Does the Seagate Momentus XT play nice w/ OS X?

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dmw16

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Nov 12, 2000
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My new Momentus XT arrived today so like a kid on Christmas I popped it in and threw in my Snow Leopard DVD. I formatted the drive (OS Extended Journaled) and did all that stuff. Selected the drive and hit "GO".

Now the install crawls until it says "27 minutes remaining" which takes about an hour to get to and then it just hangs. I've confirmed that the drive is fine and I've tried several times now.

Now I'm doing some searching around the web that may suggest that the XT doesn't work with OS X?

Does anyone know anything about these issues or a potential work-around?

Thanks.
 
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TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
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Sep 15, 2004
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If you have an enclosure, you could drop the XT in there and clone the existing drive over to it.

I have seen others on here that have purchased the XT and haven't reported said issues. Any chance there is something wrong with the Snow Leopard Disk?
 
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dmw16

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Nov 12, 2000
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The disc is brand new so I don't think it's the disk. A brief internet search mentioned others having their install stall out at the same point mine did.

I don't have an external enclosure, but I think I can get one tomorrow morning. Would cloning the drive provide different results than a fresh install? It would seem odd, but I'd be willing to go that route if need-be.

I may try installing it on a spare 2.5" drive I have and see if that works. Between this and my RAM not working I am having a frustrating computer day.
 
Don Vito Corleone

Don Vito Corleone

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Feb 10, 2000
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I am using one (a 500GB model) on my MacBook Pro and it works great. It now boots almost instantaneously and is vastly snappier than the 5400 RPM drive my computer shipped with.
 
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Narse

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Mar 14, 2000
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I cloned mine and it works great. Put it in a USB enclosure and used carbon copy cloner. I then put it inside the system and it booted right up. The first boot after using this method may cause the network to be set as the first boot device. This adds like 30 seconds of boot time. Go into settings/startup disk and set the XT to default to speed up the boot time. Also cloning in OSX is far easier than in windows.
 
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dmw16

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Nov 12, 2000
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I finally gave up on the XT after 2 drives and about 10 attempts. Nothing worked.

Disappointing because everything I read about the drive made it sound great, but a bit of research indicates that success is mixed. A lot of people have reported issues while others had no problems.

Part of me wants to take a 3rd crack at it...
 
secretanchitman

secretanchitman

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Apr 11, 2001
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it definitely works. i JUST reinstalled osx onto it an hour ago with no issues.

you might have a defective drive (which blows), so it you possibly would have to get it RMA'ed. :/

however, if you do manage to get osx installed onto it, i urge you to update the drives firmware from SD22 to SD23 (if it doesnt have it already) - it gets rid of a lot of beachballing and spindown issues. also, for me personally, my own XT spins down randomly for a few seconds but its such a minor issue that its personally not a showstopper for me. the speed benefits greatly outweigh the random spindowns.
 
Don Vito Corleone

Don Vito Corleone

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Feb 10, 2000
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secretanchitman said:
it definitely works. i JUST reinstalled osx onto it an hour ago with no issues.

you might have a defective drive (which blows), so it you possibly would have to get it RMA'ed. :/

however, if you do manage to get osx installed onto it, i urge you to update the drives firmware from SD22 to SD23 (if it doesnt have it already) - it gets rid of a lot of beachballing and spindown issues. also, for me personally, my own XT spins down randomly for a few seconds but its such a minor issue that its personally not a showstopper for me. the speed benefits greatly outweigh the random spindowns.
Click to expand...

Huh - I'll have to try that. I've never heard of updating a hard drive's firmware.

TE
 
Don Vito Corleone

Don Vito Corleone

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Feb 10, 2000
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dmw16

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Nov 12, 2000
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secretanchitman said:
it definitely works. i JUST reinstalled osx onto it an hour ago with no issues.

you might have a defective drive (which blows), so it you possibly would have to get it RMA'ed. :/

however, if you do manage to get osx installed onto it, i urge you to update the drives firmware from SD22 to SD23 (if it doesnt have it already) - it gets rid of a lot of beachballing and spindown issues. also, for me personally, my own XT spins down randomly for a few seconds but its such a minor issue that its personally not a showstopper for me. the speed benefits greatly outweigh the random spindowns.
Click to expand...

I tried 2 drives both with SD23 and neither would work. I opted for the Hitachi 7K500 which should be here tomorrow.
 
Don Vito Corleone

Don Vito Corleone

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Feb 10, 2000
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dmw16 said:
I tried 2 drives both with SD23 and neither would work. I opted for the Hitachi 7K500 which should be here tomorrow.
Click to expand...

I used to use a 7K500 (or its predecessor) on my old white MacBook. It worked great but its service life was very disappointing - it conked out after just over a year. I imagine I just got a bad one.
 
alfa147x

alfa147x

Lifer
Jul 14, 2005
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Got my 500gb in last night... Now I just need Apple to send me my MBP back :\
oh NewEgg dropped the price $20 on the 500 gb since last week
 
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