testing the sudden motion sensor

Did you turn it off? What would lead you to believe that the sensor is not working?
While the computer is on, pick up the computer briskly. You'll hear a "click" indicating that the HDA head stack assembly has retracted.

Download SeisMac. It uses the computer's Sudden Motion Sensor to turn your Mac into a recording seismograph. In addition to being very cool to fool around with, it will tell you whether the SMS is working. If SeisMac works, your SMS is working. If it doesn't, the SMS is faulty or has been de-activated.

eww... i noticed the site has a calibration app also, have you used this?

i am curious to know if everyone sees SMS problems because i just bought this MBP Saturday and the first time i picked it up to move my position it clicked repeatedly. i have an older dell that i have never had the technology activate unless i overly shook the laptop...

is it normal to have an over sensitive SMS? can the calibrate tool make it less touchy and not harm it?

thanks.

I can't answer this question. I haven't used the calibrator.

You should leave the calibration of the SMS the way it is. Apple designed it that way for a reason, I'm sure. They know the physical limitations of the drives way better than we do. If it clicks, it clicks. It's doing its job. Let it do its job, or be more gentle when moving an open computer.

Alternatively, you could close the computer, move it, and then open it again. Then you won't have to worry about damaging the drive at all.

--Travis

Hmmm... does the sensor itself get disabled when you disable the SMS... or does the system just ignore the SMS output? I'm just curious if SeisMac would still function even if the SMS was disabled.

SeisMac still works when the SMS is disabled in the Terminal, as described in this article:

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

I just tried it.