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PLEASE HELP - Annoying HDD Problem

F

fwhenin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 15, 2010
15
0
I have a Macbook Pro (Mid-2009) edition...came with a standard 5400 RPM 250 GB HDD....Decided to upgrade to the 500GB 7200 RPM Seagate Momentus from Macsales.com

I got a long story with this....I got my first HDD...cloned it using with Disk Utility then tried to install a new software (Starcraft II) and kept getting installation errors...got annoyed, tried it on my old HDD and it installed perfectly and QUICKLY....reformatted the new HDD and cloned it with Carbon Copy...got the same result while installing.....THEN, decided to do a whole fresh install...guess what? SAME FREAKING RESULT

Called the company that I bought it from...said it's a bad drive...replaced it....got it...did a fresh install of Mac OS X....STILL DIDN'T WORK....WHAT THE HECK'S GOING ON?? (let me add that I tried to do a PRAM reset (option-command-P-R))

Let me just add this: I tried installing StarCraft II while I'm booting my new hard drive EXTERNALLY from a USB Enclosure and it worked...I have a feeling it has to do with the built in SATA cable driver ??? Maybe??

I would be appreciated if somebody can help me.

Additional comments: My computer would crash every once in a while...nothing major but I get the loading rainbow for about 10 seconds or so intermittently
 
Sometimes cloning a drive will make it act funny for whatever reason. I cloned my stock drive to my 7200 RPM new drive, and it actually took about twice as long as normal to boot, and wouldn't load stuff very fast. Probably didn't help that the enclosure I got was crap, anyhow, I restored from my time machine drive, and it works beautifully now. If you have an extra external laying around and can make a time machine backup (or already have one), try that.
 
It sounds like you have encountered the famous 2009 EFi firmware issue.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/729883/
To make a very long story short, some HDs will work in these machines and some won't, a strictly trial and erro kind of thing - and one HD type will work in one machine and not in others, even in the same model line.
I tried a WD scorpio Blue in my MBP and it had constant beachballs, totally unusable. So I tried the Seagate Momentus and it worked perfectly, as does the Hitachi 7,200 rpm drive I am now using. Try a Hitachi and see what happens, you can always use the Seagate as a backup disk in a cheap USB enclosure, where it should work just fine.
Some people have had good results going back to firmware 1.6 (see the thread above), but that is a lot more hassle than simply buying another different HD, IMHO.
I have even seen one post where the OP said he solved the issue by insulating the serial connector to the HD.
In any case this issue is not simple or easy to understand or solve.
 
Allright, I tried a Hitachi with the SAME RESULTS...I even did a fresh new install of Snow Leopard...DIDN'T move any files to it yet and I still got the error
 
fwhenin said:
Allright, I tried a Hitachi with the SAME RESULTS...I even did a fresh new install of Snow Leopard...DIDN'T move any files to it yet and I still got the error
Click to expand...
So it looks like the error is being caused by the software, not the HD at all. Are you sure the install disk is OK, have any scratches etc. Does that install disk work on another computer? Sorry, I am out of ideas....:confused:
 
yeah the install disk is fine....I'm gonna try downgrading to that EFI 1.6...but my question is...but how do I make sure that the Software Update doesn't update it to 1.7 again?
 
fwhenin said:
yeah the install disk is fine....I'm gonna try downgrading to that EFI 1.6...but my question is...but how do I make sure that the Software Update doesn't update it to 1.7 again?
Click to expand...

You might want to take back the SC disk to the store you bought it from and get a replacement. Don't you think you're taking things a bit far for a game by downgrading the EFI? Are you playing this game in Windows or Mac OS X? There's no EFI with OS X.
 
fwhenin said:
It's not just the game lol...I can't install ANYTHING new (I'd like to reinstall Logic Studio, Record and alot more, I just don't have the local space)....Starcraft worked on my old Hard Drive so I know the CD is fine...

In terms of the EFI...Mac OS X has EFI (http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacBook_Pro_EFI_Firmware_Update_1_7_)
Click to expand...

Oops, sorry. I got that one wrong. :eek:. But you never mentioned in your OP that you had problems installing "anything", you only mentioned SC. If you can't install anything you might want to have Apple look at it. No point in downgrading the EFI or modifying the computer to accommodate software installs especially when most people here have not complained that they couldn't install software, let alone SC II.
 
HAHA sorry, I just used StarCraft II cause it's the quickest Install out of all the things I have.....I'm gonna call Apple...I think I'm still a few days within my Apple Warranty :)
 
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