Which 2nd SATA drive to buy?

Message

tperica · #1 Post by **tperica** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 7:57 am

Hi to all.

Anybody have any idea where i can buy Serial ATA drive(100GB or >) for ThinkPad 60p. Price on the IBM site is around 400 USD, huhhh! Momentus, Toshiba or Hitachi ?

cheers
tomislav

jjfcpa · #2 Post by **jjfcpa** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 8:14 am

If you just need extra disk space, buy the ultrabay adapter for hard drives and pickup a hard drive. That's what I did.

#3 Post by **RonS** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 11:49 am

The 100GB drive is $165 at Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822146053

The 80GB version is $120.

Keep in mind that if you plan on putting this 2nd drive in the SlimBay, then you can run either SATA or ATA. It doesn't matter. Same performance either way. The benefit of having a 2nd SATA drive is that you can use it as a spare for the primary drive.

WirelessAndy · #4 Post by **WirelessAndy** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 5:42 pm

Is there a difference in bus speed if you install the same HD from under the palm rest over to the Ultrabay?

(edited)

#5 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 6:23 pm

brentpresley had some sata drives, I got a 60g for $80 bucks if I remember correctly.

or was it an 80g for $60. Check him out in the marketplace.

curiouscosy · #6 Post by **curiouscosy** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 12:09 am

RonS wrote:Keep in mind that if you plan on putting this 2nd drive in the SlimBay, then you can run either SATA or ATA. It doesn't matter. Same performance either way. The benefit of having a 2nd SATA drive is that you can use it as a spare for the primary drive.

Would I need any adapter on the SATA UltraBay adapter to fit a PATA drive (http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/UltraBay_ ... DD_Adapter)?

Or would I need the PATA adapter instead, like this one http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/UltraBay_Slim_HDD_Adapter?
Would the PATA adapter fit on T60? I heard the bezel curve is different.

The reason is that I got several PATA drive lying around doing nothing from my older laptops, so I don't want to buy new SATA drives just to do backups, and the ultrabay hdd adapter looks much more convenient than an external usb enclosure.

Thanks.

#7 Post by **BillMorrow** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 3:23 am

curiouscosy wrote:The reason is that I got several PATA drive lying around doing nothing from my older laptops, so I don't want to buy new SATA drives just to do backups, and the ultrabay hdd adapter looks much more convenient than an external usb enclosure.

Thanks.

get a USB external 2.5 inch adapter..
about $25 more or less..
and use it for backups and other data transfer jobs..
forget the 2nd HDD adapoter unless you need a 2nd HDD in the thinkpad..

and when you DO buy a 2nd HDD adapter, get the SATA one as by that time you'll have several SATA drives..

just my two cents worth of opinion..

WirelessAndy · #8 Post by **WirelessAndy** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:43 am

I read somewhere the bus speed (?) for hard drives inserted into the Ultrabay adapter isn't quite the same as the main SATA one.

True?

So, a SATA drive in the Ultrabay is "slower" than an identical SATA drive in the main bay? Or is the difference negligible?

curiouscosy · #9 Post by **curiouscosy** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 11:46 am

BillMorrow wrote:get a USB external 2.5 inch adapter..
about $25 more or less..
and use it for backups and other data transfer jobs..
forget the 2nd HDD adapoter unless you need a 2nd HDD in the thinkpad..

I've got one of those already, just thinking about the HDD adapter, because they seem more practical than the external enclosure, esp. when travelling. And I very rarely use the DVD drive anyway. Thanks for your opinion though.

My question still stands though, can you use the SATA adapter with a PATA drive? (full expecting the answer to be no...)

tperica · #10 Post by **tperica** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 11:35 am

Hi,

Thanks for so many replies. Here is what I found most useful approach for my case:
One 2nd HDD adapter for PATA drives – you can not use SATA disk with PATA bay and vice versa.
One 2nd HDD adapter for SATA drives – backup, Linux OS or if anything happens to 1st HDD.
One USB enclosure – just in case for transferring, switching, etc...

I found this two drives, can not decide which one is better:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822153030
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822146053
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822146226

cheers
tomislav

DenTP4rm · #11 Post by **DenTP4rm** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:26 pm

I read somewhere here on the forum about somebody having a bad experience with Fujitsu drives, though I can't seem to find that post now. There are several who indicate good luck with them. I prefer Hitachi as that's what ships with the T60p so I figure if there is ever going to be a compatability problem (like they had on the T43s a while back) it would be less likely with Hitachi. So far I've had nothing but good experience with several Hitachi notebook drives.

There is a good review of the Seagate & Hitachi drives here:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2884

The Hitachi is available at PC Connection for $156.02 though it says "on order".
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2884
Costco has it in stock for about $10 more.
http://www.costcentral.com/proddetail/H ... 16/G68625/

Good luck,
DenTP4rm

Liam_ · #12 Post by **Liam_** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 6:46 pm

Well, I don't think all the T60p's have a hitatchi drive.

Mine for example has got a ST910021AS, which is, if you google on it, a Seagte Momentus 7200.1

I can't answer the question thought. I haven't got any experience with 2nd HDD's in laptops.

DenTP4rm · #13 Post by **DenTP4rm** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:06 am

Hey Liam_
Thanks for the correction. I didn't realize they were using Seagates as well. I guess the best thing to do would be to check whichever drive you've got and try and find the same one for the ultrabay.
Regards,
DenTP4rm