MacBook - Upgraded to WD2500BEVS Hard drive, makes clicking noise..

[OP Ron21 0]

Hey,

I recently upgrade my hard drive in my macbook to a WD 250GB SATA drive.

the problem I'm having is that every few seconds of inactivity the hard drive sounds like it 'parks' it's head.

The SMART status of the drive is verified.

Apparently this is the solution :

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/ph...984716&p_si

But I'm obviosoly on a mac running osx with no floppy drive, so does anyone know how to apply that patch? Thanks.

[drumy 0]

i'm not sure but i think there is a limit of 200 gb on the macbook

edit: it's 250 gb... my bad

[david.rothera 0]

The way that I did it was to use a bootable USB pen that has FreeDOS on it (I use it for BIOS flashing etc at work) and then flash it that way, hold option when booting and boot from the USB drive.

[CPressland 176]

I'm using the exact same hard drive as you and I'm not getting these issues, try this, go into power settings and turn off the option to turn the hard drive off to save power.

If that dosnt work, turn it back on.

I can assure you that the patch wont do anything, i've already read loads on this when I was ordering the drive.

[david.rothera 0]

Why wont it? WD have admitted to it being a fault and have released an updated firmware....

The fact is that you have bought that drive to work perfectly, you shouldnt have to change your settings to waste battery power, they have admitted this was a fault and now it is fixed....

[CPressland 176]

Well, last I checked that firmware update didnt work on the 250GB drive anyway, give it a try anyway

[OP Ron21 0]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Does anyone know how to make a Dos Bootable USB Flash Drive? So far I've tried 4 different guides I found on google and non worked.

[shockz 1,391]

If its a firmware update... can you take the drive out of that computer, put it into one with a floppy, and switch it back when its done??

[OP Ron21 0]

If its a firmware update... can you take the drive out of that computer, put it into one with a floppy, and switch it back when its done??

Yes that can be done, the only problem I have is that I don't know of anyone with a floppy drive.

[OP Ron21 0]

Quick Update -

Someone over at Apple's discussion boards made me a bootable CD image.

I plugged the HD into a PC and used the cd image that was posted there (no floppy drive either).

Anyway, the update utility told me that the HD needs no updating! (all that for nothing).

I still don't understand why every few seconds of inactivity the HD parks it's head. Like I said the SMART status is verified so I don't think the HD is defective.

[CPressland 176]

Yep, thats what I said, that fix dosnt work, you can return the drive but apparently it's quite common.

You could try phoning/E-mailing WD support and b*tching a moaning at them for a few hours... but otherwise, get a replacement is the only thing you can do, i guess i'm just lucky.

Maybe there is a way for me to rip my firmware and send it to you? anyone have any ideas?

[joyntkid 0]

How do you like the 250GB drive?

I'm thinking about upgrading. I have a 15" MBP 2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM and 160GB hard drive. I use Adobe CS3 and Final Cut Pro, both of which have a ton of assets. I figure it's easier just to upgrade the internal that getting another external just for the assets and stuff.

How hard is it to transfer the files? I think i'll jsut reinstall OSX cause i have yet to install Leopard and have all of the stuff I need backed up.

[CPressland 176]

Personally, I love it, it's slower then the 160GB Seagate drive that comes with the MacBooks as standard but only by a fractional amount. After installing leopard it was very hard to notice the difference.

So the major difference would have to be that the 250GB hard drive has 250GB more space, thats it :p

Aside from the clicking noise thats reported all over the net (but i dont have) it's a A++++ drive

[OP Ron21 0]

How do you like the 250GB drive?

I'm thinking about upgrading. I have a 15" MBP 2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM and 160GB hard drive. I use Adobe CS3 and Final Cut Pro, both of which have a ton of assets. I figure it's easier just to upgrade the internal that getting another external just for the assets and stuff.

How hard is it to transfer the files? I think i'll jsut reinstall OSX cause i have yet to install Leopard and have all of the stuff I need backed up.

The hard drive itself works perfectly (minus the clicking noise).

As for moving files and reinstalling leopard you don't have to!

When you buy your hd, get a cheap external 2.5in SATA enclosure. Put the new HD into that enclosure and connect it to your computer.

Now use either SuperDuper or CCC to clone your internal drive onto the external drive.

Then swap the drives in your MBP (install the new HD into your MBP), and you can use your old hd inside the enclosure for backup purposes or whatever and you are done.

[OP Ron21 0]

Also keep in mind that upgrading the HD in a MBP is not as simple as the MB. It requires you to disassemble the notebook.

[OP Ron21 0]

After tons of research I think I finally figured out what the problem is.

Google the following terms : "APM Value" and "APM Tuner".

Unfortunately APM Tuner X does not work in leopard and I have no idea how to adjust the hard drives APM value.

The clicking noise is a result of a command being sent by the OS telling the drive to load/unload. Which basically parks the head after a few seconds of inactivity. From my understanding the APM value is OS dependent, thats why in windows the noise is very rare.

This issue has been around since 2001 and has affected various notebooks (not just macs) and even the Mac Mini.

[+Chicane-UK 665]

This is interesting and I think does affect Windows also. I run a pair of Seagate Barracuda drives.. run fine under XP but I 'upgraded' to Vista a while back to see how it ran and began to experience clicking noises that I thought were signalling the demise of one of the drives. After I got bored of Vista I went back to XP and guess what... not heard the noise since. I bought an external drive too to back up all of my data thinking that death was imminent!

Interesting info indeed.

[betasp 2]

Drive clicks = RMA

/That simple

[rayjin 1]

How do you like the 250GB drive?

I'm thinking about upgrading. I have a 15" MBP 2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM and 160GB hard drive. I use Adobe CS3 and Final Cut Pro, both of which have a ton of assets. I figure it's easier just to upgrade the internal that getting another external just for the assets and stuff.

How hard is it to transfer the files? I think i'll jsut reinstall OSX cause i have yet to install Leopard and have all of the stuff I need backed up.

The drive works great on my Macbook, only weird thing is that it vibrates at times.