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Anyone try the Spinpoint M9T 2TB 9.5 Drive?

Rachel Faith

Rachel Faith

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 24, 2007
126
17
Iowa
In a MacBook Pro or other Mac device?

Amazon has them for $129 right now.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FRHTTJE/ref=twister_B00I7MT4DC

Some of the USB 3.0 reviews say they are slower than other 3.0 drives.

Just wondering if anyone has put one of these into a laptop and now has 2TB of space?
 
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Samsung M9T or Seagate Spinpoint

Hi Rachel

I just purchased the Seagate 2TB on amazon. Just finished cloning to my MBP which has the Toshiba 12.5mm 1.5TB which I installed about a year ago and which Apple says that it's size is acceptable.

I just finished cloning 1.1TB from my MBP using CCC and it took over 24 hours. I plan to remove it from its case which takes a little bit of prying around the case edges. My first impression is that it's slower but perhaps the SATA interface will be faster. If not, I'll remove it and reinstall the Toshiba and use the Samsung as an external B/U.

Keep in mind that the MBP can handle 12.5mm high drives with no space issues.I believe that toshiba has a 2TB 12.5mm version available which I may purchase.

----------

Also check out this thread for more info:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1697503/
 
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Samsung M9T or Seagate Spinpoint

I just finished removing the Samsung Spinpoint M9T 9.5mm hard drive from the Seagate case and installed the drive in my 2010 MBP. the drive works like a charm and seems to be very fast. The hardest part was opening the Seagate case which took a little bit of prying around the edges but it eventually pops off. It took some time to remove the adhesive foil from under and around the sides of the drive. The USB 3 connector was a little hard to pry loose but the drive fits perfectly in the MBP.
 
I bought this drive to place in my optibay (caddy) of my Macbook Pro 15" Mid 2012 (MacBookPro9,1). My main drive bay is supposed for a SSD in the future.
The problem is that the drive is ejected when it's in the caddy by OSX when copying data (Error -36).
The first 100 MB go like nothing, than i get the spinning mac wheel, unsafe disconnected message for the internal drive and error -36.

Drive is fine when used in the main bay, so the drive is just fine using it for a couple of weeks now.
Older drives with SATA II are working without problems in the caddy, anyone who knows what is causing this problem?

Older MacBook's version 2011 are know to have problems with SATA III when used in the caddy, the 2012 version has a new chipset and this should be fixed but it seems the same problem.

Other dan that the drive is very good. Speeds around 100 to 120 MB/s read and write with Black Magic Design Disk Speed Test with drive in the main bay, SATA III.
 
I would not put a slow spinning HD into any Mac. If you are going to open the case, replace a HD with a SSD. Use spinning HDs in large sizes (3-4TB) for external drives that contain libraries (music, movies, photos, documents..etc.) and backups.
 
The 2TB internal is ideal and very portable, i just need to find out what causes the weird error. When i boot from the 2TB drive placed in the caddy it works until i put a lot of stress on the drive. Than the computer freezes, connection to drive lost. (The exact drive is a ST2000LM003, and again the drive work excellent in the normal HDD bay)
Is this the caddy or the 'Intel 7 Series Chipset'. Can it be fixed or just a software problem?
And if i use a Samsung 840 EVO SDD in the optibay should this work without any problems? @ Full Sata III speed off course.
 
eTh0maz said:
Older MacBook's version 2011 are know to have problems with SATA III when used in the caddy, the 2012 version has a new chipset and this should be fixed but it seems the same problem.
Click to expand...

I think the story was still pretty muddy for 2012 MBPs. The problem was shielding so not sure a new chipset would fix it.

This thread is relevant.
 
Mike Boreham said:
I think the story was still pretty muddy for 2012 MBPs. The problem was shielding so not sure a new chipset would fix it.

This thread is relevant.
Click to expand...

I came over this thread a couple of days ago, it seems my macbook is one of unreliable one's for SATA III/6G interface in the optical bay.
Next is up is searching for a tool to set the M9T drive to SATA II/3G for a reliable connection.
Tis this would hardly affect the performance of the hard drive.
 
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Rachel Faith said:
In a MacBook Pro or other Mac device?

Amazon has them for $129 right now.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FRHTTJE/ref=twister_B00I7MT4DC

Some of the USB 3.0 reviews say they are slower than other 3.0 drives.

Just wondering if anyone has put one of these into a laptop and now has 2TB of space?
Click to expand...

I have one in my 2011 MBP 13 along with 256SSD, so tons of space and speed.

I also put two in my 2011 Mac mini so 4TB in my home media centre.

All work perfectly and are very quiet

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18733869#post18733869
 
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eTh0maz said:
Next is up is searching for a tool to set the M9T drive to SATA II/3G for a reliable connection.
Tis this would hardly affect the performance of the hard drive.
Click to expand...

I think only HGST offers this at the moment with their "HGST tools". I downgraded an HGST 1Tb 7200 and an HGST 1.5 Tb 5400 from SATA3 to SATA2 to go in optical bay of 2011 MBPs recently. worked perfectly. As you say SATA2 is fast enough for HDDs.
 
Mike Boreham said:
I think only HGST offers this at the moment with their "HGST tools". I downgraded an HGST 1Tb 7200 and an HGST 1.5 Tb 5400 from SATA3 to SATA2 to go in optical bay of 2011 MBPs recently. worked perfectly. As you say SATA2 is fast enough for HDDs.
Click to expand...

I heard of this tool, but i guess it's only for HGST drives.
What program/tool can i use for the Seagate M9T 2TB drive?
 
eTh0maz said:
I heard of this tool, but i guess it's only for HGST drives.
What program/tool can i use for the Seagate M9T 2TB drive?
Click to expand...

You're correct it is only for HGST drives and Seagate don't do it. It has been discussed in the Seagate forums.
 
My final solution, i din't found any compatible tool to change the interface of the drive.
But Seagate has a jumper solution, it brings the drive in SATA I (1,5Gbps, 150MB/s) modus and this works without any problems in the optical drive of my 15" MBP mid 2012.
Maybe not the best solution but good enough because the drive in has speeds around 120MB/s.

Why Seagate doesn't have any tool for this, no idea. That's why i recommend buying another brand of HDD to fit in the optical bay. Off course using the M9T (ST2000LM003) in the normal bay doesn't give any problems at all.

If Seagate wants to keep up in the HDD markt it's a must to have a tool for this!
 
eTh0maz said:
My final solution, i din't found any compatible tool to change the interface of the drive.
But Seagate has a jumper solution, it brings the drive in SATA I (1,5Gbps, 150MB/s) modus and this works without any problems in the optical drive of my 15" MBP mid 2012.
Maybe not the best solution but good enough because the drive in has speeds around 120MB/s.

Why Seagate doesn't have any tool for this, no idea. That's why i recommend buying another brand of HDD to fit in the optical bay. Off course using the M9T (ST2000LM003) in the normal bay doesn't give any problems at all.

If Seagate wants to keep up in the HDD markt it's a must to have a tool for this!
Click to expand...

Very interesting. Could you post a link to the jumper solution please?
 
according to the system profiler, the optical bay should support sataiii 6.0.

can't figure out why i'm having so much trouble.




Intel 6 Series Chipset:

Vendor: Intel
Product: 6 Series Chipset
Link Speed: 6 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed: 6 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.30 Supported

ST2000LM003 HN-M201RAD:
 
juicewon said:
i googled this.

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/193991en

been having tons of trouble with ejects on this drive in my optical bay.

hope this will help
Click to expand...

That looks like 3.5 inch drive info. I have not noticed jumpers on an SATA laptop drive before. Interesting to see if it works for you.

----------
juicewon said:
according to the system profiler, the optical bay should support sataiii 6.0.

can't figure out why i'm having so much trouble.

Intel 6 Series Chipset:

Vendor: Intel
Product: 6 Series Chipset
Link Speed: 6 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed: 6 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.30 Supported

ST2000LM003 HN-M201RAD:
Click to expand...

The point is that although the spec is 6G it doesn't reliably work with 6G devices, because Apple only intended it to work with a 1.5G optical drive.

Google "6G in optical bay MBP" for more, but here is a recent thread which may help.

----------
juicewon said:
more digging has me more confused.

http://blog.macsales.com/11895-2011-macbook-pro-sata-problems-resolved


maybe i need a sataii version. i'll try the shunt/jumper first
Click to expand...

The comment about "problems solved" on that link is referring to problems that some early MBPs had with 6G in the main bay. If you read on in that link you will find:

"#2 – For those with a MacBook Pro 15″ or 17″ model that has SATA 3.0 6Gb/s link capability reported, it is very important to note that this EFI update does not appear to have resolved reliability of using a 6Gb/s drive in the optical bay. If you have a 6Gb/s optical drive bay connnection and are using a product like our Data Doubler, we still recommend only using a SATA 2.0 3Gb/s drive in that bay. MacBook Pro 13″ owners who find 6Gb/s links in their optical bay are not experiencing issues with 6Gb/s drives and this update doesn’t affect that usage."
 
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Remove from external VOIDS WARRANTY

Unless you get the ST2000LM003 2TB internal and not remove it from an external drive you will have a similar drive but one with NO warranty. THINK!
 
Bought external drive and installed into MacBook Pro (unibody) mid-2009!

Yup, can take the drive out and it's a SATA drive.

Over the weekend, I visited the local electronics market (I live in Taipei) and did a bit of research. The Backup Plus Slim portable external drives from Seagate (at least the STDR200010x and STDR200030x models, where "x" denotes the color of the case) still house the Samsung M9T 2TB SATA interface drive, part number ST2000LM003.

Here in Taiwan, the bare drive isn't available -- I only found it online from a single vendor and selling at roughly $230USD -- while the external drive version is sold nearly everywhere for $115USD.

For me, the real anxiety was in whether the drive inside had the SATA interface, because I'd read (and my IT guy warned) that Hitachi and a few other makers were starting to put drives that had a different interface into their external drive enclosures (perhaps to cut costs, perhaps to avoid people like us taking them out and using them as internal drives, don't know).

I have some photos of the process.

The slim case is pretty tough to get off, but you take a flat screwdriver and gently pry the aluminum cover off. Start around the edges AWAY from the USB3 port (that side is held in by "clips" and also sticky tape, so it's the toughest edge). Hopefully, my images show you the clip locations. That SATA-USB3 interface circuitry also took a little finessing to get off, and I'm not sure if I had to peel off the foil/grounding wrapper, but I did anyway.

Of course, the warranty is shot now, I think, though I didn't remove that "WARRANTY VOID IF REMOVED" sticker. Oh well.
 

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Sorry to revive old thread, but if I understand correctly, the 2tb Seagate drive can be installed in a 2011 15" MBP's optical bay if run with the 1.5gb jumper configuration.

Strictly using this for photo and music storage, and with an SSD running in the main bay, any foreseeable issues?
 
fbonatto said:
Sorry to revive old thread, but if I understand correctly, the 2tb Seagate drive can be installed in a 2011 15" MBP's optical bay if run with the 1.5gb jumper configuration.

Strictly using this for photo and music storage, and with an SSD running in the main bay, any foreseeable issues?
Click to expand...

I can't see any jumpers on the M9T drive, and very dubious about this.

Since the M9T is a 6g device you are highly likely to have problems with it in the optical bay of a 2011 MBP.

Better off with. hitachi 1.5tb, since hitachi have a software tool to convert it to a 3G device which will work reliably in a 2011 MBP.

There is long thread about this which I will post later (doing this on iPhone, too difficult to find).

Here is link.



%
 
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Got one of these for my Late 2008 MBP. After working for 15 mins it unmounted itself in both OptiBay and the normal hd slot. Tried to force it to use SATA1 using a jumper, but that didnt do anything. Tried all possible jumper positions and none of those changed it to SATA1. Still works perfectly in an external USB chassis.

Would not recommend to non-SATA3 devices. Going to return it tomorrow.
 
I also run now ST2000LM003 in my mini2012.
I'm confused about this thread.
Every other post telss that jumper solution works and the others say that there are no jumpers!
W00t?
 
toke lahti said:
I also run now ST2000LM003 in my mini2012.
I'm confused about this thread.
Every other post telss that jumper solution works and the others say that there are no jumpers!
W00t?
Click to expand...

Most of this thread is nearly four years old now, and is also about the problems of 6G drives in MacBook Pros not Minis. What problem are you experiencing with the Spinpoint in your Mini? Not having the whole picture I would be looking to put an SSD in a 2012 Mini if I had one.
 
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