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    New T520: Upgrade Hard drive?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by imjimmy, Jul 23, 2011.

  1. imjimmy

    imjimmy Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hello Everyone -

    I've just got my new T520 with DOS (Operating system) and 320 GB 7200 rpm hard drive.

    My T520 basically has nothing in it. I plan to install Win7, upgrade RAM, and all the drivers, to make the machine operable this weekend.

    I had purchased the Hitachi Travelstar SATA 500GB 7200 rpm drive last year. The model no is : HD205000 IDK/7K.

    My plan was to replace the stock 320GB with the 500 GB Hitachi in the T520. And then use the 320 GB in my older T500 machine. (The part number for the 320 GB hard drive that the T520 came with is: 0A68552 - SBB 320GB HDD7200RPM)

    Do you think it's advisable to switch to the Hitachi 500Gb drive immediately on the T520:

    - Will the Hitachi drive be better than the stock 320GB Thinkpad T520 drive, considering the Hitachi is more than a year old? Is Lenovo using a newer technology of hard drives on the recent thinkpads?

    - What about reliability, quality etc? Are the stock thinkpad drives MORE reliable than the retail drives purchased from the market? I was a little scared after reading some Amazon reviews of Hitachi TravelStar dying in a few months.

    I would love the extra 180 of storage on my Thinkpad, so I am hoping if someone can throw some light on whether it's a good idea to use Retail HDDs as primary drives on Thinkpads.. Also if anyone has used the Hitachi drive, please advise. Thanks in advance!
     
    imjimmy, Jul 23, 2011
    #1
  2. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    If the 320GB HDD uses only one platter then it should have slightly higher data transfer performance than the Hitachi 500GB. However, the difference is unlikely to be noticeable in everyday usage and I would personally vote for the extra space with the 500GB.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 24, 2011
    #2