T60 HDDs Recommendations

Hi Gents,

I have a t60 and want to upgrade the hdd to 320gb or 500gb. Currently have a 80GB 5400rpm multibooting Ubuntu, XP, Vista.

On the new hdd id set it up multibooting all of the above operating systems plus Win7.

I’ve read the forum posts here and on toms hardware and the shortlist:


Hitachi Travelstar 7k320 320GB

or

Seagate ST9320423AS Momentus 7200.3 or .4 in 320GB.


Id like it to be fast and quite... I know demand the impossible and pushing the boundaries! Can anyone recommend which one I should go for? Or even recommend a better hdd.

Many thanks,

Techfish

 

You can't really go wrong with either one.

I have the 7200/320 Seagate and find it surprisingly quiet compared to a 7200/320 WD (according to the data sheets it's indeed supposed to be that way).
Of course individual units might vary.

 

The Hitachi 500GB Travelstar 7K500 is highly recommended on these forums.

OTOH, I do have a T60 and I replaced the older 7200rpm drive with a 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue. Its 5400 rpm and supposed to be "slower" than its 7200 rpm brethren. But I have been totally satisfied with it. However I do have a caveat; I only done real work on my laptop and thus my experience might be considered anecdotal by powers that be; I have not run artificial benchmarks.

 

I've used quite a few 7200RPM drives and I have to say they all seem about the same to me in real world usage even if the benches point to this or that drive as being the best.

 

cheers gents,

The Hitachi Travelstar 7k320 comes in two interfaces 1.5 and 3 Gb/s, The 7k500 and seagate momentus 7200.4 are 3 Gb/s interface. As the t60 hardware is limited to 1.5. Will I get any problems with installing the 7k500 or seagate drive. Will the t60 simply cap the 3Gb/s drives at 1.5 and all should recognise ok

thanks

Techfish

 

Drive will run in Sata-I mode. HDDs aren't breaking the sata-I interface speed as yet, so makes little difference.

+1 recommend 7k500 based on reports on here of speed and quiet operation.

 

cheers mate,

 

Shopping around for prices and nobody in the UK has the 7k500 in stock....

 

Take a look at this recent thread: Hitach Travelstar 7k500 availability?

They do mention a few places where the 7K500 is available in the UK and on the continent.

 

cheers mate

 

Though all 7200rpm drives speed may not differ much, I would suggest you go for the Seagate Momentus 7200rpm Drive for its power saving features and its advance shock protection benefits.

 

cheers, im going to hold back on the Seagate and get the Hitachi 7k500 in 500gb. Span.com have it on sale for £98 w/o pp in the UK. Hoping more online retailers will have it in stock next week.