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I'm about to replace the internal HDD in my Lenovo T61 laptop with a larger and faster one. For instance, a 250GB or 320GB 2.5" HDD would be sufficient for my needs.
Now, I'd need your help which brand is best to choose if I want to get a Serial ATA HDD with a speed of 7200 and 16MB of cache. From what I have read, some of the faster hard drives may cause vibrations and could be noisy. I'm also not sure if I need a SATA or SATA II.
Please, help me choose.
I've copied some info about my current factory HDD below:
WDC WD1600BEVS-08RST2
Serial ATA 1.5 Gb/s
8 MB cache buffer size
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Your current drive is a 5400 rpm drive. Going to a 7200 drive will be a nice improvement...BUT, you'll take a hit on battery life....and possible more heat.
If you current WD has served you well, I'd get another. In the long run, they all make good drives and they all have had issues from time to time. WD is my favorite brand.
My 2¢: I'd go with a Maxtor\Seagate drive simply because it has a 5 year warranty. I've been using Maxtor and Seagate since 1996 and I've only had one drive that went bad. It was 3 years old and they replaced it without any brain damage. All they wanted was a copy of my receipt and they did an "advanced return", too.
Western Digital, however, has either a 1, 2, or 3 year warranty, and it depends on the date of manufacture on the label as to when the warranty starts — not when you purchased it: i.e., if it's been sitting in the warehouse for a year and you don't use it (say, maybe keeping it for a backup) for awhile, your "warranty" is out of date before you even unwrap it. This happened to me; the drive was bad out-of-the-box and they wouldn't cover it because of the date on the label. They couldn't have cared less that I had a dated receipt.
And if you buy the extended warranty, it covers the first year too (even though it's already covered).
For my laptop I usually go with Seagate or Hitachi, they seem to have the better specifications I'm interested in. I'm not to worried about warranty, they're just small investments & I usually replace them within 3-4 year anyway
. . . I usually replace them within 3-4 year anyway
Hi Arie,
Uh, any reason why you replace so often? I've still got a Maxtor 5GB drive that works perfectly (and it's really old). And, I've still got a Maxtor 10GB drive that's still in use from 2001.
Hard drives get way to slow as new technology comes out. I always try to get a large HD, but from the OEM (I use Dell) that cost to much, so for example with my last laptop (Jan 2007) I got a 80GB drive from Dell, but last year I bought a 160GB Seagate to replace the 80GB drive, which is too small for me.
I then use the 80GB for beta's and the 160GB for my 'normal' OS.
I've decided to get an HDD by Seagate.
The exact model name is: Seagate Momentus 7200.4 250 GB (7200, 16MB, Serial ATA/300)
There is also an option to get the same model as above but with additional G-Force Protection, though it's slightly more expensive.
Would you recommend getting that with or without G-Force Protection?
Yes, I also don't have such an intention :-), but I wonder if that G-Force Protection only works if the disc is on or maybe it does its job also when you carry it with you.
There is no need otherwise. What it does is that when GFP senses acceleration (G force) outside certain parameters, it will park the hard drive heads to prevent them crashing into the drive platters, which causes HD failure.
When you switch off power, hard drive heads are parked by default.
There is a mention that it supports a couple of capacities, the largest of which is 160GB.
Could this mean that a 250 GB drive wouldn't be supported??
An excerpt from the manual (URL provided above):
Standard 60GB, 80GB, 100GB, 120GB, 160GB hard drive sizes
Supports one additional hard drive which can be used concurrently to offer expanded storage in the Ultrabay Enhanced
5400 rpm or 7200rpm hard drive speeds
Also, have you heard of a frequent "clicking" sound that a series of the 2.5" Seagate Momentus's makes? Dell have found a solution to it by issuing some sort of firmware but I haven't been able to find whether other manufacturers managed to resolve that "clicking" noise.
