Seagate Momentus 7200.4 thread

some ATTO results .. if anybody interested

 

Hi All,

This is one intense Forum Thread!! Basically I'm in Australia, and the Seagate 7200.4 drives are arriving on the 14th of February (at least at one supplier I found). I've been reading through these posts from about page 40 onwards. I have a few questions. Please forgive me as I have no doubt missed something along the way. Currently I have a Samsung HM320JI. It's slow. I just did HD Tune Pro benchmarks on it. Minimum transfer rate = 24.3MB/s. Max = 58MB/s. Average = 46MB/s. Access time: 20.7ms.
I want to upgrade obviously. I've been tossing up between the Seagate 7200.3, and the WD Scorpio Black (both in 320GB). Then I saw the 7200.4. Now I've been trying to establish what's going on, with posts about suppliers discontinuing it, etc etc.

Can I just ask, for the people that own it, are there any problems with it?

From what you've read and understand (or from personal experience), is it faster than the 7200.3 or Scorpio Black?

I hate waiting for things. But I'll be willing to if it's worth it. Australia is always in the dark ages for just about everything related to tech, so it would be nice to get something that may be world class in terms of a laptop HDD. Please, just a short response answering those questions will be really appreciated.

 

Nice score but how come the access time is blank?

 

No problems whatsoever. It is running pretty fast...

I have upgraded from WD3200BEVT (5400RPM) and the difference is clearly noticeable. I have no idea how 320GB-7200RPMs perform. You may compare the HDTune graphs of them and try to get an idea out of that...


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From what I know, there is nothing wrong with it.

People are just panicking because they are afraid of the bad firmware "accident" Seagate had with their 1.5 TB drive might happen to this drive.

There is nothing wrong with it.

 

Hi there, sorry for the late reply. I ordered it from http://www.allmacshop.co.uk/ but it hasn't come! This is the second time I have tried to order it now from a website that falsely says it has it in stock. They said it was a mistake, oh well. They think it will be in stock in about 2 weeks so I have agreed to put myself on the paid waiting list. If I keep cancelling and ordering I don't think I'll get anywhere. Have you seen it in stock anywhere else out of curiosity?

 

I just received my two a few minutes ago, I ordered from newegg during that approx 2 hour window where they were available a few days ago. It'll be a few days before I get them in, but at least they're here.

 

Last night I received a ST9500420AS from Newegg which I had ordered last Friday. I am "zeroing" it right now in a Firewire/USB external enclosure.

I just checked Newegg and they are not even listing it right now!?

It is now being listed as a "deactivated item" whatever the heck that is.

There is an informative review of the drive at Barefeats. It performed very well, indeed, compared to the other drives in the review.

Strangely, there is a separate model, the ST9500420ASG, which "comes with optional G-Force Protection™ technology", but is other wise the same drive and is apparently intended to sell at the same price point. Why they have not made the additional G protection standard I have no idea, even after asking Seagate (and suggesting that they do so).

No one I have found in the U.S. has the "G Model" in stock, although I did find one outfit which at least listed it, but said that they were awaiting shipment which they estimated to be 5 to 7 days.

 

after some search, TigerDirect hav the stock (ST9500420AS). NCIX.com also hav the stock too but wit G-Force protection (ST9500420ASG). but very weird on NCIX.com, there r many different pricing, but all r the same model number.

*edit: TigerDirect hav jus removed it.

 

Thanks. I just ordered 2 for my T61p from NCIX. I was a bit dismayed when I saw Newegg yank them. I plan on putting both in - one as primary and one in media bay.

 

Regarding the benchmark of this drive on RAID0 and the missing fields, my guess is that HDTune can't derive those times for an array because of hardware abstraction.

Based on three days of ownership, I give these drives two thumbs up. In my Dell M6400c you can't hear them spin but you do get a bit of actuation noise which is inaudible except in a silent room under load. I actually like the noise, it reminds me of the tank Maxtor EIDEs of olde.

 

Thanks for the info. I guess it was just HD Tune that was giving you trouble. I'm looking forward to getting one once they're in stock again

 

Did you check some others tools, if they can show the missing scores??

 

Hello,

Can anyone post Momentus 7200.4 500GB disk result:
What is approximate average if copying 1GB single file in Windows Vista (from one partition to another, if both partitions are fully defragmented)?
What is approximate average if copying 8GB single file in Windows Vista (from one partition to another, if both partitions are fully defragmented)?

As i can see from other testers (HD-Tune) - benefit in RAID0 from Momentus 5400.5 to Momentus 7200.4 is 5ms faster access time, ReadMax 40MB/s faster, Read-Average is 20MB/s faster. Biggest benefit for putting these drives in Asus G50V is 330GB more space and G-Force technology.

 

How do you perform this test?

 

Argh, that keeps happening everywhere. I'm convinced nowhere in the UK actually has it in stock yet...liars. Oh well, I'm sure they're just trying to hook curious customers!

 

I think the various vendors keep running out of them. I read on this thread about TigerDirect's offering two days ago, ordered two and according to UPS - they will arrive tomorrow. Yay!

 

So did I, but according to UPS it should be here the 17th...

Well, I'm in California though, maybe that's why.

 

I'm in California, too, but I paid an extra 10 or 15 for two day deliver. It said the 17th for me, too, when I had it set to standard shipping.

Different question to you gurus ... when I get these drives, I've decided to start from scratch with my computer. What I mean is to install the drive, then Vista, then all my programs and data files so that everything is clean. To install Vista, do I just put in the drive then turn on the computer with the Vista disk in my DVD drive and it prompts me to install Vista?

Also, should I do anything else to the drive, like reformatting it or anything - or will it be in a suitable condition "new?"

Any detailed advice you can offer would be appreciated. I've heard of some of you getting a USB cradle - does that come with the drive? Do I need one?

Much thanks in advance of your comments.

 

Go into BIOS and set the optical device(the DVD) as first boot. Put in the vista DVD into the device and reboot, it'll prompt you to boot from the DVD and then start to install vista. Vista will prompt you how to format the drive before extracting all files and starting the real installation. All steps are easy to read and click through so it's really simple. You'll see.

I have no idea what you mean with USB cradle? No hard drives comes with any USB-things. And no, you definately don't need one - whatever it is you mean hehe.

 

USB cradles don't come with the drive. People buy that in order to take the old drive from notebook, put it into the cradle, install the new drive and use the old connected via USB to copy their data (also Mac users are using it to clone their system, I don't know if it is possible in Windows (since the drive in USB enclosure connects as Mass Storage, but maybe there's some mechanism to do that)).

If you've got other means to get data from old drive (using it in different laptop and transfer via LAN, HDD cradle instead of DVD drive for your notebook, desktop PC (with SATA interfaces inside), etc.) or you don't care about the old data, you don't need it.

 

Might you be talking about the brackets and mounts, connector etc., that actually holds the HDD into the bay? If so, that assembly will need to be transferred from your old drive to your new one. In my case, I looked up the part number in the manual and searched for a couple more since I wanted to mount the new ones up and do an R&R quickly. Prices were all over from 75 to 124, but the ones on eBay for 20 that I bought look just fine.

Otherwise, pull your old one off and put it on the new drive.

 

It is possible in windows too, ofcourse. Mass storage or not, it's just a name not a feauture

He mentioned clean install btw

To buy a new bracket (even for $20) is waste of money when you already have that one fitted on the drive inside, and it's so easy to just put it over, 4 screws, what could it take, 1minute maximum to switch it over?
And if you need to switch them back and forth you could just put the hdd in without a caddy meanwhile to get it done even quicker

The only reason why people buy those is if the notebook has 2 HDD-bays and doesn't come with a second caddy or if they broke the one they have.

 

Thanks for the replies. So I'm hearing that booting from Vista will prompt me to reformat the new drive?

I was planning to save data files (documents, outlook data, etc.) on an external drive and then reload them after I have reloaded most of my programs.

Do you think that will work?

 

By the way, the reason I bought two drives is to install the second in the "docking station" I have for my ThinkPad? That will work, won't it? Do I need to format that drive, too?

More advice, please ...

Thanks.

 

When you choose where to install vista it will ask you. It's really a simple step-by-step, you can't missunderstand anything there really. Just read and go through it, it's not much at all, then when you've tryed, make a new thread if you're unsure. But you don't really need to be a techie to figure those things out.


And yes, that will work if you can hook that old hard drive into something. These questions don't belong in this thread though.

I do not know how your docking station is setup, but i don't think you can do that? I haven't seen a docking station for a laptop that will take an extra hard drive really.

And yes, ofcourse you will need to format that drive too in order to use it.
No offense but try first and ask questions later

 

To each their own. Not a waste at all for me. And you are right, questions like this don't belong here.

 

I just wanted to let everyone know my experience. I bought my 7200.4 from Newegg on their first release. I installed it early last week. This evening my laptop just froze. It restarted and found hundreds of errors when doing a disk check test. I ended up doing about 5-6 installs of Vista and I would get to various levels but it always froze. It was strange, I would be doing something such as installing drivers and very quickly the whole desktop would become unresponcive but not all exactly at once. I assume what was still in RAM was still working for a few short seconds. I eventually thought it seamed like it was not getting new data from the hard drive, and put my ear against it and notices it could not be heard anymore. I constantly rebooted dozens of times and kept listening and everytime I could no longer hear the hard drive at all when Windows failed. I then downloaded Seatools for Windows. I ran the Short DST test, as well as the Short Generic test. Both failed within ten seconds. I don't even bring my laptop anywhere. It sat in one spot since I installed it last week. So I got 12 days of good use out of it, and it died. Since Newegg no longer carries it, I did an Advance RMA this evening with Seagate and received an automated reply I will receive my replacement in 1-2 business days. So much for the miracle drive : /

 

I'm getting mine next week but you can bet your behind I'm going to use SeaTools and do a full drive check before I get going loading this puppy up

 

I've had mine for a while and it's been working like a beaut.

my motherboard died though but i can't blame seagate for that.... right?!

 

Should have just bought a 3.5 external hard drive for that purpose. $130 will buy you 3 times as much as 2.5 500gb.

 

well a docking station will provide much faster speeds if his computer does not have an eSata port

 

It's Lenovo's X6 Ultrabay docking station and it accomodates a drive in there. I just thought it was a slick way to have more storage without another "attached" device. We'll see how well it works. I'll report back.

PS I don't like to "try first, then ask questions." That leads to major headaches and inefficiencies. I have heard of some guys using a third party program to actually write over (zero out) a new hard drive - is this a necessary step? I guess that's what I was asking.

UPS tracking says my two drives are on the truck for delivery today. I guess I know what I'll be doing on this rainy three day weekend.

 

Well, it isn't so hard to READ and do what it tells you to do People who is making things to f-up is those who doesn't read first before they try, so yeah, i bet some people get a headache when they are too lazy reading what it does

And no you don't need to write zeros and such, only the things i previously wrote to you. It's very simple, i can promise you that it indeed is simple. If it was something more you should do, i'd tell you those steps too, but there isn't any more, it's just that simple

I wish you the best of luck!

 

I agree with Michel.K that questions which do not surround Seagate availability, sourcing, shipping, etc shouldn't be here but in other threads. Not blowing you off, Da Bears, I have many of the same questions since I have never done this before either and my plan is the same as yours ... to install the new Seagate drive(s) and fresh install, but the topic of this thread should be respected.

Looks like Michel.K addressed the technical aspects before I could post. Thanks for the info!

 

Well, I got the drives on Friday and installed one in my ThinkPad and spent many hours reloading and configuring the OS, programs, and data. Everything seems to have gone fine and the machine does seem to run faster, but more importantly, I am not at 3% remaining capacity anymore - now I've got many GBs of room for additional files in the years to come.

 

I don't know why I thought I could install a second drive in my docking station - I can't. So one of these drives is on its way back to TigerDirect.

 

Hehe glad it worked out okay, but as i said previously, i have never heard about a docking station fitting a harddrive.
You should easily see if it could fit, so didn't you look before?

 

did you guys see that newegg.com removed the HDD from their listing ?!?! ..

 

already happened twice...it'll be back. every other website still has it up

 

yup..they removed it since last week.

 

Actually some docking stations (i.e. ThinkPad Advanced Dock (not Mini)) have UltraBay slot - which means you can put DVD drive or HDD drive there.

Da Bears wrote that he has x6 Dock - from what I read it contains the UltraBay slot for DVD drive and it supports 2nd hard drive, but I didn't saw it in action, maybe there's some catch (incompatibility, etc.). Also, don't forget that "2nd HDD adaptor", which is sold separately, is needed for putting HDD instead of DVD drive.

Also HDD caddy (ommiting rubber dampers) is needed to secure the drive inside the adaptor, but you don't get any with 2nd HDD adaptor, nor it is sold directly, you have to order one as spare part from service provider or get one unofficially (on eBay, etc.)). They are probably assuming that you will install drive taken out of ThinkPad there or buy a Lenovo branded drive (both have caddy preinstalled). The caddy can be bypassed by screwing four screws of right size into the drive's side holes, which will hold the drive too, or since we are talking about dock installation (not moving like when installing instead of DVD drive into notebook itself), the caddy (or alternative screws) can be probably left out.

For illustration:
2nd HDD adaptor: http://picasaweb.google.com/lemonheart84/Things#5197165865150072034
HDD caddy to screw on drive being used inside adaptor (it is also used on primary drive in ThinkPad): http://www.newmodeus.com/pics/TP60rails.jpg (probably not original one)


Da Bears> Maybe you were only missing the HDD adaptor? (But take care if ordering one, since there are more versions - PATA and SATA versions and there are more versions of the SATA one.)

 

Anybody has 250 GB single platter version? I am very interested to see the benchmark.

 

http://www.compusa.com/applications...dpNo=4434267&sku=TMD-500AS2&srkey=ST9500420AS

Just FYI, CompUSA is now owned by the same people as TigerDirect, so their prices are exactly the same, as is their online shopping cart. So TigerDirect also has it in stock. It's also cheaper there than Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148374&Tpk=ST9500420AS

 

Except newegg has free shipping.

 

tigerdirect/compusa has $2 shipping and starts off $10 cheaper.

10-2 = $8 savings.

 

/me quickly gances over CompUsa terms-of-sale

Oh, CompUsa has 30 day price-matching, too.

Nice.

 

I have never used compusa/tigerdirect before. Are they reliable? Do they have fast shipping and nice customer support?


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I got mine from target direct, first order I ever put there. Worked quickly en no problems whatsoever.

Check a few posts back on how to get 10% discount through live search.

 

newegg hav their listing back!

but much more exp than tigerdirect.

looks like ncix is the cheapest one for wit g-force protection.

macmall n onsale also hav similar thing.