I typed this up over at notebookpictures's forums and thought i'd share it with you guys. I haven't been at anandtech in awhile so I hope you guys/gals enjoy it. 
http://forum.notebookpictures.com/viewtopic.php?t=13
Well, i recently had my hard drive upgraded in my thinkpad. I upgraded from a:
Hitachi
4200RPM
2MB Cache
40GB
to:
Hitachi 7K100 Travel Star
7200RPM
8MB Cache
60GB
Packaging
I got the package from newegg. It was packaged in a cardboard box with styrofoam peanuts surrounding the anti-static/moisture barrier bag containing my hard drive. It came with the reciept and, well that's all.
Installation
Let's just say this was the first time i installed a notebook hard drive. I removed my thinkpad's battery, closed the lid, and flipped it over. I then had to remove a single screw holding the hard drive bay closed. After doing this, all I had to do was pul the little "cap" that was hooked onto the hard drive tray and that pulled it out. I never have seen or touched a 2.5 inch notebook hard drive before so I never knew exactly how small they were. These things are so thin, it's unbelievable. Next, I had to unscrew some screws to remove the little "cover" that is on the hard drive. I would say this would be the "tray". It had vent holes on it and a small piece of "paper" on it. After removing the screws, i just mounted my new hard drive onto the cage and screwed in the screws and then attached the handle. Finally, I slid the hard drive into the empty bay and concluded the installation by screwing in the screw that keeps the bay closed. Time elapsed: 10 minutes. Easiest thing I have ever done to a computer.
Reformatting/Installing Windows XP Home Edition
Well, this thing just flew. I put the battery back in, plugged it in, opened the lid, held my breath, and pressed the power button. It showed the normal POST screen and i had my eyes on the hard drive activity light to truely show if it was working. I heard some noise and saw the light flicker a few times. YAY, it worked! I then put my XP Home Edition CD into the drive and rebooted. I split my drive into two: 1 partition for Windows and 1 partition for Linux. I installed Windows onto one of the partitions (FAT32) and wow, that thing just flew! Normally, it takes awhile to reformat on the 4200RPM drive, but not on this beast. After the initial Windows installation was complete and I was at my desktop, I installed the wireless drivers and the IBM Software Installer. I connected to the internet, downloaded certain IBM drivers/software and then activated Windows. Finally, I updated Windows, installed my documents/pictures/music/videos, and my normal programs.
Installing Linux Ubuntu 5.10
After my entire Windows world was all complete, I pulled out the Ubuntu CD and booted from it. It installed relatively fast. I put it onto the other partition I had made earlier and installed the GRUB boot loader. I got onto my wireless network and browsed the internet for awhile. Well, that was fast, Linux is done in about 15 minutes compared to Windows. I still haven't put all my normal Linux programs on there as I was saving that for the weekend. I just wanted to get it on there and save me some time later.
Performance: HD Tune
Using HD Tune, I benchmarked my hard drive.
Not too bad, eh?
Conclusion
I will never go back to a 4200RPM drive ever again. This thing is just amazing and it's so fast. It is comparable to my desktop! My next plan is to take a trip out to Fry's and then stop at CompUSA and purchase an external enclosure to turn it into an external hard drive. I plan on doing this in the next month.
Guide
Why should you buy a newer/faster notebook hard drive?
-Well, common sense: more performance, larger storage area, and faster boot times.
Well, what about battery life?
-I haven't really noticed it effecting my battery life. I'm sure it's using more power, but not enough that I notice my battery level going down real fast.
Where can I purchase these?
-Take a look around www.newegg.com and browse the notebook hard drive section.
What spindle speed/amount of cache should I buy?
-Mostly depends on your budget.
Drives with 4200RPM/2MB Cache will save you some money and increase your battery life over a faster drive.These drives are the most common hard drives found in budget notebooks.
Drives with 5400RPM/8MB Cache will give you a performance leap over the 4200RPM/2MB drives and still giving you great battery life. These drives are common in most mid-range budget notebooks.
Drives with 5400RPM/16MB Cache can actually compare to 7200RPM/8MB Cache hard drives which is quite good. The extra cache gives you a good performance gain.
Drives with 7200RPM/8MB Cache are the speed demons. These compare to 3.5in. 7200RPM/8MB Cache desktop drives. These drives give you the best amount of performance though are more costly than 5400RPM drives.These drives are common in DTR (Desktop Replacement) notebooks.
What storage size should I get?
-Depends on what you put on your hard drive really. The larger the GB, the more storage room you get but at the cost of money.
What brands should I look at?
-Hitachi drives, Fujitsu, Western Digital, they are all good drives.
What about my battery life?
-You can look for some in-depth battery benchmarks, but from my use, it doesn't really effect my battery life having a 7200RPM drive. It obviously uses more power but not that much that I notice my battery level dropping fast.
Any questions/comments, feel free to post.
http://forum.notebookpictures.com/viewtopic.php?t=13
Well, i recently had my hard drive upgraded in my thinkpad. I upgraded from a:
Hitachi
4200RPM
2MB Cache
40GB
to:
Hitachi 7K100 Travel Star
7200RPM
8MB Cache
60GB
Packaging
I got the package from newegg. It was packaged in a cardboard box with styrofoam peanuts surrounding the anti-static/moisture barrier bag containing my hard drive. It came with the reciept and, well that's all.
Installation
Let's just say this was the first time i installed a notebook hard drive. I removed my thinkpad's battery, closed the lid, and flipped it over. I then had to remove a single screw holding the hard drive bay closed. After doing this, all I had to do was pul the little "cap" that was hooked onto the hard drive tray and that pulled it out. I never have seen or touched a 2.5 inch notebook hard drive before so I never knew exactly how small they were. These things are so thin, it's unbelievable. Next, I had to unscrew some screws to remove the little "cover" that is on the hard drive. I would say this would be the "tray". It had vent holes on it and a small piece of "paper" on it. After removing the screws, i just mounted my new hard drive onto the cage and screwed in the screws and then attached the handle. Finally, I slid the hard drive into the empty bay and concluded the installation by screwing in the screw that keeps the bay closed. Time elapsed: 10 minutes. Easiest thing I have ever done to a computer.
Reformatting/Installing Windows XP Home Edition
Well, this thing just flew. I put the battery back in, plugged it in, opened the lid, held my breath, and pressed the power button. It showed the normal POST screen and i had my eyes on the hard drive activity light to truely show if it was working. I heard some noise and saw the light flicker a few times. YAY, it worked! I then put my XP Home Edition CD into the drive and rebooted. I split my drive into two: 1 partition for Windows and 1 partition for Linux. I installed Windows onto one of the partitions (FAT32) and wow, that thing just flew! Normally, it takes awhile to reformat on the 4200RPM drive, but not on this beast. After the initial Windows installation was complete and I was at my desktop, I installed the wireless drivers and the IBM Software Installer. I connected to the internet, downloaded certain IBM drivers/software and then activated Windows. Finally, I updated Windows, installed my documents/pictures/music/videos, and my normal programs.
Installing Linux Ubuntu 5.10
After my entire Windows world was all complete, I pulled out the Ubuntu CD and booted from it. It installed relatively fast. I put it onto the other partition I had made earlier and installed the GRUB boot loader. I got onto my wireless network and browsed the internet for awhile. Well, that was fast, Linux is done in about 15 minutes compared to Windows. I still haven't put all my normal Linux programs on there as I was saving that for the weekend. I just wanted to get it on there and save me some time later.
Performance: HD Tune
Using HD Tune, I benchmarked my hard drive.
Not too bad, eh?
Conclusion
I will never go back to a 4200RPM drive ever again. This thing is just amazing and it's so fast. It is comparable to my desktop! My next plan is to take a trip out to Fry's and then stop at CompUSA and purchase an external enclosure to turn it into an external hard drive. I plan on doing this in the next month.
Guide
Why should you buy a newer/faster notebook hard drive?
-Well, common sense: more performance, larger storage area, and faster boot times.
Well, what about battery life?
-I haven't really noticed it effecting my battery life. I'm sure it's using more power, but not enough that I notice my battery level going down real fast.
Where can I purchase these?
-Take a look around www.newegg.com and browse the notebook hard drive section.
What spindle speed/amount of cache should I buy?
-Mostly depends on your budget.
Drives with 4200RPM/2MB Cache will save you some money and increase your battery life over a faster drive.These drives are the most common hard drives found in budget notebooks.
Drives with 5400RPM/8MB Cache will give you a performance leap over the 4200RPM/2MB drives and still giving you great battery life. These drives are common in most mid-range budget notebooks.
Drives with 5400RPM/16MB Cache can actually compare to 7200RPM/8MB Cache hard drives which is quite good. The extra cache gives you a good performance gain.
Drives with 7200RPM/8MB Cache are the speed demons. These compare to 3.5in. 7200RPM/8MB Cache desktop drives. These drives give you the best amount of performance though are more costly than 5400RPM drives.These drives are common in DTR (Desktop Replacement) notebooks.
What storage size should I get?
-Depends on what you put on your hard drive really. The larger the GB, the more storage room you get but at the cost of money.
What brands should I look at?
-Hitachi drives, Fujitsu, Western Digital, they are all good drives.
What about my battery life?
-You can look for some in-depth battery benchmarks, but from my use, it doesn't really effect my battery life having a 7200RPM drive. It obviously uses more power but not that much that I notice my battery level dropping fast.
Any questions/comments, feel free to post.
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