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

same here i have just got a 320gb XT for my revo R3700 and it is also SD23 and will not upgrade to SD25

 

After being confident that I have 2 good back up drives available and backup up I went ahead and installed 25. It stated it was a sucess. It seems to work fine. I confirmed version with Seagates Sea Tools.

 

My "end to end" smart error is up to 11 now Seagate diagnostics says ,my hdd is fine so i cannot return it.

 

I just observed one error 2 days ago. And now there's 3 errors. =/
Hopefully this is just some wrong readings and be fixed in the next firmware update. :s

Edit : Apparently some new units are being shipped with SD26 although it's still not available in Seagate website yet.

 

Yeah, I am pretty confident you are not running raid. That takes 2-32 hard drives all duplicating data to one another. <-- RAID in a nutshell.

Those having trouble upgrading to S25 - download the ISO off seagate's site and burn to cd. Boot to that to run the flash.

 

v24 is running perfect for me on a t61p. What are you guys using to check the drive

 

tried the install from boot cd and its still wouldnt install sd25

 

I see that NewEgg is out of stock on these maybe their waiting for a new and better one from Seagate. Mine has been working awesome. I wish they made one in 3.5 in.

 

I hope you're right but they're in stock now: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...8591&cm_re=momentus_xt-_-22-148-591-_-Product

 

I hope you're right too. Also, Why don't they make the bigger hard drives for desktops? anyone know?

 

What are you talking about? They have BarracudaXT's and 3 TB drives came out this year.

 

I think he's talking about hybrid drives. The ones you mention don't have SSD as far as i know (but maybe something new came out?)

Anyway, if they don't make hybrid drives for desktop it's mainly because destkop drives have already much better performances than small ones, thus adding some GB of SSD would hardly make any difference.

Also, in most desktops you can have two drives : one SSD for system, one HDD for data. The hybrid mechanism becomes then almost useless, if not much less efficient.

But you're right, a good 2TB hybrid drive with a really fast SSD of 32GB could be a nice idea for desktop, there will always be people who find use for it

 

Been wondering about this myself.
It would be very cost-effective to have a large capacity 3.5" hybrid drive.
And efficient as well.

Most of systems with a primary SSD have half of the NANDs rusting away.

The Intel Z68 chipset takes a page out of Seagate's Hybrid book. Same idea as I understand it, but SSD and HDD are separated.

 

I have purchased a Momentus XT 500GB today. But, when I installed it in my Notebook, it was not detected. A "Boot Device not found" error was shown. I tried getting in the BIOS and run Hard Disk Self Test but it showed "Hard Disk not present". I don't understand what is the problem. Please help ! ! !

 

did you try plugging into another system ?

 

If possible, try it in another system.
BIOS should detect it in any case, but doesn't hurt to get a 'second opinion'.

If the result is the same, or if that is not an option: return it as a DOA.
Any decent reseller should give you a replacement - do not accept a repair!

 

Yes, I tried plugging it in another Notebook and also in a Desktop. But, nowhere it is getting detected in BIOS. I have already sent an email to the reseller about the problem. So, I guess I will return it as DOA.

 

I just read the last two pages of this thread, as tomorrow I plan to order the ASUS G73SW-A1 which has two of these drives pre-installed. I also read this article on this specific Momentus XT drive, and it makes it seem like performance improves only marginally from a HDD. Are these anywhere near as stable as standard hard disks, or will I always have to keep up to date with firmware and deal with any problems that come with it? Should I instead go with another variation of the G73SW that comes with one standard HDD?

 

I personally haven't had issues with SD25 and the drive has been performing very well.

 

Momentus XT is a fine drive and the closest thing to SSD experience. Reliability may not the be highest in the business but still nothing to worry about. For what it's worth, the XT has 12% 1 star ratings, the Scorpio Black has 9%.


If you have a dual drive setup I recommend a small 40-96GB SSD for your OS and apps + a hard drive for data and games.

 

I'll have to try to find them again. I looked at NewEgg and SeaGates sits but didn't see anything about Hybred drives like our Momentus XT. I'll look again. Thanks

 

AFAIK, at this point in time, the Momentus XT is still the only Hybrid SSD/Platter HDD on the market, and the only 2.5" drive capable of going into a laptop.

I think Tsunade_Hime's post was regarding large capacity drives.

 

I see..I was looking for a Hybrid for my desktop. I guess they don't make them.

 

I hope Seagate isn't coming out with a successor soon because I ordered the 500GB for my MBP 13".

I'm afraid it's going to vibrate too strong. If so, I will try the 250GB.

 

The 2.5" XT is easily enough mounted in a desktop too.
But you right strictly speaking ~ the hybrid don't come in 3.5" at 500 GB+ as is usual in desktops.

Two drives are certainly a possibility right?
An XT hybrid for sys/apps + large (slow) 3.5" would be a nice combination.

 

They don't have to. A lot of places sell a conversion bracket that'll take a 2.5" drive and allow it to go into a 3.5" or 5.25" bay of a desktop.

It's the other way around (the 3.5" drive to 2.5" TARDIS-like bay adapter) science has yet to figure out.

 

I'm running the 320GB and I never feel vibration or hear noise. Use it all the time..Sit's on my lap mostly. The HDD sit's on my left left so if there was vibration I would feel it.

 

Same as truckinguy

I know some people have had issues, maybe I'm just super lucky, but no issues since installation (when installing the OS it made a very odd noise) and it's very quiet.

 

I cloned mine to it from the original HDD which was a Seagate 7200 320gb.

I was thinking of getting another one for my external HDD enclosure but I don't know if it will do any better there then the 7200rpm I have now. I would think the SSD portion of this drive would only work when your loading and working it vs using it for storage or to backup to. In my case I always clone the external in case my installed drive fails I can just swap it.

 

There's very little benefit in getting an XT as external drive.

 

That's what I figured.

 

I got the 500GB in my Macbook Pro now. I'm amazed how quiet it is, no vibration at all.

 

Tsk, I immediately noticed an increase in vibration when I popped my momentus xt in there

Especially on the palm rest because it's right over where the optical drive used to be.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Maybe I got lucky this time. The XT I reviewed last year had a lot of vibration.

 

Inside the same MacBook Pro or different notebook?

 

i have to vibration in dell

 

A different Macbook Pro. 15" 2009 model. And it was vibrating in my Acer 1830T too.

I'm wondering if the XT changed or the mounting system in the MBP 2011. Maybe both.

 

I've got a ton of plastic for my computer but no vibrations. It's barely audible at all. I got an XT earlier this year.

 

Finally jumped on the hybrid wagon.
Been watching this thread long enough.

And it hasn't disappointed me!
Boot time is cut by more than 50% - cloned the old drive, so it's an fair comparison I think.

Part of this is due to the 7200rpm instead of 5400, but my expectations have been fulfilled in spades!
Best upgrade possible in a notebook!

+1 recommendation for the XT!

 

It's a great drive. I got my 500gb XT for $110CAD incl. tax and shipping when it was on sale.

 

I installed 2 of these drives in a RAID 0 in my Gateway P7805U.

Extremely quiet, no vibrations at all. In fact, my previous drive, a 320GB 7200RPM WD Scorpio Black was substantially louder.

I did some testing prior to installation for some quick comparison data. Used Acronis True Image Home to make a system image and reapply the same image to the Momentus XT 1TB Raid 0 Stripe.

The results are pretty impressive...

Western Digital Scorpio Black
320GB 7200 RPM HDD
Single Drive

POST Completion to Windows 7 Desktop
1:22.88

Seagate Momentus XT
500GB 7200 RPM SSD/HDD Hybrid
2x in 1TB Raid 0 Volume

POST Completion to Windows 7 Desktop
1st Boot - 1:12.74
2nd Boot - 0:34.24
3rd Boot - 0.28.81

Tremendous performance increases, as has been noted by others, with each successive access of data. Seems like 3 times is the charm as it commits data from the drive platters to the 4GB SSD NVRAM.

System is cooler, quieter, and a lot snappier. Very impressed!

Two big thumbs up from me for these drives!

 

How long ago did you make the install? FWIW, Seagate is NOT recommending these drives in any kind of RAID configuration.

I myself have been using two of them in RAID 1 since Nov. 2010 w/ out any problems. I've seen other people with hit/miss results with RAID 0, and another person I know of encountered problems in RAID 5 - it would remain stable for about 2 weeks until the RAID volume eventually became degraded.

 

I've had them in there for about a month now.

So far I've been really happy. I usually always throw caution to the wind with stuff like this. In reality these drives are just spinners with a huge non volatile, really fast buffer... All the performance benefits are happening behind the scenes. So I just treat it like any other hard drive.

If I end up seeing any significant drops in performance, I'll break the RAID and restore my OS to a single drive, but for now it's working really well

 

Seagate Momentus XT in my Macbook Pro. 16.4 seconds from pressing power button to appearing of desktop image. The Vertex 3 boots in 14.5 seconds.

YouTube - ‪Macbook Pro 2011 with Seagate Momentus XT booting in 16.4 seconds‬&rlm;

 

I got the Momentus with my new Sager NP8130, and I absolutely love it so far. Boot times are as quick as my Intel X25.

I'd also like to point out how the first few pages are full of "This is a terrible idea! Seagate is making a huge mistake!" and the last few are "OMG I love this drive!"

 

Quick question about partitioning this Hybrid drive. From a performance standpoint is it best to leave the drive open with the OS, or partition it in half to store my data on? I'm thinking....leave it open no partitions would this be correct?

 

If your OS + applications needs ~ 60-80GB I would make a first partition of 100-120GB. The other partition can be used for data and games.

The first partition will be the fastest because it's positioned on the outer layers of the platters.

 

Thanks, just what I was looking for. My initial thought was to make the first partition about 160-200GB then leave the rest for data. This short stroking method does seem interesting, but I guess it requires a large capacity drive to work best. Can you short stroke a regular HDD also?

Hmm, I read elsewhere on NBR that the center of the platter is the fastest, but this was with a software raid0&1 setup on a G73SW. Wayyyy over my pay grade!!

 

climo,

Any HDD benefits from 'short-stroking'. The ideal in my experience is to use the first 10-20% of the capacity for your O/S. 160-200GB would seem excessive in my opinion - my O/S partition only needs around 60-100GB (depending if I am using a single or dual drive setup) and really benefits from being as small as possible.

The edge of the platters are the fastest and a two platter drive is preferrable to a single platter drive (when properly partitioned) because the two platter drive will have twice the capacity at the fastest (outside) edge for the same percentage capacity of the drive. For example if we have a 500GB drive and we need 20% (100GB) for our O/S - a two platter drive will use the outside 10% of the two platter's edges, whereas a single platter 500GB drive will need to use the first 20% of the outer edges (to get the same 100GB partition size we want/need for our O/S). That is why I always prefer dual platter drives over single platter versions every time.

Although the following link outlines my partitioning method with a Hitachi 7K500 - I have used it on all my HDD's for the last few years, including XT's.

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-hitachi-7k500-benchmark-setup-specifics.html



I need to update my procedure since I wrote that post - but the most important change is to use the following link to move your users folder to the data drive (and really let the O/S breathe).

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...gramdata-folder-separate-drive-partition.html


Good luck.

 

@tilleroftheearth

Thanks for the detailed explanation, I have soo much to learn. I will partition my XT as you recommend keeping it small as possible along with a clean install of win7. I don't have a lot of apps so storage is not an issue.

More research to do...thanks for the links!!