Sudden Motion Sensor

You don't have to worry about the Sudden Motion Sensor when upgrading your hard drive, with one caveat: supposedly some Western Digital hard drives have their own version of the SMS, which conflicts with Apple's. Other than that, it should be smooth sailing.

Will any 3rd party hard drive have SMS when put into a MacBook? is it the HD housing that it goes into that has the SMS in it?

I think the SMS module is something that is not part of the hard drive.

The Sudden motion sensor is something built into the Macbook, and it is compatible with most 3rd part drives. When the SMS is triggered it just locks the head of the hard drive, nothing is built into the drive at all.

No Problem!

Yes, like I said, most 3rd party drives will work. I am assuming that the western digitals have something build in to the actual drive- different from the macbooks, which is built into the computer. Just make sure the drive you are getting doesn't say it has a sudden motion sensor, that way, it will work with the one built into the macbook.

I've read in other forums that some WD hard drives have their own version of SMS built into the drive, and that some users were having problems with them. Personally, I recommend Seagate, because although slower than the fastest drives, they are backed by a 5 year warranty. On the other hand, you'll probably decide you want an even bigger hard drive in less time than that;-) If you want pure speed, go with a Hitachi. If you want a cheap drive, go with a Toshiba.

Thanks for the info everyone, Now i can buy a new HD and be confident it will still have sms!

Thanks!