# Laptop HDD stopped working. Need help!



## killzone555 (Aug 3, 2021)

Hey everyone,

My ASUS FX-504GD which I bought in AUG 2018 suggested by omega44-xt (Thanks for the great suggestion!) has worked flawlessly for the last 2+ years..
It started showing BSOD for the past week and stopped booting a few days ago, Took it to the ASUS service center and they diagnosed it to be an HDD failure. Now the service center has quoted Rs.8700/- all inclusive for replacing the 1TB SSHD, Which made me think if I should replace it myself as I could get a 1TB HDD for much cheaper or even a 512GB (or) 1TB SSD for the price quoted by the service center.

I'm looking for a storage device with good performance and durability, Don't need amazing performance, but going for an SSD would be wiser is what I've understood after a lot of reading.

Is it a good idea to do it by myself? asking this because I've never worked on a laptop before, but Youtube videos make it look easy. If yes, which SSD or HDD?

found these within budget,

SSD (WD blue 500gb) : Buy Online WD Blue 500GB 3D NAND SATA III 2.5 inch Internal SSD WDS500G2B0A In India

SSD (WD green 1TB) : Buy Online WD Green 1TB SATA III 2.5 inch Internal SSD WDS100T2G0A In India

SSD (Samsung 860 1TB) : Buy Online SAMSUNG 860 QVO 2.5″ 1TB SATA III Internal SSD MZ-76Q1T0BW In India

HDD (WD blue 1TB) : Western Digital Blue 1TB 5400 RPM Laptop Hard Drive (WD10SPZX)

Please suggest, Thanks!!


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## omega44-xt (Aug 3, 2021)

Definitely don't buy a SSHD.

If you are willing to spend 9-10k, get a 1TB SSD, prefer models like WD Blue, Crucial MX500 or Samsung 860 evo (rarely under 10k). Samsung 860 qvo ain't that good. If capacity is not an issue, 500GB for 5k is a good choice.

If you confident about adding it on your own, do it. It is indeed not tough. Otherwise, ask service centre to do it, usually, they charge 500 to put it, likely won't install OS for you, but ask them.


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## bubusam13 (Aug 3, 2021)

If there is a deal, you can get Samsung 980 SSD at 9K. It increased the performance my 11 years old system a old. Though it is not operating at its full potential as my Mobo is old.


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## Cool Buddy (Aug 3, 2021)

First thing you need to determine is whether your laptop has an M.2 slot or not. If it does, then I'd recommend going with an M.2 SSD. Crucial MX500 1 TB is available for 9000 on onlyssd.com (Primeabgb). Both M.2 and 2.5" form factor drives are priced pretty much the same. 

Avoid Samsung Qvo, Crucial BX500, and WD Green. In general, avoid any dramless or QLC SSD. Just search for the model with the words dramless or QLC and you'll know which one is which.


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## killzone555 (Aug 5, 2021)

omega44-xt said:


> Definitely don't buy a SSHD.
> 
> If you are willing to spend 9-10k, get a 1TB SSD, prefer models like WD Blue, Crucial MX500 or Samsung 860 evo (rarely under 10k). Samsung 860 qvo ain't that good. If capacity is not an issue, 500GB for 5k is a good choice.
> 
> If you confident about adding it on your own, do it. It is indeed not tough. Otherwise, ask service centre to do it, usually, they charge 500 to put it, likely won't install OS for you, but ask them.



Yeah.. thinking of getting a 500gb SSD

I feel I should let the technician install it coz if a problem arises I wouldn't be able to troubleshoot it.

Should I go with the WD Blue then or at there better ones at this price? : Buy Online WD Blue 500GB 3D NAND SATA III 2.5 inch Internal SSD WDS500G2B0A In India


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## omega44-xt (Aug 5, 2021)

killzone555 said:


> Yeah.. thinking of getting a 500gb SSD
> 
> I feel I should let the technician install it coz if a problem arises I wouldn't be able to troubleshoot it.
> 
> Should I go with the WD Blue then or at there better ones at this price? : Buy Online WD Blue 500GB 3D NAND SATA III 2.5 inch Internal SSD WDS500G2B0A In India


5k for WD blue is good. MX500 seems overpriced on amazon.


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## killzone555 (Aug 5, 2021)

bubusam13 said:


> If there is a deal, you can get Samsung 980 SSD at 9K. It increased the performance my 11 years old system a old. Though it is not operating at its full potential as my Mobo is old.


the samsung 980 is out of my budget right now so might go with the WD Blue 500GB at Rs.5075 on onlyssd. Thanks for the suggestion though!!


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## killzone555 (Aug 5, 2021)

Cool Buddy said:


> First thing you need to determine is whether your laptop has an M.2 slot or not. If it does, then I'd recommend going with an M.2 SSD. Crucial MX500 1 TB is available for 9000 on onlyssd.com (Primeabgb). Both M.2 and 2.5" form factor drives are priced pretty much the same.
> 
> Avoid Samsung Qvo, Crucial BX500, and WD Green. In general, avoid any dramless or QLC SSD. Just search for the model with the words dramless or QLC and you'll know which one is which.


The ASUS FX504GD does have an M.2 slot but i heard someone on youtube say ASUS hasn't provided a heatsink for it, so did not consider an M.2 SSD.

I'm going with the WD Blue 500GB : Buy Online WD Blue 500GB 3D NAND SATA III 2.5 inch Internal SSD WDS500G2B0A In India

Thanks!


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## killzone555 (Aug 5, 2021)

omega44-xt said:


> 5k for WD blue is good. MX500 seems overpriced on amazon.


1) out of curiosity, How long do you guess would my laptop last? approx?

bought it in AUG of 2018 so it's 3 years old now.. A lot of heavy gaming sessions in the first 2 years and the past 1 year used it only to browse chrome(+/- 40-50 tabs open) and no gaming at all. Battery seems to be okay too

2) just spoke to the laptop tech, asked him if he'd install an SSD which i sourced instead of the SSHD and to my surprise he answered: I should check if it has a port that fits the SSD..  then I clarified that it is a standard SATA SSD to which he said: Okay will check. Makes no sense!! communication gap maybe.. hope he does a good job.


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## Cool Buddy (Aug 5, 2021)

Local technicians are often unreliable. My experience with them has been very poor. Can't blame them though, these jobs don't really pay well in India, so most people working in repairs are not well educated. Hence they are not great at communicating. 

Also, it generally makes them unhappy if you buy stuff from outside and go to them only for the service part. They'll be much more responsive if you buy the stuff from them as well. 

I would suggest putting it in yourself after watching a couple of YouTube videos. Putting in a hard disk/SSD is a very simple task. It's mostly the inertia that prevents people from trying it out themselves. Once you've replaced one part, you'll find that next time you feel a lot more confident. When my first laptop started getting old, I wanted to add more RAM to it. I had previously done some tinkering with desktops, but nothing with a laptop. I watched a few YouTube videos and understood the process. Thankfully, HP Pavillion G6 had very easily accessible RAM slots. I added more RAM to it with ease. So next time when I had to take out the DVD drive and put in a caddy with an SSD, I decided to give it a go. It took a little bit of trying, but in the end, it wasn't too difficult. And in the process, I learnt so much that now I don't feel queasy about opening my laptop. I recently added an SSD and replaced the RAM on my new laptop purchased last year, which is a thin and light model, and therefore not as easy to open as the G6.


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## omega44-xt (Aug 5, 2021)

killzone555 said:


> 1) out of curiosity, How long do you guess would my laptop last? approx?
> 
> bought it in AUG of 2018 so it's 3 years old now.. A lot of heavy gaming sessions in the first 2 years and the past 1 year used it only to browse chrome(+/- 40-50 tabs open) and no gaming at all. Battery seems to be okay too
> 
> 2) just spoke to the laptop tech, asked him if he'd install an SSD which i sourced instead of the SSHD and to my surprise he answered: I should check if it has a port that fits the SSD..  then I clarified that it is a standard SATA SSD to which he said: Okay will check. Makes no sense!! communication gap maybe.. hope he does a good job.


1. No idea, depends.

2. It will fit on a normal SATA port which the HDD uses, no doubt. He's likely trying to make you afraid so that you buy from him.


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## killzone555 (Sep 8, 2021)

Got the laptop back last week.. had it installed by the tech and he didn't charge me for it..  Thanks a lot omega44-xt, bubusam13, Cool Buddy Appreciate your time!! The laptop works like a charm.. no going back to HDDs ever again


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