I need a new drive for my old T20.  It's pretty full and Spinrite says it's
dying.  The current drive is a Hitachi 11G, probably 4200 RPM.  Of course I can
go bigger and faster, but should I?  I just read a review at THG, which lavished
praise on the new 7200 RPM Hitachi, and says faster isn't a problem with power
consumption.  But I'm concerned about heat.  I leave my computer running almost
24/7.  It's been dead reliable so far, and I don't want to mess with it.  I know
others have had overheating problems after putting faster drives in older
machines.  Noise is an issue too -- I like my computer to be as quiet as
possible.  It's one reason I chose the T20 initially.  Any thoughts?

Matt O.

"Matt O'Toole" <matt@deltanet.com> wrote in message
news:34me6tF4f9ni8U1@individual.net...
> I need a new drive for my old T20.  It's pretty full and Spinrite says
it's
> dying.  The current drive is a Hitachi 11G, probably 4200 RPM.  Of course
I can
> go bigger and faster, but should I?  I just read a review at THG, which
lavished
> praise on the new 7200 RPM Hitachi, and says faster isn't a problem with
power
> consumption.  But I'm concerned about heat.  I leave my computer running
almost
> 24/7.  It's been dead reliable so far, and I don't want to mess with it.
I know
> others have had overheating problems after putting faster drives in older
> machines.  Noise is an issue too -- I like my computer to be as quiet as
> possible.  It's one reason I chose the T20 initially.  Any thoughts?
>
> Matt O.
>
>
Matt:

Let me see, it is a faster drive, and consumes less power.  I would venture
to say that heat will be less of a problem.  Heat output is related to the
power consumed times the efficiency of the motor.  Noting that the drive is
using less power, and turning faster it is very likely the motor is more
efficient or at least as efficient, and the fact that the total power
consumed is lower leads me to that conclusion.

Matt O'Toole wrote:
> I need a new drive for my old T20.  It's pretty full and Spinrite
> says it's dying.  The current drive is a Hitachi 11G, probably 4200
> RPM.  Of course I can go bigger and faster, but should I?  I just
> read a review at THG, which lavished praise on the new 7200 RPM
> Hitachi, and says faster isn't a problem with power consumption.  But
> I'm concerned about heat.  I leave my computer running almost 24/7.
> It's been dead reliable so far, and I don't want to mess with it.  I
> know others have had overheating problems after putting faster drives
> in older machines.  Noise is an issue too -- I like my computer to be
> as quiet as possible.  It's one reason I chose the T20 initially.
> Any thoughts?

I have several T21s, a T23, a T30 and several T40s all running with Hitachi 
7K60s.

They're all dead silent and have no heating problems.

Regards,

James 

RJ [Thu, 13 Jan 2005 11:28:08 -0800]:
 >Let me see, it is a faster drive, and consumes less power.

Not quite right.  The 12G (Travelstar, anyway) is rated 500mA @ 5V,
or 2.5 Watts.  Current drives are almost always 1A or more at 5V.
Or you could ignore HD labels and go by what Tom writes (o).

-- 
 40th Floor - Software  @  http://40th.com/
 iPlay : the ultimate audio player for iPAQs
 mp3, ogg, mp4, m4a, aac, wav, play & record
 parametric eq, xfeed, reverb - all on a ppc

JHEM wrote:

> I have several T21s, a T23, a T30 and several T40s all running with
> Hitachi 7K60s.
>
> They're all dead silent and have no heating problems.

Thanks for the feedback.  What are your operating conditions though?  Netsurfing
and wordprocessing for an hour or two at a time, or heavy use 24/7?

Matt O.

<hel@40th.com> wrote in message
news:PRJFd.2735$S11.2367@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> RJ [Thu, 13 Jan 2005 11:28:08 -0800]:
>  >Let me see, it is a faster drive, and consumes less power.
>
> Not quite right.  The 12G (Travelstar, anyway) is rated 500mA @ 5V,
> or 2.5 Watts.  Current drives are almost always 1A or more at 5V.
> Or you could ignore HD labels and go by what Tom writes (o).
>
He set the parameters.  Garbage in, garbage out.  It is not up to me to
verify that the data is incorrect.  The advice is valid though, and if he
finds the data he supplied is incorrect there is enough information in the
answer to figure out that there might me more heat generated.

Rich

Matt O'Toole wrote:
> JHEM wrote:
>
>> I have several T21s, a T23, a T30 and several T40s all running with
>> Hitachi 7K60s.
>>
>> They're all dead silent and have no heating problems.
>
> Thanks for the feedback.  What are your operating conditions though?
> Netsurfing and wordprocessing for an hour or two at a time, or heavy
> use 24/7?

Among all of the machines, all of the above!

Regards,

James 

"JHEM" <James@ESAD.SPAMMERS.thinkpads.com> wrote in message
news:zpCFd.16766$F97.4512@trnddc06...
> Matt O'Toole wrote:
> > I need a new drive for my old T20.  It's pretty full and Spinrite
> > says it's dying.  The current drive is a Hitachi 11G, probably 4200
> > RPM.  Of course I can go bigger and faster, but should I?  I just
> > read a review at THG, which lavished praise on the new 7200 RPM
> > Hitachi, and says faster isn't a problem with power consumption.  But
> > I'm concerned about heat.  I leave my computer running almost 24/7.
> > It's been dead reliable so far, and I don't want to mess with it.  I
> > know others have had overheating problems after putting faster drives
> > in older machines.  Noise is an issue too -- I like my computer to be
> > as quiet as possible.  It's one reason I chose the T20 initially.
> > Any thoughts?
>
> I have several T21s, a T23, a T30 and several T40s all running with
Hitachi
> 7K60s.
>
> They're all dead silent and have no heating problems.
>
> Regards,
>
> James


JHEM--

I put one of the 7200 RPM Hitachi disks in my Sony K25 and it's a little
faster than the 4200 RPM Hitachi 60Gig that was already in, but it vibrates
way too much, so that when the machine is running I can feel the vibration
on the palmrest, either side, like a slight buzzy feel. I assume this is
because it's 7200 RPM, so am getting ready to put the 4200RPM drive back in.
The difference in speed is not huge in any case.

Someone above said this might be a faulty drive or a bad installation.  I'm
thinking it might be the lighter construction of the Sony plastic and the
way it installs (you have to screw these small L-shaped rails on the side of
the drive, then screw those into the chassis.

Mr. Bart wrote:
>
> Someone above said this might be a faulty drive or a bad
> installation.  I'm thinking it might be the lighter construction of
> the Sony plastic and the way it installs (you have to screw these
> small L-shaped rails on the side of the drive, then screw those into
> the chassis.

I'm  completely stumped as to the cause of the vibration or the lackluster 
response you found with the 7K60.

That's completely at odds with my experience, especially in older systems 
where the machines have literally been renewed by the HD's greater speed and 
throughput.

All I can say is that on the many machines I'm supporting that have the 7K60 
HD installed, the fans are far noisier than the HDs and, in most instances, 
I can't hear the HD at all unless I'm actively listening for it.

Regards,

James