Upgrade disk for a 2008 MBP??
James Sidbury
I'm considering replacing the 250gb 5400 SATA drive with a bigger
(faster?) model. I've looked at the user reviews on amazon and newegg
for various models but would like to get some comments from users here
who have already made the upgrade. I'm considering the 500 gb Seagate
Momentus XT with 4gb solid state hybrid, and one of the WD Scorpio Black
drives (750 or 500). Unfortunately the reviews for all three drives
were all over the place.
Thanks.
dick
Alan Browne
I think Seagate are fine. Unfortunately satisfied users don't notice,
don't care and those who got a dud can scream loudest.
Even WD, who I've avoided over the past 5 years, seem to be getting
their act back together.
Between the two I'd pick Seagate.
I'd look at the warranty as well. OTOH, these drives are not that
expensive so warranty might not matter as much as the trouble of a
failed disk, replacement and backup recovery.
Does the Mac take advantage of the 4 GB SS memory to put most often used
OS items? Does Seagate force that somehow with utilities?
--
gmail originated posts filtered due to spam.
Richard Hix
Computing in both my son's and my 15" MBPs (also May 2008 models)
without any problems. I bought the toolkit of tiny screwdrivers from
OWC and followed the online installation guide. The drives are very
fast. We're very satisified.
Richard
David Empson
> On 2011-06-25 16:00 , James Sidbury wrote:
> > My 17" macbook pro 4,1 has its applecare expire at the end of the month.
> > I'm considering replacing the 250gb 5400 SATA drive with a bigger
> > (faster?) model. I've looked at the user reviews on amazon and newegg
> > for various models but would like to get some comments from users here
> > who have already made the upgrade. I'm considering the 500 gb Seagate
> > Momentus XT with 4gb solid state hybrid, and one of the WD Scorpio Black
> > drives (750 or 500). Unfortunately the reviews for all three drives
> > were all over the place.
>
> I think Seagate are fine. Unfortunately satisfied users don't notice,
> don't care and those who got a dud can scream loudest.
I have had a 500 GB Seagate Momentus XT in my MacBook Pro (mid 2010
series) for about nine months. The only issues I've had with it are:
- Original firmware had an annoying habit of spinning the drive down at
unexpected points, followed immediately by spinning it up again. Fixed
in a firmware update (SD24 or later).
- It is a little noisier than the drive Apple supplied, but not enough
to annoy me.
- It gets a little warmer than the drive Apple supplied, but not enough
to annoy me.
In comparison to a 5400 rpm drive, the extra speed is brilliant, but it
is hard to pinpoint which aspects are due to the faster rotation and
which are due to 4 GB cache. At times the cache is really noticeable,
e.g. sometimes I get from the login prompt to all apps running in about
3 seconds instead of about 15 seconds.
For reference, the firmware updates are easy enough - download an ISO
image from Seagate to create a bootable CD, back up everything, boot
from the CD (in text-based FreeDOS, which feels like a freaky throwback
to 1980s MS-DOS) and follow the prompts. (I haven't lost any data in a
firmware update, but I made sure to back up first, just in case.)
> Even WD, who I've avoided over the past 5 years, seem to be getting
> their act back together.
>
> Between the two I'd pick Seagate.
>
> I'd look at the warranty as well. OTOH, these drives are not that
> expensive so warranty might not matter as much as the trouble of a
> failed disk, replacement and backup recovery.
>
> Does the Mac take advantage of the 4 GB SS memory to put most often used
> OS items? Does Seagate force that somehow with utilities?
The OS is unaware of the cache, and no additional software is installed.
It is managed internally by drive, using some kind of "most frequently
accessed" algorithm.
--
David Empson
dem...@actrix.gen.nz
Alan Browne
> Alan Browne<alan....@FreelunchVideotron.ca> wrote:
>> Does the Mac take advantage of the 4 GB SS memory to put most often used
>> OS items? Does Seagate force that somehow with utilities?
>
> The OS is unaware of the cache, and no additional software is installed.
> It is managed internally by drive, using some kind of "most frequently
> accessed" algorithm.
Thanks. Interesting to know. I might just change the system HD on my
iMac for one with flash.
James Sidbury
<DrJamesSidbury-ACC...@news.eternal-september.org>,
James Sidbury <DrJames...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Thanks for the feedback, guys. Based on it, I decided on the Seagate
Momentus XT. My plan is to attach it to my Roswill USB docking station
(for bare drives), format it and update the firmware if necessary, then
use Super Duper! to clone my original drive, see if it will boot and
then find an online set of instructions for replacing the original
drive. Does anyone see a problem/better solution?
dick
Alan Browne
In my case I'd just do a TM update, change to the unformatted new drive
then boot with my SL disk and restore from the TM volume. Presumes
updating the FW after the sys restore, but you could also do it your way
up to that point then restore from TM after installing in the Mac.
Richard Hix
MacBook Pro and mine (also May 2008) models. I ordered the drives and
installation kits (tiny screwdrivers and spudger) from Other World
Computing, followed the instructions on the website, and had no
problems. The 4GB SS memory seems to know what is used most often
with no additional software from Seagate. I also ordered cases to put
the old 250gb drives into to use as external drives. We've noticed a
performance increase and are happy with the decision.
Richard
John McWilliams
I had the Momentus 500/4 installed about six months ago when the
original HD on my 2007 MBP died.
I'm not sure if anyone can tell from the following if my firmware on the
drive is up to snuff, but I've had no problem with it at all, and recall
a nice speed boost shortly after getting it back in service, but now
only notice how often my Air spins the beachball.
No heat problem with 7200 rpms.
Here's from the "About" section:
ST95005620AS:
Capacity: 500.11 GB (500,107,862,016 bytes)
Model: ST95005620AS
Revision: SD23
Serial Number: 5YX09TDC
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Rotational Rate: 7200
Medium Type: Rotational
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
Writable: Yes
BSD Name: disk0s1
MBPjpm500:
Capacity: 499.76 GB (499,763,888,128 bytes)
Available: 346.09 GB (346,093,154,304 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s2
Mount Point: /
David Empson
> On 6/26/11 PDT 10:05 AM, Alan Browne wrote:
> > On 2011-06-25 19:28 , David Empson wrote:
> >> Alan Browne<alan....@FreelunchVideotron.ca> wrote:
> >
> >>> Does the Mac take advantage of the 4 GB SS memory to put most often used
> >>> OS items? Does Seagate force that somehow with utilities?
> >>
> >> The OS is unaware of the cache, and no additional software is installed.
> >> It is managed internally by drive, using some kind of "most frequently
> >> accessed" algorithm.
> >
> > Thanks. Interesting to know. I might just change the system HD on my
> > iMac for one with flash.
>
> I had the Momentus 500/4 installed about six months ago when the
> original HD on my 2007 MBP died.
> I'm not sure if anyone can tell from the following if my firmware on the
> drive is up to snuff, but I've had no problem with it at all, and recall
> a nice speed boost shortly after getting it back in service, but now
> only notice how often my Air spins the beachball.
>
> No heat problem with 7200 rpms.
>
> Here's from the "About" section:
>
> ST95005620AS:
>
> Capacity: 500.11 GB (500,107,862,016 bytes)
> Model: ST95005620AS
> Revision: SD23
"SD23" is the old fimware which originally came with my drive. The only
issue I had with it is that the drive spins down prematurely based on
its own concept of when it is "idle", which seems to often be right in
the middle of a sequence of data accesses. The symptom is a several
second pause as the computer waits for the drive to spin down then
immediately spins it back up again (which you can also hear).
The SD24 firmware update fixed this issue for me.
The current version is SD25, but I haven't tried it as SD24 seems fine
for me, many people have mentioned problems they've had with SD25, and
it is difficult or impossible to downgrade.
I've seen one mention of SD26 appearing in retail drives. It isn't
available as a firmware update for existing drives.
--
David Empson
dem...@actrix.gen.nz
James Sidbury
<DrJamesSidbury-5A4...@news.eternal-september.org>,
James Sidbury <DrJames...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Well I installed it 3 days ago using ifixit instructions. I had no real
problems. (I did accidentally remove one torx screw from the drive
itself rather than the retaining bracket but I put it back and it still
works.) I'd rate the process as relatively easy. I've only replaced
memory in a notebook before but have done extensive work in my desktop
systems (mostly windows).
It seems to be faster than it was before but that could be my
imagination. It has firmware SD26 and does not appear to spin down
under normal use. However, if I leave it alone for a period of time,
e.g. an hour or two, then I sometimes need to vigorously press the shift
key several and mouse several times to get its attention.
dick
-- and it's nice to have almost 300 gb of free space (at least for the
moment).