Don't Buy A Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid Drive!!!

[Piplodocus]

Don't buy one of these Seagate Momentus XT drives. I've been having problems, worked through everything it could possibly be, and found it was the HDD. Seems to work fine once I swapped out my drive for a WD Scorpio Black...

http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... 7#p1223637

This applies to drives up to and including firmware SD23. That's the latest at the mo'...

[Anubis]

Thanks! I was looking to use one of those as my primary drive. You may have saved me a headache. I'm running dual Momentus 500GB HDD's on my lappy now with no issues at all.

[Piplodocus]

That's the PITA: it IS faster most of the time, but seems to have occasional hiccups when accessing data. Probably fine for the average Joe who may not notice the glitch, just be happier when it kicks in giving data faster, but not much good for audio where a glitch gives you a second of audio dropout!

I've been worried about my audio performance since I got this Macbook. A couple of days after getting it I changed the original Hitachi drive into the optibay hole for samples and songs, and put in the Momentus XT. Could never work out why I got more glitches than my old slower Hackintosh, but trying to do this very lightweight set showed there was obviously some other issue afoot. I haven't done anything live with it since I got the drive so the glitches have been an annoyance rather than a show-stopper until this weekend!

[commuter]

i have one in my unibody macbook pro (late 2008 model)with 10.6.4 and no problems....yet
i'm using it for a month or so....the overall performance of the mac has improved a lot...

what was your problems ??

[Piplodocus]

I've been having audio dropouts, about once every few minutes. Each only lasts about 1sec, but that's big enough to drive you nuts and/or ruin a song/set. Sometimes it's ok for up to about 20mins, but it seems to produce random dropouts. Often where new parts come in accessed from the HDD, but not always. Sometimes it seems to vary so I think it may depend on whether it's accessing from SSD or platter bit, or changing over between the two? I dunno, but I've been driven mad most of last week, only to have it completely trouble free after the drive swap.

Is your mac SATA interface SATA150, or 300 do you know? Some people seemed to suggest putting a jumper on the XT to force it to SATA150 seemed to help...

[Datendisco]

Thanks a lot - that saved me money

[bammer]

That HDD looks like a great deal at first but many users have been having problems. I want to buy a Macbook Pro this x-mas and get a fast 500gb drive but apparently this one is just too risky, especially after a month or so (which is weird- most people in the forums say they get more and more problems after 1 month of use).

WD Black still looks like the one to get...

[Piplodocus]

That HDD looks like a great deal at first but many users have been having problems. I want to buy a Macbook Pro this x-mas and get a fast 500gb drive but apparently this one is just too risky, especially after a month or so (which is weird- most people in the forums say they get more and more problems after 1 month of use).

WD Black still looks like the one to get...

Most problems with failing drives you see generally on most of the forums were with firmware SD22 I think, but the latest SD23 was why I ditched it and got a WD Black. Commutor doesn't seem to be having issues ^, so neither may you, but I certainly have so if you try one know what you're risking!

[commuter]

maybe there's differences between the 500 gb and 320GB version ?? dunno
mine came with the firmware SD23 out of the box..

[agent314]

My 500GB 7200rpm Momentus died after 2 months in my laptop, when the boot sector randomly got corrupted in the middle of working on a tune.

I'd have written it off as a single bad drive, but I have heard a ton of horror stories about people with their Seagates. Not going with them again if I can help it

[locojohn]

My 500GB 7200rpm Momentus died after 2 months in my laptop, when the boot sector randomly got corrupted in the middle of working on a tune. I'd have written it off as a single bad drive, but I have heard a ton of horror stories about people with their Seagates. Not going with them again if I can help it

I feel I must add that I've been using my 320 GB 7200rpm Momentus for 2 years with no problems at all. It's also very quiet. I have a firm feeing it may work fine for years to come.

Andrejs

[agent314]

That's the problem with computer hardware - one unit will work flawlessly for a decade, and another will crap out after 3 months, seemingly without cause.

[Willyum]

I had problems with 2 Seagate drives last year, both went bad within a month. I think their quality control is failing... I'm strictly WD now.

[xzusa8ky]

I will NEVER buy Seagate drives anymore!

I got a drive with the "BSY state bug" laying in front of me, with all my full albums on it.......Shit!


Never Seagate Again!

[Machinesworking]

Either of these. The Samsung is 640GB for $20 more, just as good specs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822152237

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136692