Thinkpads Forum

Hi everybody,

I'm about to change the hard disk drive in my T500, because the original WD 320GB drive is full.
I want to buy me a 640GB drive but I'm wondering if the Active Protection System will still work with any other hard drive or if my choice is limited to a list compatible drives/manufacturers.

Thank you in advance!

I'm pretty sure they'll work with most hard drives. ThinkWiki states Active Protection System only works with drives that support the necessary instructions. The firmware must also support the function. However, Fujitsu, Hitachi and WD drives appear to be okay, Seagate as well.

To err on the side of caution, obtain a brand that Lenovo usually ships (the four above). I'd recommend one of these: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=685. They're very power efficient.

Also: You can NTFS compress your drives to save space. I store 28.2GB of games as 21.4GB on the disk. It would be free space (free as in unoccupied as well as gratuitous).

Ok thank you, but do you know if a Samsung drive will be okay ?
They are a bit less expensive than the WD ones.

I'm not sure; I have not heard of any ThinkPads shipping with Samsungs (Samsung Spinpoint?).

Also, some drives (WD and Seagate) have accelerometers built in, so those will be more expensive. Their features are redundant, so go for the non-accelerometer equipped models.

Ok, I will see and chose between WD and Seagate, thanks a lot.

I personally prefer WD by a long shot; I have a 320GB Scorpio Black that serves me very well, as well as two external Scorpio Blues in enclosures. I also have a Maxtor (Seagate drive) but that runs hotter and louder. My X100e also shipped with a Seagate; it has really loud seek noise.

Anyway, pick whatever conforms to your budget and requirements.

Yeah I also think that WD is better, I just read some reviews and tests, and it seems that the WD ones are great.
Moreover, the one I have in my T500 right now is fast and quiet, so I think a 640 GB of the same serie will be quite similar.