Tag Archives: HD

info : Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive – is it a good upgrade to your Mac ?

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Question :

I’m thinking about upgrading the internal HD of my MacBook Pro. At this moment I have a 2.5″ 250GB HD 5400rpm SATA-1.5GBps, and I would like something that’s preferably both faster and bigger. Is the 500GB Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive my best choice ?

Answer :

The jury’s still out on that one…

Expericences with the Seagate Momentus XT vary, though most bad experiences are from people that have firmware versions older than v24 (the current version is v28).

Let me start out by saying that, when your older MacBook Pro is at least a ‘late 2008’ model (which has a 2.5″ SATA II / SATA-300GBps transfer rate) your options are pretty much these :

1- a regular 2.5″ 500GB 5400rpm SATA II harddisk, will go for about €65 (so about €0,13 per GB)

– This is probably your best choice if low noise level and low(est) price are your main reasons to buy. And it will be slightly speedier than your old one, because this SATA-interface is twice as fast

2- a regular 2.5″ 500GB 7200rpm SATA II harddisk, will cost you about €75 (so about €0,15 per GB)

– This is probably your best choice if you primarily want a low price and secondarily the highest speed. Even though these could be a little noisier than 5400rpm drives, the 7500rpm drives are more interesting if have a more intensive usage, like doing a lot of video editing for instance.

3- a hybrid 2.5″ 500GB 7200rpm + 4GB SSD (Flash-memory) SATA-3GBps like the Seagate Momentus XT will cost you €100 (so about €0,20 per GB)

– This is probably your best choice if you primarily want high speed and secondarily the lowest price. The noise level is about the same as a regular HD, and the speed is notably faster (but still no way near SSD-speeds)

4- a 2.5″ 256GB Solid State Drive (a.k.a. SSD ; Flash-memory only) SATA-6GBps like the Crucial M4 will cost you about €210 (so about  €0,82 per GB)

– These ‘drives’ are way faster than any hard disk, and also completely silent, but they’re completely overpriced compared to regular hard disks, so this is only a good solution if you have money to burn… (mind you, this one doesn’t gain any storage capacity compared to your old HD, and the 6GBps SATA-speed has to be geared down to 3GBps since the ‘late 2008’ MacBook Pros don’t support this latest SATA-speed)

To have an indication of the speed increase I herewith include my test scores, based upon benchmarking results from two different benchmarking program.

The benchmarking softwares I’ve used are iBench and NovaBench. They can be downloaded for FREE here :

http://ibench.sourceforge.net/

http://novabench.com/

(NovaBench can also be downloaded from the Mac App store)

the benchmarking-scores I’ve measured are :

the original version : MacBook Pro 15″ ‘late 2008’ with 4GB RAM and 250GB @4500rpm ; iBench score = 3.31 ; NovaBench score = 346

the same, only with doubled RAM-memory, MacBook Pro 15″ ‘late 2008’ with 8GB RAM and 250GB @4500rpm ; iBench score = 3.37 ; NovaBench score  = 389

the same, but both with doubled RAM and doubled HD-capacity (using a Seagate Momentus XT) ; iBench score = 3.38 ; NovaBench score = 402

so… the Momentus XT is a really good step forward from the old internal hard drive, but it’s speed increase is not dramatic.

NOTE : if you need to upgrade the firmware on a Seagate Momentus XT disk from MacOSX, look here :

https://macmanusnl.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/upgrading-the-…t-hybrid-drive/ 

fixed : installing a new hard drive (option 2)

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here’s another way of installing a new HD in a Mac :

in this example a new HD was placed in a MacBook Pro (end 2008) running OSX 10.7 Lion

1- prepare

– put OSX Lion installer on a 4GB USB stick ; for instructions, look here :

make sure you have a new DVD-writable or a completely empty 4GB USB-stick, download Lion Disk Maker and follow the instructions that come with it :

http://blog.gete.net/lion-diskmaker-us/
– printout the instructions on how to replace a HD on a MBP 2008/2009 from iFixit

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Unibody-Late-2008-and-Early-2009-Hard-Drive-Replacement/841/1

– make a TimeMachine backup

2- replace the HD

– shut down and completely unplug
– use the directions from iFixit to get your current HD out, and the new Momentus XT in

3- install a fresh versions of MacOSX and add your data from TimeMachine

– plug in the USB stick
– startup pressing the ALT key and choose the “EFI Boot” (USB installer) to boot from
– then install the basic OSX EFI
– continue and open Disk Utility
– select the new harddisk and Erase to a “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” format (to get a one-partition OSX HFS+ formatted drive)
– install a new version of OSX Lion
– during this installation, you are asked to migrate from a TimeMachine ; do that (and make sure you’re connected to your TimeMachine backup-disk through a cable – Ethernet/UTP, USB or FireWire)
– when the install is done, restart normally (booting from your new internal harddisk)
– then update your mailbox (this will be asked and done automatically)
– then goto Software Update (under the Apple logo in the upper left corner) and install all available updates
– restart and boot from the USB stick (“OSX EFI”)
– open Disk Utility and Repair Disk Permissions on your new internal harddrive
– restart normally (booting from the internal drive)
– again, run Software Update to install all available updates (in my specific case, there was a ‘rather important’ EFI update a this point)
– repeat Software Update once more to make sure there are no extra updates
– shut down
– restart normally ; done !

Note : if you’re looking for an other way to upgrade your harddirve, look here :

https://macmanusnl.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/installing-a-new-hard-disk-1/ ‎

fixed : installing a new hard disk (option 1)

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Here’s a simple 3-step way of replacing a HD in a Mac :

[ in this example a new HD is put into a Mac mini (version mid 2007) ]

1- clone the internal HD directly onto the new HD
These instructions assume you have another Intel-Mac and a USB-enclosure for a SATA-harddisk (that you will afterwards use to turn the old internal HD into an external one) available :
– put the new harddrive into the USB-enclosure
– connect the USB-cable to your other Intel-Mac
– connect the Mac mini to the Intel-Mac using a FireWire-cable
– (temporarily, just during startup) connect a USB-keyboard to your Mac mini
– startup the Mac mini while pressing the T-key on the keyboard (“Target Mode”)
– both the Mac mini and the USB-connected new HD will now show up in your Finder (on the Intel-Mac)
– open Disk Utility
– click on the Erase-tab
– select the USB-connected HD list on the left, and erase it in MacOS Extended (Journaled) format
[ BEWARE : do NOT format your HD in MacOS Extended (“Case-sensitive” Journaled) mode ! As that will prevent some applications to run ! e.g. Adobe Photoshop 10 Editor ]
– click on the Restore-tab
– from the list on the left drag the partition of your Mac mini onto the “Source”-field
– then drag the new partition from your new HD onto the “Destination”-field
– click the Restore-button, and wait

2- replace the HD
– open the instructions on how to replace the HD from the iFixit-website (or print them out) and read them

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-Mac-mini-Model-A1176-Hard-Drive/1108/1

– get the new HD out of the USB-enclosure
– now gently open the Mac mini enclosure
– blow the dust of the interior using a compressed air blower [ do NOT use a hair dryer ! ] or using a vacuum cleaner with a piece of thin cloth (e.g. a napkin) tightly fit to the suction tube (to prevent anything from actually being sucked in)
– replace the HD (make sure the connectors are clean and fit thight)
– while you’re at it, you might also check the AirPort-card connector
– and finish up (all using the iFixit-instructions)

3- test the new HD
– restart

Note : if you would like an alternative procedure for replacing a hard drive in a Mac, look here :

https://macmanusnl.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/installing-a-new-hard-drive-2/ 

fixed : a (relatively) quick fix for Photoshop not wanting to install on Case-sensitive formatted HD

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Question :

Today, I wanted to install Photoshop on my Mac, but the installer refused because I have my Mac HD formatted in “MacOS Extended (Journaled, Case-sensitive)” format.

How can I easily fix this ?

Answer :

Photoshop (both Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS) can not be installed on a Mac that has a “MacOS Extended (Journaled, Case-sensitive)” formatted internal HD. It just can’t. There is only one route to fixing this that will help here : you need to reformat your HD.

So here’s the quickest way to reformatting and restoring your Mac’s internal HD without loosing data :

– make a Time Machine backup of your HD
– plug an OSX 10.7 installer (USB-stick or DVDrom) into your Mac

Note : if you don’t have an OSX-installer, here are directions on making one :

– make sure you have a new DVD-writable or a completely empty 4GB USB-stick

– download Lion Disk Maker and follow the instructions that come with it :

http://blog.gete.net/lion-diskmaker-us/

– restart while pressing the ALT-button
– choose the OSX EFI volume to boot from
– open Disk Utility
– click on the Erase tab
– select your internal HD, and “MacOS Extended (Journaled)”
[ and NOT “MacOS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)” !!! ]
– click Erase (a new name for the HD is not important)
– when the erase (reformat) is finished, exit Disk Utility and go to “restore from Time Machine backup”
– make sure your Mac is connected to the Time Machine disk by a cable connection (either Ethernet/UTP, USB or FireWire)
– select the volume called Data and continue
– select the subvolume that has your previous HD’s name
– click Restore and wait
(restoring can take up to one hour)
– afterwards restart your Mac normally
– do a quick check to see if things work properly
– put in the Adobe Photoshop Elements installer DVDrom and follow the installer instructions
– done !