Draining Battery due to WD5000BEKT 500GB Scorpio Black 7200 RPM Hard Drive

[jiffry1017]

Hi,

I own a June 2009 13.3 inch 2.26 ghz 2G RAM Unibody Macbook Pro. It came stock with a 160 GB 5400 RPM hard drive. Recently, I purchased a Western Digital 500 GB Scorpio Black 7200 RPM Hard Drive (without the sudden motion sensor - WD5000BEKT). I also have 8 gigs of RAM coming in next week that I will install.

I installed the hard drive with no problem and have experienced greater performance, no clicking nor vibration, and no freezeup or rainbow wheel. I also did a clean install of Snow Leopard.

I did a PRAM reset at the beginning and calibrated my battery. However, now I noticed my battery is draining FAST, only lasting 2 hours. I looked a little online and discovered I may still need to reset the SMC (shift-control-option + power key), which I will do shortly. The battery lasted 6-7 hours before with my old hdd and is at 96% capacity.

If that does not fix the problem, is there anything else I can do?

Thanks.

 

[Neolithium]

I'd check after you reset SMC, consider the possibility of calling Western Digital, that drive should only be consuming around 1.7-1.8 watts while reading and writing, shouldn't even come close to draining a battery in that amount of time. You could have a bum drive from the factory, which does happen from time to time, however their RMA service is spectacular, so it should be a painless process should you need to do that.

 

[jiffry1017]

Thanks for your answer.

I just reset the SMC and will be checking soon after I fully charge my battery.

Also, is there any way I can check how many watts the hard drive is consuming?

Thanks again.

 

[vanc]

Hi,

I own a June 2009 13.3 inch 2.26 ghz 2G RAM Unibody Macbook Pro. It came stock with a 160 GB 5400 RPM hard drive. Recently, I purchased a Western Digital 500 GB Scorpio Black 7200 RPM Hard Drive (without the sudden motion sensor - WD5000BEKT). I also have 8 gigs of RAM coming in next week that I will install.

I installed the hard drive with no problem and have experienced greater performance, no clicking nor vibration, and no freezeup or rainbow wheel. I also did a clean install of Snow Leopard.

I did a PRAM reset at the beginning and calibrated my battery. However, now I noticed my battery is draining FAST, only lasting 2 hours. I looked a little online and discovered I may still need to reset the SMC (shift-control-option + power key), which I will do shortly. The battery lasted 6-7 hours before with my old hdd and is at 96% capacity.

If that does not fix the problem, is there anything else I can do?

Thanks.

The spotlight indexer may be running. mdworker progress is very battery consuming. If that's the case, don't worry.

But the faster HDD does cost battery life. Both the load and idle power usage are higher than the 5400RPM HDDs.

 

[jiffry1017]

Spotlight indexer is not running. It finished indexing awhile ago.

Computer is at 30%. I've been running it for 2 hours and 40 minutes under medium usage (facebook, word, mail, ical, web browsing).

What do you guys think? Do I need to recalibrate my battery? Or does this seem normal?

 

[J&JPolangin]

Spotlight indexer is not running. It finished indexing awhile ago.

Computer is at 30%. I've been running it for 2 hours and 40 minutes under medium usage (facebook, word, mail, ical, web browsing).

What do you guys think? Do I need to recalibrate my battery? Or does this seem normal?

Calibrating the battery won't extend the life of it, it will just attempt to report the most accurate status.

It won't hurt though if you follow the apple guidelines...

 

[Inconsequential]

Same HD as you in a 15" i5 MBP.

No change in battery life that i've noticed tbh!

Probably ~30 mins in reality tho.

Double check the HD connections?

 

[jiffry1017]

So I had another WD5000BEKT. Swapped it out with this one and restored my computer image using time machine. Reset the SMC and the PRAM.

Battery still draining pretty quick...

Should I go with another hard drive? I would prefer a 7200 RPM one, and I know that this will definitely drain the battery, but i don't think it should drain it as much as the western digital one is doing right now.

Seagate Momentus XT? Hitachi?

 

[Euki]

I just ordered the same drive to install in my new 15" Macbook Pro with high-res glossy display. I was debating between this one and the Seagate or Hitachi Travelstar, but the WD had outstanding reviews on NewEgg (somewhat better than the other two drives). I'm hoping I don't experience the same battery draining issue, but I'll post back here if I do. Something else I'm afraid of is that the drive will be very noisy -- something a lot of reviewers seemed to point out.

 

[Euki]

WD 500gb 7200rpm Scorpio Black, Installed in 2010 i5 15.4" MBP

So I did the install last night. I do notice a low, breezy sound that wasn't there before, but it's not a big deal. I only really noticed it in the pitch black silence of my bedroom. My bigger concern is that I feel like the battery is draining a lot quicker than it did with the stock 320gb 5400rpm drive. For anyone considering the upgrade, you should weigh the importance of a faster drive vs. battery life. In retrospect, I think I should have upgraded to a 500gb 5400rpm instead of 7200rpm, but maybe I'm speaking too prematurely.