[ThrillSeeker]

Hi guys,

I have replaced my 13" Macbook Pro's (late 2009 model) 160GB hd with a 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue HD, but i've noticed that the fan's sound different - they seem louder and more prominent but i can't figure out why. They also seem to be switching from loud to quiet, quiet to loud and so forth.

I've installed iStat and the exhaust is running between 1990-2001rpm overall while the CPU temp is roughly 50 degrees. The hard drive seems to be static on 30 degrees.

Should i be concerned by the 'louder, prominent' sound of the fans? I have performed the smc reset but this has had no effect.

The hard drive itself seems to be performing fine.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[ThrillSeeker]

And shouldn't istat be showing two exhausts because the Macbook Pro has two fans? At the moment i can only see one?

[AKcrab]

Only one fan in your machine.

[ThrillSeeker]

Thanks for your reply.

Good news and bad news.

Good news is that the whooshing sound is not the fan. Bad news is that the whooshing sound is the hard drive!

A bit of googling has allowed me to establish that the hard drive is not compatible with Macbook Pro - something to do with the Mac firmware and the hard drive 'parking'. Some testing has lead me to this same conclusion. If the computer is left idle, the whooshing sound disappears. But if, for example, you type or move the mouse etc, the whooshing sound goes up-down up-down.

I am going to update to 10.6.3 and see if that makes a different.

[Simon]

Yep. You need to return that disk and get a model without built-in shock protection. Your Mac already has a sudden motion sensor to protect the disk. If in addition the disk has such protection too there's potential for a conflict which is what you're experiencing now.

[ThrillSeeker]

Well the update had no affect and after lots of googling there are many people with the same issue. Found some threads on apple's website, this in particular:

Apple - Support - Discussions - Western Digital Scorpio Blue 640 Drive ...

It is ultimately coming down to firmware. Some people have downgraded the firmware to 1.6 - something i am not willing to do - which has resolved the issue.

Simon, as far as i have read, this drive does not have a Sudden Motion Sensor.

It appears that there aren't many (if any) 500gb hard drives out there that maintain the silence of the stock 160GB. Either i stick with what i have or i return to a smaller hard drive.

What is disconcerting is that there are people reporting the hard drive is lagging although i have not experienced this yet.

[AKcrab]

We stock/sell the Seagate Momentus 500GB (7200 RPM).

No complaints from customers.

[ThrillSeeker]

In that case would this 500Gb Seagate Momentus HD be okay:

Buy 500GB Seagate Momentus 5400.6 2.5" Hard Disk Drive ST9500325AS from CCL - Online Retailer of the Year 2008, 2007 & 2006 for laptops, desktops and computer hardware

?

[Simon]

There are two versions of the Momentus 7200.4. One with and one without shock protection. Mac users should get the latter.

ST9500420ASG has shock protection.
ST9500420AS doesn't have shock protection.

Same thing for the 5400.6:
ST9500325ASG has shock protection.
ST9500325AS doesn't have shock protection.

[ThrillSeeker]

Okay i ended up returning the hard drive since it became apparent the Scorpion Blue has some serious compatibility issues with the 1.7 EFI firmware. I thought i could maybe live with the whooshing sound but it was simply too loud to live with.

I wanted the Seagate model mentioned above but it was out of stock so ended up with the Hitatchi Travelstar 500GB instead. I am bit dubious about Hitachi drives turning into the death star but alas i will have to wait and see. I have been reading about people generally finding their 500GB HD's becoming sluggish/beachballing after a few weeks so hopefully that won't happen!

So far the drive is doing alright. I have restored from Time Machine (roughly 70GB) and it seems pretty responsive. The whooshing sound is present but no way near as loud and as annoying as the Scorpion Blue. Just slightly louder than the stock drive.

Nor can i hear the annoying head parking/reparking sound either.

I have installed Smart Utility to check the Load Cycle and it is currently on 223. Can someone tell me if this normal/expected/or way too much for a new drive?

Thanks for all the replies so far.

[Wayland]

Just found this thread. Oddly enough I went down the same path. I started with the 500 GB scorpio blue with the whooshing and traded it in for a hitachi. The Hitachi still has the whooshing, but it is quieter than the WDC. This replaces the stock original Hitachi, which was virtually silent.

Further still, on my machine, if you place your right wrist on the wrist pad on the machine, the whooshing is quieter. Not sure if this is actually pressing against the HD (bad), or if it somehow changes the acoustics. I will probably experiment with taping a thin rubber washer inside to see if it helps.

[ThrillSeeker]

Originally Posted by Wayland 

Just found this thread. Oddly enough I went down the same path. I started with the 500 GB scorpio blue with the whooshing and traded it in for a hitachi. The Hitachi still has the whooshing, but it is quieter than the WDC. This replaces the stock original Hitachi, which was virtually silent.

Further still, on my machine, if you place your right wrist on the wrist pad on the machine, the whooshing is quieter. Not sure if this is actually pressing against the HD (bad), or if it somehow changes the acoustics. I will probably experiment with taping a thin rubber washer inside to see if it helps.

You are entirely correct, if you put your palm on the right hand side of the track pad the whooshing sound becomes distinctly quiet. Have you tried the washer trick? Has it worked?