Solved Buying a Seagate SSHD for my laptop?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I have a doubt: is Samsung 840 120GB SSD a mid-end product?

Let me put it this way. If you look at consumer reviews of all SSDs on Newegg, the Samsung 840s is one of the few getting review scores of five out of five (the rest are getting four out of five, which isn't shabby). While the 840 Pro is superior (and more expensive) to the 840, that doesn't mean the 840 is not still a good SSD. For its price range, the 840 is easily as good as it gets. Unless you use the snot out of your laptop all day everyday (and maybe not even then), the 840 will do just fine as long as you make sure 25% of its capacity remains empty.

If cost and capacity are issues, the Seagate 500GB SSHD is still a good compromise between cost, capacity, reliability (it's been getting pretty decent reviews), and performance. As I already mentioned, even though I could (kindasorta)afford a 512GB 840 Pro, I just couldn't justify spending that much for a drive for a computer that cost considerably less than the drive. Even the 500GB 840 was too much of a stretch, especially since that notebook doesn't get used that much. That's why I decided on the SSHD. It won't be as fast as an SSD but it is already faster than the original HDD and should get better with more use and only cost me 1/7 of what the SSD would have cost. For me, it's a happy compromise but only you can decide what your needs will be.

 

[whs]

I have a doubt: is Samsung 840 120GB SSD a mid-end product?

No idea what you mean by 'mid-end product'. It is a good SSD and I am sure it will serve you well. Any SSD, even the most modest model, is way faster than a spinning disk.

There are also the questions whether your port runs on 3Gb/sec or 6Gb per second and whether your mobo supports AHCI. Both will have an impact on the SSD performance.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...There are also the questions whether your port runs on 3Gb/sec or 6Gb per second and whether your mobo supports AHCI. Both will have an impact on the SSD performance.

True but keep in mind, no matter what the speed the port runs on, the performance difference will still be better. The port the HDD in my notebook was on SATA II (3TGb/s) and the SSHD got the same improvement in program loading that I got on my desktop's SSD running on a SATA III port. Boot times, once the SSHD is "trained", will not be as dramatic as with an SSD on a SATA III port but still will be an improvement.

 

[kbrady1979]

I've got an Intel X25-M SSD, which is SATA II, and I have the Samsung 830, which is SATA III and they run +/- 1% of each other on the Random 4K Read/Writes and Access times. If I put the Samsung on the SATA II port, it only hinders Seq Read/Write and Random 4k-64 thread numbers. The matters that matter are virtually identical.

 

[Johnnycash]

That is true, I will give you that. I have had a few SSD's and the only one that went bad(two actually) were the ones with a Sandforce controller. Not just any Sandforce controller, but the SF controller Intel spent over a year tweaking for reliability. As recent as the Intel 520 drives, Sandforce still has issues. I've heard good things about the Kingston and the Adata SSD's which also have Sandforce controllers. The issue now is, SSD's without a SF controller are fast enough that there is NO advantage to having a Sandforce based SSD. To be honest, Sandforce based drives were ONLY faster in compressible data on sequential reads/writes. Something that is worthless to 99.9% of SSD users. There are too many SSD's that are better options that don't have a Sandforce controller.[/QUOTE]

If you can let me what are issues users are facing with Intel 520? In my test lab I use sandforce & non-sandforce based SSDs for real-world like data testing. I prefer this than just benchmarking, due to commercial catch in few benchamarking tools. I still back my previously said statements about sandforce based drives reliability

 

[kbrady1979]

That is true, I will give you that. I have had a few SSD's and the only one that went bad(two actually) were the ones with a Sandforce controller. Not just any Sandforce controller, but the SF controller Intel spent over a year tweaking for reliability. As recent as the Intel 520 drives, Sandforce still has issues. I've heard good things about the Kingston and the Adata SSD's which also have Sandforce controllers. The issue now is, SSD's without a SF controller are fast enough that there is NO advantage to having a Sandforce based SSD. To be honest, Sandforce based drives were ONLY faster in compressible data on sequential reads/writes. Something that is worthless to 99.9% of SSD users. There are too many SSD's that are better options that don't have a Sandforce controller.

If you can let me what are issues users are facing with Intel 520? In my test lab I use sandforce & non-sandforce based SSDs for real-world like data testing. I prefer this than just benchmarking, due to commercial catch in few benchamarking tools. I still back my previously said statements about sandforce based drives reliability[/QUOTE]


I took them out of the box, hooked them up and installed Windows on them and less than 24 hours later they were bad. Blue screen after blue screen. Sent that drive back and got another.......exact same results. Went with a Samsung 830 after that and haven't had a problem since.

 

[madcratebuilder]

I've been looking at Hybrids for the past few days, I may need to replace the hhd in my laptop. The new Seagate thin laptop model is very appealing, 500gb plus nand for $70, or 1tb and nand for $120. It's not going to be as fast as my 840 pro but from reviews, it learns very fast what is needed in nand. I almost hope I can't recover my current laptop drive.

 

[PedroCst]

I've been looking at Hybrids for the past few days, I may need to replace the hhd in my laptop. The new Seagate thin laptop model is very appealing, 500gb plus nand for $70, or 1tb and nand for $120. It's not going to be as fast as my 840 pro but from reviews, it learns very fast what is needed in nand. I almost hope I can't recover my current laptop drive.

Go for the hybrid drive if 120GB/250GB SSD is not enough for you.
In case you want to recover some files, I recommend you to install a Linux distro, boot it from a flash drive and copy the files (the drive will be accessible this way).

 

[madcratebuilder]

I've been looking at Hybrids for the past few days, I may need to replace the hhd in my laptop. The new Seagate thin laptop model is very appealing, 500gb plus nand for $70, or 1tb and nand for $120. It's not going to be as fast as my 840 pro but from reviews, it learns very fast what is needed in nand. I almost hope I can't recover my current laptop drive.

Go for the hybrid drive if 120GB/250GB SSD is not enough for you.
In case you want to recover some files, I recommend you to install a Linux distro, boot it from a flash drive and copy the files (the drive will be accessible this way).

I've been running different iso'd on the laptop today, Linux Mint and the new Ubuntu. I really like Ubuntu, it runs well from cd so I exspect it to fly from the hhd.

The hhd in the laptop is still good, has some pending sectors. After I get the new drive in I well do a low level format and use this old hhd for playing with different Linux disto's. Nice thing about this old Dell is the hhd swaps out in one minute.

I just bought this off evil bay. Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB 7200RPM 2.5" Hybrid Hard Drive. $65 shipped, it's a refurb but I got the two year warranty for an extra $15. It has 8gb of nand and with a 7200 rpm spindle it show be fast enough for me and this old Dell 1525.

 

[Layback Bear]

In a year who is going to honor a ebay warranty.

Post #69
I just bought this off evil bay. Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB 7200RPM 2.5" Hybrid Hard Drive. $65 shipped, it's a refurb but I got the two year warranty for an extra $15. It has 8gb of nand and with a 7200 rpm spindle it show be fast enough for me and this old Dell 1525

 

[PedroCst]

I've been running different iso'd on the laptop today, Linux Mint and the new Ubuntu. I really like Ubuntu, it runs well from cd so I exspect it to fly from the hhd.

The hhd in the laptop is still good, has some pending sectors. After I get the new drive in I well do a low level format and use this old hhd for playing with different Linux disto's. Nice thing about this old Dell is the hhd swaps out in one minute.

I just bought this off evil bay. Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB 7200RPM 2.5" Hybrid Hard Drive. $65 shipped, it's a refurb but I got the two year warranty for an extra $15. It has 8gb of nand and with a 7200 rpm spindle it show be fast enough for me and this old Dell 1525.

First of all I'd recommend you to call off the purchase, save a few bucks and get the drive (plus warranty) from Amazon, which looks like a more trustworthy seller as well. Seagate Momentus XT 500GB @ 7200rpm from Amazon

The Ubuntu looks great indeed (much better than Mint IMO) but there is some crucial software for me that totally makes me to stay away from it (MS Office and iTunes), as well as other software/keyboard optimizations.
The 2nd-gen Momentus XT has really good reviews, learns pretty fast on how to speed things) and seems to be pretty reliable. BTW the older gen had a software issue, I think, so it wasn't really the hardware's fault. I hope it serves you well!

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I've been running different iso'd on the laptop today, Linux Mint and the new Ubuntu. I really like Ubuntu, it runs well from cd so I exspect it to fly from the hhd.

The hhd in the laptop is still good, has some pending sectors. After I get the new drive in I well do a low level format and use this old hhd for playing with different Linux disto's. Nice thing about this old Dell is the hhd swaps out in one minute.

I just bought this off evil bay. Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB 7200RPM 2.5" Hybrid Hard Drive. $65 shipped, it's a refurb but I got the two year warranty for an extra $15. It has 8gb of nand and with a 7200 rpm spindle it show be fast enough for me and this old Dell 1525.

First of all I'd recommend you to call off the purchase, save a few bucks and get the drive (plus warranty) from Amazon, which looks like a more trustworthy seller as well. Seagate Momentus XT 500GB @ 7200rpm from Amazon

The Ubuntu looks great indeed (much better than Mint IMO) but there is some crucial software for me that totally makes me to stay away from it (MS Office and iTunes), as well as other software/keyboard optimizations.
The 2nd-gen Momentus XT has really good reviews, learns pretty fast on how to speed things) and seems to be pretty reliable. BTW the older gen had a software issue, I think, so it wasn't really the hardware's fault. I hope it serves you well!

NewEgg also has the drive plus you can buy an extended warranty, which is what I did when I bought mine a couple of weeks ago.

 

[madcratebuilder]

In a year who is going to honor a ebay warranty.

Post #69
I just bought this off evil bay. Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB 7200RPM 2.5" Hybrid Hard Drive. $65 shipped, it's a refurb but I got the two year warranty for an extra $15. It has 8gb of nand and with a 7200 rpm spindle it show be fast enough for me and this old Dell 1525

You've never heard of Square Trade? A ebay sellers warranty does not mean much but ST been around for years, multi million dollar outfit.

It's nothing special, it well either repair or refund the purchase price for a period of 24 months. Cost was $16, good gamble being it's a refurb drive with only a 90 day oem warranty. If it dies in the first two years I get my money back...and lose my data.:sarc:

 

[PedroCst]

You've never heard of Square Trade? A ebay sellers warranty does not mean much but ST been around for years, multi million dollar outfit.

It's nothing special, it well either repair or refund the purchase price for a period of 24 months. Cost was $16, good gamble being it's a refurb drive with only a 90 day oem warranty. If it dies in the first two years I get my money back...and lose my data.:sarc:

I still think you should buy it from Amazon. It is new, has a 2yr warranty and is $10 cheaper. There's absolutely no reason for getting it from eBay.

 

[madcratebuilder]

I've been running different iso'd on the laptop today, Linux Mint and the new Ubuntu. I really like Ubuntu, it runs well from cd so I exspect it to fly from the hhd.

The hhd in the laptop is still good, has some pending sectors. After I get the new drive in I well do a low level format and use this old hhd for playing with different Linux disto's. Nice thing about this old Dell is the hhd swaps out in one minute.

I just bought this off evil bay. Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB 7200RPM 2.5" Hybrid Hard Drive. $65 shipped, it's a refurb but I got the two year warranty for an extra $15. It has 8gb of nand and with a 7200 rpm spindle it show be fast enough for me and this old Dell 1525.

First of all I'd recommend you to call off the purchase, save a few bucks and get the drive (plus warranty) from Amazon, which looks like a more trustworthy seller as well. Seagate Momentus XT 500GB @ 7200rpm from Amazon

The Ubuntu looks great indeed (much better than Mint IMO) but there is some crucial software for me that totally makes me to stay away from it (MS Office and iTunes), as well as other software/keyboard optimizations.
The 2nd-gen Momentus XT has really good reviews, learns pretty fast on how to speed things) and seems to be pretty reliable. BTW the older gen had a software issue, I think, so it wasn't really the hardware's fault. I hope it serves you well!

You didn't read my link, that is the drive I purchased.

Seagate has dropped the Momentus XT and has replaced it with the new "Thin Laptop" model.

You can can run MS Office, check out "Crossover Office" by Codeweavers.

 

[madcratebuilder]

You've never heard of Square Trade? A ebay sellers warranty does not mean much but ST been around for years, multi million dollar outfit.

It's nothing special, it well either repair or refund the purchase price for a period of 24 months. Cost was $16, good gamble being it's a refurb drive with only a 90 day oem warranty. If it dies in the first two years I get my money back...and lose my data.:sarc:

I still think you should buy it from Amazon. It is new, has a 2yr warranty and is $10 cheaper. There's absolutely no reason for getting it from eBay.

I can't follow your math or your reasoning.:huh: Amazon shows a $151 price, plus shipping, another $10. Evil bay is $64.99 shipped, or $80 with the two year warranty. $160 or $80...your choice.:shock:

The Newegg deal is a three year warranty for $80 even better. I've had bad customer service from Newegg so I don't buy from them anymore.

 

[PedroCst]

I can't follow your math or your reasoning.:huh: Amazon shows a $151 price, plus shipping, another $10. Evil bay is $64.99 shipped, or $80 with the two year warranty. $160 or $80...your choice.:shock:

The Newegg deal is a three year warranty for $80 even better. I've had bad customer service from Newegg so I don't buy from them anymore.

If Amazon shows up $151 then you definitely didn't click in my link

 

[madcratebuilder]

I can't follow your math or your reasoning.:huh: Amazon shows a $151 price, plus shipping, another $10. Evil bay is $64.99 shipped, or $80 with the two year warranty. $160 or $80...your choice.:shock:

The Newegg deal is a three year warranty for $80 even better. I've had bad customer service from Newegg so I don't buy from them anymore.

If Amazon shows up $151 then you definitely didn't click in my link

Your link is to a standard HHD, 423AS, not a hybrid drive, 620AS,with nand embedded. The hybrid in my link has 8GB of nand PLUS a 500GB spinner. Apples and oranges.

 

[PedroCst]

Alright. Now you can congratulate me or being a jerk.

EDIT: It just confused me that the SSHD was more expensive in the US than in the UK. Whatever...

 

[madcratebuilder]

Alright. Now you can congratulate me or being a jerk.

EDIT: It just confused me that the SSHD was more expensive in the US than in the UK. Whatever...

Easy mistake to make, Amazon's main description looks the same on both drives.

So what drive did you end up with? I'm curious too see how this "adaptive learning" on the hybrid works out. I still need to decide what OS to install, maybe Vista 64 as I have a COA for it.