive. They both report successful cloning but once the hard disk has been swapped, the machine cannot boot into Windows. It just show blinking curser. I don't know why.

You usually need to restore the MBR (Master Boot Record) after cloning to a drive in an external USB enclosure.

If you clone to a drive that in a carrier is in the UltraBay Slim slot, it should boot in the main drive bay without any problem.

Cheers,

Bill B.

Roadster · #10 Post by **Roadster** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:58 pm

bill bolton wrote:If you clone to a drive that in a carrier is in the UltraBay Slim slot, it should boot in the main drive bay without any problem.

So in my case, if I clone the 40 Gb internal drive in my daughter's X60 to my spare 100 Gb drive using the UltraBay Slim adapter in the X6, then it should boot right up when I swap the newly-cloned larger drive to the internal drive position?

Need help and info on purchasing Hitachi 7K200

Need help and info on purchasing Hitachi 7K200

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