Sudden Motion Sensor - Anyone else hearing it?

Mine isn't sensitive to movement. It just parks to save energy. My Hitachi HDD I installed is already at 132,000 load cycles since October and 1366 power on hours. That is extremely high for such a short time and it's definitely a ticking time bomb (literally). No problem, because I backup and that's what the warranty is for. Though it is a fault of Mac OS X and has been well documented on Mac notebooks for a while.

In your case, if it is only clicking when moving you could [disable the SMS|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1934] and it will stop clicking if that is your only problem. However, if you do drop the laptop it could destroy the HDD.

YES. I have a Hitachi HTS723232L9SA62 - the 320gb 7200 rpm model. The clicking noise is very troubling. This is obviously the sound of the hard drive parking the heads. I can toss the laptop in the air and hear no clicking sound, yet if i tap gently with my palm on the right side of the laptop, while it is on my lap, this is enough to activate the SMS. Turning off the SMS using the method described here
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1934
makes the clicking sound stop.
This means there is a sensitivity problem here. Is there a way to adjust the parameters beyond turning it off entirely? I've heard there is SMS onboard for some drives which can conflict with Apple's SMS is this true?

Maybe you're not tossing it high enough.

maybe i mail it to your mom i hear she can toss pretty high

"maybe i mail it to your mom i hear she can toss pretty high"

Wow, what a great comeback.

My MacBook Pro's Hitachi 320GB 7200 rpm drive also clicks when it parks. I don't worry about it. Hitachi's web site claims a MTBF of 600,000 load/unload cycles (or over 160 load/unload cycles per day, every day, for 10 years).

The noise itself doesn't bug me at all - my old G4 powerbook used to cycle the optical drive every time it woke up, but it never failed (4.5 years of near daily use). So a servo or some do-hicky clicks when it does what it's supposed to do?

If it fails, I'll have AppleCare replace the drive for me, and I'll simply restore from my TimeMachine backup or from one of my SuperDuper clones. I'd rather have the motion sensor parking the drives when the machine moves then NOT doing so and having a HD head crash when I carry the machine from one room to another.

I'm sure there's some long term wear and tear problem with the drive parking the heads constantly while in use. I can tap lightly with two fingers when it is on my lap and reproduce the click. This is troubling.

Yes, I have the exact same problem! AND I recently had to have my hard drive replaced by Apple (because of bad sectors.)

They really weren't helpful in providing information about why it could have happened, but I suspect that this might be the problem.

The Apple Genius told me that I should 'try not to move it while it is open.' The problem with this is, it makes the 'parking' noise even when it's asleep. I don't know a single person who doesn't move their computer when it's open. And this shouldn't be a problem. I'm rather disappointed.

I'm really paranoid about moving my computer at all now, and it almost defeats the purpose of spending as much as I did to have a laptop instead of a desktop.

Any thoughts?

Well, it is NOT possible that it would be making the parking noise while asleep. It IS possible that it makes that noise while it is GOING to sleep. When you close the lid, it typically takes 10-15 seconds to go to sleep. Once you see the light pulsing, it is sleeping and the HD is spun down.

Based on my experience with my MacBook, I think Apple has a real issue here. My HD is parking the heads constantly just with a slight bump.

I have a 500GB 15 inch MBP 2009 model and this must be the noise I'm hearing. I couldn't figure out what it was but I knew it sounded like the HD was doing something. It does it after just a simple push or tiny nudge.

Have you tried disabling the SMS?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1935

I am thinking this is a compatibility issue with Apple's internal SMS and the drive's own SMS. Or a sensitivity issue with sensors in the MBP needing a firmware update.

One way or another, it is not normal for the drive to park its heads during intensive read/write just because you tapped the enclosure.

Funny enough, apple's own tech article says the SMS might even go off because of heavy movement CAUSED BY the disk! ha.

I'm also having this problem on my 15' 2.53 MacBook Pro 4GB 250GB HD (June Model). I just ordered a Western Digital 500GB Scorpio Blue 5400RPM hard drive for extra storage and would hate to see it fail early due to the heads parking like this. Aside from turning off SMS, does anyone know of a way to fix this? Apple?

I just purchased a MBP 15-inch (June 09 model). I have the same problem, however, i only hear the SMS when i move the device, i have never heard it when the HDD is parked or when it is on a flat surface. I have a 250GB Hitachi HTS545025B9SA02. You shouldn't really draw much attention to the sound, if it really bothers you disable it.

My new MacBook Pro has this issue also....HTS545025B9SA02. All I need to do it set my wrist down hard...

i can confirm that for Hitachi HTS545025B9SA02 5400 rpm drive.