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

[ElanMike1]

I see a few people have had issues with these drives, but mine has been working in my MacBook without issues since I purchased it in March. I'm on the latest firmware and all was fine, until today my MacBook would not boot. OSX took me to a gray screen where I tried to select the 'Startup Disk'; no drives were displayed. I ran disk utility and 'repaired' the drive. Reboot, still no success - it keeps going to the gray screen I the drive won't show up again.

I removed the drive and put it in an external enclosiure and I could see it - so I quickly backed up - it's been a couple of weeks. I can boot from the macbook old drive internal and see the device externally, but cannot boot when the drive is in the MacBook. 4 months, not a glitch, then this. 

Any suggestions? Or do I need to RMA the drive?

[Cantbecanit]

If it works in an external it isn't a faulty drive is it.

[ElanMike1]

Cantbecanit says; "If it works in an external it isn't a faulty drive is it." Really? Im calling BS on that one!

The functionality of electrical components depends on many different variables; supply voltage, temperature, signal timing etc. Although the SATA spec defines each of these, there is a range for each - the allowable operating range. Each system will be very slightly different. Depending on the design of a device, it may not support the full range of the spec. As you then place your device in to a system, whether it functions correctly or not depends on the conditions within that system. As an example, if the spec states a timing has to be 20-50ns and your system only supports 30-50ns, put it in a computer that gives your 40ns and it works fine. Give it 25ns and it fails. 

I suspect that the Momentux XT has a timing related issue with it's design. Why suspect the Momentus XT and not the computer? The evidence points to the XT500:

1. The Momentux XT 500GB appears to be having issues in multiple applications.

2. Other devices are not having issues in those same applcations, including the Momnentus XT 750 it appears. 

3. Looking at the Kernal log I see multiple IO errors reported for the drive. I do not get these with other drives.

Is the evidence conclusive, no. But it's sure enough substantial evidence to get a jury to decide guilty.

I can understand that Seagate has moved on to newer, better models since the Momentus XT500 came out, and probably don't want to spend precious R&D dollars dealing with it, but it's not appropriate to pass the blame.

As an update, I do have the drive running again in the Macbook, but I am still getting a lot of IO errors and frequennt freezing of the machine. 

[Cantbecanit]

Ok it's BS then?

Title says Momentus XT 500GB Just Died!

Then you say it works in an external?

So if it works in an external how can it be dead?

This is one of the reasons I quit doing this tbh, too many experts asking for help seeking only their own answer!

Now before it gets out of shape I'm not aiming at you in particular, but read it as I just posted it, appreciate I can't see what is physically happening from my monitor and you'll understand why it gets so dam frustrating trying to help,

Anyway, lets see the condition of the drive, HD Sentinal report please, you may find it is indeed on it's way out, but as long as it's working it isn't dead is it?

As it's lived in a laptop it's odds on it's cooked, too much heat tbh, not that that's your fault btw, it's just bad design on the part of the computer designers,

Is this a 500 SSD or a 500 HDD version, i.e hybrid or not?

[Cantbecanit]

Another snippet, if it won't list on your Mac but does in an enclosure perhaps it's your Mac at fault, both ways to run it rely on talking through an interface cable, one seems ok and the other not, as the cable performs the same function for both formats is it fair to say perhaps the Mac has a bad cable in it or maybe the power rail is loose or dying?

I noticed you said you performed a start up repair, how did you manage that if the drive wasn't listing?

[ElanMike1]

I found a program called SMART reporter for the MAC which I purchased to look at the drive SMART details. It also enables unning of the SMART self test built in to the drive. The results of both are below. It states the drive passed, but a few lines later states that the read part of the test failed. I have also looked at the Console log and found I/O Errors reported for the drive every time my MacBook freezes up. The drive will freeze regularly for a variable period.

Status Report:

smartctl 5.43 (build date Apr 27 2012) [x86_64-apple-darwin11.3.0] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-12 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Seagate Momentus XT
Device Model: ST95005620AS
Serial Number: 5YX1JRJQ
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 044843c4f
Firmware Version: SD28
User Capacity: 500,107,862,016 bytes [500 GB]
Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 8
ATA Standard is: ATA-8-ACS revision 4
Local Time is: Thu Jul 19 18:43:32 2012 MST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Disabled

=== START OF ENABLE/DISABLE COMMANDS SECTION ===
SMART Enabled.

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 121) The previous self-test completed having
the read element of the test failed.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 625) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x73) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
No Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 104) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x1001) SCT Status supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 099 096 006 Pre-fail Always - 1200658
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 098 098 000 Pre-fail Always - 0
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 12
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 036 Pre-fail Always - 9
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 100 253 030 Pre-fail Always - 83842
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 805
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 225
184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always - 0
187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 803
188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0
189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 059 052 045 Old_age Always - 41 (Min/Max 27/42)
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 10
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 082 082 000 Old_age Always - 37473
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 041 048 000 Old_age Always - 41 (0 24 0 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x001a 045 042 000 Old_age Always - 1200658
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 44
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 098 098 000 Old_age Offline - 44
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 782 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
CR = Command Register [HEX]
FR = Features Register [HEX]
SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
ER = Error register [HEX]
ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mmS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 782 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 804 hours (33 days + 12 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 08 98 48 86 50 Error: UNC 8 sectors at LBA = 0x00864898 = 8800408

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 08 98 48 86 00 00 1d+06:22:49.988 READ DMA EXT
25 00 08 98 48 86 00 00 18:26:45.147 READ DMA EXT
ef 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 18:26:26.726 SET FEATURES [Enable write cache]
ef aa 00 00 00 00 00 00 18:26:08.518 SET FEATURES [Enable read look-ahead]
ef 03 46 00 00 00 00 00 18:25:50.072 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]

Error 781 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 804 hours (33 days + 12 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 08 98 48 86 50 Error: UNC 8 sectors at LBA = 0x00864898 = 8800408

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 08 98 48 86 00 00 18:26:45.147 READ DMA EXT
ef 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 18:26:26.726 SET FEATURES [Enable write cache]
ef aa 00 00 00 00 00 00 18:26:08.518 SET FEATURES [Enable read look-ahead]
ef 03 46 00 00 00 00 00 18:25:50.072 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 18:22:41.927 NOP [Abort queued commands]

Error 780 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 804 hours (33 days + 12 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 08 98 48 86 50 Error: UNC 8 sectors at LBA = 0x00864898 = 8800408

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 08 98 48 86 00 00 45d+06:24:56.416 READ DMA EXT
25 00 08 98 48 86 00 00 44d+19:18:08.898 READ DMA EXT
2f 00 01 10 00 00 00 00 44d+18:59:11.182 READ LOG EXT
60 00 08 ff ff ff 0f 00 44d+08:04:17.848 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 00 08 98 48 86 00 00 44d+07:03:42.507 READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 779 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 804 hours (33 days + 12 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 08 98 48 86 50 Error: UNC 8 sectors at LBA = 0x00864898 = 8800408

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 08 98 48 86 00 00 44d+19:18:08.898 READ DMA EXT
2f 00 01 10 00 00 00 00 44d+18:59:11.182 READ LOG EXT
60 00 08 ff ff ff 0f 00 44d+08:04:17.848 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 00 08 98 48 86 00 00 44d+07:03:42.507 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 00 08 ff ff ff 0f 00 44d+07:03:40.921 READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 778 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 804 hours (33 days + 12 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 41 08 98 48 86 40 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00864898 = 8800408

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
60 00 08 ff ff ff 0f 00 44d+08:04:17.848 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 00 08 98 48 86 00 00 44d+07:03:42.507 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 00 08 ff ff ff 0f 00 44d+07:03:40.921 READ FPDMA QUEUED
61 00 08 ff ff ff 0f 00 44d+07:02:48.547 WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
61 00 08 ff ff ff 0f 00 44d+07:02:48.442 WRITE FPDMA QUEUED

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Extended offline Completed: read failure 90% 804 8800408
# 2 Short offline Completed: read failure 90% 804 8800408

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

[Cantbecanit]

i/o error is normally a bad cable, and would cause freezing.

[ElanMike1]

When you mentioned it could be the computer and not the drive, this is why I swapped the MomentusXT in to an external closure, and put the other drive back in the MacBook.

The Momentus XT shows issues in the MacBook and the external enclosure. The original MacBook drive has no issues in either the enclosure, or the MacBook. There is no common cable to change out!

Therefore, it is highly likely that the IO errors causing the issues are coming form the HD, correct?

[Cantbecanit]

Ok, from what I can see you may have a dying drive,

Where it says about 33 Days & hours is that time on or estimated time to live?

If it's estimated time to live it's probably down to about 8% health and you should rma it,

How old is the Mac btw and what size drive have you removed from it?

[ElanMike1]

The Macbook is a 2008 model. The drive I removed, and now repalced, was a 250Gb model.

I bought the Momentus XT for improved speed, which I admit it certainly did provide.

I see a few issues with this drive mentioned in the forums. Once RMA'd, are there changes that would suggest the next model should not have an issue?

Thx.