Will Seagate ST9500420AS HDD work well in Dell Precision M4300 laptop?

I want to upgrade the hard drive in my son's Dell Precision M4300 laptop. Right now, he has a 150GB 7200RPM Dell drive.

I want to get him a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB ST9500420AS 7200RPM HDD. According to the reviews I've read, this drive is the best 500GB drive available, with the Western Digital Scorpion drives coming in next.

I have heard some people claim that they have clicking/freezing problems with this drive in Dell machines. According to Seagate, only the ASG (gravity free-fall model) has had problems in Dell machines. I'm not sure if people who complain actually have the ASG or if there is a problem with the AS model.

Has anyone had any experience with this drive in this laptop? When I call Dell, they tell me that only 5400RPM drives are recommended for this laptop, even though they sold it to me with a 7200RPM drive. The technician knew nothing about the Seagate drive and couldn't make any recommendations. I'd appreciate hearing about experiences people have had.

 

The specifications say "up to 200GB" here
http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfb/notebooks/precn_m4300/pd.aspx?refid=precn_m4300&s=dfb&cs=28
click on the Tech Specs tab.

It might work, it might not.

I would search or ask on the Dell Community Forums.

Matt

 

What the specifications say and what Dell is willing to sell people doesn't match up. One of their approved hard drives is the Western Digital Scorpion Blue which is 500GB and 5400RPM. Therefore, it can handle 500GB. They sold me a Dell drive that is 7200RPM, so it can handle 7200RPM. Unfortunately, on the Dell forums, as here, most people address their problems, not their successes. The Dell technician I spoke to suggested that I should call early in the morning, Monday through Friday, and talk to their more experienced technicians. I'll do that, along with placing a thread on the Dell forum, but thought I'd also reach out to old, reliable WindowsBBS. Thanks for your input.

 

I would be careful before buying the Seagate drive.

I have had two of these and both have caused me grief.

Both of them started randomly stuttering and making a beeping noise.

I am not saying this is the same with all of them.

But this was on my Dell E6400 laptop I use for work!

I replaced with the 500gb Western Digital Blue and have had no problems thus far.

Also when you look at the benchmarks around online there is not a huge deal of difference.

Tom

 

My concern is the glitch with the ASG models and Dell. I can't seem to get clarification from the people who claim to have the problem with the AS models, and neither Dell nor Seagate seem to want to address it. My son needs a very reliable drive, so I don't want to get him something that will be acting up and wear out sooner.

 

When I had drive number 1 in my laptop after the first week it had already done 3800 load cycles.

It seems the power management / shock sensor of the drive was to aggressive.

Lots of people that use Apple computers are having problems with the drives as well.

As soon as I swapped to the Western Digital I did not experience any issues at all and it really was not that much of a noticeable decrease in speed.

Tom

 

Tom, thanks for sharing your experience. These drives you used were the AS model, not the ASG model? Would there be any advantage to getting the WD Scorpion Black 320GB 7200RPM vs the Scorpion Blue 500GB 5400RPM? I believe that my son would prefer a faster, more stable/reliable drive over having the additional 180GB of storage.

 

Just looking at the invoice they were the AS model of drives.

I would try and search google for some benchmarks to compare the two drives.

My boss has the Scorpio Black 250GB 7200RPM in his machine but that is a HP. I think the Scorpio Black has a shock sensor built in.

I have only had my Scorpio Blue 7 weeks so I can't tell you much in terms of long term durability. But so far it has proved to be fast and reliable!

Tom

 

My concern is the glitch with the ASG models and Dell. I can't seem to get clarification from the people who claim to have the problem with the AS models, and neither Dell nor Seagate seem to want to address it. My son needs a very reliable drive, so I don't want to get him something that will be acting up and wear out sooner.

 

I'm leaning toward getting him the WD Scorpion Black 320GB 7200RPM. If anyone disagrees, please let me know what you believe would be better.