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WD FW800 drives don't work with 2011 MBPs

J

jeffy.dee-lux

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 19, 2003
721
0
montreal
This screwed me over right out of the box with this brand new computer. My old mac was backed up on a 500GB Western Digital drive. I plugged it into my new mbp to run migration assistant when I went to bed. I woke up and found that it froze part way through. Naturally that messed a few things up... I basically deleted that user account and started over again. But I still have issues any time I plug this drive in. It locks up the Finder maybe 20 seconds after being plugged in and the only way i can un-freeze it is by yanking out the firewire cable.

I've noticed a few other people have had this same issue:

one person here on MR:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1122712/

and a few people on the apple discussion boards:
http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=13267954

We all seem to have the same drive. Does that mean Apple simply won't pay attention to the issue cause people can just get a different drive? I don't want to have to go and buy a new drive. Or will WD issue some kind of an update?
 
Honestly, I think that the problem is WD, not Apple. WD external drives have long had a spotty reputation when it comes to playing nice with Macs, and everything I've read about the problem points to the issue having to do with how WD configures their hardware, not how Apple tries to talk to the hardware.

So, while Apple could probably fix the problem inside OS X, is it their responsibility to make everyone else's product work right?

So, sorry to say, but I think that the right solution is for you to go get a new drive.
 
Well clearly if this drive worked on my old mac, Apple changed something that removed compatibility with this drive. Surely they have some responsibility here. But I agree that Apple can't keep up with every single 3rd party product.
 
I thought this was ok, but now my WD 500GB Mac Edition (Studio, whatever) FW800 drive doesn't work. It works for a bit and then hangs.

Plus I'd disagree.. FW800 is a pretty old standard at this point so it shouldn't be difficult to ensure compatibility.
 
Just to add a bit of balance to the anti WD topic;

I have a fw800 wd external drive and it works flawlessly and has worked flawlessly since I got my 2011 Macbook Pro 6 weeks ago.

I use it daily.
 
I didn't intend to make an anti-anyone post. My drive just doesn't work long enough to do anything that requires more than a few minutes of connectivity.

I've never had issues with WD or any drive manufacturer really.. I'm just bummed that a drive I've only had for a year or so only works via USB now.
 
Locodice said:
You realise their drives come with a 3-5 year warranty?
Click to expand...

Ehh kinda but thanks for the reminder. The issue, as always.. will probably to find all the necessary documentation to prove I bought it and when.
 
I have an old WD MyBook whatever with the FW800 interface. It works perfectly with my 2011 MBP. However, when I started using this drive I cracked it open and replaced the stock WD drive with a 1.5 TB Seagate 7200 cuda.

Seems at least the controller in the external case works. Could drives on the other side of it pass along some sort of compatibility issue?

John
 
Did you try connecting the drive via USB? It kinda defeats the purpose of having Firewire, but if you can get your data across then you can deal with Firewire problems later.
 
Warbitrary said:
Did you try connecting the drive via USB? It kinda defeats the purpose of having Firewire, but if you can get your data across then you can deal with Firewire problems later.
Click to expand...

Yes, USB works fine. It's "just" a broken FW800 interface.
 
Apple has zero responsibility for a WD product. Most likely WD did not follow a spec. Their external drives are cheap.
 
My 1tb lacie backup hard drives have never had any compatibility problems. Even with my 2002 imac.

I have encountered some problems with Western Digital in the past. I generally warn people to avoid WD drives if they want a reliable backup.
 
I'm having the exact same problem with my Western Digital Passport 500GB drive as well on the 2011 MBP 15". Previously everything was working well on my 2009 MBP C2D.

Copying large files will cause the drive to hang - sometimes the filesize can be 9 GB, sometimes it can be 12 GB, sometimes it would hang at 30 GB. You can also see the LED lights will stop blicking on the WD drive :confused:
 
I'm using a new FW800 WD My Passport Studio as my TM drive with my '11 MacBook Pro and haven't had a single issue. Maybe the newer WD drives are "more compatible" with '11 MBPs.

studio.jpg
 
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