current hdd Segate ST9500420AS and thinking of switching to Seagate ST95005620AS (Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid Drive) been wondering whether there could be real gain expected or not so much. there are few reviews out there, but nothing really helpful in this regard. somebody with personal experience here? the laptop has only one hdd interface/bay, hence cannot go for sdd plus hdd, but wondering whether there are worthwhile hybrid solutions recommended.
Just changed the harddisk of my wife's laptop (Inspiron 1501 with x2 1,6Ghz AMD and 2 GB memory) from a 120 GB Samsung with read 40 BM/s and write 25 MB/s for a Seagate Hybrid 250 MB. Besides its 7200 RPM near 100 MB read speed, the 4GB read only flash memory is great. Vista x32 startup time from 1.45 min to 40 secs (turn of prefetch & superfetch). Launch time IE8 cold from 5 secs to 2 secs, repeat launches 1 sec. Outlook cold start 6 secs (she keeps all her mail ) to 2 secs. So a real improvement. There is no security software installed (only Safe-admin setup) Regards
Thanks for the feedback Kees! I still remain undecided as the current hdd got already 16mb cache and 7200 rpm, whether it would be a notable improvement with the 32mb cache and the 4gb ssd portion of the hybrid. will probably keep on musing a few more days... a bit jelous of your safe-admin alpha (but that is another thread)
I have the exact same drive in my laptop as you do. However, when you posted this thread, I went ahead and bought one from Newegg.com for about $100. Also, Newegg.com has 2x4gb laptop memory DDR3 for about $90. Not bad for 8gb.
then I shall ask newegg for some incentive... back on topic - you bought the hybrid then? would love to hear your experience about speed improvement - and do not blame me if there is none ...
Well, Yesterday she worked at home and first put on her work laptop a intel dual core P9600 (@2,66Ghz) HP with 5400 RPM drive, running XP Sp3, next she put on the old AMD 1,6 Ghz X2 Turion with Hybrid Harddrive. The AMD Hybrid was ready to go 5 secs before her work laptop (running NIS) was up and running. So we did a little game, starting Outlook, IE8, Word, Excel and Powerpoint on her 3,5 year old private laptop and half year old work laptop simultaniously. The Hybrid is the best upgrade for an old laptop (HD swap takes 5 minutes), running XP or Vista (especially Vista). On Windows7 the gain is less, so I heard from a friend who also bought one in a 2 year old MSI laptop. My experience: Vista reduction of boot and program startup time by 60-70 percent. Windows 7 experience only 30 to 20 percent time reduction (considering everything is faster on Windows this looks still substantial, but is a real disappointment after having experienced Vista improvement). Regards Kees
thanks for the feedback! sounds you made your wife a bit happy, without arguing... I will stay with my current hdd on W7, which is basically the same except for the ssd hybrid. reckon the gain would be only marginal at this point.
Mrs Yes, you are to blame. LOL! I have three personal laptops and a desktop. The Asus N61Jq-A1 came installed with the drive ST9500420AS like yours as you mentioned above. I have bought the Seagate ST95005620AS (Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid Drive) for it along with upgrade of RAM from 4gb to 8gb. The Asus UL50Vt-A1 came with a Seagate 500gb too, but with 5400 RPM. So, I plan to install the ST9500420AS from the Asus N61Jq-A1. Again, I plan to upgrade the memory from 4gb to 8gb. My old Acer Ferrari 4500 WLMi came with an IDE drive 120gb, and speed of 5400 RPM. I have already upgraded this to 160gb in the past. The plan is to put the 500gb, 5400 RPM from Asus UL50Vt-A1. However, it will require a IDE/SATA converter. These have been shipped to my friend in Boston, MA. He will will visiting us for Christmas around the 20th of this month. Never done imaging or backup before. Always done format. Will need help in imaging so to avoid formatting the three laptops! HELP!
