Seagate Momentus G-Force HDD...Do I need the G-force with thinkpads?

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad X200. It currently have a built-in accelerometer that stops the hard drive when it detects movement. So does this mean I don't need the G-Force version of this hard drive? Or is the accelerometer built into the HDD in the thinkpad?

My laptop only came with 100 GB and it would be nice to upgrade it to 320 GB and use the 100 GB in ultrabay of my ultrabase.

Anybody know?

Here is a link to the HDD:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=34372&vpn=ST9320421ASG&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1130

If I don't need the G-Force, I can get this one:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=32346&vpn=ST9320421AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1130

 

i'm fairly sure the sensor is built into the HDD. not 100% positive though.

 

the sensor is not built into the harddrive, it's soldered onto the motherboard.

i don't know about the g-force harddrive, but assuming it senses a drop and stops the harddrive, you could probably do without it.

 

you don't need it, thinkpads already have one

 

I was advised by other forum members that the G-force is not required before I bought my Seagate HDD. What happend was, I bought the Seagate HDD with G-force by accident and have only discovered it after I installed it in my X200. I have both the built-in accelerometer and the G-force running concurrently now and everything seems fine to me so far!

 

^ the funny part could be if your HDD gets crapped becaues of slight drop with those two protections active ...

so next time you buy SSD

 

I believe the accelerometer in the ThinkPads relies on software to park the HD heads—so an OS without the software installed might benefit from Seagate’s built-in accelerometer.

Someone correct me if this is wrong please…

 

You're right, in order to take advantage of the integrathed acelerometer on most new Thinkpads it's a necessity to install the Active Protection Software (APS) and it works with all SATA drivers.

I suppose HDD manufacturers started making HDD with a G-force sensor aimed to cheap notebook where there is no protection for the HDD. I rather prefer using APS than the hardware based solution. Thinkpad software is very well made and reliable, I haven't had trashed any HDD on the Thinkpads I've owned that included the motherboard's accelerometer.

 

an old bump, but I just found this was the first google hit trying to find information on this myself.

The second hit was another thread here that was closed a long time ago, where a user expressed concern the two systems would conflict, and I disagree with the final advice given at the end before the lock.

As the g-force system is entirely internal, designed to work on any machine where the machine will think of it the same as any other HD, I don't see any real opportunity for conflict,

if G-force is more sensitive than APS then G-force will already have pulled the head from the drive when APS tries to kick it.

If APS is more sensitive, then it will do so before g-force kicks it.

The only issue I can imagine being a potential problem would be if APS was a waste as the HD was perfectly covered by G-force ,and you were in fact losing HD accessible time to APS triggered stops.

I have just ordered a 320gb momentus with g-force (they have a G at the end of the serial number) and would do so again the price difference is only £5 or less if you shop around (I found the cheapest at digital fusion at the time), and it ensures your data is protected even pre boot, post shutdown when APS will not be running, any time the APS application might freeze (eg 100% CPU lock caused by another application), and also more importantly on any OS without APS installed (APS is a windows only application currently).

Incidental I have had on one occasion APS actually crash and spit out an error message.

So imo the real question is leave APS on for double protection? or remove APS from the system to save a few resources, maybe a second or two boot speed and assume G-force will be enough?

 

Just leave it on. Double layer of protection will be worth it, in my opinion.

 

G-Force Protection is not an active system like the Thinkpad accelerometer. In fact, it is only intended to prevent damage during nonoperational shocks, although the benefits surely bleed into operational ones. GFP incorporates a few structural modifications that contribute to a more robust drive, such as larger ball bearings and a lighter head/arm.

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/gf_protect.html

The two systems are completely independent and will operate in tandem as more than redundancy.

 

you are wrong and that page is incomplete. It does just describe why G-force drives have better chances of surviving during nonoperational shocks, but it does not say what G-force does during operational shocks. I have such a drive, and G-force works very well. If I move the laptop very quickly (you don't have to drop it to test G-force protection), the drive makes a loud beep and disconnects from SATA bus for a few seconds (I can see it in /var/log/syslog). I assume that at the same time it parks the heads. Disconnecting from the SATA bus makes sense because OS is not able to make any write or read requests and move the heads from the "parking lot". And it is really G-force working here, not HDAPS (in Linux I am in full control of the system and know which processes are running and what they are doing).

Secondly, the built-in Thinkpad accelerometer is not 3D, it is only 2D. Lenovo basicaly says that they chose 2D because at the moment 2D sensors are more sensetive than 3D. So, there is a possibility that you move your laptop and hit a wall in such a way that the built-in Thinkpad accelerometer would not notice it.