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.

    Replacing T400 Hard Drive: Active Protection Question

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by djshack, Apr 29, 2009.

  1. djshack

    djshack Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    88
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I just received a new T400 with a 160 GB hard drive. I have a spare (fairly new) 320 GB Samsung hard drive that I want to put in it. I've heard the ThinkVantage Active Protection system works best on hard drives with very specific specifications (such as time to park the heads), and not all are fully compatible. Is this true, and/or something I should actually worry about? If so, how can I find out those specs of the hard drives? Thank you.
     
    djshack, Apr 29, 2009
    #1
  2. mullenbooger

    mullenbooger Former New York Giant

    Reputations:
    298
    Messages:
    900
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    It should be fine, lenovo puts in various HDD brands in their machines. An easy test to see if active protection is working is tilt your computer gently while playing music and it should skip.
     
    mullenbooger, Apr 29, 2009
    #2
  3. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    4,982
    Messages:
    34,001
    Likes Received:
    1,415
    Trophy Points:
    581
    Active protection is on the motherboard. It will work regardless of the drive.
     
    ZaZ, Apr 30, 2009
    #3
  4. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

    Reputations:
    6,156
    Messages:
    11,214
    Likes Received:
    68
    Trophy Points:
    466
    Yes its best you get a HD without a freefall sensor since you already have one the motherboard. Having both might have adverse effects.
     
    flipfire, Apr 30, 2009
    #4
  5. djshack

    djshack Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    88
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Thanks for the info. I'm going to put in the new HD tonight.
     
    djshack, Apr 30, 2009
    #5
  6. MidnightSun

    MidnightSun Emodicon

    Reputations:
    6,668
    Messages:
    8,224
    Likes Received:
    231
    Trophy Points:
    231
    Or you could just disable Lenovo's Active Protection :rolleyes:
     
    MidnightSun, Apr 30, 2009
    #6
  7. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

    Reputations:
    6,156
    Messages:
    11,214
    Likes Received:
    68
    Trophy Points:
    466
    Yes true, but a drive without a FFS would be cheaper.
     
    flipfire, Apr 30, 2009
    #7
  8. AuroraAlpha

    AuroraAlpha Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    106
    Messages:
    269
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    The issue your referencing is that some drives write their cache before parking the head and thus are not undocked by the time your laptop coides with the ground, they making the APS system useless.

    There isn't any yet spec that is published that you will commonly find to determaine which drives will or will not fully support the feature. Reguardless your'll probably be fine with anything and you shouldn't worry about it unless you plan to drop your laptop short distances constantly.
     
    AuroraAlpha, Apr 30, 2009
    #8