Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid HDD

[ironclaw]

So your problem was only the data corruption? (and this is a pretty big problem, so by only I mean there is no other problem).

Yes, that's the only problem that I've ever been aware of on my Momentus XTs.

I held myself because I could possibly corrupt my existing data. Is this correct? Is there any way to try to reproduce the problem without riskng existing data?

Actually, I think it is highly unlikely that existing data can be corrupted by testing the Momentus XT with my instructions. I am quite confident that the data corruption is caused by the Momentus XT incorrectly writing large files. In other words, as long as your system is not overwriting large files while the testing is in progress, your existing data should be safe.

In fact, there's an additional layer of safety because I've found that corruption does not occur if you are reading and writing on the same Momentus XT - so if you copy a large file both from and to the Momentus XT, nothing bad will happen.

The only realistic scenario where data corruption occurs is if you copy a large file from an external device onto the Momentus XT. This is how I first experienced the problem.

Just to be extra safe, if you try to reproduce the data corruption issue, I would recommend that you reboot the system just before and just after testing.

If you have time to do the testing before updating to SD28, I would be very interested to hear the results.

[chronos00]

Count on it.

I'll have a couple of weeks before returning home and being able to backup my data, so until then I'll have plenty of time for testing.

I remember reading you had changed your guide a couple of times. What test would you like me to run? I mean, what is the last guide you wrote?

Regards

[ironclaw]

Thanks! I appreciate it. Use this guide. The commands in any outdated guide are all crossed out, so as long as the commands are visible, you are looking at the most up-to-date guide.

I think you don't have an external drive with you(?) In this case, you will want to setup tmpfs, as I state in the guide. I hope you have at least 2GB of RAM - 1GB of RAM should also work, but the test file size will be smaller, and the problem takes longer to reproduce with smaller test files.

What filesystem are you on? I've consistently reproduced the issue on ext4, ext2, NTFS, and Btrfs, but strangely ext3 seems to be safe from data corruption.

[htt-thalan]

Thanks! I appreciate it. Use this guide. The commands in any outdated guide are all crossed out, so as long as the commands are visible, you are looking at the most up-to-date guide.

I think you don't have an external drive with you(?) In this case, you will want to setup tmpfs, as I state in the guide. I hope you have at least 2GB of RAM - 1GB of RAM should also work, but the test file size will be smaller, and the problem takes longer to reproduce with smaller test files.

What filesystem are you on? I've consistently reproduced the issue on ext4, ext2, NTFS, and Btrfs, but strangely ext3 seems to be safe from data corruption.

Boy am I glad I read this thread before switching to the new 11.11 on my Seagate XT Hybrid disk

Now my knowledge on Linux is limited (only started learning 2 years ago) but I do recall Ext4 having some minor (or major, depending on your philosophical viewpoint) possible problems with regards to file corruption. Is that problem still present and maybe interfering with your results?

I have a normal 500gb Sata disk at hand to replace my drive with (saves me having to make a seperate ghost of my current installation besides the normal file backup) to try out 11.11 on my Qosmio notebook, but I would much rather enjoy the speed of the new kernel with my Hybrid XT disk than some outdated 5400rpm Sata disk.

If it's a dodgy setup though, I might have to wait a while before I switch. Have been running Win7 on the XT disk after I purchased it, exactly because I was already expecting some compatibilty issues with Linux, albeit my previous hesitation was inspired by the then-new Trim support needed for SSD disks and I wasn't sure if the Hybrid counts as one.

[ironclaw]

Now my knowledge on Linux is limited (only started learning 2 years ago) but I do recall Ext4 having some minor (or major, depending on your philosophical viewpoint) possible problems with regards to file corruption. Is that problem still present and maybe interfering with your results?

As far as I know, the delayed allocation changes from ext3 to ext4 only affects scenarios involving a kernel panic or a sudden power loss. Ext4 should be rock stable under normal circumstances, so I don't think this had to do with the previous file corruption issues on Momentus XTs.

If it's a dodgy setup though, I might have to wait a while before I switch. Have been running Win7 on the XT disk after I purchased it, exactly because I was already expecting some compatibilty issues with Linux, albeit my previous hesitation was inspired by the then-new Trim support needed for SSD disks and I wasn't sure if the Hybrid counts as one.

You should have no issues with Linux as long as you update the Momentus XT firmware to SD28. Also, I don't think the Momentus XT accepts TRIM commands - it manages its SSD cache independent of the OS.

[superbonus]

I've had the stuttering issue (but no file corruption) since a month after I bought my XT 6 months ago. I started on firmware SD24 and went to SD25 and then to SD28. I thought the SD28 firmware had solved my problems but only a week after flashing the stuttering returned worse than ever. It's almost unusable now; I get a 2 - 5 second stutter every time I load a new page in my browser. I wish Seagate would sort this out and stop selling the drive until they do.

[edubbler]

Installing one of these tomorrow.

Any filesystem recommendations? I'm torn between xfs & ext4 but open to any recommendation.

[oldsmoke]

put 1 in a couple days ago seems fine no super speed increases but is doing fine my install problems with file systems seem related to 11.10
the prob is installs fail if i pick any other file system such as xfs or jfs.

[edubbler]

put 1 in a couple days ago seems fine no super speed increases but is doing fine my install problems with file systems seem related to 11.10
the prob is installs fail if i pick any other file system such as xfs or jfs.

I've been running perfectly fine on XFS. Noticeable bump in boot up time.

Just FYI