I'm replacing a dead hard drive in a Mid-2009 13" Macbook Pro and I've read lots about issues with SATA 3gbps and freezing with the 9400m chipset models. Is there some consensus on which replacement hard drive brand/model is most compatible? Normally I'd just grab a new 7200rpm Western Digital drive, but I'd rather not run into problems. If I can use the HDD manufacturer's utility to limit the interface speed to 1.5gbps is that a good enough fix, without rolling back the machine's firmware?
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Mid-2009 Macbook Pro 13 hard drive replacement
- Thread starter crazybus
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I have never come across the issue you mentioned. I have used original 160GB drives, WD Blue 500GB, WD Black 320GB, Seagate Momentus XT hybrid 320GB, OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD all without any issue whatsoever.
That's interesting to hear, but the freezing problems are well documented. See: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2267098&start=0&tstart=0 among many other threads on the net concerning this problem. I wonder how statistically common this problem is among Macbook Pro 5,x owners who have upgraded their hard drives.
Sounds like it doesn't affect all MacBook pro 13" 2009 then. Or it happens and I don't notice it. I currently own two of these models and also had a third one which I sold. I'll have a read on those threads and see if I am just missing something. Thanks for the info.
Well the 2010 model has both a different chipset (320M), 3Gbps drive options by default and there was plenty of opportunity for Apple to fix the SATA cable signalling issues, if that was the problem as some have speculated.
The last post in that thread was July 2010 so I am wondering if this is an issue that has been resolved since then? Can't remember if Apple Updates included a firmware update at some point in the last year or so...
All I can say is I have had several different drive models in 3 different 2009 MBP 13" and haven't noticed any of the pausing/clicking that I saw mentioned. Hopefully this is an issue that has therefore been resolved. Fingers crossed.
The last post in that thread was July 2010 so I am wondering if this is an issue that has been resolved since then? Can't remember if Apple Updates included a firmware update at some point in the last year or so...
All I can say is I have had several different drive models in 3 different 2009 MBP 13" and haven't noticed any of the pausing/clicking that I saw mentioned. Hopefully this is an issue that has therefore been resolved. Fingers crossed.
I see the last post as being Mar 10,2011. Anyway, Apple hasn't released an updated firmware since 1.7, which originally caused the issue. 1.7 enabled 3Gbps SATA for supporting drives. Downgrading to EFI firmware 1.6 fixes the problem for most people, but limits SATA speeds to 1.5Gbps. That's certainly a possible solution in my case, but because it's not my system I want to ensure someone won't unknowingly update the firmware and run into problems. I'll probably just get a drive that I know I can force into SATA 1.5Gbps mode.
Oops. Sorry, I didn't go far enough. I thought I clicked on last page of posts but it was just page 10. My bad.
How do I check what FW version I have? Is it under the "about this Mac"?
In System Profile under "Boot ROM Version". Firmware 1.7 for the Macbook Pro 5,5 is MBP55.00AC.B03. This page lists the current firmware versions for all Intel-based Macs. It's quite probable that this problem doesn't affect everyone, or I doubt Apple would have ever released the update, even with the disclaimer for unsupported hard drives. Still it's weird and frustrating that this was ever a problem in the first place.