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Which hard drive for T61? WD 320gb or Hitachi 320gb (5400)

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:55 am
by muffd
I am in search of a larger hard drive to replace the 250gb in my T61. I have read about the clicking noise in the WD drive. Anyone else here have a preference towards either drive for your T61 or T60?

Thanks

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:16 am
by DAH
I have a WDC WD3200BEKT-22F3T0 it is the quietest drive I have had. It is silent.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 11:08 am
by whizkid
I'm happy with my Samsung 320GB drive in my T60. I can't hear it unless I get very close to the drive.

Re: Which hard drive for T61? WD 320gb or Hitachi 320gb (5400)

Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:51 pm
by armmata
i have the same thing but cannot get my laptop to see my hard drive

Re: Which hard drive for T61? WD 320gb or Hitachi 320gb (5400)

Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:05 pm
by BillMorrow
i assume that you formatted the drive..?
or whatever passes for formatting these days.. :oops:

Re: Which hard drive for T61? WD 320gb or Hitachi 320gb (5400)

Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:34 pm
by Brad
If your drive is just being installed I would go into the BIOS to confirm the drive is being recognized by your ThinkPad.

Once that is confirmed set the SATA mode to the other setting.

Brad

Re: Which hard drive for T61? WD 320gb or Hitachi 320gb (5400)

Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:30 pm
by JeffCullen
Why 5400rpm??? Go for a Scorpio Black -- I have both the 320gb and 500gb versions kicking around. They're both fantastic. While the 500gb is a bit quieter, neither of them are anything close to silent... though "clicking noise" problem which people have discussed can be solved by turning off AAM.

Re: Which hard drive for T61? WD 320gb or Hitachi 320gb (5400)

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 12:04 am
by ac12
Go for the 7000rpm drives.
When I got mine, I checked the drive specs.
The 5400rpm drives used MORE power than the 7000rpm drives. So I did not see the benefit of the slower drive.
It was between the Seagate and WD black 7000rpm drive.

Re: Which hard drive for T61? WD 320gb or Hitachi 320gb (5400)

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 12:00 am
by agarza
If you use the laptop on a quiet room and the fan is not kicking very often you would find annoying the sound a 7200rpm drive makes, it's just plain physics, the more rotational speed the more noise.

I was in this quest 3 years ago, and finally settled for a Hitachi 5K500.B 250GB drive inside my T61, it is perfectly quiet, no rotational sound, no vibration, this is because it's a single platter drive. I think the new 5400 rpm model from Hitachi is a little bit more noisier than this one.
The drives I tested were only 2, the Hitachi 3K320 and the WD 320GB Black, the latter makes for a snappy performance but also you get the clicking sound.

I'd stick with Hitachi drives though, I've found them to be very reliable.

Re: Which hard drive for T61? WD 320gb or Hitachi 320gb (5400)

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 5:38 am
by slpin
i really like my scorpio black 320gb
it is a single platter, 7200rpm drive!

Re: Which hard drive for T61? WD 320gb or Hitachi 320gb (5400)

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 9:43 am
by Temetka
I just installed a 320GB WD Scorpio Black in my T61 a few days ago.

Right now the fans are off and I still can't hear the hard drive. This drive is very quiet and very fast. I am very glad I purchased it.

Re: Which hard drive for T61? WD 320gb or Hitachi 320gb (5400)

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:54 am
by sysiphus
Another vote for the 320gb WD Scorpio Black. I've run one in literally every SATA-enabled ThinkPad I've owned, and love them.

Re: Which hard drive for T61? WD 320gb or Hitachi 320gb (5400)

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:06 am
by JohnD.
Hi Guys,

Where would you recommand buying a new WD Scorpio Black drive? Newegg only has two, one is 80 g, in stock. The other is a 750 g and not in stock. I guess the 320 g is the sweet spot since it has only one platter.

Thank you,
John

EDIT: Found it on Amazon.

One question though, how do you know if a hard drive has one platter or two? Is it listed in the specification of the HD?

Re: Which hard drive for T61? WD 320gb or Hitachi 320gb (5400)

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:45 am
by RealBlackStuff
Plug the exact model in Google and look for "model review" on Storagereview, Anandtech, Notebookreview and the like.

Re: Which hard drive for T61? WD 320gb or Hitachi 320gb (5400)

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:29 pm
by Temetka