new 750GB drive, beachballs galore

slacker · 11-08-2009, 10:49 PM

I recently installed a new WD 750GB drive and am getting beachballs routinely, but especially when time machine is working. I can boot from this drive when in an external USB enclosure and it works PERFECTLY, but move it internally and it seems to be spinning down the drive. My old internal factory drive also works PERFECTLY when it is installed internally.

I disabled the sudden motion sensor.

ideas? Think maybe SATA-II related, but not sure.

DE9 · 11-10-2009, 01:36 PM

You will need to provide more information, like what kind of computer you are running and which version of OS.

slacker · 11-10-2009, 01:48 PM

Leopard 10.5.8
Drive: WD 7500KEVT

Quote:


	Model Name: MacBook Pro Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,1 Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz Number Of Processors: 1 Total Number Of Cores: 2 L2 Cache: 6 MB Memory: 4 GB Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz Boot ROM Version: MBP51.0074.B01 SMC Version (system): 1.33f8 Sudden Motion Sensor: State: Disabled

Spent an hour with a "genius", but only answer was "we don't support 3rd party drives" and "we don't sell drive upgrades for MBP".

Las_Vegas · 11-10-2009, 02:19 PM

You're running Time Machine to another partition of the same drive? I would expect that it would cause significant slow downs while Time Machine is active. Unlike using a different drive, Your data has to share the same bus and would slow significantly.

slacker · 11-10-2009, 03:28 PM

No, Time Machine was backing up to an external USB drive.

I'm not talking about sluggish. I'm talking about a 20 second beachball where the CPU activity goes to zero (via menu meters), then the drive makes a park/unpark sound, then everything goes back to normal for a few minutes. Repeat every few minutes.

Not a drive failure. The drives check out fine under SMART Utility. Plus, I have two identical 750GB drives, they both exhibit this behavior. Put them in an external enclosure, boot from USB, no problem. Move to internal bay, problem.

There is a support thread at Apple that has 250,000+ views, so I can't be alone in this. It appears when Apple enabled the 3.0Gbps SATA-II interface on unibody MacBook Pro (with a disclaimer that they don't guarantee 3rd party drives will work) some drives generate CRC errors on the transfer and the drive resets.

Some people were able to have a Genius downgrade EFI (BIOS) to 1.6 and fix the problem. EFI 1.7 was what bumped the performance up from 1.5Gbps to 3.0Gbps.

At this point, I cannibalized an older 500GB drive that I previously used for backup and it appears to be working without incident. Wanted to warn people here to be very careful about upgrading to monster drives in the Unibody MacBook Pros.

Las_Vegas · 11-10-2009, 10:47 PM

Perhaps the 750GB was just drawing a little more power than the Mac had available. I know I had problems with the first 320GB drive to come out after getting my 2006 MBP. The same size drive that replaced it had no problems at all.

11-08-2009, 10:49 PM	#1
slacker Triple-A Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Baltimore Posts: 221	new 750GB drive, beachballs galore I recently installed a new WD 750GB drive and am getting beachballs routinely, but especially when time machine is working. I can boot from this drive when in an external USB enclosure and it works PERFECTLY, but move it internally and it seems to be spinning down the drive. My old internal factory drive also works PERFECTLY when it is installed internally. I disabled the sudden motion sensor. ideas? Think maybe SATA-II related, but not sure.

11-10-2009, 02:19 PM	#4
Las_Vegas League Commissioner Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 5,845	You're running Time Machine to another partition of the same drive? I would expect that it would cause significant slow downs while Time Machine is active. Unlike using a different drive, Your data has to share the same bus and would slow significantly. __________________ Las_Vegas -- Ts'i mahnu uterna ot twan ot geifur hingts uto. -- Sometimes I wonder… Why is that Frisbee getting Larger? …and then it hits me. -- Disposable thumbs make me specialer than most animals…

11-10-2009, 10:47 PM	#6
Las_Vegas League Commissioner Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 5,845	Perhaps the 750GB was just drawing a little more power than the Mac had available. I know I had problems with the first 320GB drive to come out after getting my 2006 MBP. The same size drive that replaced it had no problems at all. __________________ Las_Vegas -- Ts'i mahnu uterna ot twan ot geifur hingts uto. -- Sometimes I wonder… Why is that Frisbee getting Larger? …and then it hits me. -- Disposable thumbs make me specialer than most animals…

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11-10-2009, 01:36 PM	#2
DE9 Triple-A Player Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 126	You will need to provide more information, like what kind of computer you are running and which version of OS.

11-10-2009, 03:28 PM	#5
slacker Triple-A Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Baltimore Posts: 221	No, Time Machine was backing up to an external USB drive. I'm not talking about sluggish. I'm talking about a 20 second beachball where the CPU activity goes to zero (via menu meters), then the drive makes a park/unpark sound, then everything goes back to normal for a few minutes. Repeat every few minutes. Not a drive failure. The drives check out fine under SMART Utility. Plus, I have two identical 750GB drives, they both exhibit this behavior. Put them in an external enclosure, boot from USB, no problem. Move to internal bay, problem. There is a support thread at Apple that has 250,000+ views, so I can't be alone in this. It appears when Apple enabled the 3.0Gbps SATA-II interface on unibody MacBook Pro (with a disclaimer that they don't guarantee 3rd party drives will work) some drives generate CRC errors on the transfer and the drive resets. Some people were able to have a Genius downgrade EFI (BIOS) to 1.6 and fix the problem. EFI 1.7 was what bumped the performance up from 1.5Gbps to 3.0Gbps. At this point, I cannibalized an older 500GB drive that I previously used for backup and it appears to be working without incident. Wanted to warn people here to be very careful about upgrading to monster drives in the Unibody MacBook Pros.