suggestions for 7200rpm HD? (for T60)

I'm considering getting a 7200rpm HD for my T60. For those who follow hard drives closely, any suggestions on the sweet spot these days, in terms of price & performance? There are already a lot of good threads on hard drives in this forum, so I'm trying to focus in what looks like the best options as of today.

Also, is swapping out a HD on the T60 an easy process that can be done once in a while, without risking damage to the notebook or HD components?


Back to the deals, I saw threads a couple weeks ago indicating Seagate 160GB 7200rpm drives were available for $85 at Newegg, but I can't find any deals like that right now. I'm finding 100GB 7200rpm drives to be around $100. Does that sound about right?

The main objectives are to (a) speed up the system, and (b) have a 2nd HD so I can be more daring with Vista setup etc and know I can quickly and easily get back to where I am right now by putting back the stock 5400rpm 120GB that came with the T60.

Want at least 100GB, prefer 120GB or 160GB, but need to stay close to $100. Seems like Hitachi and Seagate are popular choices.

Thanks for any advice!

 

I vote for the Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 100GB 7200rpm drive. It is considered to be one of the fastest 7200rpm drives around. You can get it for $100 at newegg. Mine should be here today.

 

The Hitachi 7K200 should outperform the 7K100. The 7K200 is the latest model with perpendicular technology. Since they are the same price I can not think of any reason to go with the older technology of the 7K100.

The 100GB 7K200 is $99 from newegg. The 200GB 7K200 is $204 from newegg. There is also a 160GB model but I don't see it on newegg right now. Basically you are looking at $1 per GB. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=7k200&x=0&y=0

I personally have the 200GB Hitachi 7K200. I believe it is the fastest 2.5" HDD available right now. I can say that it is VERY quiet and I am VERY impressed with it. I'm glad a paid a few bucks more to get this HDD.

Here are some benchmark comparisons of the 7K100 vs the 7K200:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=135185

 

My 7K100 benchmarks faster than the one in the comparison (at least compared to the graph on the first page).
I don't see any reason for an upgrade from the 7K100 but If I was in the market for a new drive, I'd definitely get the 7K200.

 

Thanks very much for the feedback. I'm going to start looking for deals for either one of these. The 200GB 7K200 sounds especially good, but may be a little beyond my present budget, so will probably stay at 100GB 7K200. If I can get a 100GB 7K100 much cheaper than the 7K200, would consider it too.