At that time though, the drive was out of stock everywhere as Seagate seemed to have stopped production to fix some engineering problems. Since even now (May 2009) this is the biggest and fastest consumer 2.5 inch drive available, I decided to wait for it.
In the mean time, I read reviews on it, which were mixed. Some people who got their hands on one of the first run models reported them slow, noisy, buggy and hot. Other owners reported back that the drives were fine. Two more good reviews issued from barefeats and hardwarelogic.
After about 2 months of waiting, these drives were for sale once again, this time with updated firmware 2SDM1. This is the one I bought online from WiredZone for $133 with free shipping. It's just a brown box, egg foam and anti-static bag. No glossy fanfare, manuals or any of that. I don't know if that's typical.
Before evicting the old (warranty replacement) Hitachi 200g 7200rpm, I decided to take some crude benchmarks of it so I'd know whether the new Seagate was any better. Say goodbye to HTS722020K9SA00 Made in Thailand:
Hello Seagate Hecho in China:
After copying a bootable backup onto an external firewire drive with the excellent SuperDuper! cloning software, I was ready to swap drives. Disassembly instructions for the model 3,1 MacBook Pro are at iFixit. If you have a Bugs Bunny video, then you won't have to unhook the delicate ribbon cable that connects the keyboard to the motherboard.
After the swap, I booted from the external firewire drive and used SuperDuper! to clone back onto the new empty internal hard drive. Then a reboot and everything is running on the new Seagate.
Now, for the comparisons, which may not be quite fair because the Hitachi was almost full for the benchmarks, while the Seagate was mostly empty.
Boot Time
| Hitachi | Seagate |
|---|---|
| Apple Logo: 51 sec Login Window: +33 sec Total: 84 secs | Apple Logo: 16 sec Login Window: +40 sec Total: 56 secs |
Xbench
| Hitachi | Seagate |
|---|---|
| Results 43.50 System Info Xbench Version 1.3 System Version 10.5.6 (9G55) Physical RAM 4096 MB Model MacBookPro3,1 Drive Type Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00 Disk Test 43.50 Sequential 79.03 Uncached Write 108.92 66.88 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Write 110.86 62.73 MB/sec [256K blocks] Uncached Read 40.92 11.98 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Read 125.34 62.99 MB/sec [256K blocks] Random 30.01 Uncached Write 9.76 1.03 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Write 97.19 31.11 MB/sec [256K blocks] Uncached Read 77.83 0.55 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Read 130.73 24.26 MB/sec [256K blocks] | Results 52.73 System Info Xbench Version 1.3 System Version 10.5.6 (9G55) Physical RAM 4096 MB Model MacBookPro3,1 Drive Type ST9500420AS Disk Test 52.73 Sequential 119.09 Uncached Write 164.42 100.95 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Write 146.68 82.99 MB/sec [256K blocks] Uncached Read 65.58 19.19 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Read 183.84 92.39 MB/sec [256K blocks] Random 33.86 Uncached Write 10.73 1.14 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Write 171.66 54.96 MB/sec [256K blocks] Uncached Read 80.56 0.57 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Read 148.96 27.64 MB/sec [256K blocks] |
Bonnie++
Hitachi:
Version 1.93c ------Sequential Output------ --Sequential Input- --Random-
Concurrency 1 -Per Chr- --Block-- -Rewrite- -Per Chr- --Block-- --Seeks--
Machine Size K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP /sec %CP
arf.local 16G 297 97 52023 18 24538 9 332 95 55015 11 105.9 10
Latency 80374us 687ms 610ms 121ms 213ms 4029ms
Version 1.93c ------Sequential Create------ --------Random Create--------
arf.local -Create-- --Read--- -Delete-- -Create-- --Read--- -Delete--
files /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP
16 6111 55 +++++ +++ 9257 61 367 8 +++++ +++ 151 4
Latency 76653us 920us 79744us 333ms 1399us 414ms
Seagate:
Version 1.93c ------Sequential Output------ --Sequential Input- --Random-
Concurrency 1 -Per Chr- --Block-- -Rewrite- -Per Chr- --Block-- --Seeks--
Machine Size K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP /sec %CP
arf.local 16G 293 96 90295 32 36049 14 343 98 91548 20 164.4 13
Latency 134ms 388ms 217ms 85474us 132ms 1942ms
Version 1.93c ------Sequential Create------ --------Random Create--------
arf.local -Create-- --Read--- -Delete-- -Create-- --Read--- -Delete--
files /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP
16 5313 56 +++++ +++ 5567 41 320 8 +++++ +++ 149 5
Latency 106ms 200us 151ms 497ms 380us 322ms
dd
I ran the write in root "/" directory (and therefore had to use sudo) to avoid writing in my home directory, which is Filevault and would probably skew performance downward. The 1st dd in each section below is writing, the 2nd is reading.
| Hitachi | Seagate |
|---|---|
| $ sudo time dd if=/dev/zero of=/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/test bs=1024k count=16384; 17179869184 bytes transferred in 319.400409 secs (53787875 bytes/sec) $ time dd of=/dev/null if=/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/test bs=1024k 17179869184 bytes transferred in 305.974147 secs (56148107 bytes/sec) | $ sudo time dd if=/dev/zero of=/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/test bs=1024k 17179869184 bytes transferred in 188.208635 secs (91280983 bytes/sec) $ time dd of=/dev/null if=/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/test bs=1024k 17179869184 bytes transferred in 180.531769 secs (95162581 bytes/sec) |
The result of the tests showed that in addition to more than doubling my disk space with the new drive, it is also objectively faster than the old one, even at the same spindle speeds. However, this is probably just because the new one is mostly empty and the old one was mostly full. Performance will always be a lot better when data is on the beginning instead of the end of a mechanical drive.
The last bit of info to share is from SMART, accessed with smartctl from smartmontools. The Hitachi was in pretty good shape, aside from the strange value for Power-Off_Retract_Count. Don;t have a clue what that one means:
Hitachi SMART
Model Family: Hitachi Travelstar 7K200
Device Model: Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00
Serial Number: 080830DP0470DTGP3MMC
Firmware Version: DC4AC77A
User Capacity: 200,049,647,616 bytes
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 8
ATA Standard is: ATA-8-ACS revision 3f
Local Time is: Sun May 17 23:31:07 2009 PDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 062 Pre-fail Always - 0
2 Throughput_Performance 0x0005 100 100 040 Pre-fail Offline - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0007 176 176 033 Pre-fail Always - 1
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 200
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 005 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 067 Pre-fail Always - 0
8 Seek_Time_Performance 0x0005 100 100 040 Pre-fail Offline - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 342
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 060 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 192
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 42954326020
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 8991
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0002 130 130 000 Old_age Always - 42 (Lifetime Min/Max 14/47)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0008 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x000a 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
223 Load_Retry_Count 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
The Seagate, on the otherhand, looked alarming when I first checked it out. I thought the drive was defective and was ready to send it back for RMA:
Seagate SMART
$ sudo smartctl -s on /dev/disk0
SMART Enabled.
$ sudo smartctl -a /dev/disk0
Device Model: ST9500420AS
Serial Number: 5VJ079ZE
Firmware Version: 0002SDM1
User Capacity: 500,107,862,016 bytes
Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is: 8
ATA Standard is: ATA-8-ACS revision 4
Local Time is: Wed May 20 00:42:19 2009 PDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
...
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 118 100 006 Pre-fail Always - 184273167
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 100 100 085 Pre-fail Always - 0
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 2
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 036 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 100 253 030 Pre-fail Always - 139058
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 24
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 037 020 Old_age Always - 5
184 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always - 0
187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
188 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 062 052 045 Old_age Always - 38 (Lifetime Min/Max 28/41)
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 - 0
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 3798
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 038 048 000 Old_age Always - 38 (0 22 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x001a 045 045 000 Old_age Always - 184273167
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 70690866724884
241 Unknown_Attribute 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 2076453070
242 Unknown_Attribute 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 2307582568
254 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Short offline Completed without error 00% 21 -
# 2 Extended offline Aborted by host 90% 21 -
# 3 Extended offline Aborted by host 60% 9 -
# 4 Extended offline Aborted by host 50% 2 -
Raw_Read_Error_Rate, Seek_Error_Rate and Hardware_ECC_Recovered make it look like the disk is dying. Attributes 240, 241, 242 are nonsensical. After investigating though, it seems that these type of values on those attributes are just normal for a Seagate.
A few searches on these attributes will find many discussions where people are concluding that these odd values don't indicate a problem. Seagate also has a KB article basically warning users not to pay attention to those SMART values. Apparently they stuff their own proprietary values into the SMART circuits which only becomes meaningful when pulled through their "Seatools" disk analyzer software. Regular SMART software tools that follow the published SMART protocols won't be able to make any use of Seagate's stored raw values for those attributes. Incidentally, there is no Mac version of Seatools.
I've had my new Momentus drive running now for about 24 hours. Over the last 4 hours while I've been using the machine, I have heard a pretty loud "CLUNK" twice. Probably the heads parking or unparking for powersaving mode. The Hitachi never did that, but it's only happened twice and other than that, I can't tell the difference between this drive and the old one by noise, vibration or temperature. Tests indicate that there are no errors that other owners were complaining about this past winter with the older firmware rev, and it is a bit faster than Hecho in Thailand.
I guess it's a good one but I'll still keep up the SuperDuper! onsite and Crashplan offsite regimen.
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