Is my Seagate Momentus XT one of the bad ones?

[ac3320]

I have a Momentus XT 500 GB that I purchased from Amazon in August 2011 for use with my "Late 2008" MacBook (MacBook5,1). The XT came with SD26 preinstalled. I installed SD28 when it came out (about a month of having the drive), as some users were reporting increased performance. Didn't really notice a difference.

It seemed to be working fine (snappier than the stock MacBook HD for sure) until about a week ago, when I began to notice a BIG decrease in system performance. Ran a SMART status and everything is fine. Did an Xbench test and my sequential write score was 86.66 (so-so for this model HD compared to other people's scores on the forum), and 22.26 for the random score. Those are a tad better than the average HDD, but not nearly as fast as it was. More importantly, the system feels MUCH lagger. I used to click an icon on the dock and it would *maybe* bounce for a second, but would open so fast I couldn't really count a second. Now it takes about 3 seconds. Also, I'm getting beach balls all the time, and in general it just takes longer to open files (especially large ones).

To rule out a possible OS problem, I've wiped the HD clean and re-installed both Snow Leopard and Lion (Lion being a bit better but still not as good as it was when I first got the HD). I am positive it is NOT due to the OS, and even if it is, I want to be sure my HD isn't defective.

I was reading on the Seagate support forums that it might have something to do with the ADM on the XT models. SD28 was supposed to address this, but who knows if it does for everyone. Moreover, I *believe* there is a bigger issue with Mac incompatibility (specifically MacBook's and MacBook Pro's). I read that a LOT of the problems with the Apple crowd stem from MacBook (and MBP) seemingly being incompatible with the XT (thought I don't see how that could be).

Seeing as how their "SeaTools" (required diagnostic tool to send a bad drive in) only works with Windows, and that Seagate does not provide any diagnostic tools that are Mac-friendly, I'm inclined to believe that it IS indeed more of a hoaky "not the best for Mac" thingies (as much as my techy soul thinks that software and hardware should just be able to work together).

I even tried running Seatools via Windows XP SP3 (Boot Camp partition AND via Fusion), and I couldn't run the application. Got some random error I forgot by now.

So i'm poised to send this in and get a replacement ASAP, but as I was filling out the RMA, i noticed the Seagate text, "Please do not return a healthy drive. Seagate reserves the right to return a good drive back to its owner and to charge for all associated shipping costs." Dang.

Anyways, I was curious if there are any other XT users out there having a similar problem? I would go to the Seagate forums (and believe me I have), but the Seagate forums are really terrible to sift through -- mostly lots of angry people (which I can understand totally). And angry people are largely stupid people, at least when they're angry, so their posts just cause chaos. And to be honest, I don't care what problems a Windows guy is having on Windows 7, etc. I want to know if any Mac guys are having a bust, and if so, what they have done/are doing to get the old speedy XT back. So that's why I'm checking in here!

I mean if this is just what it is... I might have to go get an SSD/optibay thingie and just do that..

 

[ac3320]

Here is one a few minutes later, after a backup was completed. How are these numbers? I swear that it feels much slower than what the Xbench makes me think it is. 4-6 seconds to start iTunes or iPhoto, and longer to open a PPT with Keynote (which, IMO, is ALWAYS super slow). What do you guys think? Maybe I just wish my setup was faster....

Boot times are about 40 seconds or so.

I think SSD would get me in the low teens for boot times, but people are getting that with the XT (and i'm obviously not). So maybe my hardware is just not up with the i5's and i7's? Why is my performance less than other's XT performance??

 

[ac3320]

Are sub 20-second boot time possible with my computer at all? I mean, if ppl are getting that with with XT's, and I am not, I don't know if going to full SSD will make a difference.. :/

 

[jtara]

Most Mac users don't reboot very often. I would think that by the time the typical user reboots, the drive would have optimized for the programs and data files that are typically used after boot. The boot-related files will have long since been thrown out of the flash cache.

I think the only legitimate comparison you can make regarding boot time is to boot 3 times and see what you get. If the drive is performing as advertised, I would expect similar results every time you reboot 3 times. If you do a lot of work before the next time you reboot, all bets are off.

I wish somebody would come up with a hybrid drive in PACKAGING ONLY. Solves the problem of having to take the Optibay.

I have an 80GB flash drive and 1GB hard drive on my Linux system, and I am delighted. 80GB is way more than I need for the OS and /home. Kubuntu boots in <30 second, and no noticeable lag bringing up just about any application. The 1GB has two partitions, one for various kinds of backups, and one called "Media". Media gets the obvious, as well as downloaded install files, PDF documents and books, etc.

I'd be pretty happy with a 500GB hard drive with a built-in 80GB flash as separate volumes.

What would be really cool would be a plug-in module for the flash. Packaging would certainly be a challenge, though.

 

[ac3320]

Most Mac users don't reboot very often. I would think that by the time the typical user reboots, the drive would have optimized for the programs and data files that are typically used after boot. The boot-related files will have long since been thrown out of the flash cache.

I think the only legitimate comparison you can make regarding boot time is to boot 3 times and see what you get. If the drive is performing as advertised, I would expect similar results every time you reboot 3 times. If you do a lot of work before the next time you reboot, all bets are off.

I wish somebody would come up with a hybrid drive in PACKAGING ONLY. Solves the problem of having to take the Optibay.

I have an 80GB flash drive and 1GB hard drive on my Linux system, and I am delighted. 80GB is way more than I need for the OS and /home. Kubuntu boots in <30 second, and no noticeable lag bringing up just about any application. The 1GB has two partitions, one for various kinds of backups, and one called "Media". Media gets the obvious, as well as downloaded install files, PDF documents and books, etc.

I'd be pretty happy with a 500GB hard drive with a built-in 80GB flash as separate volumes.

What would be really cool would be a plug-in module for the flash. Packaging would certainly be a challenge, though.

I agree with everything your saying, though I don't think your comment really addressed the issue I was having, which is whether my XT experience is the same as everybody else's XT experience. Thanks for the post though!

 

[lp2000]

I recently purchased Seagea Momentus XT 500GB disk (came with SD26) and installed it on MacBook4,1 by cloning previous 5400rpm 320GB disk (snow leopard 10.6.8).
I've not experienced any issue, and even though overall system performance is better, boot times in particular are around 1min.

 

[n17man]

Seageate XT Just Installed

I've not experienced the problems mentioned - yet! Overall the XT appears to be snappier. Boot times have dramatically reduced.

BUT I do have another problem. Since I installed the XT my fans are now constantly on running at around 600rpm. Is this an XT issue? Temp is around 40 degrees Celsius. Activity Monitor shows negligible CPU processing. Strange, very strange.

 

[LeandrodaFL]

Regarding fans, the XT is 7200RPM instead of Apples 5400TPM, so the XT is a litlle bit hotter and the fan spining faster is probably normal

Turn on your air conditionate

Question, how are the firmware updates performed on the momentus XT? Ima bout to get one for my MacMini.

 

[n17man]

Firmware Updatés on the Momentus XT

Question, how are the firmware updates performed on the momentus XT? Ima bout to get one for my MacMini.

I honestly don't know how the firmware updates work. I had read about people have issues with this on earlier versions of the XT. I bought mine just a few weeks ago so I was counting on all firmware updates having been implemented prior to purchase. I've not really investigated this thoroughly yet. We'll see!

 

[LeandrodaFL]

I honestly don't know how the firmware updates work. I had read about people have issues with this on earlier versions of the XT. I bought mine just a few weeks ago so I was counting on all firmware updates having been implemented prior to purchase. I've not really investigated this thoroughly yet. We'll see!

The thing is that Seagate is due to release an update early next year that turns "writes" into the SSD first, then to the HDD in the background. As of now, the SSD is for reading most acessed files solely. So, the next update firmware is definetly something Im looking forward too..

 

[iMacC2D]

Removed.

 

[LeandrodaFL]

They're done old school. Burn an ISO to CD, restart from the CD which will boot the Mac into FreeDOS and apply the update with the Seagate Firmware Update Utility.

I'm running a Momentus XT 500GB in my MacBook (Late 2008 Unibody) - MacBook5,1. Flashed to firmware version SD28. Computer is running perfectly. Boot times are somewhere around 24 seconds from chime to desktop.

Sounds complicated, as this is tottally new, but will defenetly try, I like to live dangerously