Hard drive for current generation Macbook Pro

[mortendeep]

I own a macbook Pro from december 2008. I recently bought a WD Scorpio Blue 640gb SATA II, to replace the original internal hard drive. Since I've installed it, I have experienced serious lags as well as frequent beach balls, and after a short google on the issues, I found that the current Macbook Pro's does not support SATA II.

Now, my question is - since there is seemingly no way to fix this - does anyone know of a SATA I hard drive around 500gb or more, which will NOT trigger said issues, or will I simply have to wait for the next generation, which will hopefully support both SATA II and III...?

I am in a state of utter despair, so please, oh please, help me out!

Thanks in advance!

Morten Dybro
Denmark

 

[MrCheeto]

Before we do anything drastic, let's try this.

Disabling the Sudden Motion Sensor in Mac OS X 10.3:

In Terminal, which should still be open from the previous instructions, you can disable the Sudden Motion Sensor by typing sudo pmset -a ams 0 and pressing Return (changing the setting to a zero disables the module).
Type your administrator password when you are prompted and press Return.
Type the sudo pmset -g command again to be sure that the setting has been applied.

To undo this action if it doesn't resolve your problem, go to Apple's site where that command is located:

Advanced Tips for Motion Sensors

 

[Hellhammer]

Current MBPs do support SATA II (3Gb/s), it was just somehow disabled when they were launched but a firmware update made it 3Gb/s again from 1.5Gb/s.

Try repairing permissions and verifying the disk with Disk Utility. Also, did you migrate from a TM backup?

 

[mortendeep]

Thank you for your reply! While I have previously experienced sudden disc stops while watching movies with my MBP on my lab, the problem with the new hard drive shouldn't relate to that, since it appears all the time. even while sitting on a stand or a table, with no interfering vibrations to shake up the disc...

Adding to that, the issues I am experiencing are widely recognized on the internet and without a doubt connected to the lack of SATA II support. Do you still think disabling the sudden motion sensor will benefit me?

Thanks!

 

[mortendeep]

Current MBPs do support SATA II (3Gb/s), it was just somehow disabled when they were launched but a firmware update made it 3Gb/s again from 1.5Gb/s.

Try repairing permissions and verifying the disk with Disk Utility. Also, did you migrate from a TM backup?

I did in fact migrate from a TM backup. Many forum discussions disregard Apples firmware update as a viable solution to the beachball issues.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2054387&start=0&tstart=0

Some posters have reported that they tracked the cause of the problem to the SATA cable. When they replaced the cable or wrapped it with aluminum foil and electrical tape, the problem went away. So shielding or routing of the cable may be causing the problem...

 

[Hellhammer]

I did in fact migrate from a TM backup. Many forum discussions disregard Apples firmware update as a viable solution to the beachball issues.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2054387&start=0&tstart=0

Some posters have reported that they tracked the cause of the problem to the SATA cable. When they replaced the cable or wrapped it with aluminum foil and electrical tape, the problem went away. So shielding or routing of the cable may be causing the problem...

Have you installed that firmware update? Try that first. It's SATA II all the way, there are no SATA I anymore, Apple just limited the speed from 3Gb/s to 1.5Gb/s but that has been fixed and it's 3Gb/s now.

 

[mortendeep]

Both my Boot ROM version and my SMC version are up to date. I see no other explanation than the SATA cable being poorly shielded. Is that an insane assumption? I am by no means a hardcore hardware nerd, so I may be prone to jumping to conclusions... However, I am extremely analytic, and have as such sucked the internet dry for possible solutions. Therefore, as I see it, there are two solutions:

1: Buy a new hard drive that is confirmed to work on all MBP's, even the ones with this SATA-cable-issue (which would ultimately mean buying a SATA I hard drive).
2: Get a new MBP when they get upgraded shortly.

By all means, chip in! I would love a cheaper solution!

 

[Hellhammer]

Both my Boot ROM version and my SMC version are up to date. I see no other explanation than the SATA cable being poorly shielded. Is that an insane assumption? I am by no means a hardcore hardware nerd, so I may be prone to jumping to conclusions... However, I am extremely analytic, and have as such sucked the internet dry for possible solutions. Therefore, as I see it, there are two solutions:

1: Buy a new hard drive that is confirmed to work on all MBP's, even the ones with this SATA-cable-issue (which would ultimately mean buying a SATA I hard drive).
2: Get a new MBP when they get upgraded shortly.

By all means, chip in! I would love a cheaper solution!

There is no SATA I anymore! SATA II is backwards compatible so SATA II HD works with SATA I interface. SATA I just means slower speed but it shouldn't affect performance as laptop HDs aren't fast enough to take full advantage of even SATA I.

I just can't see it being the cause because it would only cause slowdowns when using it at full speed (meaning that you would have to write something big into it all the time). Not in general usage like web browsing.

Poorly shielded cable is better reason. You can try changing that to a new one and see if it makes any difference.

Just opinion about it but it is ridiculous that it even has that kinda problems! Hope you get them solved somehow

 

[mortendeep]

Right...

Well, can someone tell me which 500gb drive they ship with? That one should be safe to use