Seagate Momentus XT Disaster

TomfromChicago, it's strange that you've had so much trouble with this drive. I installed the Momentus XT 750GB into my Mid-2009 15" MBP a couple of months ago and it works like a charm. The computer was instantly faster. In saying this though, I have noticed that the 500GB version had updates released but the 750GB version seems to be OK from release.

One crucial difference I can see though - I didn't perform a clone of the original drive.

I used the Lion Recovery Assistant to boot up, then restored the entire machine to the new drive from a Time Machine Backup on a Time Capsule. Following this I had to perform an in-place install of OS X Lion to re-create the Lion Recovery partition on the new drive.

Judging by the improved results you got by using a different program, logic suggests that the original clone image was not quite perfect, or that cloning itself may cause some deep seated issues.

I hope you get it all sorted, but I wanted to let you know that a fresh install then Restore from Time Machine worked for me. Might be worth a shot if you're still having issues.

Cheers!

BigGee42:

I had included the test you described in my troubleshooting procedure. Fresh install of the OS with the Momentus installed internaly, followed by an import of the data from a Time Machine backup. The result was the same with the system being unstable almost immediately upon restart. The other test was a clean install of the system with no upgrade or 3rd party software installed, whcih resulted in an unstable system as before. Running the momentus from an external enclosure as the boot drive, absolutely no problems. This seems to indicate a hardware issue of some sort either with the MBP or the Momentus, or more likey some kind of combination of the two together.

Yeah, I agree. It sounds like some kind of interoperability issue which a USB enclosure negates.

I've seen a few reports of issues with the 500GB version. It's maybe not as stable as it should be. Maybe something changed with the 750GB version?

Who knows, we could ask these questions all day and not get anywhere. Very disappointing though...

BigGee42 wrote:

Yeah, I agree. It sounds like some kind of interoperability issue which a USB enclosure negates.

I've seen a few reports of issues with the 500GB version. It's maybe not as stable as it should be. Maybe something changed with the 750GB version?

Who knows, we could ask these questions all day and not get anywhere. Very disappointing though...

The 750G is a later generation, just about everything is different, the 500 was the second gen, there was a 250 (Windows only) which was the first gen. I have 500's and 750's, no problems with either but the 750 is much faster.

I too am having the same problem on a 3.06 MBP 17. It is definantly a compatibility problem with the SATA Host adapter. I have performed a fresh install of Lion and manually copied the files over to it from a USB drive adapter.

My situation may shed some light on this in a different way though. I can't seem to find any upgrades for firmware for my unit either. I'm guessing the 2nd gen doesn't have any yet? Can someone let me know if you know of any please.

My situation is different with the fact that I have replaced my Superdrive with a hard disk enclosure called an Optibay. Before I bought the Momentus XT I was using dualhard disks with one SSD and ond HD for storage.

I ran an Intel X-25M SSD as the OS drive in the standard HD location.

I had a Maxtor Black HD in the Optibay.

No problems and has run stable for over a year.

I wanted to upgrade storage so added the Momentus XT 750.

I moved the SSD to the Optibay

I installed the Momentus in the factory location.

I am having the same instability problems as the others where now the Momentus will not mount. This created a bad situation since I moved my Users folder to the data drive (Momentus) this time causing my user profile to be missing in essence corrupt. (I haven't created my secondary admin account for corrup user folder situations yet either. OUCH!!!) Now I can't log in at all.

What I'm going to try is moving the Momentus to the Optibay and the SSD back to the factory HD location. There is an adapter on the Optibay between the Drive and the Connector on the logic board of the MBP. I don't know if it is simply a relocation connector (Bus extention) or if there is actually any logic in it. I will follow up with my results when I try it.

Well all, I have not had a chance to RMA the faulty Momentus 500 unit back to Seagate due to schedule and time constratints. I am going to ask them if they will upgrade me to the 750 Momentus if I pay them a cost differential. I may still try to install it in my Mac Mini if time permits. I found another thread over at Macintouch on problems with the Momentus. Not sure if I can post a link here but you can also google Macintouch and Momentus: http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/harddrives/topic4850-005.html#d06jan2012

One person had RMA'd the unit 3 times, but then found a solution in a firmware *downgrade*. This didn't apply to me though, since no firmware updates have ever been issued for my Mid 2009 Macbook Pro.

.......

MacInTouch Reader

I posted back on March 12th about Seagate Momentus X; now, 3 RMA drives later...

Even the 3rd one, direct from Seagate, had SD24 [firmware] and was hopeless. Finally, on 3rd try, burned SD25 with Disk Utility, instead of the Windows programs Seagate support recommended, and succeeded updating. But still no joy, drive totally AFU. Seagate support gave up, offered 750GB non-hybrid exchange; I said OK. A week later, tired of waiting, found the key: Apple EFI firmware.

Mid-2009 MBP 5,4 had Apple firmware update 1.7. The trick was to downgrade to 1.6. Overall performance noticeably better, no issue with vibration or noises. Hybrid is solid after a week's heavy use. Gonna keep it and send back the 750.

MacInTouch Reader

I posted back on March 12th about Seagate Momentus X; now, 3 RMA drives later...

Even the 3rd one, direct from Seagate, had SD24 [firmware] and was hopeless. Finally, on 3rd try, burned SD25 with Disk Utility, instead of the Windows programs Seagate support recommended, and succeeded updating. But still no joy, drive totally AFU. Seagate support gave up, offered 750GB non-hybrid exchange; I said OK. A week later, tired of waiting, found the key: Apple EFI firmware.

Mid-2009 MBP 5,4 had Apple firmware update 1.7. The trick was to downgrade to 1.6. Overall performance noticeably better, no issue with vibration or noises. Hybrid is solid after a week's heavy use. Gonna keep it and send back the 750.

///////////////////////

Quick update to last post: The thread I mentioned contains posts about the Momentus *and* other hybrid and full SSD drives, not just the Momentus. Also, I just purchased a 256GB Crucial SSD for the MacBook Pro which s/b arrving on Wednesday. So it looks like my Momentus replacement is destined for the Mac Mini which has a slower 320GB orignal mechanical drive installed at the moment.

How to install a Seagate Momentus XT in a MacBook Pro 15' mid 2009:

1) Looking at the Hard Drive from the connector you will see four pins on the right

2) Buy a JUMPER for these drives (they are very small, prepared for 3.5 drives)

3) Insert the jumper in the extreme right pins (position vertical of the jumper). This is necessary because the Mac Controller only can negotiate 1.5gb, while the drive is 3gb, and although Seagate says that automatically the drive will adjust to a lower speed, this is not true in the MBP mid 2009. Maybe an update of the firmware by Seagate will fix it, and the last firmware is SD 8, which does not resolve this problem.

4) Install the HD in you MBP

5) Install the Mac OS X

6) Check in "About this Mac" the firmware of the Seagate Momentus XT, if it is SD 8, you have the last update, if not, it is recomended to update it.

I hope this work as it worked for me with the same MBP.

That is very interesting information. Thank you for posting that. May I ask what your source is? Also I thought that the current firmware was SD 28. At any rate, I have not had time to return the unit to Seagate as of yet, and have installed an SSD in the MB Pro. I wonder if the Seagate drive would work fine in a Mac Mini mid-2010? I would just a soon keep it and install it in that unit rather then return it to Seagate if it is not necessary.

I wonder if my Crucial SSD needs this jumper?

Thanks for the tip. Only one problem, it is very hard to find a jumper for notebook size drives. They are smaller then the standard jumpers used on the older desktop size drives.

So for everyone that may tire to use thios tip to get the XT drive working on your older Mac make sure you get the correct size jumper.

You don't say if this is the 500 XT or the 750 XT. Is anybody having problems with the 750 XT model? That is the model I have, and everything is definitely much faster. Also, I don't know why you have a problem with Seagate returning or exchanging the drive. My drive has five year warranty printed directly on the box. These drives are not old.

IT'S THE CABLE!!!!

TRUST.

It's the SATA (hard drive) cable. I just went through the same headache with the drive only being recognized with the external closure. It appears that the early MBP were fitted with an SATA 1.0 cable, when what it needs is a 2.0 cable. While the board is capable of handling 6GB, the cable is not (stupid, I know). I'm typing this from my computer that I just fixed. I was going out of my mind trying to figure out the problem. Finally, I took a leap of faith and ordered from ebay a "Macbook Pro 13" A1278 HDD Hard Drive Cable 821-0814-A." Frustrating that it required this, but I was pretty dead set on making it work. Keep in mind that the model number above is for a 13" MBP. You may need a different one depending on the size of your MBP (15", 17"). Installing it was incredibly easy. Took a screwdriver and 5 minutes.

As far as the drive, seems awesome so far, and I'm already seeing exended battery time.

Hope this helps.

Please pass on the word in other forums. If it works in the external closure, but will not be picked up while it's inside the machine, IT'S THE CABLE!!!

breni, thanks for the update.

Please, where did you fine a SATA 2.0 cable for the MBP?

What I did is tu jump the Seagate Momentus with a jumper to force it a 1.5 Gigabit tansfer, and it works very well. But maybe your solution is even better, because it does not lower the speed.

Here's a link to the one that I purchased.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/270993571227?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m143 9.l2649

It ***** having to spend $30 more on a fix, but well worth it to have a working hybrid drive and upped transfer speeds.

Let me know if it works!

Best,

Brett

Glad to know this. However I installed a 240GB SSD about 2 months ago and have not experienced the performance problems that I was having with the Seagate Momentus. Maybe the Crucial SSD just works better with the 1.0 cable. I did a bench test today with Disk Speed Test on the SSD and came up with only about 1 GB/s read times. The overall performance is still faster than a mechanical drive, but I am going to find the 2.0 cable for my unit and see if it increases my read write times. $30 bucks would be well worth it even if it quadruples the performance. Thanks for the info.