Thinkpad T42 80GB Hard Drives

Message

mandrak3 · #1 Post by **mandrak3** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 1:56 am

I'd recently picked up a T42 (23738YM) ... but it only came with the stock 40GB hard drive

I am planning to get a 80GB HDD to replace the original drive, and put the 40GB onto the ultrabay slim slot to make it 120GB in total. The components I am referring to are as follows:

ThinkPad 2nd HDD Adapter for Ultrabay Slim (62P4554)
ThinkPad High Speed 80GB HDD (09N4273)

Is this the right way about it?

Incidently, searching around the web ... I have also found cheaper Hitachi Drives with similar specs ... eg. the Hitachi HTS548080M9AT0 80GB 5400RPM. Can these drives fit into the T42s also? Any others you would also recommend?

Hitachi HTS548080M9AT0
80.0GB capacity
5,400 rpm rotational speed
Interface - ATA-6 hard disk drive
Areal densities of up to 70Gbits/sq.inch
9.5mm 2.5 inch notebook hard disk drive
Sector size (bytes): 512
Recording zones: 16
Data heads: 4/3/2/1
Disks: 2/2/1/1
Max. areal density: (Gbits/sq.inch) 70
Height (mm): 9.5
Width (mm): 70
Depth (mm): 100
Weight (g): 102

Just paranoid that some of these other drives will not fit into the TP. Incidently, would IBM's Active Protection System work with none IBM Drives? I know it will not work with the secondary drive on the Ultrabay Slim Adapter, but don't know if it's only specific to IBM drives.

Any comments will be much appreciated!!!

teknerd122 · #2 Post by **teknerd122** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 3:00 am

IBM does not make the drives. All 2.5" drives will work with the T42. Same goes for active protection in the main drive slot. I'm pretty sure that the "thinkpad high speed 80gb hdd" that you specified is just a Hitachi that IBM sells you at an insane premium (kind of like the RAM they try to sell). Buy the drive someplace else! Also, if you're looking for speed, you may want to consider Hitachi's 7200rpm, 60gb drive. One thing to note is that having 2 drives running in your computer is bound to negatively affect battery life. Have you considered that you can easily get a 200gb, 7200rpm desktop drive and a USB 2.0 case for less than a notebook hard drive?

taphil · #3 Post by **taphil** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 3:05 am

That Hitachi drive is the same as the one from IBM and the same as the 80GB drive that comes in ThinkPads. Any 2.5" 9.5mm hard drive would work, but Hitachis are fast and reliable. I'd just make sure to buy a Hitachi drive that comes with a 3 year warranty. I think some drives only come with 1 year warranty.

mandrak3 · #4 Post by **mandrak3** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 3:33 am

teknerd122 wrote:IBM does not make the drives. All 2.5" drives will work with the T42. Same goes for active protection in the main drive slot. I'm pretty sure that the "thinkpad high speed 80gb hdd" that you specified is just a Hitachi that IBM sells you at an insane premium (kind of like the RAM they try to sell). Buy the drive someplace else! Also, if you're looking for speed, you may want to consider Hitachi's 7200rpm, 60gb drive. One thing to note is that having 2 drives running in your computer is bound to negatively affect battery life. Have you considered that you can easily get a 200gb, 7200rpm desktop drive and a USB 2.0 case for less than a notebook hard drive?

I run alot of demos of my laptop (through Vmware), so will only use the extra drive when I need to in a 2 drive scenario, so that should be alright with the battery life.

I have considered the USB options, but as far as I know, anything above 40GB will require it's own power pack, and that's not the nicest solution given the amount of travelling and demos I do ... but point taken though.

matyst · #5 Post by **matyst** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:46 am

I am 99.9% sure that the IBM drive you're referring to is the same as Hitachi 5K80 (HTS548080M9AT00). I have two of them and they work great (one as my main HDD, the second in the Ultrabay).
You can buy them much cheaper than $299 from IBM. I bought mine from www.zipzoomfly.com, it's $163.50 S&H included and 3 yr warranty, but many other stores have them in stock too. Just check the store on www.resellerratings.com before buying.

fafaforza · #6 Post by **fafaforza** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 9:30 am

[quote="teknerd122"]just a Hitachi that IBM sells you at an insane premium (kind of like the RAM they try to sell).[/quote]

IBM's price for a 512MB stick is $150, compared to Crucial's $100, and $599 for 1024MB compared to crucial's $399.

Someone that has a T41 tried non-IBM ram (Crucial or Kingston) and said the laptop stopped hypernating properly. Anyone have experience with non-IBM ram and could offer some opinion on whether it causes issues?

Raindrop · #7 Post by **Raindrop** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 10:18 am

fafaforza wrote:
teknerd122 wrote:just a Hitachi that IBM sells you at an insane premium (kind of like the RAM they try to sell).
IBM's price for a 512MB stick is $150, compared to Crucial's $100, and $599 for 1024MB compared to crucial's $399.

Someone that has a T41 tried non-IBM ram (Crucial or Kingston) and said the laptop stopped hypernating properly. Anyone have experience with non-IBM ram and could offer some opinion on whether it causes issues?

I am running a Crucial 512mB ram in addition to the onboard 512mB IBM and have had no conflicts or issues with hibernation. It was my understanding that Crucial is the manufacturer that produces the OEM and the reason I chose them over Kingston. At $112 delivered with sales tax for the Crucial there was a slight savings but certainly wouldn't have been worth it if I experienced problems. None to date so everything seems fine.

~Greg

ZPrime · #8 Post by **ZPrime** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 2:20 pm

I'm running a pair of 512M KTI/Kingmax TinyBGA modules with absolutely no problems. (Well, one of the two modules was DOA/bad memory chip, but once it was replaced all is well.)

Hibernation works fine, as does suspend. If only there were a quicker way to write 1GB of data to a HDD... and yes, i've got a 7200rpm drive.

Plinkerton · #9 Post by **Plinkerton** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 2:38 pm

My Crucial ram works just fine.

There's this HD link also.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 020&depa=0.
Newegg.com

kano · #10 Post by **kano** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 6:55 pm

I run alot of demos of my laptop (through Vmware), so will only use the extra drive when I need to in a 2 drive scenario, so that should be alright with the battery life.

I have considered the USB options, but as far as I know, anything above 40GB will require it's own power pack, and that's not the nicest solution given the amount of travelling and demos I do ... but point taken though.

Maybe not so fast, but portable and powered by USB 40/80/100GB HD:
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10106
Regards, KaNo

Kenn · #11 Post by **Kenn** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:49 pm

kano wrote:
Maybe not so fast, but portable and powered by USB 40/80/100GB HD:
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10106
Regards, KaNo

"The LaCie Mobile Hard Drive does not require a power supply for computers equipped with a standard buspowered USB port. Some USB hubs or boards are not powered; if your computer's USB hub or bus does not provide the necessary power to operate your drive, use one of the optional power sharing cables to turn on your drive."

If I'm not mistaken, powered USB requires an adiditional port and is not available on the T-series, right?

kano · #12 Post by **kano** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:18 am

Kenn wrote: If I'm not mistaken, powered USB requires an adiditional port and is not available on the T-series, right?

No, my T42p work with 80GB LaCie connected only to one USB port.
KaNo

kano · #13 Post by **kano** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:33 am

P.S.
This is very good place for Rapid Restore backups.
KaNo

mandrak3 · #14 Post by **mandrak3** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:51 am

kano wrote:
I run alot of demos of my laptop (through Vmware), so will only use the extra drive when I need to in a 2 drive scenario, so that should be alright with the battery life.

I have considered the USB options, but as far as I know, anything above 40GB will require it's own power pack, and that's not the nicest solution given the amount of travelling and demos I do ... but point taken though.
Maybe not so fast, but portable and powered by USB 40/80/100GB HD:
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10106
Regards, KaNo

Hey, these look interesting. Will definately check out this option. Does it depends on what applications you run on these drives for these to be applicable/suitable? I will be running a couple of Virtual Machines off them with a number of different application Servers (seeing that it's only 4200rpm)?

Kenn · #15 Post by **Kenn** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 1:22 am

kano wrote:
Kenn wrote: If I'm not mistaken, powered USB requires an adiditional port and is not available on the T-series, right?
No, my T42p work with 80GB LaCie connected only to one USB port.
KaNo

Excellent, thanks

kano · #16 Post by **kano** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 10:16 am

mandrak3 wrote: Hey, these look interesting. Will definately check out this option. Does it depends on what applications you run on these drives for these to be applicable/suitable? I will be running a couple of Virtual Machines off them with a number of different application Servers (seeing that it's only 4200rpm)?

For closer view I tested Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40GB and LaCie USB2 80GB under typical XP environment (with few running programs, background processes like Norton AV etc.). Both HD were defragmented few weeks ago. Therefore, ATTO benchmark results are little bit lower.

Regards, KaNo

mandrak3 · #17 Post by **mandrak3** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 7:26 am

Hey, thanks for doing that Kano. I've decided to go with a new internal Hitachi 80GB, and also an external LaCie USB2 80GB for VMs.

What is the best/easiest approach to format the new 80GB (replacement for the existing 40GB) and transfer the content of the original 40GB over to the new 80GB (including the hidden 4GB that IBM Recovery Software uses as well as XP, considering that I did not get original XP and Recovery Program media with the TP)?

I was thinking of doing a backup using the restore program onto a network drive, then plugging in the new 80GB, formatting it, installing the IBM Restore Software onto the new drive, and try to restore the content from the network back onto the 80GB. Is that the best way to go about this?

cynosure · #18 Post by **cynosure** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 8:26 am

Hitachi HTS548080M9AT0

I think it is the most performance:)

the noice of it is lesser than 80G 7k60 of 7400rpm ,

and the power needed by 5k80 is less also

kano · #19 Post by **kano** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 1:46 pm

mandrak3 wrote:What is the best/easiest approach to format the new 80GB (replacement for the existing 40GB) and transfer the content of the original 40GB over to the new 80GB (including the hidden 4GB that IBM Recovery Software uses as well as XP, considering that I did not get original XP and Recovery Program media with the TP)?

I was thinking of doing a backup using the restore program onto a network drive, then plugging in the new 80GB, formatting it, installing the IBM Restore Software onto the new drive, and try to restore the content from the network back onto the 80GB. Is that the best way to go about this?

First you need to create CD recovery disks. CD's (or DVD) will restore all partition and initial set on new drive (including Rapid Recovery). Only from this point you can use Rapid Recovery backup (for example from network drive) for restoring a last Windows configuration. I prefer Norton Ghost. You can prepare bootable CD with Norton Ghost and next run disk to disk copy, nothing more.

Thinkpad T42 80GB Hard Drives

Thinkpad T42 80GB Hard Drives

Hitachi HTS548080M9AT0 is GOOD:)

Who is online