750gb momentus xt with intel 520 120gb

Hi all

I'm new to the ssd scene I am just wondering what the performance would be like if I used my intel 520 series 120gb as the primary drive with OS and frequently used programs etc and used a 750 gb momentus xt as the bulk storage, would I notice much difference over a standard 7200rpm drive under these circumstances? Is it worth upgrading the bulk storage to hybrid?

 

It's been a while since I upgraded most of my computers to SSDs. You can probably expect most programs to open within one or two seconds.

Probably not. The hybrid drive simply tries to copy most often used files to it's fast SSD cache so that they can be accessed quickly. If you want that, you can just copy them to your own SSD instead.

 

not really worth it.

the hybrid technology only kicks in for files you use often. In a dual-drive setup you'd ideally have those files on your ssd in the first place.

In fact, the momentus xt's have been shown to perform worse than higher end 7200rpm drives when it comes to uncached data, so in the 'storage drive' scenario, it makes little sense to go for a hybrid.


hybrid drive technology is really only useful to those using it as a primary drive.

 

Ok sir thanks very much, I didn't think it would help much.

 

It really depends on what you place on the XT. See this thread about what I mean - http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...brid-hdd-w-built-4gb-ssd-197.html#post8492016

Are you going to be using this in a SATA III based laptop? If so, if there are files read over and over again, then you may see a slight benefit of the XT.

What is the price difference between an XT and something like the WD Scorpio Black - one of the better 7200 RPM drives on the market? Perhaps your pocketbook can be your guide.

In any case, if you're looking at a comparison, a bit dated (comparing the 1st Gen XT), but something like this should give you something to go on - Western Digital Scorpio Black 500GB Review (WD5000BEKT) | StorageReview.com - Storage Reviews

HTH

 

I don't think its fair to use the first-gen hybrid as an example. I think everyone agrees there has been a performance boost in the second-gen (but we're still waiting for write-caching I believe).

I think the hybrid is only worth it when you need > 100 GB* of storage in your one-bay lappy. its overpriced as a storage drive and can't match an SSD in performance


* The 750GB xt is roughly the cost of a 120GB SSD nowadays. I personally don't think its safe to risk using more than 100GB due to potential performance degradation.

 

Gen User 2,

Agreed. I mentioned the review was a bit dated, but if f one looks at the review, they can see the 1st Gen XT is pretty much on par with the Scorpio Black. It was the only review I could find that compared the two.

In regards to the 2nd Gen XT, it has improved the SSD caching mechanism for OS vs. User read files (and also increasing the size). In terms of pure platter based performance, the 1st vs. 2nd Gen XTs has only made slight gains - AnandTech - Seagate 2nd Generation Momentus XT (750GB) Hybrid HDD Review - Anand Tech Storage Benching.

If anyone is interested, they could compare the 1st vs. 2nd Gen and then extrapolate how that compares against the Scorpio black by going through the entire review here - AnandTech - Seagate 2nd Generation Momentus XT (750GB) Hybrid HDD Review)

Finally, not sure what is meant by "using more than 100GB due to potential performance degradation."