Best HDD upgrade for my R61?

[groovon]

I'm thinking it's time to get a bigger hard drive for my R61. It still has the stock 60GB 5400rpm Hitachi Travelstar C' drive plus a 100GB 7200rpm (7K100) Hitachi in the ultrabay (I'm wishing I'd got the 200GB one back then, but they were pretty expensive at the time).

Looking at new HDs today, specifically the 7200rpm 3.0Gb/s 320 or 500GB Hitachi Travelstars, I'm not sure whether they will plug-and-play in the R61, or are even compatible at all.

I've searched many posts here and on other forums, but am still confused as to whether a new 1.5Gb/s or 3.0Gb/s HDD will work properly, either as 'C' drive, or in the Ultrabay. Is my Hitachi 7K100 (ATA-6) actually an IDE drive? Is the R61 compatible with SATA/SATA150S/ATA300 drives (even if the drive is operating at a lower spec)? My Ultrabay says clearly 'Serial ATA' on the tag. I hope you can see why I'm slightly confused here(!)

I'd like another (bigger) Hitachi 7200rpm as the main drive, but this might not be really necessary with a newer drive. I don't care about battery consumption as I always use the machine plugged in. I'd like 500GB capacity, but 320 would do.

So, how limited is my choice of 'fast'/large capacity HDDs for the R61?

Thanks for any advice at all on best replacement options for R61 HDDs.

PS - The 160GB/7200rpm Lenovo-branded HDD (at NewEgg) is the only one I can find listed as compatible, as a 'C' drive, with the R61. It's an SATA 150 drive. All the SATA 150 HDs listed there are Lenovo-branded. Some of them are listed as compatiblt with the R61 in the Ultrabay, but not as 'C' drive. Why wouldn't the 320 or 500GB SATA 150 HDs work in the R61 as 'C'... or would they? Sorry for so many questions(!)
Dave

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Reading your post has me confused in one place as well, but hopefully this will help....

- the R61 system requires the use of a SATA (Serial ATA) hard drive in the main bay (i.e, the "C:" drive); you can't put an IDE/PATA drive in there.
- the Ultrabay can use either a SATA or IDE hard drive, as long as the correct Ultrabay 2nd hard drive adapter is used.
- the faster SATA II (3Gb/s) drives should operate at the slower SATA I speed that the R61 disk drive controller uses, but I'd double check with the drive manufacturer just to be safe.
- your drive that has ATA-6 printed on it would make it an IDE drive, so the only way that I could see you using it would be inside the Ultrabay with a IDE/PATA 2nd drive adapter. What is the full model number of that drive?? (something like HTS7210.... I'd guess).

[groovon]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Reading your post has me confused in one place as well, but hopefully this will help....

- the R61 system requires the use of a SATA (Serial ATA) hard drive in the main bay (i.e, the "C:" drive); you can't put an IDE/PATA drive in there.
- the Ultrabay can use either a SATA or IDE hard drive, as long as the correct Ultrabay 2nd hard drive adapter is used.
- the faster SATA II (3Gb/s) drives should operate at the slower SATA I speed that the R61 disk drive controller uses, but I'd double check with the drive manufacturer just to be safe.
- your drive that has ATA-6 printed on it would make it an IDE drive, so the only way that I could see you using it would be inside the Ultrabay with a IDE/PATA 2nd drive adapter. What is the full model number of that drive?? (something like HTS7210.... I'd guess).

Thanks Ray for the quick reply, and for clearing up much of my confusion. I think the Hitachi 7200rpm HD in the Ultrabay is a 7K100 HTS721010G9AT00 (as listed on NewEgg at the time), but I'll have to check. I thought it was the bee's knees in fast HDs back then, so I'm surprised to hear it's an IDE drive and not a SATA. I'm pretty sure this is the one I bought:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6822146052

So are you saying I can put any SATA 150 or 300 HD in either as 'C' drive or in the Ultrabay, such as the 320 or 500GB 7200rpm Hitachi? That would certainly make happy. I suspect it's not quite so simple though(!)

thanks again!
Dave

[ZaZ]

The Seagate Momentus XT might be worth a look. It's a platter based drive with a 4GB SSD attached. The reviews I've seen have been pretty good.

[groovon]

Thanks Fred, I'll keep that option in mind.

Here are a few HDs I've looked at. I'm not sure which of them are fully compatible with my R61, except for this 160GB Lenovo replacement HD:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822502021

These don't specifically say they're not compatible, but is there any reason why this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822502025

or this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822145361

...wouldn't work (as R61's 'C' drive)?

thanks
Dave

[ZaZ]

As long as it's a SATA drive, it'll work. The ones you listed are all SATA so there should be no problem. I wouldn't buy a Lenovo branded drive as you'll pay more and get less capacity. The last one seems the best bet.

[groovon]

As long as it's a SATA drive, it'll work. The ones you listed are all SATA so there should be no problem. I wouldn't buy a Lenovo branded drive as you'll pay more and get less capacity. The last one seems the best bet.

Thanks. I'm probably going for this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822145275
It lists more specs, including the 16GB cache.

BTW, I found the source of my confusion. The Hitachi 7K100 I'd bought and put in the R61's ultrabay is of course a SATA (1.5Gb/s), not an ATA-6. Now I'm thinking that I might use it as a 'C' drive upgrade, and put the new 500Gig Hitachi in the Ultrabay.

Thanks to all for your help. I'll post back with results once I get things sorted out.

Dave

[sjthinkpader]

That 7K500 is very fast. It brings the most benefit as the main drive in the HDD slot.

[groovon]

That 7K500 is very fast. It brings the most benefit as the main drive in the HDD slot.

Do I need or even want that big a C drive? I suppose I can partition it no end (if that wouldn't negate the speed advantage). The thing is, I figured my 7K200 100Gig Hitachi would make the perfect C drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

I think it is still pretty dang fast, and as the C drive would be easier to clone and to organise (I'm not a good organiser). Do you think putting the 500GB in the Ultrabay is a waste of it's potential? Thanks for any feedback or thoughts at all, I'm pretty green at this.

(PS - Does the Ultrabay give you a second bootable drive? I've never been sure about that.)
Dave