05-24-2011, 12:17 PM

Hi folks,

I've just ordered this HDD above and this HDD contains 500GB of (normal disk) space and 4GB of SSD space (for system files). It has 32MB Cache and has a rotation speed of 7200RPM.

If everything goes okay it should be arrived within two days. I'll let you guys know if it's really is an good solution for the ones who think that pure SSD drives are too expensive at this moment, and how it performs when i installed it, should be a good option for you guys too.

Additional information:

From the first glance, you may find no difference between the pictured Seagate Momentus XT HDD with the usual 2.5-inch hard drive sold in the tech store. However, this Seagate Momentus XT 500GB ST95005620AS is practically a different species born from the same Seagate’s womb.

Seagate Momentus XT 500GB ST95005620AS is known as the SSD killer (though I would love to call it a HDD-killer instead) because it can performance fast, efficient, and cost effective. But it’s certainly not a killer for SSD yet. From the tested record done by OverclockerClub, Seagate Momentus XT500GB ST95005620AS can perform 80 percent faster than the conventional 7,200RPM 2.5-inch HDD or about 100 percent faster than the usual 5,400RPM HDD.

It’s all thanks to hybrid technology built inside the HDD, where has a 4GB of SSD and 32MB of DDR3 fused together to break the limit.

According to the tester, Seagate Momentus XT 500GB ST95005620AS has literally increased 13 seconds faster on booting and start up loading time in comparison to the traditional 5,400RPM HDD.

05-24-2011, 01:30 PM

I'm interested to see how this goes. I know a lot of people have had problems with beachballing anf freezes with hybrid drives.

05-27-2011, 08:13 AM

I have been running one of these drives in my 2010 15" i7 MBP and it has been a real disappointment. I have stutters within videos, particularly youtube and it is pretty annoying. I have updated the drive firmware many times to no avail. This drive really doesn't work well...so much so, I've just purchased a Vertex 3.

Check the Seagate forums.

05-27-2011, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by theotherphil

I have been running one of these drives in my 2010 15" i7 MBP and it has been a real disappointment. I have stutters within videos, particularly youtube and it is pretty annoying. I have updated the drive firmware many times to no avail. This drive really doesn't work well...so much so, I've just purchased a Vertex 3.

Check the Seagate forums.

I've done a lot of research, and there are lots of people with big disappointments, but a lot of people have good performance with this drive. Its a matter of which build version you have according to some people. My package hasn't come at the door yet, i hope it'll come tomorrow, according to the shop it does.

05-27-2011, 12:38 PM

I am running a hybrid drive (seagate momentus XT). The overall speed is an improvement over the factory supplied hard drive. I have not personally encountered any "hanging" problems over the last 6 months that I have been using this drive. However, I have suffered a significant amount of battery loss. Overall the drive is great. With that being said, when lion is released I will be dumping this drive and upgraded SSD.

05-27-2011, 02:02 PM

One of our moderators (bobtomay) had some significant problems with the system hanging. Ultimately, he removed the drive and went back to a standard HDD.

With that said, newer firmware may resolve some of these compatibility issues, so I'll be curious to see how you make out. Personally, I'm holding out for a 256GB SSD at a price south of $400 (hopefully by next year). Until then, I'll stick with rotational media.

06-01-2011, 07:20 AM

I've just installed the HDD + 8GB of DDR3 RAM. The laptop is way faster than before. I've reinstalled OSX and the boot time is much faster than a traditional HDD.

I've had 40 apps running at the same time and the system was still fast with 3 GB of RAM free.

Processor didn't had to do much at all starting all these apps at the same time.

System did not freeze once like some other people have had with this HDD.
I really like it.

06-01-2011, 07:49 AM

Im just gonna get a real SSD.

06-01-2011, 07:58 AM

Originally Posted by Dutchlimits

I've had 40 apps running at the same time and the system was still fast with 3 GB of RAM free.

Kind of a side note. I'm not sure what these apps. do, or how large they are (amount of ram needed)...but running 40 apps at the same time is one of the major reasons why folks are complaining that their Mac's are slow. Running 40 apps at the same time has got to create tremendous demand on system resources (CPU & GPU)...and will undoubtably slow things down.

Something to think about,

- Nick

06-01-2011, 08:45 AM

i have a 80G ssd for osx and a hybrid drive for data. it works really well. No problems so far

06-01-2011, 09:52 AM

Originally Posted by pigoo3

Kind of a side note. I'm not sure what these apps. do, or how large they are (amount of ram needed)...but running 40 apps at the same time is one of the major reasons why folks are complaining that their Mac's are slow. Running 40 apps at the same time has got to create tremendous demand on system resources (CPU & GPU)...and will undoubtably slow things down.

Something to think about,

- Nick

The CPU had 90% idle and the GPU didnt had to do much, theres a 2,6 Ghz i7 CPU in my macbook and a Geforce 330M GPU. Its a 17 inch btw not that it matters.

06-01-2011, 10:02 AM

1st thing. A search could have been used.
2nd. I had two of these drives. 1 drive I had in my mbp along with a 30gb ocz in the caddy. It failed the next day after I grabbed my mbp without realizing that I had an ethernet cable plugged in. It fell maybe 2-2.5 inches off my mbp stand(that's it!). The drive made a weird tick-tick-tick-tickkkkkk sound. I actually thought that it could have been the fans making the noise. The next day, it failed while I was in a lecture! I was using my other XT drive as a server on the G5 and backing up the mbp. I didn't realize that the model I was using on the G5 was a different 500gb XT(they have 3 models I believe), and it gave me wake/hibernating issues! I became so angry that I yanked it out and put it on ebay! Now I have a 60gb ocz along with the standard 250gb that came with my mbp.

I won't be spending another penny on an hdd/ssd until I get a good OWC SSD! In my opinion, OWC customer service alone sells their products!

Seagate's customer support was a complete let down. They had me pay to ship it back, only for them to deny a claim. I destroyed that drive with a hammer, and grilled it!

06-01-2011, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by idrinorbarsaku

1st thing. A search could have been used.
2nd. I had two of these drives. 1 drive I had in my mbp along with a 30gb ocz in the caddy. It failed the next day after I grabbed my mbp without realizing that I had an ethernet cable plugged in. It fell maybe 2-2.5 inches off my mbp stand(that's it!). The drive made a weird tick-tick-tick-tickkkkkk sound. I actually thought that it could have been the fans making the noise. The next day, it failed while I was in a lecture! I was using my other XT drive as a server on the G5 and backing up the mbp. I didn't realize that the model I was using on the G5 was a different 500gb XT(they have 3 models I believe), and it gave me wake/hibernating issues! I became so angry that I yanked it out and put it on ebay! Now I have a 60gb ocz along with the standard 250gb that came with my mbp.

I won't be spending another penny on an hdd/ssd until I get a good OWC SSD! In my opinion, OWC customer service alone sells their products!

I did a search but i just wanted to show my experience with this drive to you guys, results are good so far. When I get the same problems like you i'll let you guys know about it but so far i didn't had any problems at all (maybe they'll come, maybe not). This is a may 2011 model so it could be possible that they fixed the problems with this drive that some people had with it.

For the ones who want to know how fast it is on my mbp:
i'll post a video in a few minutes of the speed this drive has on my laptop, videos say more than words, its uploading right now.

06-01-2011, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by Dutchlimits

I did a search but i just wanted to show my experience with this drive to you guys, results are good so far. When I get the same problems like you i'll let you guys know about it but so far i didn't had any problems at all (maybe they'll come, maybe not). This is a may 2011 model so it could be possible that they fixed the problems with this drive that some people had with it.

For the ones who want to know how fast it is on my mbp:
i'll post a video in a few minutes of the speed this drive has on my laptop, videos say more than words, its uploading right now.

Yeah, that's cool. I had my drives for a little over 6 months. As I know it, and believe me I have been doing research on this, there hasn't been a new version of the XT500 since the model that I had on the MBP(which is why it didn't give me problems(?)) Good luck with it, though! I actually did enjoy it while it was setup with the ocz ssd.

06-01-2011, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by idrinorbarsaku

Yeah, that's cool. I had my drives for a little over 6 months. As I know it, and believe me I have been doing research on this, there hasn't been a new version of the XT500 since the model that I had on the MBP(which is why it didn't give me problems(?)) Good luck with it, though! I actually did enjoy it while it was setup with the ocz ssd.

Thanks, i'll let you know how it works out!

So here is the video, startup is pretty quick, when running a virtual machine the laptop still does not slow down.
It doesn't prove a lot this video, not a very good test but when i did this before upgrading the laptop just couldnt do it this fast.

How do i directly post the video over here?
YouTube - ‪Macbook stresstest‬‏