Seagate Momentus XT Disaster

OK.

I recently successfully cloned with CCC. Did you also manually create the recovery HD on the new hard drive? I am able to boot perfectly after the clone to the new drive as long as the new drive stays external. As soon as I swap internally, I cannot boot. Can you provide your specific steps? I must be missing something here 😟

Replace the internal cable.

Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but has anyone had the same problems with the 3rd Generation of Seagate hybrid/SSHD drives on the Macbook Pro 5.5 - Mid-2009 models?

Considering getting one to upgrade the tiny original 160GB drive but am worried considering it's predecessor had so many problems with that particular model of MBP.

Sorry, also forgive my lack of knowledge in the area but would the "cable issue" that has been discussed in this thread apply to conventional drives too or does it only apply to SSD/SSHD drives?

I'm trying to decide between the 3rd Gen Seagate SSHD (Model ST500LM000) or a conventional 7200rpm drive so if the problem is confined to SSHD's, then it might make my decision for me.

Likewise for me; I have a mid-2009 MBP, however mine is a 17" not the 15" that everyone else has. In my experience the problem is with all drives that have a transfer rate greater than the original 5400rpm drives that were shipped with this model.

So far I've tried the jumper settings on the hard disk drive (this makes it less stable and more crashy) I've tried a plethora of drives, from Momentus 7200's right through to the 750GB Momentus XT. I've been in touch with Seagate, who are aware of the problem, and claim that the jumper will fix the issues, it does not.

Here is a part of the email from Seagate:

Thank you for sending your Seagate E-mail inquiry.

The issue is you have is not related to the Momentus drive, but rather to Mac incompatibility with such faster and high performance.There is no Jumper that comes with the drive, for further information on how to use the Jumper settings please click on the link below, please keep in mind that the information on the link below is not related to the Momentus drive ,however it just give you an idea how the Jumper looks like and how you may reduce the drive speed :

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/195251en?language=en_US

I also had a conversation with the tech team at Crucial since I was considering upgrading to a full SSD. The guy there told me that if the problem was with the Nvidia chipset (per Seagate's email), then it's unlikely that their SSD would be any better at solving the problem, moreover, the SSD would not have a "step down" jumper to help with the problem.

So now I'm ready to swap the cable for a higher specified aftermarket version, which is the fix that has solved the issue for others, however, if you thought it was difficult trying to find one of these for a 15", try finding one for a 17". There are plenty of "original" cables available out there, but if anyone can help me find an "improved" HDD cable for the A1297 17" Mid-2009 to help solev this problem, I'd be eternally grateful.

Regards

Tony.

I find that annoying for you, because when I communicated with Seagate the tech absolutely said it was a known problem with some Nvidia chipsets.

FWIW, I have 4 macs fitted with Momentus XT drives (3x750 and 1x500) None required any jumpers, all were installed with a new cable. A completely problem free drive on my machines, and fast.

Thanks... were they all mid-2009 versions, with the same Nvidia chipset?

Not all, a 2009 Mac Mini and MBP, a 2010 MBP and a 2008 MB.

OK, but one of them was? This problem is specific to the Mid 2009 MacBook Pro 15" and 17" as far as I can tell from the research I've been doing over the last couple of years. The drive works absolutely fine fine in every other model so far as I can see. I've ordered a cable from iFixIt, I'll probably order an SSD at the same time.

If the cable doesn't fix the problem, and it still crashes with the SSD, I guess I'll reinstall a 5400rpm model, sell it off, and buy a newer model for the SSD.

T.

One is a 2009 MBP, 13", NVidia MCP79 SATA controller. Momentus 750XT running at 3GB/s. No jumpers fitted.

Like Csound1 and posts I submitted many months ago, I've installed the 750gb drive in 3 and a 1gb drive in another laptop, and had no problems at all, one was mid 2009 MB Pro, two were mid 2010 MB Pro's and one was an Acer Travelmate 8200 circa 2006 Windows laptop, drives word fine and with the SSD are much faster, look back around March posts. Some friends have also installed the drive on various machines with no probs.

BTW all were 15" laptops....

Tony Holmes, If your getting a Sata2 cable it will fix your issue! Not all cable's are the same it depends on the type of wire use to make them!!! My 15" 2009 MP Pro is rocking with the Momentus 500XT after I put the replacement cable in. She is currently running 10.9 which upgraded from 10.7 without any hitches!! Pryor to the new cable I couldn't even get 10.5 installed on her or restore from the time machine backup and the battery was showing as being bad ( which it wasn't )! The old Cable worked fine with the original 320GB drive Fujitsu but NOT with any model Sata2 drive. The fujitsu is know an external drive for more storage.