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Love my new Seagate Momentus XT !!!
- Thread starter rex3
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The problem with mine and SD23 is that it spins down, then immediately spins back up.
This puts extra wear and tear on the drive.
After a couple days of use I have noticed not as many beachballs and more system response... Maybe it was just "learning" and everything should be fine now...
I do havea question though If I ever have to, How to i replace this drive if it goes out if I ordered through Amazon?
I do havea question though If I ever have to, How to i replace this drive if it goes out if I ordered through Amazon?
I've had mine in my SR 2.2 BlackBook [MacBook 3,1] for two weeks now.
I could only source a 320GB model, the 500GB edition was all sold out and already backordered at around 15 outlets I tried.
I like the performance and extra capacity compared to my original 160GB drive, and the price compared to true SSD drives.
I initially felt a considerable amount of vibration, but that has either now ceased or I have got accustomed to it.
It is relatively inaudible.
Speed and response is good. I haven't updated any firmware but I don't know what version it shipped with. I have no problems with it giving any undue lag after it has 'spun down'.
In conclusion, I would buy it again if I was looking to replace/increase the capacity of my standard drive and hadn't come into money to get an equivalent size SSD.
...that sale was for the 320Gb model, why pay $104 for 320Gb when you could pay $124 for the 500Gb model?...
I love it
I just wanted to say that I really loving this as well. My boot time went from 1:30 to around 37-40 seconds on average. I was wondering, is there anyway to see how much and what data is stored on the SSD? I use applications like Safari very frequently and I feel as if it is not being stored on the SSD because it takes 2-3 bounces before it loads. Is there a better way to force data to move to the SSD besides do it more often? I relaunch Safari enough that it should get faster. But I'm not sure why it seems to mediocre.
I just wanted to say that I really loving this as well. My boot time went from 1:30 to around 37-40 seconds on average. I was wondering, is there anyway to see how much and what data is stored on the SSD? I use applications like Safari very frequently and I feel as if it is not being stored on the SSD because it takes 2-3 bounces before it loads. Is there a better way to force data to move to the SSD besides do it more often? I relaunch Safari enough that it should get faster. But I'm not sure why it seems to mediocre.
Do you have a source to back that up - or are you just "thinking" that it does? Modern drives are designed to allow for that, and chances are, you will outgrow the drive before you run into any major "wear" issues - or the drive will be covered under warranty.
The Momentus XT is designed to store often used data on the 4GB NAND flash portion of the drive. As the drive is being used, the most often used data is stored on the SSD section of the drive. If the request is for data that is stored on the HD section, it will spin up the drive to access it. In theory, you can run common tasks without the drive as data is usually pulled from SSD section first. If the drive is not in use because it's not needed - then Seagate thought it would be wise to spin it down to save power. Imagine if you're using your computer doing a mundane task while on battery. If you aren't accessing much data, then it makes perfect sense to spin the drive down. However, if your computer needs to retrieve or write to the HD, it's going to spin back up. That is HOW THE DRIVE WAS DESIGNED. It's not going to wear out so don't let that bother you.
The only reason to apply the firmware is to keep the drive from spinning down when not needed. However, that defeats the design purpose of the drive. Your options are to live with it, apply the firmware and deal with power loss, or just buy an expensive SSD drive to avoid the whole issue.
What would be really cool is if you could access the spin down option in energy saver. So, if you're on battery - the drive spins down. If you're on power, you would have the option to leave it spinning for better efficiency.
The bottom line is that the drive spin down is NOT AN ISSUE, it's a feature.
The SSD portion stores upto 4GB of data. That data is always changing based on your usage. If you use Safari day in and day out, it should get faster as it stores more of that type of data. However, if you change your usage (like pop in a game or launch Photoshop), it's going to vacate the Safari data to accommodate the new usage. I don't know of any method to manually choose which data to store. The drive does it automatically. And if you were to find a way to manually store specific data, the drive would just over-write that if it finds something more relevant to store there. Try to think of the drive as someone who has a very short memory and can only remember the most recent events. Kind of like the guy in the movie Memento.
In summary: The drive remembers things only to the point the SSD fills up. When the tasks change, that stored short term memory is over written with new data based on the new tasks being performed. Depending on usage, I suppose most of the stored data would be replaced several times per session.
Just installed this drive in my i5 Macbook Pro...
...and it is great. Fast, quiet, no excessive vibration and did I mention fast
. It replaced the stock hitachi 5400 RPM. I've seen dramatic improvement across the board - boot time, application loading, web surfing, gaming and photo editing. I was a bit unsure after reading about some of the problems some have had but I have to highly recommend. It is running SD23 firmware. Battery life seems about the same.
...and it is great. Fast, quiet, no excessive vibration and did I mention fast
. It replaced the stock hitachi 5400 RPM. I've seen dramatic improvement across the board - boot time, application loading, web surfing, gaming and photo editing. I was a bit unsure after reading about some of the problems some have had but I have to highly recommend. It is running SD23 firmware. Battery life seems about the same.
The problem is that it spins down then spins right back up. You can hear it. Makes a spin down whirr, then immediately a spin up whirr.
I did notice something though. It only happens in OSX. It works properly in windows and only spins back up when needed.
It's an issue for me. Not a feature. Don't assume so much.
It's putting unnecessary wear and tear on the drive for no reason. There is no reason when it spins down and immediately spins back up. It's better to either stay spinning or shut off, not spin down, then spin right back up.
Also, the "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" has no affect. It does it when enabled or disabled.
To tell you the truth, I've always noticed that drives spin down the spin right back up in OSX.
I just bought the 250gb model for $91 shipped. Why pay more for something you don't need?
Anyway bought it to go along side my intel ssd via optibay. Wanted a faster storage drive mainly for boot camp though, but partioned half for osx and ntfs.
Just bought a 500gb model for $130 from tigerdirect. Should be getting it by Tuesday. Can't wait to install it and try it out.
Can't wait to install it and try it out.
Just installed mine this evening (500GB model) and already notice a HUGE difference.
Before:
OS X 10.5.8 2.4GHz Intel C2D (late 2008/early2009 Unibody)
5400rpm 250GB stock drive with only 10GB free
Startup Chime to usable desktop: 90+ seconds
After:
Startup Chime to usable desktop: ~30 seconds
Haven't had too much time to play with it, but I haven't noticed any noise whatsoever from it. Apps pop open much faster and things are much snappier.
I will post back with more feedback once I've had a chance to really drive it around the block.
I'm about a week into my new Seagate Momentus XT 500GB drive. So far it has been great. I installed the new firmware SD 23. Haven't really noticed much difference in battery life or constantly spinning disk problems that some are concerned about. Definitely noticed an increase in boot times, though. Went from 32 seconds boot up with stock 5400 RPM drive to 16-20 seconds. Applications (including Parallels and Win XP virtual machine) load much more quickly as well. Happy camper!
I'll add my input once I receive the drive and have had some time to use it. I thought I was going to get it tomorrow, but it looks like Tigerdirect must have sold out of them over the weekend. I'm on back order now.
Newegg is also still sold out.
Newegg is also still sold out.
I've had a 320gb one for one week and barely used it till now. The one I got is really bad, it's like a vibrator, huge vibrations and they even get into my desk.
The WD Black it was replacing has the woosh sound but at least it barely vibrates at all.
Sending it back, hoping it gets replaced.
Mac booted a lot faster with it and felt snappier, but sometimes I think the computer was just hanging for a second.
The WD Black it was replacing has the woosh sound but at least it barely vibrates at all.
Sending it back, hoping it gets replaced.
Mac booted a lot faster with it and felt snappier, but sometimes I think the computer was just hanging for a second.
Hmm, I've got a question.
When I install the momentus xt, should I disable apple's built in SMS? I know WD uses their own shock protection unless you specifically get a model without it. Do seagate drives have their own built in shock protection?
When I install the momentus xt, should I disable apple's built in SMS? I know WD uses their own shock protection unless you specifically get a model without it. Do seagate drives have their own built in shock protection?
Since your MacBook has S-ATA, the the drives can be up to Petabytes in size, which is far larger than what you will see in a laptop for many, many years.
You can insert any S-ATA drive you want, just remember that if you buy a really fast SSD, you will saturate the controller.
From what I can gather from the Seagate forums/knowledge base, the XT (or at least mine) *does not* include a G-Force lock. Supposedly, if the model number of the drive ends in: "ASG" it includes the lock & if it ends in: "AS" it does not. The model number of my XT is: ST95005620AS. So it would seem that the XT's do not have the g-lock and therefore there should be no conflict.
Awesome. Thanks for the heads up. The model I ordered is the same one you've got.
EDIT: Just got my Momentus XT in the mail. OSX is installing right now.
Now to figure out what to do with the old drive... I think I might just stick it in my server. I've already got enough external drives.
EDIT #2: I've been using my drive for about 8 hours now and I've got all my programs back on here. I definitely notice a performance increase! My boot time went from 28.7 to 14.2. I can't comment on battery life yet as I haven't used it unplugged yet.
First impressions: The drive is a definitely noisier than the original Hitachi, but not my much and certainly not enough to annoy. No vibrations whatsoever. At all. For those of you experiencing vibrations: you either got a faulty drive and should RMA or you didn't use the little prongs that you were supposed to remove from the old drive. Overall I'm enjoying the drive so far. Haven't run into any issues yet. I'll report back on the battery life once I've had more time to test it.
I've got on of these arriving tomorrow to go in my new 15" i5 so I've read this thread with interest.
I'm pretty fussy when it comes to noise and, to a lesser degree, vibration from a hard drive so I'm keen to find out whether this is within my comfort range.
Having owned an Intel G2 SSD previously, I know the incredible speed benefits of an SSD and I'm well aware that this hybrid will fall well short of that. But the price difference is so huge that this seems like the perfect choice for normal consumers at present.
Anandtech, a very well-repsected site, gave this drive a very favourable review which you should check out:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3734/seagates-momentus-xt-review-finally-a-good-hybrid-hdd
I'll report back on my experience in a day or so.
I'm pretty fussy when it comes to noise and, to a lesser degree, vibration from a hard drive so I'm keen to find out whether this is within my comfort range.
Having owned an Intel G2 SSD previously, I know the incredible speed benefits of an SSD and I'm well aware that this hybrid will fall well short of that. But the price difference is so huge that this seems like the perfect choice for normal consumers at present.
Anandtech, a very well-repsected site, gave this drive a very favourable review which you should check out:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3734/seagates-momentus-xt-review-finally-a-good-hybrid-hdd
I'll report back on my experience in a day or so.