Q: Firmware update and SATA II hard drive

I am about to buy a 500 GB 7200 RPM Momentus 7200.4 Serial ATA Hard Drive with Free Fall Sensor from Dell.

I am told this will work in my Macbook (late 2008 model). I check my SMC Version (system) is 1.32f8 and my Boot ROM Version is MB51.0073.B06.

I tried updating the latest EFI update for my system, but my Mac says I don't need the update. Can someone tell me if this HD will work in my Mac before I buy it?

Thanks so much!

The firmware update and problem that this thread was started for would not apply to you. The firmware problem is only related to the current MacBook Pros (excluding the 17" version). You want to be sure to get a drive that does not have an internal motion sensor. If you do purchase a drive with an internal sensor, you should disable your MacBook's sudden motion sensor as they can conflict with each other (it's very easy to do):

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1934

Other than that, you should be fine.

The best that can be said, is it's really hit or miss. From my own experience, I bought a WD Scorpio Blue 500gb which didn't work with the EFI update but then decided to take a gamble and buy another of the same drive and guess what... it works perfectly fine. Using it right now actually. Haven't had any beach balls since installing this drive, whereas the previous drive (exactly the same) was completely unstable, couldn't install OS X unless it were in an external enclosure, etc., etc.

So as I said, it's really hit or miss as you'll see if you browse through the thread a bit. Some people experience issues, others don't. The fact that Apple isn't acknowledging the issue publicly kind of ****** me off, but if the firmware rollback is really a possibility, then that might be the path to take before swapping out your HD.

The firmware issue does not apply to kylewillis.

Thank you so much for the advice and link.
Sorry for posting in the wrong thread! (new here)

I wonder if this link is in reference to the problems here in this thread? And the other thread for the beeping issue

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/10/apple-working-on-software-update-for-macbook -pro-hard-drive-issues/

Just FYI - my MBP is the newest 15" 2.8Ghz - ordered two weeks ago, and the adopted SSD is a Patriot Torqx 128GB, purchased last Thursday.

They're still trying to get along... but hope to have a long, happy life together once they sort out their differences.

I don't want to be a pessimist but has anyone considered this....

Previous Macbooks work fine with SATA-300 3Gb.
Apple develops new Macbook Pro (ie current 13/15” models) and they find that SATA-300 3Gb is now unreliable, so they limit it in firmware to SATA-150 1.5Gb and start shipping them hoping nobody will notice or care.
Users try to upgrade to SATA-300 3Gb drives and have problems.
Apple wants to seem like they are being helpful and provide a firmware update (EFI 1.7) to allow SATA-300 3Gb.
Some users have problems with this, exactly like Apple did during development.
Apple find the underlying fault in the hardware and later machines are being shipped with this hardware fix, hence EFI 1.7 works fine in them.
Apple provides a rollback to EFI 1.6 to get earlier laptops working again.
Everyone thinks Apple will fix this with another firmware update, but they won’t as you can only fix with a new motherboard or similar.
Hence, users who have problems will never get over these.
If this is the case, Apple needs to offer replacement Macbook Pros.

Any thoughts on this?

I'm more pessimistic than you, actually... mostly just because serial ATA is hardly ground breaking technology, so I can't imagine a tech company as brilliant as Apple having issues with it.

I think they just don't want their products being tweaked with unlicensed products. I'm just sayin', I'm just sayin!

There are 9 Apple's in my household - from devices to machines. I love em'... but man... this brand can be a pain in the butt when you want to bend the rules a little bit.

iyacyas wrote:
I wonder if this link is in reference to the problems here in this thread? And the other thread for the beeping issue

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/10/apple-working-on-software-update-for-macbook -pro-hard-drive-issues/

As mentioned a few times before (and as little as an hour ago - thanks for reading the thread), this response speaks of a completely different issue... one affecting only 17" MacBook Pros with specific 7200RPM, 500GB drives (not that I'm an expert on that issue). There are fundamental differences between that issue and the one this thread is about (not the least of which is the fact that the EFI version 1.7 firmware update is ONLY for the new 13" and 15" MacBook Pros, and has _*NOTHING TO DO WITH*_ the 17" MacBook Pro).

To date, there has been zero official communication from Apple addressing the issue of this thread.

But, you know how it goes - soon, when we mention our SATA problem, the response will be "Oh, well Apple just patched that so you'll be just fine if you run Software Update"... and our real problem will get swept under the rug.

I've got my fingers crossed that Snow Leopard will include a true resolution.

theARGIOPE wrote:
I'm more pessimistic than you, actually... mostly just because serial ATA is hardly ground breaking technology, so I can't imagine a tech company as brilliant as Apple having issues with it.

I think they just don't want their products being tweaked with unlicensed products. I'm just sayin', I'm just sayin!

There are 9 Apple's in my household - from devices to machines. I love em'... but man... this brand can be a pain in the butt when you want to bend the rules a little bit.

It is NOT rule bending changing harddrives in Apple's MacBook Pro 13" and 15"! A harddrive is not an unlicensed product. The third party harddrive is under warranty of the manufacturer instead of Apple. That is all. How many times must this be stated?

I didn't say anything about warranty. Bending the rules is using a hard drive that Apple says it "does not support"...

OCZ makes an SSD that is "qualified by Apple"... which would suggest some other disks are... shall we say, "unqualified." OCZ itself states that their Mac edition has special firmware for Macs.

If newer disks need a special firmware, then it would seem to me that using a disk without said special firmware would indeed be... well... bending the rules.

EDIT: Clarified

I have a late 2008 15". IE the first unibody, and I have EFI 1.33 but was experiencing this identical issue. I called apple support and they said 3rd party drive is not supported. Well then they should not be advertising the computer with a SATA interface, because if it truly was SATA it would support SATA devices, not just special devices (Apple supplied). Anyway, using the Hitachi Feature software on a PC and setting the drive to 1.5Gb/s and turning off Spread Spectrum it now is working fine.

This was OS independent for sure. Experienced with 10.5.6-10.5.8 & 10.6 latest beta

coolas wrote:
I don't want to be a pessimist but has anyone considered this....

Previous Macbooks work fine with SATA-300 3Gb.
Apple develops new Macbook Pro (ie current 13/15” models) and they find that SATA-300 3Gb is now unreliable, so they limit it in firmware to SATA-150 1.5Gb and start shipping them hoping nobody will notice or care.
Users try to upgrade to SATA-300 3Gb drives and have problems.
Apple wants to seem like they are being helpful and provide a firmware update (EFI 1.7) to allow SATA-300 3Gb.
Some users have problems with this, exactly like Apple did during development.
Apple find the underlying fault in the hardware and later machines are being shipped with this hardware fix, hence EFI 1.7 works fine in them.
Apple provides a rollback to EFI 1.6 to get earlier laptops working again.
Everyone thinks Apple will fix this with another firmware update, but they won’t as you can only fix with a new motherboard or similar.
Hence, users who have problems will never get over these.
If this is the case, Apple needs to offer replacement Macbook Pros.

Any thoughts on this?

I've also wondered if this is a manufacturing issue with a large number of the SATA controllers, which was resolved by reducing the data transfer rates. Why else would Apple downgrade the SATA controller speed on its newest notebooks? It might explain why some people are having problems and others aren't. However, there are also reports of recently purchased MBPs with version 1.7 firmware that exhibit significant beachballing -- even with stock drives. We could all stop guessing if there were an official response.