After installing WD5000BEKT, Mac OS X stalling randomly

[Emiliana]

I recently upgraded the hard drive of my Macbook with a WD5000BEKT (Western Digital Scorpio Black, 500 GB, 7200).The problem I have is that random experience .my computer stops for 5-20 seconds before recovering with no errors. My hardware is a mid-2009 15 "MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz, 9400) running fully updated Leopard (10.6.5 I think).

[fragranz]

I have the same problem with the same drive on my HP with Windows 7. All data from SMART says the disk is fine, but once in a while my computer crashes with the HDD LED is constantly! The local action groups will have duration of 3 to 10 seconds. It's quite annoying.

[Jabeena]

I recent brought wd hard drive and got so much problem with wd.I was so frustrated that I decided to get a new unit - the Black Scorpion. The reviews I read were very promising, even among Mac users, unfortunately, not deep enough and this album is giving me the same problem. From what I read, it has something to do with power management OSX parking heads or something. I do not be acquainted with if that's true, but it is very annoying. A reply from WD can be appreciated in this matter.

[Emiliana]

Yes, the answer would be greatly appreciated. It would be nice to know if it is a defective unit or if compatibility is to blame. Right now I have my old hard drive on my laptop while WD5000BEKT tests on my PS3. unluckily my portable drive seems to be on the border of death, so you might require knowing this WD5000BEKT or switching to another brand.

[samar69]

I think I solved my freeze ups at random. After trying to fix all the little I could find on the web without success. I was having a similar problem until I read a message advising to go through the following folders and remove any material of third parties:

• / Library / Packages /
• / Library / Contextual Menu Items /
• / Library / InputManagers /
• / Library / LaunchDaemons /
• / Library / PreferencePanes /
• / Library / QuickLook /
• / Library / ScriptingAdditions
• / Library / StartupItems /
• / Library / Internet Plug-Ins /
• / Library / LaunchAgents /

You should also check the library folder in the Startup folder. Since I've done this SL is working perfectly. I can confirm that I removed all plug-ins (including Flash web plug-in) of these folders and my computer with the installed WD5000BEKT has been running smoothly, like butter for more than 24 hours. I guess some of the plug-in .before I installed on Leopard clogging the system when I upgraded to Leopard.

[Mindstorm]

I just installed a SATA WD Scorpio Blue 320, Model: WDBABC3200ANC-NRSN on my MacBook Pro, running 10.6.6. Formerly the file unit from Apple. Were cloned error-free Carbon Copy Cloner. Why the improvement was more space. Previous unit worked very well otherwise.

Now I'm getting beach ball / search positions every 8-10 minutes. Only positions for about 30 seconds or so consistently. I turned off SMS Apples sensor. Apparently the unit stops / turning down without reason (even though that may be playing a movie file, or run a utility comparison tools speed unit). For example, when running tools speed for 10 minutes, 8 minutes left only to write the test file (it was a read / write tests) from 20 to 30 seconds, and then the disc has just begun and continued testing. What’s happening? The unit is 3 days old, I'm preparing for that in exchange for something else!

[Eru]

I suggest you to do following things

• Reset VRAM and SMC
• Disable SMS (Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor)
• Clearing Cache (with a program called Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner)
• Running maintenance and cleaning tools with a program called "Onyx"
• Bought a new hard drive (originally had a Seagate, now using WD5000BEKT - Scorpio Black)
• Attempt to boot in 64-bit mode (which turns out to not work on my Mac, though if you have a newer MacbookPro, try holding "6" and "4" during boot)
• Placing a jumper on the hard drive to force it into SATA I mode
• Repairing Permissions

[Felix46]

Just an update on my own machine - I had a spinning beach ball today. One in two days is acceptable. It lasted about 30 seconds (like others). But otherwise it was great. The crash could have been another reason, possibly a bad script in Firefox .The other thing I forgot to mention is that if you are a new Macbook Pro and are having this problem, you may want to look into the degradation of the EFI firmware from 1.7 to 1.6. Only Google, you will find information about it. This was not an option for me since my mac is a bit more.

[Ryszard]

I'm having a similar problem with the lack of frequency response, short locks, songs skipping, etc after updating my 2009 15 "MacBook Pro Hard Drive 1 TB Western Digital Scorpio by 12.5, a WD10TPVT. I think being able to change by turning the time, or allow 1.5 Gb / s data transfer speed would solve the problem. Other units, such as Seagate, Samsung, and Hitachi. Have provided a solution for that, usually by means of bridges .I am very disappointed by losing that Western Digital. Do you know that there is a bridge, the firmware upgrade or replacement of RMA units with this problem?

[Udyan]

You can drive jumper to SATA I. If the newer Scorpios have no bridges, then automatically sets the drive SATA I, if they do not feel a SATA II port compatible.

[Virtuous]

Here is an update called "hdapm" to solve the problem with Scorpio WD5000BEVT 500GB hard drive. Just Google hdapm.dm and you will get the website and download it and run it. A warning - it must run every time you boot Mac OS 10.6, unless you know the Linux commands and included readme file can be used to set hdapm startup.