Largest HDD in T61P UltraBay?

What's the largest HDD that can be mounted in the Thinkpad T61p UltraBay?

AFAIK, the only 500GB 7200RPM available in notebook size is the Seagate Momentus which apparently doesn't function in the T60 series UltraBay. Which means that the max in a 7200 RPM drive is 320GB - otherwise you have to drop to 5200RPM to get a 500GB disk that will function. Am I right, or have I missed a 500GB 7200RPM model that will work in the T60 series Thinkpads?

I guess a related question is, how noticeable is the difference in speed between a 5200RPM drive & a 7200RPM? Or to put it another way, which would be the greatest loss, the additional 180GB storage space or 200RPM speed differential?

 

If it's just for storage, I would think a 5400RPM would be sufficient.

 

If you're using the Ultraby drive as a scratch disk (e.g. Swap space or temporay files for media editing), or have frequently used (and large) applications installed then spindle speed may make a big difference.

However, if you are simply using the Ultrabay drive for data storage (e.g. photos, music, compressed video, etc.) then spindle speed is almost irrelevant. In addition, a 5400RPM drive will use less energy and produce less heat, noise, and vibrations than an equivalent 7200RPM drive.

I would look for a 500GB, 5400RPM drive with TWO platters (many have three) for the purpose of data storage.

 

Thanks for your thoughts. I was actually planning to use it for a combination of data storage & scratch disk (this primarily for image editing in Photoshop) so I'm kind of forced into a trade-off. Hence the post ...

 

You could wait for some more drives, which are always around the corner.

 

Need to do this by the end of May so I am kind of stuck with what has been released already.

 

Why would that 7200 RPM drive not function?

Have you actually tried it?

The only cases where it wouldn't work would be either if it didn't fit (physically) or if the power demand was too high.

It's a 2.5''; SATA hdd nonetheless.
It should fit; it's not an IDE or older drive; therefore the Ultrabay pins should match perfectly.

Insofar as power;the only case I remember there being a similar problem was external; usb hdd's, where the manufacturer (Ex: Lacie) used only one USB cable for both power and data transfer (instead of 2 cables).
In those cases; people couldn't use hdd's faster than 4200 RPM, due to power demands.

Besides; Lenovo offers internal disks at that speed (7200 RPM) at the P.O.S., and since the power supply for the primary discs and the ultrabay device are but the same; I couldn't see there being a problem.

This vendor: www.span.com offers the latest and greatest in such storage solutions and it would seem that their different manufacturers specify varying power demands.

Insofar as speed goes:
You may not experience a problem in playing back or accessing files; however the lower speed does in fact become a concern if you try copying-pasting anything over 50 gb between say, two 500gb hdd's, whether they be internal or external drives.
That is; if you store your personal data on the 2nd hdd; you'll probably back it up on yet another drive and believe me; copying 465gb (available space) between two 500gb (2.5'') drives takes forever.
Most importantly however; I wouldn't pay the extra money right now.
Instead; wait for 6 months and you'll see SSD drives at that capacity and greater released for an arguably decent price.

Remember; there are 4TB; 2.5'' SSD's out there already (Ex: PureSilicon's "Nitro").
Meaning; the technology is already available; it's just cost-prohibiting at the moment.

 

I don't see why the 500gb 7200rpm seagate wouldn't work. Bigger problem is that it is pretty much impossible to find. The 500gb 5400rpm drives are pretty fast, otherwise settle for one of the 320gb 7200rpm drives. It probably doesn't matter much since your main drive is probably the same speed or slower than the 320gb 7200rpm drives/