Thinkpads Forum

Hi My hard drive 160gig crapped out. What is the fastest in various sizes and where to buy most reasonably? Are there any ssd deals? Thanks

I believe there's a 7200rpm Hitachi 7k320 out, that's probably the fastest. Or you can go for a slower 5400rpm 500gb. For other models, generally the bigger the drive in GB the faster it is. And of course usually 7200rpms are faster than 5400rpms.

I like to buy stuff in general from newegg.com. Make sure you get a drive with a warranty, paying an extra $20 for something like Seagate's 5 year warranty will come in handy down the road.

SSDs are even faster, but they are extremely expensive, and you'd only end up with 64 or maybe 128gb.

just buy the 320gb hitachi travelstar 5k320, best value for your dollar. you do not need 7200rpm unless you compile a [censored] ton of crap all the time, play games, etc. and 7200rpm will suck your battery life away.

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

An alternative to Hitachi Travelstar's 7k320 (320GB @ 7200rpm) which maybe worth considering is Seagate's Momentus 7200.3 (ST9320421AS) or Western Digital's Scorpio Black (WD3200BEKT) - both models are available with or without "Free fall sensor / G-force protection".

jamse wrote:just buy the 320gb hitachi travelstar 5k320, best value for your dollar. you do not need 7200rpm unless you compile a *****Expletives removed by Moderator***** ton of crap all the time, play games, etc. and 7200rpm will suck your battery life away.

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

Current 7200 rpm drives have the same levels of consumption, noise and heat as 5400 rpm drives, so the only real reason not to choose them is cost. Oh, and a 7200 rpm drive is the SINGLE BEST upgrade one can have for their laptop, since it gives the best performance increase per buck than any other component upgrade.