Momentus XT, Momentus, Momentus Thin, MobileMax, and other notebook drives

[KrypteX]

Random Read/Writes for MXT are nowhere close to a midrange/good SSD, like Samsung 470/830 or Intel x25M/320 or Vertex/Agility 2/3.

Even my cheap (50 euros) Samsung 470 @ 64 GB outperforms the MXT, hands down, in every aspect. Sorry MXT fans, but the > $230 price for the new drive is way off. One can easily buy an SSD + a secondary drive for better performance.

I'd like to see the 500 GB version with 8 GB SLC of MXT2 for $120. Then we're talking.

[WiseDrive]

The drive market is in a bit of a turmoil with shortages, so current spot retail prices are really not representative of long term trends, or what manufacturers are paying for drives on contacts.

Having said that,this drive is essentailly the same as XT2 mechanically.

Momentus ST9750420AS 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s

It is selling for $150 on Newegg right now.

That means the XT2 is fetching a premium of $100 basically for a 8GB  cache, slighly larger DRAM write cache, and a more modern interface.

Back out an estimate of the 8gb SLC cache cost --- the largest component --- and you have the premium for this feature.

Not much of a premium.

[KrypteX]

$100 for an 8 GB SSD, not 16 GB... which is actually only a READ-only cache... that's what I'm talking about....

[JanJanowski]

I think that people here would benifit from a real world comparison of the a Momentus XT1 in comparison to a Momentus XT2 drive in a Laptop with 3GB Sata connection....

I was very pleased going from 5400 RPM Sata to 7200 RPM Sata, and then to Momentus XT....

Other than Drive size.... What benifits (IF ANY) would replacing A Momentus XT1 with XT2 give an owner of a 3GB Sata Laptop?

THAT would be what I'd want to see!

[duffer6]

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WiseDrive wrote:

Impressive and thanks for doing the homework.

Based on my read of your data --- the improvement in performance going from XT1 to XT2 is considerable on actual usage.

If you can, what I would like you to run is the identical usage test with a SSD --- a moderately priced, mid grade SSD that is as close to a "direct competitor" as the XT2.

Yes, no real SSD is, as none would offer that much capacity --- but lets do a 120gb and see.

I am willing to bet you that the apps / boots will not be that much faster with the SSD.

The limiting factor may be the interfaces (SATA 3) rather than the drives.

Which brings it to another point.... what is the benefit of a superfast SSD that just overloads the interfaces?

I would love to hook up an interface analyzer to see what the XT2 is actually pushing through the SATA --- noting that most will be connected to SATA 3 and not SATA 6 interfaces.

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Wisedrive,

I am sorry I don't have access to an SSD.  If I did I would be happy to do the test.  As more XT2's are making their way into the wild I am sure others can do a comparison benchmark for you.

[duffer6]

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JanJanowski wrote:

I think that people here would benifit from a real world comparison of the a Momentus XT1 in comparison to a Momentus XT2 drive in a Laptop with 3GB Sata connection....

I was very pleased going from 5400 RPM Sata to 7200 RPM Sata, and then to Momentus XT....

Other than Drive size.... What benifits (IF ANY) would replacing A Momentus XT1 with XT2 give an owner of a 3GB Sata Laptop?

THAT would be what I'd want to see!

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My benchmarks were indeed done on a 6G sata III machine.  Basically the Sata III (6G) is a bigger pipeline for the data to flow through.  Your read write speeds will indeed be increased but only marginally what you will see is less lags, less stutters less data slow down for any reason.  Everything is going to be 6G in the next generation Laptops.  Now with a SSD using 6G sata III you will see a big difference over Sata II and that is due to the way the data is read and written which is different then with a standard HDD or the Hybrid XT2.  So the best way to compare the benefits is to use the XT2 in real life under real conditions and you can see the difference.  App lauchces, Shut Down, Startups etc.  Much faster with XT2 because those activites are housed in the NAND memory which can be access realy fast and the NAND memory does see a huge benefit under SATA III plus the increase to 8GB of NAND is a powerfull combo.

[JanJanowski]

Pleasse re-read my post again... I'm asking for info based upon the XT2 being used on a 3Gb Stata controller.... NOT 6Gb Controller!!!

I want to see a direct comparison to XT1 drive... on a 3Gb Sata controller!

[WiseDrive]

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JanJanowski wrote:

Pleasse re-read my post again... I'm asking for info based upon the XT2 being used on a 3Gb Stata controller.... NOT 6Gb Controller!!!

I want to see a direct comparison to XT1 drive... on a 3Gb Sata controller!

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The easy way to do that is to use an external box with a 3gb interface....

[duffer6]

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JanJanowski wrote:

Pleasse re-read my post again... I'm asking for info based upon the XT2 being used on a 3Gb Stata controller.... NOT 6Gb Controller!!!

I want to see a direct comparison to XT1 drive... on a 3Gb Sata controller!

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Sorry about that I didn't get the gist of your question.  I will provide 3GB Sata II info asap.

[WiseDrive]

The issue is "spec" vs. effective transfer rates achieved over a real connection.

Here is a link that may be an eyeopener:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/174836-32-sata-transfer-rate

In the real world, just because it is speced to 3gbs or 6gbs does not mean something else is not slowing it up either up or downstream.

I normally derate interfaces by about 25% as a first approximation --- assuming it is a good implementation and there is not some other slower component elsewhere.

Also note that the 3gbs include a lot of "overhead' that need to be subtracted from the data actually transmitted.

Noticed that there are very few published specs on actual performance --- because generally, the engineers of the interface assume that their margin is so large that it is not likely to be the slowest place in the machine --- at least most of the time.

At least until someone puts a "hot" new drive or other out.