Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

HDD Upgrade: Momentus XT vs WD7500BPKT

H

hzxu

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 17, 2008
112
5
I am about to upgrade the HDD of my mid 2009 MBP 13", currently considering the following two HDDs(SSD is not an option as I need the capacity):

Seagate Momentus XT
7200RPM
500GB + 4GB SLC SSD for most frequently used data
32MB Cache
5 Years Warranty

WD7500BPKT
7200RPM
750GB
16MB Cache
5 Years Warranty

The WD one has larger capacity, but 500GB is enough for me, they all cost around $150 in Australia, just the following factors:

1 XT should be faster than WD if read from SSD
2 Benchmarks show WD is faster than XT if not read from SSD
3 Many people complained problem with XT
4 Noise and Heat
5 32MB vs 16MB cache, does it really make any difference?

Could anyone give me any suggestions based on the above factors? My main use would be web surfing, XCode programming, photoshop(light weight tasks) and occasionally VM.

Thanks a lot!
 
Last edited:
I'd go with the WD just because of storage being 50% more than the XT... and speedwise, though the XT may be marginally fast in certain cases... overall it is still just a 7200rpm drive.

XT is said to be a bit more noisy, whereas WD is more quiet. Can't say about heat... but I would pick the WD mainly because of space and quiet and wait out for SSDs to get more cost efficient.
 
Whitelightning said:
I'd go with the WD just because of storage being 50% more than the XT... and speedwise, though the XT may be marginally fast in certain cases... overall it is still just a 7200rpm drive.

XT is said to be a bit more noisy, whereas WD is more quiet. Can't say about heat... but I would pick the WD mainly because of space and quiet and wait out for SSDs to get more cost efficient.
Click to expand...

do keep in mind OP said he would not require the extra space.

the larger cache and ssd on the XT will allow for very fast access to smaller files scattered across the drive, and medium sized file transfers. the WD has a higher platter density allowing for higher throughput for an extended amount of time, which is great if it was an external drive that did not need to read and write a lot of small files while the transfer is in progress. so in short the WD will be slowed down significantly compared to the XT when the operating system is booted from the drive.
 
Whitelightning said:
Aside from storage capacity, to me, I feel it is OK to sacrifice a little bit of speed if it means less noise (not to fall under 7200rpm).

I like systems to be as quiet as possible. Would annoy me if it sounded like this in abnormal case: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkBNc-WEAeo
Click to expand...

sounds like my 7200RPM 2TB 3.5" external. I do get extended throughput speeds of 140MB/s which is comparable to low end SSDs!
 
Surprised nobody has mentioned that the XT is having all kinds of issues especially with Macs.
 
I own a Momentus XT, and I can easily tell you that it's blazing fast. Almost SSD-like. But again, it's not an SSD, it's a hybrid SSD/HDD. Nothing beats SSD performances, but this drive comes pretty close with an added bonus of capacity and cheap price. Windows Experience Index is, for me, 6.3 out of 7.9.
Subscribe to Newegg's newsletter and wait for a HDD coupon code. I got mine at $80 USD, extremely cheap.
 
DarwinOSX said:
Surprised nobody has mentioned that the XT is having all kinds of issues especially with Macs.
Click to expand...

There is also a whole thread about SSD problems with Sandforce but people still buy them. The XT has no major problems on SD24 or 23 for that matter.


Prodo123 said:
I own a Momentus XT, and I can easily tell you that it's blazing fast. Almost SSD-like. But again, it's not an SSD, it's a hybrid SSD/HDD. Nothing beats SSD performances, but this drive comes pretty close with an added bonus of capacity and cheap price. Windows Experience Index is, for me, 6.3 out of 7.9.
Subscribe to Newegg's newsletter and wait for a HDD coupon code. I got mine at $80 USD, extremely cheap.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't see the benefit of the XT on the Windows Experience Index. The XT uses its own "brain" to pick what it stores on that 4gb of flash cache... Unless you have done that test about 60 times in a row, you wouldn't benefit any from the XT.
 
tjb1 said:
There is also a whole thread about SSD problems with Sandforce but people still buy them. The XT has no major problems on SD24 or 23 for that matter.
Click to expand...

Except that as of SD24, the XT in many MBPs, mine included, never ever spins down. There's about a month and a half of MacBook Pro owners' thread on the Seagate forums about this topic - Seagate has acknowledged this is a problem and is "working on it."

I just bought the WD Caviar Black 750GB to replace my Momentus XT. I'm tired of waiting for crappy firmware updates, losing extensive battery life because the drive never turns off, and Seagate's mostly wait-and-see attitude towards Mac owners. I had amazingly high hopes for the XT, and in some areas I will miss how fast it works, but it has proven unreliable and awkward since I installed it last July, and I'm finally sick of it.

Frankly, I used to respect Seagate drives a lot, but this experience and their attitude about the Momentus XT has lost them a customer for a goodly while, if not for life.

Or as Steve would say, the Momentus XT is a "bag of hurt."
 
FoxyKaye said:
Except that as of SD24, the XT in many MBPs, mine included, never ever spins down. There's about a month and a half of MacBook Pro owners' thread on the Seagate forums about this topic - Seagate has acknowledged this is a problem and is "working on it."

I just bought the WD Caviar Black 750GB to replace my Momentus XT. I'm tired of waiting for crappy firmware updates, losing extensive battery life because the drive never turns off, and Seagate's mostly wait-and-see attitude towards Mac owners. I had amazingly high hopes for the XT, and in some areas I will miss how fast it works, but it has proven unreliable and awkward since I installed it last July, and I'm finally sick of it.

Frankly, I used to respect Seagate drives a lot, but this experience and their attitude about the Momentus XT has lost them a customer for a goodly while, if not for life.

Or as Steve would say, the Momentus XT is a "bag of hurt."
Click to expand...

Is the one you bought WD Caviar Black or Scorpio Black? Scorpio is for notebook and Caviar is for desktop. If it is scorpio, how good is it? Capacity is obvious and speed should be fast, I wonder how is the heat, vibration and battery life? And what size is your MBP?

Thanks!
 
sp1keNARF said:
Does everyone experience the Momentus XT not spinning down, or just some people?
Click to expand...

I think it depends on firmware, my friend bought XT with SD23 installed, it never spins down, he monitored Load Cycle Count in SMART, it never increases, except if he bump it and sudden motion sensor forces it to unload, then he upgraded to SD24 but found Load Cycle Count increasing way too fast and would reach 600000 in less than a year, so he returned it.
 
I'm considering the same exact hard drives for my HDD upgrade. I've read a little bit on both and I'm leaning towards the WD Scorpio Black because of the Mac issues with XT. Also, I didn't think there was going to be a significant boost in speed since I always leave my mbp on - XT would take the edge over the WD in boot times and loading applications. Otherwise, it's just another HDD. The WD seems to be a more reliable drives for Mac. I'm going to wait and see if they'll come out with a new version of XT within the next 2 months before pulling the trigger.
 
WD. Normally i'd suggest the XT, but it seems it's currently having firmware issues that Seagate is already aware of.
 
XT

I have a Momentus Xt and been using it since about November.

I did upgrade the Firmware and My harddrive has never given me problem.
I use it ALOT too, I am a DJ and have over 300gb of music, Itunes runs super fast, computer boots in under 25seconds. I can NEVER heard my harddrive, not move, click, or spin at all.

No complaints at all
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back