Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

I need ur help to help me find the best drive for my X61.

A while ago someone posted a message indicating that the best drive was the SAMSUNG 2.5" Spinpoint M6 500GB (HDSMHM500LI) SATA 5400RPM 9.5mm... Any feedback on this device? How is it behaving over time? How about noise?

I am wondering if other big players such as WD and Seagate had similar offers?

Regarding compatibility and firmware issues, what should I look for? Will any recent drive work on X61? How about SATA 3GB? SATA I? SATA II? I am a bit lost with the latest trends.

Seagate now has the Momentus 7200.4 SATA 3Gb/s 500-GB Hard Drive (ST9500420ASG)... Is this drive copmatible with X61? Height is 9.5mm according to datasheet...

A 7200 rpm will be more noisy? use more power?

Any update will be much appreciated... I could not find an official list from Lenovo. Is there a compatibility list?

If u can please provide links or model reference.

Thank you for your kind help.

Alex

Perhaps if you told us more about what your needs or uses are, we can better help you.

To answer some of your questions, Samsung is traditionally in the lower rung of brand names for hard drives that also includes Toshiba and arguably Fujitsu. The major ones are Seagate (Maxtor is owned by Seagate), Western Digital and Hitachi. I can't speak for the lower rung drives, but assume they are just as unreliable as any other drives. Traditionally, Thinkpads almost always used Hitachi, but my new X61s shipped with a Seagate Momentus.

There are usually a number of things to consider when buying a hard drive:

Rotation Speed: 7200rpm is fastest on notebook , but require a little more power. However, in most cases this is negligable. Cost is higher than 5400rpm drives.
Noise: 7200rpm makes more noise, but my experience is that it is barely audible. The sound of my CPU fan kicking in is louder.
Size: 5400rpm drives in larger sizes comes out first and is considerably cheaper than comparable 7200rpm drives
Cache: More cache is better, but the typical range is 8MB-16MB
Size: 9.5mm height should fit your laptop just fine. You want 2.5" wide
Interface: SATA, PATA (sometimes reffered to by IDE) is incompatible with your laptop. Any traditional hard drive today will not outstrip the original SATA interface speed so don't worry about SATA I, SATA II & etc.

I personally use a Hitachi 7K320. It is a 7200rpm, 16MB cache and 320GB storage space drive. I like it and it isn't audible to me.

Finally, if you value the Active Protection System then a compatible hard drive is required. Reports are that the 7K320 are compatible. Some have also reported the Seagate Momentus, but I have not heard anything about the Western Digitals.

Overview of APS taken from IBM Site:

"When the Active Protection system is enabled, it protects your hard drive when the shock sensor inside your ThinkPad computer detects a situation that could potentially damage the hard drive. The protection system stops your hard drive by moving the read/write heads of the hard drive to areas that do not contain data, and may also stop spinning the disks of the hard drive. The hard drive is less vulnerable to damage when it is not in operation. The protection system turns the hard drive on again once the shock sensor detects a stable environment (minimal change in system tilt, vibration, or shock). When the protection system detects system motion and stops your hard drive, the following message is displayed."

More information here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... migr-53167

Link to hard drive benchmarks:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Sto ... torage,19/

I hope this helps.

I agree. Hitachi 7K320 is the best choice overall. New WD 500GB is a reasonable alternative if you need that much space.

I don't future proof drives. If I have enough storage for 12 months, I buy it. In a year, you can buy twice as much for $99.

I recently added a 7K320 to my x61t and now the fan stays on a lot longer than when I had my original drive (80GB Hitachi). Do others notice this as well?

Thanks a lot for your updates. My friend just bought the Seagate Momentus 5400.5 320 GB 8MB cache (108 SGD).

Not sure what is the difference with the Momentus 5400.6, but this one was not available.

In7200 rpm not many choice so I will wait a while to buy mine or buy online. Is it so important the 7200 rpm? Isn't it a bottleneck somewhere else? I am an average user with no intensive r/w (office use). I am more concerned about power, heat and noise.

Another friend from Seagate recommended the WD Scorpio Black 7200rpm 320GB with 16MB and free-fall sensor (sic!). He said this disk was out a while ago so most bugs ironed (WD3200BJKT). But not available in 500 GB yet.

I'll probably go and buy online as choice in Singapore stores was weak.

Will keep u posted.

Alex

carrausse wrote:Thanks a lot for your updates. My friend just bought the Seagate Momentus 5400.5 320 GB 8MB cache (108 SGD).

Not sure what is the difference with the Momentus 5400.6, but this one was not available.

In7200 rpm not many choice so I will wait a while to buy mine or buy online. Is it so important the 7200 rpm? Isn't it a bottleneck somewhere else? I am an average user with no intensive r/w (office use). I am more concerned about power, heat and noise.

Another friend from Seagate recommended the WD Scorpio Black 7200rpm 320GB with 16MB and free-fall sensor (sic!). He said this disk was out a while ago so most bugs ironed (WD3200BJKT). But not available in 500 GB yet.


Alex

7200 RPM drives are faster - but not that much faster. Total seek times are about 10-15% faster. Peak data rates are 5-15% faster. A new 7200RPM drive always seems like a big improvement over an old 5400RPM drive - but a new 5400RPM drive is usually a big improvement as well.

Power is not very different anymore. A Thinkpad pulls anywhere from 7-40W, depending on what you are doing. The added power from a 7200RPM drive is less than 0.5W. It will run 5-10C warmer. I don't find the noise difference very noticeable either compared to modern fans.

As an average user - I think you will be happy with either drive speed - but there is almost no downside to 7200RPM.

Drives are generally the performance bottleneck.

FWIW, I just installed a Seagate 320GB/7200 in a friend's X61T and found it to be very responsive, and not at all noisy for a 7200rpm drive. If I needed a SATA drive myself, that one would be my choice.

I'm running a seagate 320GB 2.5" sata 3G/s and frankly it's a bit toasty in temperatures than the Hitachi it replaced.
If I could do it again, I might stick with Hitachi's. I am hearing they seem to run a bit cooler than others in comparable size.

-mo

mofo wrote:I'm running a seagate 320GB 2.5" sata 3G/s and frankly it's a bit toasty in temperatures than the Hitachi it replaced.
If I could do it again, I might stick with Hitachi's. I am hearing they seem to run a bit cooler than others in comparable size.

-mo

Although, personally I prefer Hitachi drives, the increase in temperature might be due to increased rotation speed. Any other drive will suffer this and a Hitachi might not fix your problem.

I'm waiting for the Fujitsu MJA2 or the Hitachi 5K500.B 250GB. 250GB on a single platter (quieter, cooler), faster, lower power, more environmentally friendly than the prior generation. What's not to like?

Only problem is, although they've been 'launched' they aren't actually available yet..

leesiulung wrote:

mofo wrote:I'm running a seagate 320GB 2.5" sata 3G/s and frankly it's a bit toasty in temperatures than the Hitachi it replaced.
If I could do it again, I might stick with Hitachi's. I am hearing they seem to run a bit cooler than others in comparable size.

-mo

Although, personally I prefer Hitachi drives, the increase in temperature might be due to increased rotation speed. Any other drive will suffer this and a Hitachi might not fix your problem.

Yeah! LOL... well.
I would like to try the 7200 RPM unit to compare. I have the 5400RPM Seagate.

Seagate ST9320320AS 320GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148338