Does APS work with Seagate HDD?

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Chupacabras · #1 Post by **Chupacabras** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:38 am

Hi.

I have Thinkpad R60 (UL1HRGE, 9461-HRG) with 120GB 5400rpm SATA HDD.
I'd like to buy/upgrade to 120-160GB 7200rpm HDD.
Seagate Momentus SATA 7200.2 120GB is my favorite at this point.

1. Is it possible to use this HDD in my R60?
2. Is APS (Active Protection System) going to work with this drive?

(HDD heads are parked when I shake notebook)

wackydan · #2 Post by **wackydan** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 12:26 pm

Yes and YES.

APS is a sensor on your motherboard, not the drive. The software driver for APS sends a good old park command to the drive to park the heads when the sensor is reporting abrupt movement.

For that reason you can use any standard drive with your thinkpad though I would advise you update your bios first.

Chupacabras · #3 Post by **Chupacabras** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 4:25 pm

Thanks for reply.

I contacted Seagate presales support, they told me to contact Lenovo.
Then I contacted Lenovo and they told me that they cannot guarantee that Seagate drives have the "proper firmware".

Is that true or they just want me to force to buy Lenovo's original drive?

wackydan · #4 Post by **wackydan** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 4:37 pm

Chupacabras wrote:Thanks for reply.

I contacted Seagate presales support, they told me to contact Lenovo.
Then I contacted Lenovo and they told me that they cannot guarantee that Seagate drives have the "proper firmware".

Is that true or they just want me to force to buy Lenovo's original drive?

Eh... I think just about any drive made out there supports receiving a park command.... even on old firmware/original shipping firmware.

Just keep in mind that they say that as they only SUPPORT their drives in the systems, so if you call for support and tell them it's not the original drive for some future issue don't be surprised if they ask you to install the old drive.

#5 Post by **ryengineer** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:31 pm

Sir, APS is independent of hard disk drive, it's the integrated motion sensor that does the job in conjunction with the ThinkVantage Active Protection System software.

Chupacabras · #6 Post by **Chupacabras** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 12:44 am

Are you sure that HDD has to have implemented only command for parking heads?

Did anybody of you try it in real life? I mean did you buy and try non-official-Lenovo HDD in Thinkpad?

#7 Post by **ryengineer** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 3:45 am

Sir, lenovo does not manufacture HDDs, it just rebrands them under agreement with the suppliers. Some of the manufacturers that supply lenovo HDD's are Hitachi, Toshiba, Seagate, Samsung, Fujitsu etc. and you can buy them almost anywhere.

Chupacabras · #8 Post by **Chupacabras** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 11:29 am

Hi ryengineer,
I do understand what are you writing. It's logical.
But I don't understand why Lenovo provides firmware update for HDDs
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-62282

(there's some list of supported drives)

What is this about?

wackydan · #9 Post by **wackydan** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 11:43 am

Lenovo also provides re-packaged drivers for the Intel chipset, Bios updates, etc...

This is quite normal from a support perspective.

Again. Any drive will work with APS... and yes because it has been tested and proven to be that way.

Does APS work with Seagate HDD?

Does APS work with Seagate HDD?

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