Best hard drive for IBM ThinkPad T20

[dterzis]

Hi folks...

I have an old IBM ThinkPad T20 laptop, in which the original 12 GB hard
disk seems about to fail any time now. I formatted the drive several
times and successfully installed Windows XP SP2, but there was no
improvement, as the HDD remains slow, noisy and unreliable.

So, I am looking for a replacement and need answers to the following
questions:

- What is the best brand (e.g., Toshiba or Hitachi), in terms of
reliability and performance?

- Which product family to use (e.g., Travelstar, or other)?

- Do I need to buy any extra fitting kit, or will the new drive happily
sit in the place of the old one?

- Is it possible to install a 5400 rpm disk in my T20, or should I go
for a 4200 device?

- Where to buy it from, online, in the UK?

If you have done such a (trivial, but first for me) upgrade for a T20
already, I 'd really appreciate your opinion.

Thanks,

Dimitris

 

[Lars]

- What is the best brand (e.g., Toshiba or Hitachi), in terms of
reliability and performance?
- Which product family to use (e.g., Travelstar, or other)?

The Hitachi Travelstar 7k60 60gb 7200rpm is most likely the
best you can have. I have one since a year and it is terrific.
I use it in a 600 X, but I have run it in my friends T 21 too.
People use it in T42's as well.

You could check on Thinkpads.com, a forum for Thinkpad
users.
Here is a direct link to posts on that drive.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=9650&highlight=7k60

- Do I need to buy any extra fitting kit, or will the new drive happily
sit in the place of the old one?

The 7k60 is a 9,5 mm drive. I do believe it comes with the
fitting cradle when you buy it new. Otherwise you would
do well to move the cradle from the old drive. It is quite
easy, only four phillips screws to remove. On at least some
of my Travelstars there is also a sticky tape glueing the
cradle to the drive. It needs some moderate force to
separate them.

When you first set it up, you have to do it in the Thinkpad.
I have tried cloning new 2,5" drives while having them
connected through adaptors in my desktop. It would not work,
or it looked OK, but would not boot. There is something about
the electronics in your computer that gets written to the HD.
(Drive controller or what?) So it must be partitioned and
formatted in the Thinkpad. Once that is done you can clone
partitions in a desktop if you must.

- Is it possible to install a 5400 rpm disk in my T20, or should I go
for a 4200 device?

Of course you can have a 5400 Rpm, but you will be much
better off with the 7200 Rpm one.

- Where to buy it from, online, in the UK?

Check Pricerunner or other such to compare prices.
http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/computing/storage/harddrives/browse?sort=5&a_846=2.5"

Good luck!


Lars
Stockholm

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

The Hitachi Travelstar 7k60 60gb 7200rpm is most likely the
best you can have. I have one since a year and it is terrific.
I use it in a 600 X, but I have run it in my friends T 21 too.
People use it in T42's as well.

What about the constant going into sleepmode every 30 seconds or so of
inactivity, caused by the inbuilt PowerBoost technology, otherwise known
as Adaptive Battery Life Extender, A.B.L.E.?