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    Best 500GB 9.5" 7K200 harddrive for a notebook

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by arlab, Sep 9, 2009.

  1. arlab

    arlab Notebook Evangelist

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    Greetings.

    I'm looking for a 500GB Full Disk Encryption hardrive for my Thinkpad T61p.

    I was thinking f buying a Seagate Momentus 7200 FDE, but I heard bad things about it.
    Should I wait for an Hitachi? Will Hitachi's FDE 500GB drives be released soon?
     
    arlab, Sep 9, 2009
    #1
  2. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    I believe there is only one 500GB 2.5" 7200RPM drive available right now.
     
    namaiki, Sep 9, 2009
    #2
  3. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    There are two 500gb 7200rpm notebook drives at the moment,
    The seagate momentus 7200.4 and
    the Hitachi Travelstar 7K500
    When you look up the 7K500 make sure the drive is 2.5", because there is a 3.5" 7K500 deskstar for desktops.


    I havent seen any benchmarks for the 7K500, but I would assume it is faster. Usually Hitachi spends more time perfecting the firmware on the drive, so they usually generate more IOPS than their competitiors.

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Sep 9, 2009
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  4. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    Western Digital has just released it's two platter 640GB 5400rpm drive. Since the 500GB already gave the 7200.4 a good run for it's money, this will probably be faster.
     
    Phil, Sep 9, 2009
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  5. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    I dont know about that Phil,
    As data density increases, so does the seek times. This jump from 250gb per platter to 320gb may push seek times closer and closer to 20ms

    This holds true even on 15K drives, the 29.4gb platters have nominally around 3ms shorter seeks than the 90gb platters

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Sep 9, 2009
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  6. arlab

    arlab Notebook Evangelist

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    Thanks for the replies.

    But, does the Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 have Full Disk Encryption? Is the advertised Bulk Disk Encryption equivalent to FDE? Or is FDE better?
     
    arlab, Sep 9, 2009
    #6
  7. Lvivkse

    Lvivkse My username is a typo

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    I just bought a 500gb 7200rpm momentus

    I. Love. It.!!!
     
    Lvivkse, Sep 9, 2009
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  8. XyKo

    XyKo Notebook Geek

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    My 500gb momentus is getting replace sometimes this week when the Dell package arrives. Was too annoyed with the clicking and freezing that I did a fresh install on my 320gb momentus to use for the moment.
     
    XyKo, Sep 9, 2009
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  9. chunlianghere

    chunlianghere Notebook Consultant

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    just wondering what is the area density for wdc 640gb, 2 platter tat is just released?
     
    chunlianghere, Sep 9, 2009
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  10. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    sgogeta4, Sep 9, 2009
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  11. arlab

    arlab Notebook Evangelist

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    Does the Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 have Full Disk Encryption? Is the advertised Bulk Disk Encryption equivalent to FDE? Or is FDE better?
     
    arlab, Sep 10, 2009
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  12. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    FDE = Full Disk Encryption, it is the same as Bulk Disk Encryption. The Hitachi should have a model w/ it, you have to go to their website and search the model number in the PDF specsheet.
     
    sgogeta4, Sep 10, 2009
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  13. arlab

    arlab Notebook Evangelist

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    Nice to know. I thought Hitachi would, later, release another version of the harddrive with FDE.

    Is there any estimated availability date?
     
    arlab, Sep 10, 2009
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  14. arlab

    arlab Notebook Evangelist

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    So, is Hitachi still the best option?
     
    arlab, Feb 6, 2010
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  15. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    Hitachi 7K500 and WD Scorpio Black are the fastest notebook hard drives.

    I've been doing a lot of benchmarks between them. The full review will be published soon on Storagereview.com
     
    Phil, Feb 6, 2010
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  16. PapaSmurf69

    PapaSmurf69 Notebook Consultant

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    Since the question referred to a 500GB drive, then yes, the Hitachi is the Best 500GB option at present as WDC doesn't have a 500GB Scorpio Black. The largest WDC Scorpio Black is a 320.
     
    PapaSmurf69, Feb 6, 2010
    #16