Hard Drive Update: Hitachi Travelstar 7K320

[Thinkpodder]

I have a T400 with the 200GB 7,200 RPM encrypted drive.

I'd like more storage capacity and an obvious candidate is the Hitachi Travelstar 7K320. I'm not aware of another 2.5" drive with more than 320GB storage at that spindle rate. (5,400 is too slow.)

Is the Hitachi compatible with IBM's Active Protection System? I'm willing to forgo the hardware encryption, as there are more secure software alternatives, but I'd like to keep APS.

Thanks.

[LondonConsultant]

Check-out this thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=68214

[Thinkpodder]

Thanks. Walking through that disagreeable thread and following some of the links, it would appear that only OEM drives support APS, which is precisely what Lenovo says in their whitepaper on APS.

Seagate has a drive with separate, built-in technology that provides a similar feature, but its response is not customizable.

So, the bottom line is that it appears I'll stick with my current drive until Lenovo offers something better.

[rdharper]

Thanks. Walking through that disagreeable thread and following some of the links, it would appear that only OEM drives support APS, which is precisely what Lenovo says in their whitepaper on APS.

Seagate has a drive with separate, built-in technology that provides a similar feature, but its response is not customizable.

So, the bottom line is that it appears I'll stick with my current drive until Lenovo offers something better.

Or you could add a drive in the Ultrabay.

[Thinkpodder]

Yeah, but I keep a battery in there and only the main internal drive has APS.

[basketb]

FYI, APS also works for the HD in the Ultrabay adapter.

[Thinkpodder]

From IBM's white paper on APS:

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

Note: The IBM Hard Drive Active Protection System protects only the primary hard disk drive on select ThinkPad computers using Microsoft® Windows® XP or Windows 2000. The protection system does not support protection of any secondary hard disk drives, including those installed in an UltraBay drive bay. The active protection system functions only with the 2.5″ hard disk drive provided by IBM due to special customization.

If this has changed since it was written, please provide a reference.

[bill bolton]

If this has changed since it was written, please provide a reference.

Its been supported since the 7th release version ....

• <1.30b>
  - (New) Support APS feature of 2nd HDD on Ultrabay Slim.
  - (New) Support for ThinkPad T43, T43p, R52 (added).

See.... ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... sa04ww.txt

APS is now in its 19th release version.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[Thinkpodder]

Thanks for the correction!

(But I still don't want an ultrabay drive.

So, the question is what else has changed from when that white paper was written...

[rdharper]

Thanks for the correction!

(But I still don't want an ultrabay drive.

So, the question is what else has changed from when that white paper was written...

9 cell main battery... I get over 7 hours with no attention to conservation.

The 2nd HD can be 5200rpm, backup, cloning drive, whatever.

I know, you don't want one....

[albo]

these folks seem to think the 7k320 will work:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=69004

Not sure if they're just looking for the icon changing or what, though. How does one really determine if APS is "working"?

anyway, i'm thinking of getting one myself...

[kiwimeat]

I'm currently running a 320GB Western Digital Scorpio Black 2.5" SATA 7200rpm drive in my T400. It produces no more heat than other drives but there is a very slight audible noise of the rotation (the price you pay for 7200 rpm) which is only really apparent due to the silence of the rest of the system.

I've also run the same drive in my T60 and have previously run 200GB Seagate Momentus, 100GB & 160GB Hitachi drives purchased from local computer shops with no issues, and everything including APS working.