My Experience: Hybrid SSD/HDD Harddrive (Momentus XT)

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Level 1

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My Experience: Hybrid SSD/HDD Harddrive (Momentus XT)

Hi folks! I recently "took the plunge" and installed a Momentus XT Hybrid Solid State Hard Drive today and I thought I would share my experience. It took a lot of soul searching and research. It turns out I made the right call :-)

I have a 17 Inch MacBook Pro (Early 2009). I recently upgraded my ram to 8GB (the max). The stock hard disk was a 5400 RPM 320 Gig Drive. I was afraid it was going to die on me in the future. I also wanted to have some more storage space. As tempting as the Retina MacBook Pros are..I decided I want to get at least one more year out of this computer. So I upped the ram and now the hard drive.

I did a ton of research and found nice things said about the Seagate Momentus XT ST750LX003. It is a 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 2.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Solid State Hybrid Drive. That means that aside from the 750GB of regular 7200 RPM storage...the drive also has 8GB of NAND Flash memory on board. The drive uses algorithms built in the firmware to figure out which sectors to store in flash...and which to save on the HDD. Generally your OS and files you access the most are stored in flash. This is the 3rd generation of Seagate Solid State drive. The previous generations had 4Gb of NAND. This puppy has 8!

Now I want to preface something...my generation of MacBook Pro is only capable of SATA 3.0Gb/s transfer. The drive is backwards compatible. So those of you with a newer machine may notice even more improvements!

When I installed Mountain Lion on the stock 5400 RPM drive (with 4Gb of Ram at the time) It took me about 76 minutes. With the new drive (and now 8Gb of Ram) it took me 32 minutes. I was shocked.

My boot time with the old hard drive (and the 8Gb of ram) was about 1:11 (I measure from chime to "ready to go" with Auto-login turned on). With the new drive the same task takes 31 seconds.

I am in shock at the speed gains. Everything goes quicker. I am so thrilled.

Thus far the only drawback...the new drive runs warmer than the stock drive. Not a huge inconvenience...but I do notice my left hand getting a little more toasty than before.

Has anyone else used this drive in their MacBook pro? I would love some more Feedback.

I would recomend this to anyone who wants to expand their unit and gain some extra speed. Google around and you will see a lot of very convincing speed tests.

MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2009), OS X Mountain Lion, 8GB Ram - 750GB Hybrid SSD/HDD HD

Posted on Aug 11, 2012 9:43 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 11, 2012 9:50 PM in response to MikeyPD

Nice to hear - glad to hear you're getting nice boot time and good speed.....

I used to have one of those drives but only for a couple of weeks then went full SSD since the price went down...

I do have to agree with you that the drive does get a little on the warm side since it's still a 7200RPM drive but I never really had any issues with the drive itself...

Enjoy your new found speed...

Cheers...

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Answer 2

MikeyPD Author

Level 1

20 points

Aug 11, 2012 10:00 PM in response to Bimmer 7 Series

Thank you for the reply :-)

I look forward to the day when my wallet will allow me to go for full SSD. My master plan is to get a 17 inch Retina Display MacBook Pro (if they every come into fruition...) 🙂.

I love my current machine. I bought it in 2009 in May (knowing that updates were around the corner but its a long story as to why I couldn't wait). I know that when it comes to computers if you want to wait for the latest and greatest you will wait forever...haha The thing that stung when I bought this one... is that 33 days later the refresh (that I was expecting) came out. Slightly faster processor and 500gb HD (as apposed to my 320gb). These things I expected.

What killed me was that apple dropped the price from $2799 to $2499 as well! So not only waiting a month would have gotten me better specs but I would've had another $300 in my pocket.

Technically I wouldn't have. Financing issues caused me to have to buy the computer then or never.

It has been over three years since this machine and it still runs like a top! Especially now! My buddy bought a 15 inch MacBook Pro about a month before the retina one came out. I installed Mountain Lion on mine in much less time than on his :-P. I love how Macs last so long.

I got the greatest deal ever on this drive, too. CompUSA had it for $149 in store (it went down to $139 later in the day). But when I got to the store they had a $94.99 price tag on it. It rang up at $149.99 but I stood my ground. Quoted "bait and switch" laws...and after a very ugly conversation with a very angry asst manager....

I got my Momentus XT for $94.99!!!! The retail price is $189.99 (which I was willing to pay if I needed to). I felt bad for the mananger but he was nice. He said he understood.

Some said I was nuts to try this new "Hybrid Experiment" but I am very happy. Seagate has said they think this may be the future. I agree that is the future of us poor people :-P.

Thanks again for the reply! 😝

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Answer 3

Aug 11, 2012 10:12 PM in response to MikeyPD

Nice - So you got yours at $94....Good for you......That's like a deal that will never happen again....

You're near SSD speed with your XT without breaking your wallet so you're fine.....

Your RAM and XT combo is fast enough to last you for a few years.......

I still have my old late 08 Macbook Uni and added a 128GB Kingston V200, while not the fastest SSD out there, it gave it a nice boost with the 8GB upgrade i did. Will be giving that to my niece soon.....

Enjoying the nice 14 sec boot time from power button to desktop.

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Answer 4

MikeyPD Author

Level 1

20 points

Aug 11, 2012 10:28 PM in response to Bimmer 7 Series

Ooooh you have a lucky niece! 😁

wow! 14 seconds! Very nice. I think my VirusBarrierX6 may be slowing my startup a tad.

Do you use any type of antivirus on your Mac? I haven't until recently. I got a complementary VirusBarrierX6 subscription. It works well (I have tested it multiple times) and doesn't seem to hog CPU.

I am curious what the rest of the Mac community does. I work in Technical Support so I am transferring files to and from random machines so I need to have some sort of protection. Nowadays it seems like a prudent suggestion for just about anyone.

My company sells Intego VirusBarrierX6 free after rebate so if you'd like a good deal send me a msg.

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Answer 5

Aug 11, 2012 10:32 PM in response to MikeyPD

for my macbook - I do for company reasons - but on my other macbook the one i use often - i do not....

i have clamx av on my personal macbook that i use once in a while when sharing files with windows pc but the one i use for work, mandatory to have a resident anti virus running......

thanks for the offer...appreciate it....i already got a 2 year subscription for bitdefender paid by the company...

cheers..

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Answer 6

MikeyPD Author

Level 1

20 points

Aug 11, 2012 11:01 PM in response to Bimmer 7 Series

No problem!

What I want to know...is how you got an iPhone 4 on Virgin Mobile! :-) In the states I have H2O Wireless. They are an MVNO network (they rent AT&T's network) so I can use them with an iPhone locked to AT&T. I pay $60/mo for unlimited talk and text with 2gb of data. AT&T service in Fort Lauderdale-Miami, FL is terrible. Nowhere near the $120 i used to pay.

$60 on H2O is a better price especially considering the terrible service I get.

Virgin Mobile is a CDMA carrier in the US. I am not sure about Canada. How have you done this? Do Sprint Phones work on Virign since they are a MVNO of Sprint?

I am planning on switching to straight talk wireless. $45/mo for unlimited everything (so I hear).

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Answer 7

Aug 11, 2012 11:10 PM in response to MikeyPD

I'm actually using 2 wireless providers - with my iPhone, I'm with Virgin Mobile which is on HSPA+ network.

Unlimited talk with 5GB of data including tethering @ $60/per month- this i use when i'm out of town.

When I'm back in my home town, which is Vancouver - I use WindMobile 4G on my Samsung Galaxy S 4G with unlimited everything (talk time, long distance and data) for $40/per month with no roaming charges....

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Answer 8

Feb 21, 2013 12:10 PM in response to MikeyPD

Im on an 8,1 early 2011 MBP and I did the momentus xt 750 GB and also 8GB of Corsair ram. I went from 1:35 from chime to totally logged in (with auto login enabled so I didnt have to put in my password) to 0:59 with the 8GB of Ram to 0:23 with the ram and Momentus XT 750 GB. Its simply amazing! Photoshop opens almost instantly and so does my browser and Itunes (the stuff I use most). I just wish I had the cash on hand for a pure SSD in a larger capacity! Get this setup and you wont be let down!

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Answer 9

Feb 21, 2013 12:11 PM in response to mscheuerjr

On other little tidbit of info is the original 320 GB 5400 RPM hard drive is actualy a Seagate Momentus...so putting in the Momentus XT seemed like a pretty safe bet to me. 🙂

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Answer 10

Feb 21, 2013 12:18 PM in response to mscheuerjr

Who wants to bet that if Apple maintains the current MacBook Pro line (without Retina display), they'll probably do those drives next. They've already done the same for the Hybrid drive customized iMacs, so why not MacBooks too? If I were them, I would have done it already in this current lineup. Make it an option upgrade or really, just include it anyway.

They probably didn't do it because it would have attracted too many sales from the SSD equipped Retina and Air models though. Apple's all about their bottom line and not so much about giving the customer the best solution they can get for the money.

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