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They work just like non-BDE drives regarding all aspects of setting, clearing or changing HDD passwords in BIOS and with no impact on performance (at least based on my 3DMark06 scores and my stopwatch measured times to transfer large groups of files back and forth between the drives).
Furthermore, clearing and/or changing the BDE HDD Passwords in BIOS (at least on my Hitachi units) thankfully does not delete the data. However, after booting with the new BDE drives for the first time, a new additional option in my T61p BIOS automatically became available under "Security/Passwords" that offers to clear each HDD's BDE PW Encryption Key and securely delete all data .... apparently for those who wish to completely and securely reset the drives before disposal or resale.
Also, no more hassels with software based encryption ..... no more mounting/unmounting volumes, typing in extra SW encryption program PWs, slow backups or slow cloning. No more risks associated with accidentally deleting your SW encrypted file volume(s) or having Windows initialize your whole SW encrypted drive by mistake. All the AES encryption is seamlessly invisible, automatic and idiot proof (which is good for me).
Acronis TI v11.0 clones these BDE drives without requiring a clearing of the HDD PW's when using the Ultrabay adapter and only reads the actual data just like non-BDE drives so clones are faster when the drive is not full. Regarding the making of backup image files (not clones), it's also nice that Acronis only images the actual data and does not require a slow bit-by-bit image of the entire SW encrypted file volume(s) or the whole SW encrypted drive(s)/partition(s) even when they are not full (I'm talking here about making Acronis backup .tib image files to another archive HDD).
I think I will pick-up another pair of these 320GB 7200RPM BDE units for use as my weekly backup clones (I use two HDDs together in the T61p with an Ultrabay Adapter). I can store these extra BDE clones in my spare T61 so it is always sync'd up with the T61p, especially since it's just a simple HDD swap between these two nearly identical T-6X units and WinXP boots up just fine after a HDD swap.
IMHO, these 320GB 7200RPM BDE drives are well worth the 115 bucks I spent for each (compared to 80 bucks each for their non-BDE versions), especially if your clients require encryption when traveling. Only now you can travel without the added hassels and effort of dealing with SW based encrytion and the very real risks associated with accidentally deleting your encrypted file/container volume(s) or letting Windows initialize a whole SW encrypted drive by mistake.
One thing to note however is that the Hitachi BDE units are only 1.5 SATA mode compared to their same non-BDE units that have a jumper to select 1.5 or 3.0 SATA mode. This should make no difference for ThinkPad owners because Lenovo has hardware crippled or somehow limited the T6X series (and I also believe the T400/T500/W500/W700 series) to 1.5 SATA mode from what I've read elsewhere here on the ThinkPad Forum.
Bottom line, I think Hitachi BDE and Seagate FDE units will become more readily stocked and available in the future by the bigger online sellers of HW components as time moves forward, especially as more and more companies move to hardware-based encryption of their mobile units.
I rate BDE and FDE technology a big Two
for ease of use if you need AES encryption without any apparent performance hit and/or you wish to minimize the potential of accidental deletion of your encrypted data.
