The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Suitable hard drive for Lenovo Thinkpad X61?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by madgun, Oct 10, 2008.

  1. madgun

    madgun Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I am looking for a really nice and quiet laptop hard drive with a decent performance for my X61.
    Which one is the most recommend? Bearing in mind that it has to be really quiet. Currently I have a 320GB WD 5400rpm Scorpio lying in my external hard drive which I may consider in swapping with my primary drive. But are there any faster yet quieter alternatives?
     
  2. t30power

    t30power Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    190
    Messages:
    778
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I'm thinking on getting a 5K320 Hitachi 320GB 5400rpm drive for my T61. Those are known to be dead silent.
     
  3. Phil

    Phil Retired

    Reputations:
    4,415
    Messages:
    17,036
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    455
    The WD scorpio blue is a very quiet drive. It's not the most power efficient, so it may cost you some minutes in battery life. Don't know if that's important to you.
     
  4. madgun

    madgun Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Considering the extremely small form factor of the X61, should I be aiming for the 7200rpm hard drives? I ask this because I can virtually sense the slightest of the vibrations that my existing 80gb scorpio makes.

    @PhilFlow: Is the scorpio blue 320gb the same as the ones found in WD passport hard drives. I can then perhaps use the one that's present in my passport external enclosure.
     
  5. Phil

    Phil Retired

    Reputations:
    4,415
    Messages:
    17,036
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    455
    Yes, there's a very big chance the drive in there is a WD Scorpio Blue 3200BEVT.

    You can check it in the device manager I think. If not, use HDTune.
     
  6. madgun

    madgun Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
  7. Phil

    Phil Retired

    Reputations:
    4,415
    Messages:
    17,036
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    455
  8. K-TRON

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

    Reputations:
    4,412
    Messages:
    8,077
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    205
    quiet, go for the Hitachi 7K320 single platter version (the 160gb drive)
    I have two of these drives and they are both extremely quiet and they run very cool.
    If you are not a Hitachi fan, go for a 80 or 160gb 7200rpm latest gen drive from seagate or WD.
    Single platter drives are always cooler in operating temperature and quieter than two platter drives, yielding obviously cooler temperatures, and quieter operation with a bonus of faster access/seek times.

    K-TRON
     
  9. khtse

    khtse Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    133
    Messages:
    203
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Another vote for Hitachi 7k320. I was previously using Hitachi 7k200 (7k320 is the newer model that replaced 7k200) on my X61. Cool and quiet.

    If you are willing to pay, get the Intel X25-M 80GB SSD. I have it running in my X61 right now. Dead silent (because it is SSD) and no shuttering/freezing issues like other MLC SSDs have.