Thinkpads Forum

Does anyone know the largest hard drive I can install on my T520 4239-CTO? It came with a 500gig but I would sure like to upgrade it to a 1TB or 2TB.
Thanks,
Harold

1TB are the largest notebook drives, but they're 5400RPM drives. Performance will take a bit a hit. You could I suppose if you want 2TB have one in the main bay and one in the modular bay, replacing the optical drive.

FredGarvin wrote:1TB are the largest notebook drives, but they're 5400RPM drives. Performance will take a bit a hit. You could I suppose if you want 2TB have one in the main bay and one in the modular bay, replacing the optical drive.

Fred, thanks for the quick response.
Harold

(Hopefully he's not already gone...)

1TB are the largest notebook drives, but they're 5400RPM drives. Performance will take a bit a hit. You could I suppose if you want 2TB have one in the main bay and one in the modular bay, replacing the optical drive.

But that's only true if you're looking at 7200RPM drives at sizes > 500GB.

You see, going to 1 TB means that the heads can cover more data per revolution.
So 7200 RPM on a 500 GB drive doesn't cover as much as 5400 RPM does on a 1000 GB drive.


See this review (http://hothardware.com/Reviews/1TB-WD-S ... QuickTake/) for details.

TL;DR As long as your files are larger than 64KB, you're fine.

It's certainly true that larger drives will have better throughput due to the higher areal density, but a 7200RPM drive offers better latency. The latency is more important unless you copy and paste files all day.

... which is why, when I run out of space on my 320GB 720GB data drive, I will buy something like this or its successor:
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/ha ... iew-6.html