Upgrading to a Seagate Momentus XT, input wanted

I'm planning on upgrading my Alienware mx14x current hard drive to the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB. My reasoning for not getting an SSD is their much more expensive (I also want to keep my optical drive), and I would like to have the 500GB capacity. Also, I do not want to shell out an extra $130 for the brand new XT that 8GB flash.

My main goal from upgrading the hard drive is gaining faster boot times, booting faster from hibernate and I tend to use a lot of the same applications for school and I play exclusively one game so I'm hoping that the hard drive would be able to improve all of these.

I'm wondering from users of the Seagate Momentus XT, do you like it? Would you recommend it? Also, have you had any issues with yours?

I have read lots of 139 page thread but its hard to navigate.

 

I've been using a Momentus XT in my old Inspiron 1520 for the past six months. My Windows start-up times have been cut in half, easily. Starting my normal handful of programs is also greatly accelerated. I've personally had absolutely no problems so far. It has convinced me to buy a real SSD for my newly ordered Sager. For a single drive laptop, assuming you want to keep an internal optical drive, I'd buy a Momentus XT as the single drive every time, all the time.

Granted, I personally prefer removing the optical drive and using a SSD+HDD combo as that's probably the most cost-effective way to go with the prices where they are at right now. Let's say you spend an arbitrary $140 on a 120-128GB SSD and say $80 on a 500-750GB HDD. Finish that with a $20 external DVD burner and you get more speed and more space for for the price of one 750GB Momentus XT ($240).

 

Yes, long threads are hard to navigate. Just make sure your firmware is up to date and you should be trouble free.

 

That's awesome glad to hear you like it. It sounds like your getting the exact performance I'm hoping for
I don't blame you for ditching the optical drive, but it seems that in school I tend to need to use CD's occasionally to get drivers for random hardware and it my program outline it states I need one, figures.

Thanks for you're quick response

 

External optical drive? You already have the drive, all you need is a USB 2.0 enclosure and they aren't that expensive. Just another option available to you in case the need for the optical was the only thing motivating your choice for the XT.

 

I think it would be best to wait until hard drive prices go down to buy one.

You're paying $150 for a first gen XT, while in a few months the new XT should be under $180.

 

Thanks I looked into this and found an awesome deal for a intel 320 series 120GB SSD for 119.99 and I'm going to pick it up right now and do what you suggested.

It's going to be cheaper then the XT and way better ;D

Thanks