SATA or SATA 2 hard drive for an early 2006 Macbook Pro

Hi G, and welcome to Apple Discussions.

The conversation you had with Apple is very interesting. I had not heard that before. SATA II is supposed to be backwards compatible with SATA I setups. If there is validity to "feedback loops and damage the logicboard" idea, it would certainly be beneficial to many people reading here. And if that is the case, I wonder if that may account for some of the HD related issues in a few very large threads on this site.

I know at least one place still sells SATA I HDs: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007605%2060000345 3&IsNodeId=1&name=SATA%201.5Gb%2fs but I do not know if they ship internationally.

I hope we hear more on this from knowledgeable sources here.

Both my Early '08 MBP and Late '06 MB, both also having SATA I interfaces, have been running SATA II drives for just a little over a year now without any problems. The MB is being used in clamshell mode with an external monitor and runs 24/7/365. Maybe Apple is aware of a problem with a specific brand of drive that causes a problem. I'm running Hitachi drives in both machines and they have been trouble free. Just my two cents.

G

ggarthe wrote:
Both my Early '08 MBP and Late '06 MB, both also having SATA I interfaces, have been running SATA II drives for just a little over a year now without any problems.

That has always been my expectations, that's why the OP's comments were so interesting.

Maybe Apple is aware of a problem with a specific brand of drive that causes a problem.

There's a very long thread on WD drives (55,586 views, 211 posts). Wonder if someone has discovered some compatibility issues.

Message was edited by: tjk

Apple will almost never recommend any replacement component that does not match the specs that the machine originally shipped with. As such, it is not likely they would say that anything other than a SATA 1.5GB would work. A SATA 3.0 GB drive "should" work as the SATA spec is designed for that. Their responses are always "official" and "officially" they can't say anything other than originally spec'd products will work.

For what it's worth, there is only one SATA spec with three incarnations (1.5, 3, and now 6 GB)... There isn't really anything called SATA I, II, or III. Not that it matters as that's how they have come to be referenced anyway.

I have been having serious problems with my revision 1 Macbook Pro (2.0GHz, early 2006) since I replaced a SATA 1.5GBps drive with a SATA 2 unit last spring. Since the replacement, I have continuously experienced 2 - 10 second long system freezes, where all input (mouse, trackpad, keyboard, etc) and software operation would halt. I initially thought the issue was that the WD Scorpio Blue 640 replacement drive was too slow for OS operation, so I purchased a Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid. This drive was screamin' fast (1 bounce to launch Safari instead of 13 ), but had the same problem.

Today I had an epiphany about the SATA 1.5 vs 3GBps issue, and replaced the drive again with a SATA 1.5GBps 320GB unit. Lo and behold, my problems instantly disappeared. I then tried the SATA 1.5 jumper to force SATA1 mode on one of the other drives, and that worked too.

I can therefore confirm that the original Macbook Pro (1,1) units have SERIOUS problems with SATA II drives. The worst part is that the lockup issues were so inconsistent that they took me more than 8 months to diagnose -and that with help from Apple technical support!

So, for anyone out there experiencing intermittent and inconsistent system lockups on a revision 1.1 Macbook pro - if you replaced your hard drive with a new one, try to jumper it for SATA1 operation (if possible), or find a SATA1 drive. This should solve your problem.