What's the difference?

[TheGreatSatan]

I'm looking at getting a 500GB hard drive for my laptop. There's a $10 difference between these two

They both seem identical. The model numbers are ST9500420AS and ST9500420ASG. What's the $10 difference signified by that last "G"

[nevermind1534]

The second has stats for seek, write, and latency, but I'd get the first one. Probably just an older version or revision of the same drive, but with a $15.30 price difference (if shipping is included in the cost).

[slaveofconvention]

I believe the G model has a G-force sensor built into it which will make it rapidly park the heads if it detects an impact - I assume the point of this is to reduce the chances of the heads crashing onto the platter(s) and causing data loss through physical damage. The price difference now seems to be $25, or 30%.

I'd say it comes down to the value you place on the data you intend to put on the drive. If it's going to be moved around a lot, and potentially knocked around too, and the data you're storing on it is important, then it might be worth the extra money. If it'll be mainly stationary, and all the data on it is backed up and/or disposable, then the cheaper one would be the way to go....

EDIT: After following Airbozo's link the sensor makes a little more sense - it appears to be a free-fall sensor so it DOES have the chance to park the heads BEFORE an impact. I was wondering how much use parking the heads on impact would make - I was thinking "Great, instead of a small point of impact, the heads will drag over the platter and do more damage" lol

[Airbozo]

SoC is correct. this should help:

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/cr...p?DocId=204763

[nevermind1534]

They should list that as one of the features...

[trinity]

not sure why they dont but it definately is just a g-force sensor, i prefer western D drives myself, call me crazy.