Momentus XT Hybrid Questions

[daustin21]

I am retiring my 06 MBP and starting to use my 08 Aluminum MB for DJ work.

Standard Serato Scratch/Itch with light Ableton use.

This MB is specifically for DJ work. Will be using the MBP for basic browsing and have a MacPro that serves as my main workstation.

I have been looking at HD upgrades for the 08 MB and the Momentus XT is great combo of SSD speed and HDD storage. I picked one up from Newegg but now its sitting here in the box and I dont know what to do with it.

I have taken a much more in depth look at the reviews and have noticed on several audio forums that there have been dropout problems. This obviously is in addition to the spindown/spinup issues that are well documented.

It seems like the general views are split almost 50/50 with people have no issues and people having issues to the point of being completely unusable.

I cant afford to have any issues in a live setting (yes I know all HDDs are subject to potential failure but you get what I mean). Its one thing to have a complete failure and another to have constant audio dropouts or mini crashes/panics all night.

I am sitting on the fence hoping that I get a good unit but the practical side says dont even bother and just get a good workhorse until these problems are ironed out.

Looking for opinions.

Thanks.

 

[howman66]

Hi,

Not sure if this will help...but maybe. I am using an XT on my Macbook 4,1 and have not had any problems - at least I do not think so.

That said, I play flac and ogg files through Airfoil to our Airport to the stereo and sometimes I get a music interruptions, skips, or something. Just a second or two, and, to be honest, I have not gone through to see it if is a wifi problem, a problem with the song (from conversion), with VLC or Airfoil, r even interruptions in electricity as we live out in Kigoma, Tanzania - but it has happened - but again, I do not know the source.

Probably not much help, sorry. Best of luck, but, if DJ'ing is your bread and butter, then, probably better to get a small SSD or something and reduce the risks, no?

H

 

[daustin21]

SSD is still out of my budget when it comes to size.

Those little skips are pretty much what I have been fearing since I opened the box up.

If media files are experiencing skips/beachballs/crashes when loading or playing then it looks like I will be sending this one back.

Its not as if I am dead set on the drive anyway... I had just hoped to get a little of that SSD boost while still having the HDD capacity.

 

[howman66]

Hi,

Just wanted to add a few bits as I would hate to influence anyone about this drive....plenty being said about it, and it seems as though people are having a great experience, or greatly disappointed.

With the mother-in-law out of the house, I was able to crank the music up a bit while making some cookies. I was playing a playlist on VLC, through Airfoil to the Airport Express, and, during each song there was at least one skip.

I would get this error popping up in Console -


localhost [0x0-0x15015].org.videolan.vlc[164]: [0x116002678] main input error: ES_OUT_SET_(GROUP_)PCR is called too late (pts_delay increased to 538 ms)12/3/10 1:19:40 PM

That all written, if I listen to podcasts on iTunes (seated at the computer), no hiccups or stutters at all. The only other problem that I have is this error showing up at each login-

12/3/10 3:07:23 PM com.apple.WindowServer[79] Fri Dec 3 15:07:23 localhost WindowServer[79] <Error>: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

I am unable to understand how to fix this error, and if it is related to the playback. I did have an issue with the display (which was mentioned in a post, but no replies thus far), so, the error could be related to my graphics doohickey.

If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions...also, so that you know, this is a Blackbook 4,1 I am running with 4gb of Ram. The hard drive is not even half full, nor half empty, and I was running hdapm with the Momentus XT SD23 driver. I have uninstalled hdapm, and it is still skipping. I have removed VLC, and I am now reloading it to see if that helps. I'll post an update when I can.

Any thoughts about these errors, I would be grateful. Secretly I am hoping something happens so that I can justify getting an 80gb SSD, then putting this Momentus XT in an Optibay - just because. Hoping to keep this thing a long time, but if the graphics thing is going out, then not so sure...

Thanks,
Howard

 

[howman66]

Just a quick follow-up if any one is out there...

I was broadcasting iTunes to the Airport Express and no skips with that set up, so, I would like to think there is a problem with VLC, Airfoil, or the hijacking software Airfoils uses to broadcast VLC, or some problem with my rig.

Still trying to understand what is causing this error message though -

WindowServer[79] <Error>: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

 

[QuantumLo0p]

My Momentus XT in my new Mini has the SD23 firmware and still spins down. In Seagate forums multiple posters have said Seagate tech support acknowledges the problem but is putting blame squarely on Apple. I have checked my power settings and nothing is enabled that should cause the spin downs. If it is Apples fault then it is appears deeper than a user defined setting and we are basically screwed as far as a solution is concerned.

 

[alust2013]

With those type of issues and the problems that would cause for you as a DJ, I would recommend getting a standard 7200 RPM hard drive, which doesn't have known issues like that.

 

[daustin21]

Update

I decided to go for it and see what happens.

I will be bringing my MBP along just in case I have a huge failure or continued issues for the time being.

I played a 4 hour gig this past tues (fairly slow night) that I felt comfortable testing the XT during.

Played the entire night with no issues whatsoever. No beachballs, no skipping, not even a waveform slow to process.

I have noticed that many of the reviews of skips during media playback are either being streamed or are very large video files. In the case of playing 320k mp3s and wavs, I had no issues.

Certainly knocking on wood, but so things have been ok.

I know I am not the best for an intensive review because this a specific unit that will spend 95% of its life only on during a dj set.

Will continue to update if I experience any problems.

 

[mrsir2009]

I've ordered one of those hard drives mainly for the fast booting up and the speed of opening applications.

 

[howman66]

Just another quick update, if it helps anyone.

I uninstalled SMC Fan Controller as that was giving me the kCGError.

I uninstalled and then reinstalled VLC, and I reinstalled hdapm.

This time, the mother-in-law, wife, and kids were out, and, VLC via Airfoil is working just fine. No hiccups or anything.

Maybe it helps someone.

Take time,
Howard