HDD stalling

[iheartzombie]

7200rpm SATA disk (custom config when ordered uMBP) keeps stalling (beach ball) every so often

Hi, i used Disk Utility on my uMBP and it was corrupted so i repaired it
and my system still hangs every 15-20 minutes. it does this no matter if i'm launching an app or just doing nothing.

so i formatted my drive and reinstalled OSX Snow Leopard. It seemed fine but now it's doing it again. Using Disk Utility shows nothing wrong with the drive this time.

Is anyone else experiencing this? I'm still under warranty but I don't want the downtime of taking this in.

 

[spinnerlys]

What HDD do you have in there (can be found out via System Profiler > Hardware > SATA) and what Mac OS X version are you running?

 

[iheartzombie]

says it's this drive and i'm running the latest Snow Leopard:

NVidia MCP79 AHCI:

Vendor: NVidia
Product: MCP79 AHCI
Speed: 3 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported

ST9320423ASG:

Capacity: 320.07 GB (320,072,933,376 bytes)
Model: ST9320423ASG
Revision: 0007APM2
Serial Number: 5VH02T29
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Rotational Rate: 7200
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
main:
Capacity: 215.22 GB (215,222,935,552 bytes)
Available: 147.12 GB (147,121,074,176 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s2
Mount Point: /
space:
Capacity: 104.37 GB (104,371,806,208 bytes)
Available: 104.16 GB (104,158,273,536 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s3
Mount Point: /Volumes/space

 

[**lonestar**]

Macbook Pro 15" A1286 Upgrade HDD from 250Gb to 500Gb - Random Freezing

Hi,

I have the same problem with my mac and can see there are many other users on various forums with the same problem. I don't hear of a cure but if there is one I'd love to know.

My Macbook Pro had no problems with the original 250Gb HDD. I had is for 6 months no problems. But as soon as I put in a 500Gb 7200RPM drive I get random freezes - ie spinning beachball for about 20-30 seconds.

It is so frustrating. When I first upgraded the drive the problem was so bad I couldn't even get 10% into the OS install without a complete freeze. I couldn't install the OS. What a joke.

Mac repaired it under warranty and replaced what I think they said was a power board. The techs were stumped for quite a while on it though. That fixed it to a point but I still get freezes every now and then.

If I put the 250Gb drive back in I don't get this problem. If I boot off an external USB drive i don't get the problem. Even if the USB drive has the 500Gb drive installed.

I have bought two 500Gb drives just to eliminate the possibility that the drive is the problem.

Since writing this reply I have had four 20 second freezes.

Drive Model: ST9500420ASG
Macbook Year: 2010

 

[Nair]

New Macbook Pro 17" Core i7 - Upgrade to SSD 500Gb - Caused Random Freezing

Hi,

I have the same problem too. I recently bought a new 17" mac (Apr-2011): Intel Core i7 2.3 GHz Quad Core. I upgraded hard disk to 500GB SSD drive and upgraded my RAM to 8GB. I am getting this problem now.

I read though and found some posts to try formatting the hard disk with malti-pass erase as mentioned in http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24002
Sometimes hard-disks may have bad sectors. This write shall cause it to be flagged and not usable. So I did the severn pass erase.

Unfortunately, I still have the problem.

Folks here - any one tried to reformat with multi-pass erase?

Any other solutions?

Nair.