Two laptop drives compared: Momemtus 5400 vs. Momentus XT hybrid

[corkyg]

Corky:
How does the drive perform when loading frequently used apps?
Is your battery life the same or less with the hybrid drive?
For general usage (when the 4GB flash isn't be used), does it fell faster than your Scorpio drive?

I used it on apps today, and it does "learn" from use. First time call of QuattroPro took about 12 seconds. After shut down and reboot, subsequent calls were almost instantaneous.

It does feel faster than the Scorpio Black.

Battery life is not something I care about - I don't even have a battery present when I'm not travelling. I consider battery to be for emergency use only.

It is a good enough feel that I intend to get another for my backup/reserve drive. The Scorpios will then be used for data via the Thinkpad's Ultrabay.

 

[DominionSeraph]

OP, I'd say there was something wrong with your 250GB drive. Your access times are twice what they should be and your STR graph looks like crap.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

OP, I'd say there was something wrong with your 250GB drive. Your access times are twice what they should be and your STR graph looks like crap.

That's entirely possible. My post is more descriptive than forensic. I'll probably wipe the 250GB drive and start fresh and use it for a backup device. At that time I'll run the same tests and see where I am.

There's an interesting boot load time spreadsheet at about 5:55 on this vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuWdruZev8I


The bottom line is that while conventional benchmarks don't show much if any difference that after a couple boots the load times improve a great deal.

Using programs regularly also benefit as Photoshop CS3 loads faster than initially. I haven't checked the numbers so you have to take my impressions with a grain of salt.

 

[allthatisman]

The bottom line is that while conventional benchmarks don't show much if any difference that after a couple boots the load times improve a great deal.
Using programs regularly also benefit as Photoshop CS3 loads faster than initially. I haven't checked the numbers so you have to take my impressions with a grain of salt.

This very point is where I take issue with the "you NEED to go SSD" arguement. I have had 4 SSD's, and to say that they are not faster than a fast 7200 rpm would be false, but in no way do I think that the synthetic benchmark difference that SSD's have over that HDD is the same difference as in real world tasks and how fast something is loaded. Not to sway this thread, but to me, the hybrid drive is the best mix of the two because it has the feel of an SSD, but the price and size that we all love about traditional mechanical storage. Plus you pretty much know that if an HDD lasts a month, it will last at least 4-5 years(at least all mine have).

 

[corkyg]

I have learned this from three days with the Momentus XT. A benchmark at the outset doesn't mean much. The hybrid performance steadily improves with use as it is able to place frequently used files in the 4GB NAND memory. As more usage occurs, more is added to that cache resulting in faster program load times.

 

[Blain]

Does the APM reset to "On" each reboot or can it be disabled?

 

[allthatisman]

Does the APM reset to "On" each reboot or can it be disabled?

I believe it will stay off during a reboot, but will revert on a cold boot due to power cycling. You can download a program(cant remember what it is for the life of me) and set it to turn off APM on startup.

Honestly, this drive is not worth your time. If you never turn your machine off, and only use it for work/business type of usage, then you might see a bit of a speed increase. Otherwise, power users or gamers will notice next to nothing in terms of speed increases. For laptop users, 64gb SSD + 500 gb USB external HDD would be all you need... or just get a $70 WD Scorpio Black 500gb... just my .02

 

[jjmIII]

My Seagate XT beeps! About every 2 minutes I get a soft beep every since installing this Seagate Hybrid!

It's annoying.

 

[corkyg]

My Seagate XT beeps! About every 2 minutes I get a soft beep every since installing this Seagate Hybrid! It's annoying.

I can see where that would be annoying. I now have 4 of these XT drives, 2 in each laptop (T60 and T510) and have yet to hear any noise at all, much less a beep.

I would guess something is trying to tell you something. ??

 

[Voo]

How can a HDD beep? Sure it's not the MB?

 

[wpcoe]

I have a Momentus XT in my notebook, and it runs like a charm with no beeps. I, also, suspect it's a mobo beep. If you are victim to the infamous Gigabyte beep,the latest BIOS update fixed that for me.