Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid HDD w/ built-in 4GB SSD

Nope, TBH. But who knows what's going on in the background.

I changed the setting to the highest performance level using CrystalDiskInfo; I plan to use it like this for a little while to see how it performs...if I start hearing lots of noise again like how it was for me before the SD24 fw it's going back down. (And I notice that it seems I can only set it to it's lowest setting or it's highest...nothing in between via CDI. HDTune pro wouldn't let me set anything at all..it returns an error. That might need updating)

 

Just set the AAM and APM to performance with crystal disk info.

 

Anyone know how fast the NAND cache is?

 

Well the access time is <1ms typically... but the transfer speeds are probably in the order of over 100MB/s. I'd guess slower than a typical SSD though.

 

if we use 2 of the hybrids in raid zero will we get 8gb worth flash memory?

 

The only way to get a true 8GB is if your stripe for the 2 drives is 4kb (2kb per drive) and you format at 4kb sectors. This causes alot of controler overhead so if you use one that is also CPPU laden, such as ICHM9 or 10, then you amy cap not only total transfer speed but also find high CPU overhead.

Other stipe sizes may cause issues in the block cache structure for the way data is written and read.................

 

You are making things complicated. Why would you need 8GB cache ? My Windows can only cache around 2GB for my normal usage.

Also, if you have a cache miss(after a long run of cache hit where the drive may have spin down), RAID 0 would increase your chance of waiting for the spin up by 100%.

Just forget about the RAID 0 thing, it only helps in less than 1% of the situation.

 

Agree^ RAID 0 only ever complicates things and rarely gives decent performance boost.

If you want to get any faster than this you're gonna need a SSD.

 

I just took out my hybrid hdd from my desktop and replace it with a different drive (640gb 7200rpm 64mb cache) Because I wanted to use the hybrid in my laptop (asus G60jx) my question is should I just image my old laptop hdd to the hybrid or is it best to do a clean install for the ssd part of the hybrid?

 

The SSD portion caches data no matter where it is on the HDD portion, it learns as it goes. The only real reason to reinstall is if you at the same time want to optimize the installation.............

 

I finally got my hands on a Momentus XT 250GB. I think it's true for light notebooks: it seems more quiet and I feel less vibrations.

Performance wise I can't tell the difference with a 500GB, just that it's fast.

 

do we have info on these as far as single vs in raid 0? sorry, haven't kept up with this whole thread..

 

RAID 0 actually works really well apparently.

Seagate Momentus XT 500GB ST95005620AS Review Page 4 - Testing: HD Tune 3.50 - Overclockers Club

You get a terabyte of SSD speeds.

 

I'd recommend keeping a careful eye on RAID 0, 5, or 10 using the Momentus XTs. While at first sight it looks like they work fine, reviews don't normally setup and use a RAID volume over a long period of time.

See http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...ket-upgrades/564036-momentus-xt-raid-5-a.html for RAID 5 issues over longer runs.

And see WW_Dagger's posts @ Momentus XT APM spindown feature causes "lag spike... - Seagate Community Forums for RAID 0 issues.

I'm not saying it won't work, as I cannot get Seagate to comment if it is the drive at fault or perhaps it is the controller.

Just be aware there *might* be issues.

 

I've read some of these reports also. It's a shame, really. Because if this was truly a viable option, we would have seen 750GB flavors by now.

 

I wouldn't assume it's not possible because of the two posts. The first one is RAID 5 which seems to be the problem, the second one is the spin down problem that has been fixed in SD25.

Without further evidence to the contrary I would assume RAID 0 is no problem. I think we actually had a member here on these forums that was running it.

 

Hopefully no one confuses "not possible" vs. "may have problems."

I don't know if it will or will not work, but ppl should be aware of quotes like, "These drives are not designed or intended to be used in a RAID configuration..." from Seagate Tech support. (See the APM spindown link). Now, this statement is dated before the release of [FW] SD25, but if the problem has been fixed then Seagate should come out and say so. I don't think we should assume it was fixed by a [FW] update unless Seagate states it was addressed.

FWIW, I'm running in RAID 1, and have not had a problem since day one (although you wouldn't really expect a problem with mirroring). However, I would feel a LOT better about the option of either configuration if Seagate would comment on the Seagate Support forum thread!

 

when i purchased my m17xR2 it came with a RAID0 2x 500gb HDD's
upon upgrading to a VERTEX3 (ready for m18x ) i notice this
Dell has accidentally given me a Momentus XT Hybrid
weird thing is it has Firmware: DEM1 and i can't upgrade to the latest SD25 as it doesn't recognize serial. any ideas?

 

Since it's a Dell OEM product you'll need Dell firmware. Searching their site or contacting them could help.

 

Benchmark after cloning my original hard drive onto my new Momentus XT.
Doesn't look promising.

 

I don't think you'll really see the benefits by a benchmark. Those READ optimizations won't kick in until some of your files work themselves into the 4GB NAND flash portion on the Momentus XT.

I'm a bit different in configuration (SATA 3.0Gbps / MirroredRAID), but FWIW, here are my scores 4K scores are better, but not much else:

 

Have you tried the manual flash? Not the auto flasher? There was a thing like, you burn the flash iso to cd/usb , boot off of it and then break the sequence (ctrl+c) and manually type the flash command. Unfortunatlely I dont know it by heart but it should be available somewhere around here. I'll look it and if i find it i'll edit this post.
That method worked for me and some xt's in my asus g73sw that the seagate website didnt see as eligible for update.

LE: Here you are. http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...-asus-g73sw-owners-lounge-23.html#post7109662 Just replace with sd25 where the case may be.

 

So far I'm very satisfied with the performance of the Momentus XT.
The only downside is that it's much noisier compared to my 500GB Scorpio Black. I could hear the 'crick' sound even when my laptop fan is at full blast. Not really an issue but it's kinda annoying.

 

Just bought my 2nd 500GB Momentus XT for my brother's new laptop. Hopefully this one performs better than my first..

 

Why would it perform any differently?

 

The read/write speeds weren't too impressive and the boot up time in my now returned Dell Latitude E6410 wasn't any faster than a mechnical drive (i3-380M, 8 GB DDR3, 500 GB Momentus XT, Intel HD graphics).

 

Did you update the firmware to SD25? That should solve it.

 

Yup I did. Perhaps it's the noise of both HDD adding together making the noise more noticeable.

 

Mine's even quieter than my old 5.4kRPM.

 

My benchmark

 

I am on my 2nd Momentus XT. The first was clicking and vibrating too much for my liking, it was on SD25. Thankfully i ordered through Amazon and they overnighted me a replacement no questions asked, 2nd unit has been flawless. Having had an SSD and the Momentus XT, the speed difference is not noticeable between during normal usage, yeah file transfers are still somewhat slow but for $100 I am quite happy with the performance. Seagate has repeatedly stated that the drive will not perform well during benchmarks as that's not where its strength lie, but for those who are into that sorta stuff here are mine.

 

Which firmware is your replacement drive on? SD25?

 

I've gone through my last XT Hybrid (all 500GB models) yesterday.

Two DOA; almost half a dozen simply dying/stuttering themselves to death over the last year.

The last one is my personal one and the other failures I put down to simple abuse - but I baby mine so no excuse there.

The symptoms? Long pauses (no ryhme or reason...), freezes and simply programs 'forgetting' their settings/options.

All on latest available firmware (as available).

Since I backup continuously, I am not out any data - but needless to say, Seagate is off my radar for now.


Current Status:
Highly not recommended.

(At least, not if reliability is a major factor. Speed/performance wise it worked 85-90% as fast as an SSD for most 'light' tasks like rebooting, opening programs and overall system/OS responsiveness).

 

Hrm well that's disappointing to hear tiller, though my 1st Momentus XT drive wasn't defective, it definitely not up to par with the advertised fast reboot times.

 

SD25 was already loaded on the drive so I'm guessing the drive wasn't sitting in a warehouse for very long since SD25 is only a month or 2 old.

 

Really? My system boots and reboots almost instantly, it was the first thing i noticed. I play Rift, and the game loads very fast as well,

 

+1 to JAD85, I've been using mine with no problems. Though the main way I notice its speed is I no longer get annoyed with waiting for the disk to do something.

 

I have the momentus xt 320gb model latest firmware. Been very happy with the boot times and load times. I'm into vmware dev. My vms load very fast. Left4dead2 loads in 20-30 seconds.

But yesterday, did some HDTune testing and found 11 bad sectors. Ugh! Hope this doesn't mean it's failing.

 

@JAD85

FWIW - SD24 - Momentus XT on SATA (3Gbps - RAID-1)

Here are my numbers for comparative purposes.




My scores are quite a bit different for the Sequential and 512K test. Not sure if the RAID is interfering with things or if it is something else.

 

I'm sorry but bad sectors DO mean it's failing. You should backup and send it back ASAP. Or at least, check everyday, if the number of bad sectors keep raising, change it quick.

 

Ok, dumb warranty question... It's about 8 months old and the seatools report it as in "healthy" condition. Will they still replace it? How should I approach the copany.

Thanks

 

Always call them before you RMA a drive. It's a good approach.

 

I ordered one yesterday not thinking cloneing and or creating a system image to a hdd might not work because of the cache.
What I usually do is clone to a second hdd every other day that way I'm covered in case of failure or corruption. I've tried win7's system imageing but it's easier just to clone.
Does anyone have any thoughts on first cloneing from HDD in notebook to XT then Xt to external HDD for a backup drive.

 

What are you trying to accomplish with this? I've cloned from normal 7200 HD to XT with no problems.

 

First I'm replaceing internal HDD (spinner) with XT. Then I will clone from Xt to external (spinner) HDD every other day to have for my back ups. I don't use an imageing software.
Someone told me because of the cache in the XT it won't clone well to a spinner (HDD).

 

Oh, I think I see what you're getting at. I believe Acronis will do it. I personally use backupforall just to do directory by directory mirroring. I figure I'll rebuild the OS if I need to switch physical drives.

 

I'm sorry to tell you this "someone" doesn't know what he's speaking about

The SSD cache of the XT works transparently, just forget about this cache and do your stuff

 

Good to hear. Thanks. Cloning has worked for me for 10 years on my old Latitude with Media Bay 2nd HDD. I tried Win7 image but found it not as easy as Acronis Clone that came with WD drive I have.
Actually same cloned image as back in the beginning (10 years ago) but many HDD's since. Same for this new one from Dell as I ordered a media bay HDD from them and find it easy just to click a few times and leave it alone. Actually I clone to an external power or esata HDD too for double redundancy.

 

Nice. Don't forget if you want to lose your data there's always Carbonite...

Har har...

 

I got the XT yesterday and cloned from my Seagate OEM to it and it works very nice but I see it has firmware S23 in it. I went to update to 25 and it says not for RAID systems. How do I tell if I can update or not? I have a Dell Latitude E6520.