Western Digital Scorpio Blue 640 Drive draws too much power in a MacBookPro

Looks like this discussion has gone dead (am just finding this as I look into upgrading my HD). I'd really appreciate it if someone would try to answer the last couple of questions regarding whether there are any drives out there that one with a MB that needs to upgrade the HD can purchase that don't require being a computer wiz to get good results from. Some of us none computer experts do really want our computer's to run well and last long because we simply depend on them for a lot of our work. But as a conservation biologist (and none computer expert) I don't have the knowledge, energy or time to figure this all out, BUT, if someone else has a good recommendation I'd much appreciate it. Am thinking after what I've read thus far that getting the 500GB (or maybe 640) Hitachi Travelstar 5400 or 7200 are the best bet, but I did not read every last thread on this discussion. So, really, I'd appreciate some additional advice! My poor 250HD is maxed out and I need help! THANKS!!

Hi c,

clcampbell wrote:
I'd really appreciate it if someone would try to answer the last couple of questions regarding whether there are any drives out there that one with a MB that needs to upgrade the HD can purchase that don't require being a computer wiz to get good results from.

Sorry, but I have no idea what you're trying to say here. Maybe if someone else does, they could reply, or maybe you could explain what it is you're trying to ask. If you don't speak fluent English, please let us know, and we can try to work around that.

Am thinking after what I've read thus far that getting the 500GB (or maybe 640) Hitachi Travelstar 5400 or 7200 are the best bet.

I have a 500GB/7200RPM Hitachi and have had no problems with it.

Sorry, I was referring to ChrisWad and Shaman Rawb posts on 10 Sep which did not seem to get a response. I'd just like to get a specific recommendation for a HD that's at least 500GB that will not run excessively or hang up, and that I can expect to last a while, and that I don't have to run some special programs on my computer to make work properly. Maybe I'm expecting too much. The thing is my Mac Book (I know this was a post for MBP) has run out of HD space and I need to upgrade. I can't afford the most expensive out there (hopefully less than $100), but want something that is truely compatible that I don't have to go through a bunch of extra steps to get to work well. Hope this is more clear, but let me know if it isn't.
Thanks!

Ok, I went back and re-read their posts. I certainly would not buy the WD640, that much is clear. For my taste, there have also been too many posts about issues with the larger Seagates. These are two of the reasons I chose to get the Hitachi 500GB/7200; my only regret is that I didn't wait longer to get it as it is now well under $100. Check out reviews on newegg, and prices there and macsales.

Thanks tjk! I just went ahead and purchased the Hitachi 500GB 7200 HD. Fingers crossed all goes well with the installation!

clcampbell wrote:
Thanks tjk! I just went ahead and purchased the Hitachi 500GB 7200 HD. Fingers crossed all goes well with the installation!

ifixit, powerbookmedic, macsales, youtube, etc. all have good illustrated guides. Follow them carefully, take your time, keep the screws straight, and you should be fine. Good luck.

The problem is that the 1.7 EFI firmware update messes up 3GB/s drives, such as the WD 640GB Scorpio Blue. The fix is to revert the firmware version to a previous one. To check your firmware version, go to the system profiler, and under BootROM, the last part will be B0X. If the X is a 3, you need to revert your firmware. This is most easily done by taking it to an Apple Store Genius, and in a matter of minutes, it will be done.

I have an older MacBook Pro 3,1

========

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP31.0070.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.16f11
Serial Number (system): W874xxxxxxx
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
==============
As you can see, the EFI and SMC are up to date according to the Apple charts. EFI 1.5.1 SMC 1.3

Last year I installed a Western Digital WDC WD5000BEVT-22A0RT0 500Gb.

It was constantly spinning up and down and each time it would cause a bit of a delay in response.

I pretty much wrote it off to WD drives as my personal preference is for Hitachi or Fujitsu and I only went with the WD because it was the largest I could get locally.

I stumbled on this thread and recognized the symptoms.

I read all of the posts, looked up my MacBook Pro's firmware and realized that it was as high as it could go. EFI 1.7 and above are for later model machines.

According to what I have been able to find on the web, this is a known issue with energy efficient drives intended for uses other than in a Mac.

I installed HDAPM according to the included instructions and rebooted.

The drive is running smoothly with out the annoying yo-yo up and down and best of all, no delays in accessing data, typing, etc. According to smartctl my load cycles are 147616.

I am going to install a Hitachi 5K750 or 7K750 when they become available but the odds are that unless I want to revert to an Apple OEM drive I will need to run HDAPM for the life of this machine.

I can live with that.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this post and for documenting the issue clearly.

Hi n,

n_ermosh wrote:
The problem is that the 1.7 EFI firmware update messes up 3GB/s drives, such as the WD 640GB Scorpio Blue.

Thanks for the info.

Are you saying this in relation to the power draw or the load/unload cycle count?

Has someone confirmed that this is true for literally all SATA II (3Gbps) HDs (the vast majority of HDs produced today)?

Shaman Rawb wrote:
I did everything that Tim said and it seemed to have worked. The weird part is, after doing this, when using smartctl, my load cycle is 44893 and NEVER moves. I have surfed the net, opened my iphoto. went to sleep and out 3 times. That is weird, right?

That would definitely be weird. It's been awhile since you posted this. What is the count now? Have you noticed anything else, good or bad?

For this and following: I too had lots of trouble with spinning beach ball. It seems that both Mac and WD have SMS (sudden movement sensors). Try turning off the Mac version (you'll still be protected by WD's): http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1934?viewlocale=en_US
Fixed the problem for me. Blessings

I just got a WD 640 drive and i'm experiencing the lag here. I read your post and it seems pretty helpful...only one problem...I'm not a real computer guy, so I don't know how to do #1, #5, and #6. I do know the Disk Warrior is software, but what about the other two. could you give some advice?

Hi b,

D/FW has not posted in awhile so I don't know if s/he is watching this thread any more. Here's the info you're asking about:

1. Shut down the computer.
Disconnect the MagSafe power adapter from the computer, if it's connected.
Remove the battery.
Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
Release the power button.
Reconnect the battery and MagSafe power adapter.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.

5. You'd need to buy DiskWarrior.

6. Repair Disk: Boot from install disc (insert disc>restart>immediately hold down c key and keep holding it until you see “Preparing Installation”)>at first screen select the language and click Continue> click on the Utilities Menu in the menu bar>open Disk Utility>select your HD in the panel on the left side>click Repair Disk at bottom of main window. Run this at least twice, and keep running it until it says “appears ok” twice in a row. If that doesn’t happen, you may need a stronger utility such as DiskWarrior or if the directory is damaged beyond repair, you may need to reinstall the OS, or you may have a damaged HD (repair utilities can only repair the directory structure, not the HD itself).

Thank you Dantre, for that wonderful bit of info. I am going to try it myself and see if it will work instead of the hack.

So...I've tried all suggestions here including smc reset. The latest EFI update is now 2.0 which has made no difference. Ive install hdapm by following this websites

http://mymacfixes.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-do-i-stop-clicking-noise-from-hard.ht ml

instructions which is much easier to understand, this fixed the clicking problem but the drive still spins at a constant rate which is eating into my power consumption (which is one of the primary reasons I bought the macbook pro). I tried using the 'min' setting but that seemed to exacerbate the problem of momentary freezing.

I would like to sort the constant running of my WD640g Scorpio Blue drive so I can return to normal power consumption and no noise. Does anyone have any other fixes?