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Level 1

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

I just received a Western Digital 640 gb (WD6400BEVT) Scorpio Blue Drive for my MacBookPro. I've noticed that the drives "Throttles" a lot, i.e. seems to accelerate/spin and slow down/stop in a way I've never seen in any other drive, and I've been through lots. It wouldn't be a problem if the computer didn't seem to be sluggish in response, much more sluggish than with the 200G Hitachi drive I had before. I will sometimes start typing something and the computer will be slow to react; I also see the spinning ball much more often.
I contacted WD and was told that "It is quite possible that the computer cannot manage the capacity and energy demand of this drive. If the previous drive was under 250 GB, a 640 GB drive will encounter these issues."
I'd never hear of this problem, and I'm really confused since the new drive has a lower rated energy requirement (it's a 5400 rpm vs 7200) than the previous drive. Has anyone else had these problems? Can someone tell me whether this is reality or obfuscation on the part of Western Digital?

Message was edited by: jdcineaste

MacBookPro Core 2 duo 2.33 MHz (late 2006), Mac OS X (10.6.2), Western Digital scorpio blue drive 640 GB

Posted on Nov 30, 2009 6:19 PM

211 replies

Antosj

Level 1

0 points

Dec 18, 2009 12:38 AM in response to jdcineaste

Great! Thanks for hdapm, it resolved my problem with this hdd. Don't care about battery life, it eats nothing compared to lcd or cpu.

Dec 18, 2009 7:55 AM in response to jdcineaste

I have had exactly the same problem since I installed WD640GB in Oct..
The problem happens every 20~30 seconds, it really drives me crazy, especially when I am typing or saving files in Numbers, Pages, Keynote, and many other applications, you name it.

I deeply hope this problem could be solved in version 10.6.3.

Dec 20, 2009 7:13 AM in response to a brody

Interesting thought - I know some people have upgraded to SSD's and used one of several kits to remove their optical drive and put their hard drive where the optical used to be.

I wonder if those kits and the space of the optical drive will allow the thicker 1TB 2.5" drives?

Hmm... might have to do some searching. That might propel me to get an SSD for my primary boot/application drive and then get something bigger for where the DVD is.

MacRS4

Level 2

330 points

Dec 20, 2009 10:17 AM in response to Eric Eskam

I have an optibay drive with an SSD - the optibay will only take the thinner 9mm drives not the thicker 12.5mm units.... which is a shame. I'm not sure if that's the same for the news MBPs (mines a late 2008) or not.

Dec 21, 2009 12:42 AM in response to MacRS4

Thanks for the feedback - I have a late 2008 too. Oh well, it was a hope 🙂

Dec 27, 2009 2:48 PM in response to Eric Eskam

Does anyone know if there is a way to contact apple support to have them come out with a patch for this?

Dec 30, 2009 12:57 PM in response to brianmay27

I have the same problem. Nothing solving it. Video playback in iTunes hangs every minute or so. Need the space, hate the performance. Might go back to external drive.

Dec 30, 2009 1:32 PM in response to jdcineaste

I upgraded my 160GB Fujitsu in MBP 2.4 two times already, and I returned it back after this.

First I bought Seagate Momentus 7200 AS, returned for often heads parking in ridiculous times.

Second the WD 640GB, returned for the same thing, and the system was freezing with every spin down/up - impossible o watch any video.

The problem is with power management settings. Apple is using own firmware in disks to correct this.

I just want to know if Apple will fix the Snow Leopard settings or, its a feature for buying overpriced hdds with Apple logo.

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Dec 30, 2009 4:51 PM in response to merovinqian

its a feature for buying overpriced hdds with Apple logo.

My MacBook Pro has a Hitachi HDD from the factory and my PowerBook G3 had a Toshiba. Have never seen an HDD with an Apple logo...

😉 cornelius

Dec 30, 2009 5:02 PM in response to cornelius

You are just not looking.
Every disk with apple firmware has the apple logo.

http://www.wuxy.net/ebay/RECOdrives/r105.jpeg

Dec 31, 2009 5:06 AM in response to merovinqian

Okay, so any idea where can we get 2.5" SATA drives with this logo/firmware? Apple Store UK doesn't list any on the website...

Dec 31, 2009 5:14 AM in response to LondonUser100

They are available as a service part. Problem is the price is four times more than the market price plus extra money for service work.
So, you can get a nice fast Intel SSD for the same price.

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Dec 31, 2009 3:50 PM in response to merovinqian

You are just not looking.
Every disk with apple firmware has the apple logo.

Thanks for the link. I guess I saw it was a Fujitsu and did not pay attention to the apple logo.

😉 cornelius

Erian

Level 1

0 points

Jan 4, 2010 4:18 PM in response to MrGALL

Thank you very very much MrGALL!! hdapm worked for my WD 500Gb and Macbook Pro 15"!!

Jan 10, 2010 2:20 PM in response to jdcineaste

Hey guys,

Just thought i'd chip in my two pence. After reading this forum I took a risk and bought the WD Scorpio Blue 640gb (WD6400BEVT) and haven't experienced any of the problems you guys seem to be having. Maybe you've managed to get some duff units, but i'll give a quick walk through of what I did. I know there are some experienced users in here and I hope I don't sound like I'm being patronising because I don't mean to!

I did a fresh install using the MBP Snow Leopard disk.

On formatting and partitioning, the drive was set as Mac OS extended (journaled) and GUID.

From there, I just followed the instructions and approx 30 mins later I was set up in OSX. I installed all of the updates and haven't looked back.

I've also split the drive, having 32GB for Windows 7 (I'm a teacher and I need it to access some software I use) and that's running like a charm too!

I don't know what i've done differently or if I've just got a drive that works I'm 100% happy with my purchase.

Also, it's as silent as a mouse!

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