SSD for G73JH-BST7

Well, I have been using a regular simple hard drive for a while now, on my ASUS G73. I am thinking about getting a 64GB SSD M4 Crucial. See the only problem is, I keep reading everywhere that these things cause BSOD, and several other problems, like they do not work properly, while some say it works fine. Makes me paranoid to get one. Wondering I could get someone's opinion, and hopefully 64GB is a good amount for my OS.

Thanks!

In addition to that, does anyone know where I can get a cheap HDD caddy online for the 2nd slot on my G73jh?

 

Ebay or Asus Parts for the caddy.

Once you go SSD you will never go back, ever. The problems are no more than the possible problems associated with a mechanical drive along with the benefit of an SSD being silent, shock proof and extremely fast for small files and the BSOD issues with the M4's Hyperx etc. have all been sorted with firmware updates especially if you order it as new.

 

For the record, the M4 uses a Marvell controller, just like the Plextor M3 and M5 as well as the Intel 510. The new Samsung 840Pro looks like it'll be yet another solid SSD from Samsung, but it isn't available yet so i'll go with my usual recommendations: Crucial M4 or Samsung 830.

 

just keep in mind your sata ii will bottleneck the performance of the sata iii drives, but other than that ssd and never look back. Currently, have a 64gb samsung 830 ssd in mine and it's rock solid specs on the drive itself state like 500 MB/sec read; however, because our g73jh laptops only have sata ii it's getting like half of that

 

Not sure the difference between SATA II and SATA III well it is this model I am trying to get.

Amazon.com: Crucial 64 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT064M4SSD2: Electronics

I am getting it for $45 but there is no SATA coord so does that mean it is useless without it?

 

It's gonna fit in your G73 without a problem, but i would get a 128GB version if possible.

 

Tijo! I remember you helped me update my BIOS back in January! You're still around!

Well, do you think I should pass up on this 64GB one then the guy is offering me $45, without the SATA coord, which I am not sure if I need it.

 

SATA II = 3 Gb/s and Sata III = 6 Gb/s. Seeing as our G73's have SATA II you will only get half the potential throughput of a SATA III drive. Also with the G73 you don't need a SATA cord because there is a stationary SATA docking bay for each HDD. Enjoy your new SSD. Hope this helped. If you have any questions feel free to ask away.

 

64GB is pretty small, if you don't do any tweaks, your windows install will be ~12GB + 12GB page file + 12GB for hibernation, that makes 36GB taken and it doesn't leave much space for the programs. If you do not disable hibernation and shrink the page file, 64GB will definitely be a tad too small.

One more thing: you have the 9.5mm and 7mm thick M4s, i know for certain the 9.5mm fits, i don't know for the 7mm drive (it might need a spacer, but i don't think it does in the JH).

I don't visit Asus as much as i used to, but yeah i'm still around, Dell will soon be my new lair, but i'll still drop by in Asus.

 

64gb works for me i don't put anything major on it mostly as a boot drive and some light weight software, my pagefile was move to my secondary drive.

 

Thanks for the heads up Tijo, I guess I'll wait to get the 128GB, but I do not understand what a page file is, and what a hibernation mode is for the 12GB of uptake space.

Appreciate it Tijo, and everyone who responded.

 

The page file is reserved space on the HDD (or SSD) in the event that you run out of RAM, by default, windows sets it to the same amount of RAM that you have. hibernate works by dumping everything that is in the RAM to the HDD and then loading it back in RAM on resume so it takes up the same amount of space as your RAM on the SSD. If you shrink the page file and disable hibernate, 64Gb is going to be enough, but it is going to require attention. If you want a leave it and forget configuration, 64GB isn't it. If you don't mind doing a few tweaks and making sure you don't take up too much space on the SSD once in a while, then 64GB is going to be enough. I've used 64GB SSDs in the past, but that was when prices for SSDs were much higher than they were.

I assume that you're going to want Windows as well as most of your programs and one or two games on your SSD.

 

I also second Tijo's recommendation. I picked up a 128GB Samsung 830 and it's been working great, as well as added about 40 minutes of battery life. If you can, try to wait for the 840, the power consumption is ludicrously lower.

Also, Yiddo is absolutely right. You don't really realize it, but SSDs really do make everything much snappier (assuming you put your OS on it).

I'm not sure how it is on a G73, but on my G53, the entire process took about 1-1.5 hours. Most of that was me being overly cautious during disassembly/reassembly, and that was also reinstalling windows 7 (which went incredibly fast).

 

Ah ok thanks guys. Makes sense now, but about the process of getting all the OS and Windows on the SSD, is that a hard complicated process that can make you lose everything on your computer? I hope the transfer is a smooth easy process. Never worked with SSD's before.

 

Everything on the XT will be available when you put it on the secondary bay. However, you will need to reinstall all of your programs for them to work. I also suggest you backup any important data before you reformat the XT to use it as a data drive.

 

Sorry, but what does XT stand for?

 

I have been using the Crucial M4 128GB drive for some time now, and I must say that, once you switch to SSD whether it's the SATA 2 on our g73 or SATA3 on others, it's a huge speed boost compared to hard disk drive.

 

Your 500GB Momentus XT hard drive.

 

well, wow I'm embarassed now. But on the other hand I will fill you guys in once I get the 128GB SSD

 

No need to be, when i went to a brick and mortar store and asked for a Momentus XT, the employee had question marks all over his head. I had to say i wanted a hybrid drive.

 

Just picked up a 128GB Samsung 830, does anyone know where I can get a caddy that will fit on the ASUS G73JH? I remember seeing a thread about some, but I cannot even find those threads through the search bar.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...m/545115-found-alternate-g73-drive-caddy.html

I found the thread, but does this caddy work with the SSD? Anyone know, I do not want to end up buying it, and it does not fit my brand new SSD, so excited to try it out.

 

64GB vs 120GB is a matter of opinion, but I have to say I'm VERY glad I went 120, and would have felt like I wasted money had I gone any higher.

It's nice to be able to put more than just the OS in there, like Photo/Video editing and some heavier loading games, while not having to worry about it being too tight.

As far as a caddy is concerned... 2 ear plugs and a small stack of post-it notes have kept my drive in place for 6 months with no problems at all. Save yourself the money on the caddy and buy a bigger drive. Probably should pay no more than $70 for a 120. That's what I paid with rebates months ago

 

Hard Drive Caddy Screws Imp 240484 for HP Pavilion ZD7000 zd8000 Laptop Series | eBay

I mean the Caddy is only $9, I want to buy this one, but I want to make sure it is compatible with my SSD, can anyone confirm for me?

 

The stock G73 caddy will definitely be compatible and the HP will be with your HDD so worst case: use the Asus caddy for the SSD and the other for the HDD. If the drive is screwed on the side of the caddy it'll be compatible, if you have to screw the drive to the bottom, you might need the spacer which i think Samsung provides.

 

change that worst case scenario to: Just use 2 ear plugs :thumbsup:

 

Thanks, guys, and I will keep that in mind Tijo, just ordered the caddy. Yes definitely, OSYbuckeye2007 I just feel like the ear plugs is such a ghetto idea that it will go wrong one day and it will like melt or something from heat, but I will keep that in mind haha. Thanks guys!