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jdcineaste Author

Level 1

0 points

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

jdcineaste Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 10, 2010 5:11 PM in response to Seanny Magoo

Seanny, perhaps the fact that you have a more recent MBP makes a difference (your model is different from mine).
I've been busy, and needed my MBP to work well so I took out the WD drive and put back the old one. I therefore haven't had the chance to test out the workarounds... have there been others who've been successful at fixing the problem? Thanks for your input.

Jan 10, 2010 6:12 PM in response to Seanny Magoo

Hello Seanny,

I have done what you suggested.
Unfortunately, the same problem still exists.
I guess maybe the problem does not occur on your mid-2009 Macbook Pro.
I wish I could have your luck. 😟

Jan 10, 2010 9:14 PM in response to Seanny Magoo

This thread is for Original Macbook Pros.

The unibody has nvidia chipset, they don't have the problem with hdd power management, but that is well known.

ldphoto

Level 1

0 points

Jan 11, 2010 6:40 AM in response to jdcineaste

I have a 1st-gen unibody MacBook Pro, and I'm having the problem described with the Western digital 640GB hard drive. The drive was cloned from the Hitachi 320GB originally in the McBook using Carbon Copy Cloner.

The hdapm fix did not solve the problem for me.

Luc

Jan 11, 2010 12:10 PM in response to Seanny Magoo

Hey guys,

after posting last night, I had a browse around some of the other forums and it turns out I wasn't as well off as I thought I was! Basically, because I hadn't had any AV problems and no prolonged lag/beach balling I thought my MBP was ok. It wasn't!

This model also has problems, just not as severe such as prolonged lagging and bb'ing I had noticed some beach balling (especially when looking at info, bringing up a menu and opening a tab in safari), but it was less than a second in most cases and the occasional lag when typing. I only know this is not what I should be expecting from browsing around on a few further forums. If I hadn't, I'd be totally oblivious and thinking this is how a mac should run!

I looked at the hdapm fix but was really wary about it as it seemed pretty technical and I didn't want to mess my mac up. However, the fix has been released as a package so it all installs with a few simple clicks.

I've been using the MBP all day and haven't had one BB or lag when typing.

As some of you have pointed out, this thread is for original uni body macs (sorry I didn't notice) and maybe you've already tried the hdapm package install but if you haven't, maybe it's worth a shot?

Seanny

p.s, Nathan, I hope it works for you!

Jan 11, 2010 12:06 PM in response to Seanny Magoo

http://www.haque.net/software/hdapm.dmg

hey guys, that's the link to the installer package.

the thread I found it on is here:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2049659&start=1830&tstart =105

Jan 11, 2010 2:00 PM in response to Seanny Magoo

Yes, I have an original unibody MacBook 13" and none of the fixes worked for me. I'm now using the WD640 as a TimeMachine and bought an Intel X-25M to console myself.

Jan 12, 2010 1:07 AM in response to jdcineaste

hdapm can cause more evil imo that the spin downs. The only fix to this is, get a hdd with an apple logo, or get a ssd.

Jan 12, 2010 4:08 PM in response to merovinqian

@merovinqian: What 'more evil' are you referring to? I have just ended up using the hdapm tweak to prevent my WD Scorpio Blue 640GB from spinning up and down every 20-30 seconds, as surely this frequency of parking and unparking of heads is vastly more than the manufacturer would design for?

kenw232

Level 1

0 points

Jan 12, 2010 11:38 PM in response to Andrew Ho2

do you have to run hdparm every bootup or just once to set the drive?

Jan 13, 2010 4:08 PM in response to kenw232

The 'hdapm' download includes a README with instructions on how to install it such that it runs every bootup via LaunchDaemon. However I noticed today (having only set it up last night) that the setting has been reset on awakening my laptop from sleep, so it looks like the command needs to be ran then as well. I haven't seen that mentioned elsewhere so maybe it's just my laptop that does it? In any case, I'll have to work out how to run it on awakening from sleep and will post back here when I have done so.

Jan 16, 2010 5:29 AM in response to Andrew Ho2

It seems that I can't reproduce the problem I had with the APM being reset, so it must have been to do with something else other than awakening from sleep.

As per Apollo13's observations on noise, I do find this drive is noisier than both the Fujitsu that came with my MacBook Pro and the Seagate 5400.6 that I recently had in (until it died).

morty1

Level 1

0 points

Jan 18, 2010 9:55 AM in response to Andrew Ho2

hi all,
just unwittingly came across your comments on Western Digital Scorpio blue 640Gb hdd.
Well i fitted mine 2day and upon powering up i thought i had left my fan settings on high,its got to be the noisiest hdd i've ever heard, so much for whisper technology.
Compared to the stock 250gb theres no comparison. Everytime i selected an application you could hear the disc engage and that infernal clicking, so it will be getting wiped and sent back.
On paper it looked like a safe bet.I am tempted to get a replacement hdd and see if its the same.
i'll let you know how it goes.

MacRS4

Level 2

330 points

Jan 18, 2010 1:37 PM in response to morty1

You may want to get a replacement. I have one (again) in my late 2008 MBP after running out of space. No pausing/spin down issues, and it's certainly no noisier than my previous Seagate Momentus 500Gb 7200RPM.

Install details: http://grab.by/1ORt

Xbench Stats: http://grab.by/1ORE

AJA System Test: http://grab.by/1ORN

Jan 18, 2010 3:11 PM in response to MacRS4

MacRS4, I think this issue may have been resolved for MBPs with the NVidia SATA controller as part of a performance update:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL946

I have exactly the same WD drive including firmware revision on a MacBookPro3,1 for which the performance update is not available, and it really isn't working well. Whilst hdapm has enabled me to prevent the frequent head parking, I believe the increased noise is due to the fact that the hard disk never goes into a low power idle state now.

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