Problems with WD drive model # WD5000BEVTRTL and mid 09 MBP

[reubs]

I picked up the WD HDD model # WD5000BEVTRTL from Best Buy yesterday, and I couldn't get it to install last night for anything. I'm trying a clone today, and it's taken 45 min to clone less than a GB of info using CCC.

I tried a fresh install of Snow Leopard, and that kept getting stuck at the 30 min mark. Apple's discussion boards show similar problems, but I didn't see anything here for this specific model. Looks like I'm back to the stock drive for at least a little while.

Anyone else had similar problems with this particular drive?

 

[iaymnu]

Had that same problem with my first drive.
Went back to Bestbuy and got a second. Wasn't the drive but was me....
Did you format the new drive correctly?

Also I used superduper to clone my old drive, used SuperDuper function to erase/copy to new drive, then upgraded to snow leopard. Error free so far..

 

[reubs]

I was pretty sure I formatted it correctly. I used Disk Utility and made it "Mac OS Extended (journaled)" after each attempt just to make sure there wasn't a problem, but the problem persisted. One thing I read indicated it might be a problem with the EFI firmware. It was a helluva deal at BB, but I don't want to keep monkeying with it if there's no chance of a fix.

 

[ski2moro]

How many partitions did you choose when you formatted the drive?

 

[reubs]

I just chose one. I thought about multiple partitions, but reading around indicated I shouldn't mess with that.

 

[netb0y]

Any resolution? I am thinking of picking one of these up for a white MacBook.

 

[Wehrwolf]

Probably a bum drive. Take it back to BB and get it exchanged. There's no reason why you should be having problems. Worked fine in my 2009 13" MBP.

 

[Sun Baked]

Avoid if you own a 2009 MacBook Pro1 star rating
by mjsteinbaugh Ann Arbor, MI on March 2, 2010 at Best Buy
The bottom line: No
"I installed the 2.5" 500 GB Scorpio Blue drive in my MacBook yesterday. If you are installing in a MacBook, which I don't recommend, you need 00 Phillips head and T7 Torx screwdrivers. Mac OS X will install onto the drive and for a few hours, I thought everything was running smoothly. However, in a quiet room, I could hear the drive attempting to spin down and then abruptly start back up. I checked on some of the Apple discussion pages, and indeed this is an issue with the Scorpio Blue drives. I have a mid 2009 MacBook Pro and can confirm that this drive is not fully compatible with the system. Sticking with a Fujitsu or Hitachi drive is probably recommended with these laptops."

and more at http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2250690&start=135&tstart=0

Probably more.

 

[woosah]

Subscribed... Been thinking of a HD upgrade/change.

 

[reubs]

Just read the end of that thread. THis is like when you finally find a good deal that you're willing to make a go with only to find out that the deal isn't nearly as awesome as you expected.

I haven't started re-importing my CDs at a hight bitrate yet b/c I hadn't put in another drive. Now that I'm looking for another drive, the basic word seems to be, "You might be screwed if you try to upgrade your HDD. Good luck!"

Newegg has a Momentus 7200 on sale that I'm thinking of trying out, but even that might be a waste of my time at this point. With a family and a job I don't have time to be loading, unloading, cloning, and reformatting HDDs, but I also need space to hold videos, photos, and the work I do.

This is crazy and irritating. I wish Apple would just put out a list of compatible HDDs for a fully up-to-date MBP mid-09.