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New 2011 MBP & Momentus XT Don't Mix

M

Michael73

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 27, 2007
1,082
41
I just picked up a new 2011 15" MBP on Friday. The plan had been to swing by BB and get a 500GB Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid Drive and a spare drive enclosure. I wanted to swap the stock drive with the Momentus XT.

I bought my MBP from a local mac specialist called The Mac Experience who agreed to install the drive at the same time they upgrade the stock 4GB RAM to 8GB.

The first Momentus apparently was DOA. They couldn't get the MBP to even recognize that the drive was attached. They tried hooking it up to several other machines and had the same problem. So, I ran over to BB and returned the drive for another one. With the second one that had slightly more luck but had to go through the process of downloading the new SD 24 firmware. They were able to get the MBP to see the second drive enough that they installed a copy of 10.6. However, when the tried to reboot the MBP it would not boot from the Momentus even though it saw the drive as having a bootable drive. They would click on the drive and it would just hang.

How much luck is everyone else having with these drives?
 
Did they use the correct version of SL? If they didn't use the 10.6.6 version specific to the new MBPs they will not be able to boot from it, as it has a specialized kernel needed by the new MBP (for the Sandy Bridge controller). I have one in my new 2011 MBP and am not having any issues (yes it is running SD24 firmware). The standard SL will need to be updated to boot in the new MBPs.
 
How long did you wait at the hang? I had an issue when upgrading hard drives that OSX would default to network boot after the swap. I have seen this cause up to a two min delay in booting OSX.
 
Have you checked out the forums at the Seagate site? There have been various issue with the XT since it came out. Some people have trouble, others have a flawless experience.
 
squeakr said:
Did they use the correct version of SL? If they didn't use the 10.6.6 version specific to the new MBPs they will not be able to boot from it, as it has a specialized kernel needed by the new MBP (for the Sandy Bridge controller). I have one in my new 2011 MBP and am not having any issues (yes it is running SD24 firmware). The standard SL will need to be updated to boot in the new MBPs.
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention that. I stood there while they tried this on Saturday and asked if they were using 10.6 or the latest dot release and they said, "just 10.6 - using 10.6.6 shouldn't matter." When I went back yesterday I showed them your post. We didn't have the time to give your suggestion a go but will try it sometime this week and see if it works. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
Lol yeah it matters the drive was probably fine. When I got mine on launch day I just used my old 2010 drive and didn't work. Upgraded it to the restore disc version special build and it booted.
 
Michael73 said:
I . . . asked if they were using 10.6 or the latest dot release and they said, "just 10.6 - using 10.6.6 shouldn't matter."
Click to expand...

I would fire that store IMMEDIATELY if not sooner. If they didn't know any that a new chipset in a Mac needs the correct OS version, I'd never trust them with a Mac.
 
If this drive will only work with 10.6.6 and later, what's to prevent another OS release from accidentally bricking this drive?
 
It is not the drive--it's the computer. The new Sandy Bridge MBPs require a version of 10.6.6 that has the SB required kernel code--the retail 10.6 and 10.6.3 DVDs don't have it. I would think that if a retail disc of 10.6.7 is made available it would work with any Mac.
 
Michael73 said:
If this drive will only work with 10.6.6 and later, what's to prevent another OS release from accidentally bricking this drive?
Click to expand...

Like Naimfan said, it's not the DRIVE that will only work with 10.6.6 it's the 2011 Macbook Pros. Who are these people you are working with? Don't sound too knowledgeable to me.
 
I am not sure either, but there is a rumor that the 10.6.7 had two versions, one for the new 2011's and one for the others. As long as the drive has the correct kernel for your MBP version it will work fine. You can take an older version and reinstall the new OS version that came with your 2011 onto the rive and it will work fine (just install over the top of the old and it updates the drivers as needed).
 
Michael73 said:
If this drive will only work with 10.6.6 and later, what's to prevent another OS release from accidentally bricking this drive?
Click to expand...

The drives look to the computer as any regular hard disk. That's the cool thing about it, it should work with any computer with SATA ports.
 
What is the performance like in these in OSX?

How good are these hard drives in real world application ?

im looking at getting a 500gb version and i currently have a 500gb 5400 rpm in my 13' i7 mbp. Will it be significantly faster ?

From what i have researched it runs really well allot quicker but what can people tell me from personal experiences in the new 2011 macbooks ?
 
Again, I'd suggest checking out the forums at the Seagate site for more info on this drive. The user experiences seem to be at extremes. It seems to be outstanding for those who have no issues and also for some users here too.
There are videos on youtube also.
 
squeakr said:
I am not sure either, but there is a rumor that the 10.6.7 had two versions, one for the new 2011's and one for the others. As long as the drive has the correct kernel for your MBP version it will work fine. You can take an older version and reinstall the new OS version that came with your 2011 onto the rive and it will work fine (just install over the top of the old and it updates the drivers as needed).
Click to expand...

I believe you are correct. When I set up my new machine I used Migration Assistant to move everything over from my 2009 15" MBP. Yesterday, I ran Software Update since I knew my 2009 was still running 10.6.6 and there was probably a bunch of other miscellaneous updates I needed.

Sure enough 10.6.7 was listed as a 300MB as a download with the words (2011 MacBook Pro) and under version it was listed as 1.0 which leads me to believe there is a 10.6.7 for everyone and a special versions for the new Sandy Bridge devices.

One more comment...
I want to be clear that the guys at The Mac Experience were great to deal with and I believe did the best they could. The fact is, they've sold all the 2011 machines they've gotten in and don't have any on display yet so like many, their experience with the computer is limited as it is with the Seagate drive let alone in combination with any 2011 Sandy Bridge machines.

I'll report back to the group and see if they have any success with the drive once the latest version of the operating system is installed.

For the record, my OS load time from the moment I push the power button until I get the login screen has been between 34 and 37 seconds versus around 54 seconds on my 2009 15" MBP (specs in my sig). Once we get the Momentus XT drive working, I'll update those startup numbers.
 
AppleScruff1 said:
Again, I'd suggest checking out the forums at the Seagate site for more info on this drive. The user experiences seem to be at extremes. It seems to be outstanding for those who have no issues and also for some users here too.
There are videos on youtube also.
Click to expand...

I own the xt and even though I did not have any important issues except a bit drain with battery life I agree with applescruff.
 
I just updated with SD25 (got from the Seagate people) and time will tell if it makes a difference. Like stated people are on the extremes, so I am crossing my fingers to be on the good end (so far I have been there, just hope I remain there).
 
squeakr said:
I just updated with SD25 (got from the Seagate people) and time will tell if it makes a difference. Like stated people are on the extremes, so I am crossing my fingers to be on the good end (so far I have been there, just hope I remain there).
Click to expand...

waiting for that update to be published since yesterday:(
 
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