Replace hard disk in T61

[lamming]

I just got a new T61 (7661) and want to start off with a bigger drive than the 320GB offered by Lenovo.  I also want a 7200RPM. 

Does anyone know the downsides of fitting a bigger SATA drive, or have recommendations, war stories?

Thanks,

Mike 

[srini28]

None really, except the hassle.

I replaced my 80 GB disk with a 250 GB a few months ago. The lenovo guides referenced earlier in this post to replace the disk are good - step by step. Only downside I can see is if you don't have the lenovo recovery disks. Lenovo said they'd charge me $45 to ship them. You are supposed to be easily able to create the recovery disks using the Thinkvantage programs. But I got stuck at one screen during the process that was confusing to me - sorry but I just can't remember it now. Because of that, I had to try 2-3 times, wasting several disks, before I was able to create my recovery disks. Not the best use of a Sunday afternoon in my opinion. In retrospect, I don't think I really care about the Lenovo recovery partition anyway. It would have been much easier to use Acronis to make a disk image and restore that on the new hard drive. 

But as far as the T61 itself, it's one of the best buys I've ever made! Well worth the markup compared to Dells and HPs. Never heats up, no noises, soothing LCD screen and I haven't turned mine off in about 30 days and never a glitch. 

Srini

[techcafe]

if i may add... for those who have access to a retail copy of Vista (full version, bought or borrowed, it doesn't matter), it is possible to do a pristine install of Vista (either 32 or 64 bit) onto a new hard drive.  just use the Windows OEM Product Key that's affixed to the bottom of your ThinkPad (the OEM key will work for the retail version of Vista).

after the OS is installed, you will have up to 3 days to activate Windows, which must be done using the automated phone system.  the activation process is quite simple; first you run the activation wizard, which attempts to activate via the internet and fails, but then gives you the option to activate by phone.  select that option, pick your country from the list presented, dial the toll free number, a computer/voice recognition system will ask you for the serial number shown on the screen (windows auto-generates this number when you select the activate-by-phone option).  after you're done reading the serial number (into the phone), the nice lady with the computer voice will read back a new set of numbers for you, which you enter in the boxes provided... press Next, then Finish when you're done.  voila!  virgin copy of Windows Vista, using your own product key, and no thinkvantage junk on your system either.

of course, then you have to download a few OEM drivers from Lenovo, like the card reader, wireless adapter, and so on.  Windows Update will offer many of the missing drivers also, which i prefer, since they are WHQL certified and more stable, imo.  just be sure to check the device manager for any devices that haven't been enumerated (missing drivers).

[Mo-T]

Iamming,

I've replaced mine with the same HD spec without major issue.

A little warmer on my right palm, slightly more vibration but nothing to worry about; you'll barely notice it.

You may want to got to Steps to replace Hard drive in T61 thread (or you may have?) for some issues on "ghosting" rather fresh re-install everything from scratch

Regards

Message Edited by Mo-T on 02-09-2009 07:08 PM

[lamming]

Thanks for the responses everyone.  

I'm thinking of trying the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB 2.5IN SATA 7200RPM 16MB Notebook Hard Drive OEM.   Konw any reasons why it shouldn't work?    

Mike

[Mo-T]

Iamming /Mike

For 500GB, you'll need to check with lenovo whether your hardware can handle it. I'm no expert but afaik, I think it has somethong to do with hardware or bios limitation.

Regards

[semiretired]

I started out with problems when cloning an 80g to a 250g in my Lenovo T61. I used Acronis True Image (ATI) 11 and a Thermaltake Blacx usb sata hdd docking station. My first try was unsuccessful. I installed ATI 11 on the old 80g hdd in the T61 and ran it from the desktop. I used the 'custom' option to not install the Rescue Media Builder and Bart PE plug-in. It recognized the drives and went through the steps, but when I put the new 250g in the T61, there was a disk read error and would not boot to Windows (XP SP3). I read several forums where similar problems occurred, some recommending a reverse clone, or making the old drive the external and new drive internal. Others gave steps on using recovery disks.

Well, before I tried any of the ideas I noted in the various forums, I tried the same thing I tried the first time with one exception. First I uninstalled ATI 11 and the reinstalled it using the 'typical' option. After I installed ATI 11 and rebooted the T61 (which was required after installation), this time I left the Acronis disk in the drive and the machine booted to the cd (it is bootable). It looked different running from the disk, like it was running in safe mode. I verified the origin and destination drives and proceeded, and viola! It worked. The 250g has the same partitions, including the Thinkpad utility (which I wanted to keep - I love it) and I now have a bunch of free space. So...if you are using Acronis, install it (typical) and then boot to the disk to run it instead of running it from Windows. It worked for me. And the Thermaltake docking station is a great piece of equipment to have. It will dock a 2.5" or a 3.5" sata hdd and I have used it for both. It's also great for wiping or recovering data from old drives.