M17x-R3 Momentus XT Hybrid users

Hey guys. I was wondering before you installed windows 7 did you change the bios sata format from RAID to AHCI? And what tweaks did you guys do to make it run stable? Thanks in advance.

 

For the Momentus XT you don't need to modify the bios at all. The SSD portion is only for caching really.

 

What I meant is if you guys changed the format. Because the default format is at Raid even if you got the system with only one drive. Or did you guys just use the alienware respawn instead of just doing a clean install of windows?

 

Leave it in RAID. There's a very good reason for why your R3 is shipped in RAID even on a single drive config; no performance loss (NCQ still works), no loss of TRIM (on single drives), and easier upgrade in the future (create RAID from Intel RST from within Windows without reinstalling or losing data).

 

I changed mine to AHCI, slightly faster than on RAID. It is fairly troublesome, but I would try both.

I have the 500GB version, works great, so far so good, about 1 month so far.

 

What problems have you encountered? I'm about to install my momentus xt tonight.

 

Considering that the Intel's implementation of RAID on the R3 has all the features of AHCI the performance should be identical on drives that aren't part of an array. It would be interesting if there was a noticeable difference and would be worth investigating (benchies please ).

 

I encountered no problems at all, though RAID was slightly slower than I thought. Changing from RAID to AHCI required reinstalling Windows, which was the only troublesome part (this is after I had already defaulted to RAID format).

I use Momentus XT as primary, so let me know if you have any other questions.

 

Here's what I'm curious about. How is it slower?

 

The boot up took longer. Timed it, RAID actually took 5-10 seconds longer, depending on boot.

 

Ah okay that makes sense cause in RAID mode my drive will show the Intel RST screen before post, that could account for the difference. I don't recall that screen ever being there when there was only 1 drive present in my system.

 

True. I have the stock 320gb on right now and I don't see any rst screen before post.

 

Yep, that's exactly happened for me as well. The Intel RST screen was new for me as well, but now everything is working great. Though, one word of caution is changing from RAID to AHCI requires a clean installation of Windows, usually.

 

When you got your momentus xt drive did you update the firmware first? Also, When you chose ahci did you still install intel rst?

 

I updated the XT Drive to SD25, which is the latest firmware. No new issues, but also the drive did not perform any faster or slower.

After choosing AHCI, I did not install RST because RST is only supposed to be for RAID.

It is the best HDD I have ever had and I have seen some 10,000 rpm's much louder. Really enjoy this drive.

 

Doesn't matter what order you update your firmware, just be warned that if you have issues with SD25 (some do) you cannot roll back; it won't allow you to. That being said I haven't seen any reason to believe that SD25 firmware is the source of any issues thus far.

 

Thank you guys. Did you guys install this driver when you installed windows 7? Intel HM67 Cougar Point chipset.

 

You should get all the drivers installed. The only thing that would truly be confusing are the graphics drivers; if you went with AMD ignore the driver for Intel Graphics (they're for Nvidia users, R3 AMD drivers already include Intel Drivers).

 

Good point, updating to SD25, means no turning back.

I would highly recommend following the recommended list of drivers. From this list: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...er-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html

Also, there were a couple updated drivers yesterday, oh and highly recommend using the Momentus XT in primary.

 

I used the seagate disc wizard (free from seagate site) and just cloned the original 320GB drive to the XT, took all of 10 minutes.

 

Wont it be better to start over again on a new momentus xt?

 

That's up to you. I don't believe there are any performance benefits to a clean install(unlike a true SSD), the drive will learn your frequently used programs and files regardless.

 

Using the momentus xt right now. Found out that the drive's firmware is already updated to SD25. Used RAID format also even if I'm using only one drive. No problems so far.

 

I'm starting to get the spindown issue now, been using the older drive for almost a year and the newer one for about 2 months. What happens is the drives come to a standstill after some period of idling to save power. During this time the system doesn't respond to new disc access requests so the whole system locks up for a good 10 seconds or more. Been running SD25 since it was available...eagerly awaiting SD26.

Looks like I'm going to have to call Seagate. I wonder if we'll hear about this more often now that the Momentus XT is being sold in RAID configs on the m18x.

 

I have just bought a R3 and I got the stock HDD to upgrade afterwards, do you think that MomentusXT is a good HDD, I was thinking about SSD but I am also considering MomentusXT. Does anybody have some benchmarks R/W results?

 

What about MomentusXT as a secondary drive to an SSD? Does it still take any sort of advantage of the 4GB NAND? I read that its pretty fast and also it doesnt take much power when idle which would be good as a secondary drive because it could sleep and not make noise or take too much power.

 

As a secondary drive it would be a waste. As an alternative to an SSD, it's good. For whatever reason I do not experience any issues with my XT.

 

I was thinking it might be a waste but I might get it for the future in case I replace it or something and put it as main in another lappy.
But what about running some games off it, im not gonna fit all the games on the SSD. If running games off it wouldn't still offer a boost?
Plus it has 32MB cache compared to 16MB which most 7200rpm hdds have.
What do you think?

 

Hi, I plan to change my HDD into momentus XT, but I doubt it will not last longer. do you guys have a problem with that HDD? please give me an advice for it.. Thx..

 

tbh the best option is a sdd as main and a bigger drive as 2nd although the momentus xt isnt too bad pricing wise their good value bit always be a standard hdd with a lil speed boost.

ive got a momentus xt in my r3 although its arriving tomorrow, wich will run 2nd to my sdd as a fair amount of my games will be running on it.

 

Hi, thx for the reply..

Yea, I also want to do that.. but I still not sure about the quality (reliability) of Seagate Momentus Xt.. Because, there are alot of review said that it will not last longer. Either 6 months or 8 months momentus xt will failed to boot.

do you guys have a bad experience for this momentus?

Thanks..

@DarkXeRoX: do we need to re-install windows when we change our drive into ssd (AHCI or RAID?)?

 

well if u havnt copied the install over from the current drive then yes

although in most cases a fresh install of windows is best.

the momentus drives are still fairly new tho atm