Second Hard Drive, Sudden Motion Sensor

Back in the fall I put a SSD in my 2007 MacBook Pro. It's working perfectly. I found the "OptiBay" product, which basically replaces your optical drive with an adapter for another hard drive. I haven't received it yet, but when I do I plan on installing it with a traditional hard drive. My question regards the sudden motion sensor (SMS). I disabled it because it's not needed for the SSD, but I was planning on re-enabling it for my secondary that I will be installing. I'm still going to boot off the SSD, though. Is there a way, or terminal code, to assign the SMS to a certain disk? I'm assuming it will just disable the root drive in the event of "sudden motion," but would this affect a secondary drive?
I'd love for there to be an option to change the identifier, from disk0s2 to disk0s3, but I have a feeling it isn't possible or would be infinitely more difficult... thanks.

Most drives are available with the equivalent of an internal SMS. You just have to check the specs. Drive manufacturers often offer two versions of their drives... one with and one without a SMS. If you get a drive with the SMS built in, you can just leave the MacBook's internal one disabled.
Here is an example of one of the most popular drives:
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/laptops/momentus/momentus5400.6g/
Seagate's SMS technology is referred to as G-Force. Note the product number: 5400.6_g. The "g" denotes the drive has a "G-Force" sensor.

Similar Messages

  • SSD SMS?? (Solid State Drive Sudden Motion Sensor)

    Just a quick question, can anyone tell me if the SSD option has a sudden motion sensor? I realize the benefits to hard drive health wouldn't be needed in a SSD but I find it extremely useful for security (ie: iAlertU).
    Thanks!
    SAM

    Yes it does. This is from my SSD model:
    Hardware Overview:
    Model Name: MacBook Air
    Model Identifier: MacBookAir1,1
    Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
    Processor Speed: 1.8 GHz
    Number Of Processors: 1
    Total Number Of Cores: 2
    L2 Cache: 4 MB
    Memory: 2 GB
    Bus Speed: 800 MHz
    Boot ROM Version: MBA11.00BB.B00
    SMC Version: 1.23f9
    Sudden Motion Sensor:
    State: Enabled

  • Hard drive upgrade on 13" MBP sudden motion sensor compatibility

    Hello,
    I'm planning on upgrading the hard drive in my 13" MBP (aluminium unibody) and I've read a lot of posts regarding the sudden motion sensor conflicts with OS X 10.6.2. I'd like to know if the Western Digital 500GB Scorpio Blue here (http://www.dabs.com/products/western-digital-500gb-scorpio-blue-5400rpm-sata-300 -8mb-58P6.html) would suffer from the conflict (I'm not sure if "Shock Guard" = sudden motion sensor). I don't know if its a simple yes/no or whether its drive / mac specific.
    If it would be a problem does anyone have a suggestion for a guaranteed compatible 500Gb hard drive (5400 rpm is fine)?
    Any thoughts are much appreciated, thanks for your help!

    Western Digital Lists their drive features as:
    * IntelliSeek™ - IntelliSeek technology calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration.
    * SecurePark™ - WD's SecurePark technology parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface resulting in improved long term reliability due to less head wear, and improved shock tolerance.
    * ShockGuard™ - WD's ShockGuard technology protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks during shipping and handling and in daily operation.
    * Free-fall Sensor - As an added layer of protection, if the drive (or the system it's in) is dropped while in use, WD's free-fall sensor detects that the drive is falling and, in less than 200 milliseconds, parks the head off the disks to help prevent damage and data loss.
    * WhisperDrive™ - WD's exclusive WhisperDrive technology combines state-of-the-art seeking algorithms that result in one of the quietest 2.5-inch drives on the market.
    The Free Fall Sensor is the equivalent of the Sudden Motion Sensor. Looking at the specs for the drive you linked to... they list the following features:
    Shock Guard, WhisperDrive, SecurePark
    As they do not list Free Fall Sensor, I'm guessing this model does not have one so it should not conflict with the internal Sudden Motion Sensor in your MacBook.

  • Hard drive click... sudden motion sensor?

    whenever i carry my macbook, the hard drive makes a clicking sound. Is this the sudden motion sensor?

    Yes. Depending on what you mean by "carry", you should probably put it to sleep or turn it off when moving it.

  • Sudden Motion Sensor and a new hard drive?

    I was just wondering if the Sudden Motion Sensor will still work with a non-Apple hard drive.
    If so,
    I am also looking for a 160GB hard drive replacement for the Macbook. Something fast, reliable, quite, and most important, good quality. And low power consumption, if possible
    P.S. I am also looking for 2GB RAM, with the same qualities.
    Thanks.
    Apple Mac mini (late 2005) Mac OS X (10.4.8) PowerMac10,2: 1.5GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB HD, BT/AE...

    Nick,
    oddly enough there have been reports of the SMS not working properly with some Western Digital drives, which have their own SMS system as well. I happen to have a 120G WD Scorpio, but haven't seen the problem myself yet. I'm sure OWC will replace it without problems if it crops up though-one advantage to dealing with a Mac specific dealer

  • Drive Upgrade: Sudden Motion Sensor & SMART

    Greetings,
    I have a couple of technical questions regarding a Hitachi HD upgrade I am planning. I purchased the 5K500.B from Other World Computing (OWC) and had some concerns with the Apple Drive Utility when I went to format it.
    I also purchased an external enclosure that I can mount my old drive in after I replace it. When I went to format the new drive (in the external enclosure) with Drive Utility, I noticed some differences between the old drive and the new drive. The original drive is a Hitachi 200 GB 7200 RPM which Apple supplied as an option. I will list my MacBook Pro information after this section. My questions are:
    1) SMART status reads "Unsupported" on the new drive and "Verified" on the old drive. OWC said this is because SMART only works on internal drives and SMART will work after I install the new drive. I just want to check the accuracy of this statement.
    2) My MacBook Pro has a Sudden Motion Sensor for drop protection. Is that built into the laptop or the hard drive? Will Apple's drop protection work with the new drive?
    3) Is the 5K500.B really a direct replacement with all the functionality of the original drive.
    My MacBook Pro information:
    System Software Overview:
    System Version: Mac OS X 10.6.6 (10J567)
    Boot Mode: Normal
    Secure Virtual Memory: Enabled
    64-bit Kernel and Extensions: No
    Hardware Overview:
    Model Identifier: MacBookPro4,1
    Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHz
    L2 Cache: 6 MB
    Memory: 5 GB
    SMC Version (system): 1.28f3
    Hardware UUID: 5BCEDD41-1B9B-5311-A21C-3638AEAEE5BB
    Sudden Motion Sensor: State: Enabled
    Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00:
    Capacity: 200.05 GB (200,049,647,616 bytes)
    Model: Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00
    Revision: DC4AC77A
    Medium Type: Rotational
    Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
    S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
    Available: 18.03 GB (18,027,290,624 bytes)
    File System: Journaled HFS+

    I read in one of your posts that the sudden motion sensor can be easily disabled. Could you please tell me how?
    I can be online, or not, and the crazy spinning colored disc starts to spin, then if I pick it up and set it back down usually it stops and the macbook (4,1) continues with it's work. I guess that it is the sudden motion sensor although I could be wrong...Just seems strange that it normally stops when i pick it up, tap it, gently, etc.
    Could you please advise? It shows enabled in 'about this mac' but I can't find anyplace to dis-able it.
    It's almost impossible to stream video, although that may be from something else.
    Model Name: MacBook
    Model Identifier: MacBook4,1
    Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
    Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
    Number Of Processors: 1
    Total Number Of Cores: 2
    L2 Cache: 3 MB
    Memory: 4 GB
    Bus Speed: 800 MHz
    Boot ROM Version: MB41.00C1.B00
    SMC Version (system): 1.31f1
    Serial Number (system): W8833DZ00P1
    Hardware UUID: DE950BF6-E26F-5ACB-984B-5BB4E50816B2
    Sudden Motion Sensor:
    State: Enabled
    On front of 'about this mac' it reads Memory 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, which I hadn't noticed before. It sounds like something from my old SONY VAIO!
    Much, much appreciated for any help.
    Thanks very much.

  • Sudden Motion Sensor and WD Scorpio drives

    I'm researching the 13-inch MacBook pro. I stumbled on this thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=683913 which says that the Sudden Motion Sensor in Apple portables have issues with kernel panics when you use Western Digital's Scorpio line of hard drives. I was wondering:
    - Is there a way you can disable SMS in System Preferences?
    - If I get WD's Scorpio drive without their implementation of SMS ("free-fall sensor"), will Apple's SMS take over without KPs? Or do I have to use a stock drive?
    Thanks!

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1934
    Also, the application Cocktail can disable SMS by disabling it and without venturing into the Terminal.
    Bryan

  • Second hard drive failure

    ok so my hard drive died today. It cant be recognized in disk utility or as a target disk.
    this is the second drive thats died!!! also had my batterie die,,
    my macbook is the most fragile comp i have ever had. i have had 1 old CRT imac then an emac then my macbook and finally my alu imac,
    ggggrrrrr

    Keep in mind that hard drives are vulnerable to damage when they are spinning & moved: the head is "flying" over the disk platter on a very thin cushion of air & if the drive is moved suddenly it can literally crash into the platter, damaging either or both parts. Apple uses an advanced technology (the Sudden Motion Sensor) to attempt to "park" the head in a safe zone if the laptop detects this kind of motion, but it isn't foolproof.
    Thus, you should treat it somewhat gently while using it, taking care not to bump it or move it about quickly until it is in the fully spun down sleep mode (indicated at least on the latest models by the pulsing of the status light on the front edge of the case). Judging by that light, it takes about 10 seconds after telling my MB to sleep for it to reach that state.
    The manual does mention this but I suspect many people don't notice it or forget about it after using their MB's for a while.

  • Sudden Motion Sensor panics

    I have been having intermittent kernel panics and finally took the MacBook into the Apple Store.
    The Genius took a look at the panic.log and informed me that my Western Digital drive and/or my Sudden Motion Sensor were the cause.
    Here is the panic log for one of my crashes:
    Wed Oct 4 16:58:42 2006
    panic(cpu 0 caller 0x00878D87): ERROR: no valid tag was found!
    Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
    0x25083cb8 : 0x128d1f (0x3c9540 0x25083cdc 0x131df4 0x0)
    0x25083cf8 : 0x878d87 (0x881d40 0x1 0x25083d38 0x399b050)
    0x25083d18 : 0x879813 (0x399b000 0x39af000 0x25083d78 0x1a157e)
    0x25083d78 : 0x879eca (0x399b000 0x8e35dbb6 0x25083dc8 0x13d4c8)
    0x25083dd8 : 0x87de20 (0x399b000 0x39af000 0x1 0x87de5e)
    0x25083e48 : 0x910924 (0x399b100 0x3c86180 0x0 0x0)
    0x25083e88 : 0x89df22 (0x3a70e00 0x3c89be0 0x25083ed8 0x0)
    0x25083f08 : 0x398a1f (0x3c04900 0x3c68500 0x1 0x3828b70)
    0x25083f58 : 0x397bf1 (0x3c68500 0x135ec3 0x0 0x3828b70)
    0x25083f88 : 0x397927 (0x38307c0 0x25083fd4 0x134d5e 0x135ec3)
    0x25083fc8 : 0x19a74c (0x38307c0 0x0 0x19d0b5 0x38247a0) Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0x0
    Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
    com.apple.driver.SMCMotionSensor(2.0.1d1)@0x90f000
    dependency: com.apple.driver.AppleSMC(1.0.2d3)@0x89a000
    com.apple.driver.AppleSMC(1.0.2d3)@0x89a000
    dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily(1.2.0)@0x61c000
    com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage(1.0.3)@0x877000
    dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(1.5.1)@0x5ea000
    dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily(1.0.2)@0x7c8000
    Kernel version:
    Darwin Kernel Version 8.8.1: Mon Sep 25 19:42:00 PDT 2006; root:xnu-792.13.8.obj~1/RELEASE_I386
    Other World Computing has sold a ton of these drives and has never run into this. The Apple Store kindly swapped in another drive and, after getting the MacBook good and hot (something that seems to trigger the panics), we whacked it around and were unable to replicate it.
    They determined that it is the drive.
    Does this make sense? Has anyone heard of such a problem? The drive shows no other symptoms.

    Got this from Macintouch.com that says that, yes, indeed the Western Digital drives have built in shock protection that is interfering with the Sudden Motion Sensor:
    Upgrading
    Cyrus Bhedwar
    "We swapped in a spare Seagate they had at the Apple Store and tried that. No KPs, but this isn't a definitive test as it doesn't always KP on rapid movement. Called OWC, and they had no reports of such an issue so sent me an RMA. Today I installed the new drive. The MacBook KPs when a decent motion is applied."
    I recently read somewhere (sorry, no reference) that the WD has its own motion protection that interferes with the MB SMS. I have the Seagate Momentus 120 GB (1 week) and have not had any probs.
    Jim Cowing
    Regarding James Ehrler's post on Kernel Panics and Western Digital 120 drives in a macbook - I can confirm. We have a 2.0GHz macbook with a WD120 that KP's on sudden (fairly harsh) motion. Didn't even notice this until I read the post and tried it.
    MacInTouch Reader
    You're not the only one who's encountered this:
    MacBook/Pro Owners Beware
    A light bulb then went off? we started to associate the panics with movement. Then it hit us like 3 tons of bowling balls, the Scorpio has built-in shock protection. The ShockGuard technology that WD employs is interfering with the Macs own head parking technology. We placed another call into Other World and returned the second Scorpio in exchange for the slightly more expensive Seagate Momentus (which does not have built-in shock protection). After installing the Momentus and cloning over the now tired image, we haven?t had a single kernal panic.
    All that said, if you have a MacBook or MacBook Pro, DO NOT upgrade to the WD Scorpio line of hard drives. They are definitely fine drives, just not fine for MacBook/Pro owners.
    Here is the link to the Macspecialist post on this issue:
    http://www.macspecialist.org/content/articles/macbookpro_ownersbeware/

  • HT1935 In sudden motion sensor terminal it will not let put in my password...can any one help me?

    While recording music was prompt...
    Disk is too slow or System Overload.
    (-10008)
    The Sudden Motion Sensor may have parked the hard drive head, or the disk performance is not sufficient to read or write all audio tracks, or the system was not able to process all data in time
    hard drive to slow...
    followed direction but it would not let me enter password. No keys will work on keypad when trying

    It's normal to see no characters on screen when entering the password for sudo - they're still recognised.
    As Apple say at http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4103
    When typing the user's password after the "Password:" prompt appears, you will not see anything appear in the Terminal window. Just type in the password and press Return. If the password is entered incorrectly, you will see the message "Sorry, try again" and be given another chance to enter the password correctly.

  • Sudden Motion Sensor not working after upgrade to WD5000BEKT HDD

    Hi everyone, I just upgraded the hard drive on my Macbook Pro (2010) and I am very pleased with the performance of this 7200rpm drive, I have seen reads around 105MB/s and a pretty good boot time at 23s. But I used to be able to hear the hard drive stop when I moved the computer around before due to the Sudden Motion Sensor technology and since I have the new hard drive in it doesn't seem to work anymore. I have tried switching SMS off and on and it didn't change anything, also the drive is a Western Digital Scorpio Black without Free Fall sensor (I took that version on purpose so it wouldn't conflict with the SMS). Do you have any ideas on how to make it work again? Because I really like this feature on my Mac (I have dropped a laptop before so just in case it happens again). Thanks a lot for your help.
    Scott

    For future reference, here are a couple of kb articles on the sudden motion sensor:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1935
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1934
    As has been said, Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor is not actually built into the hard drive. In fact, some hard drives with their own version of a sudden motion sensor like Seagate's G-Force Protection actually will set up a conflict with Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor.
    I installed the same WD in my Mac as you did, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have been enjoying mine.

  • Where is Sudden Motion Sensor data stored?

    Background:
    I replaced my superdrive with an optibay + ssd (OS is stored here) and I left the stock HD (home folder) in it's place.
    Problem:
    I guess I triggered the SMS the other day and now I can't access my HD (basically just hangs / takes forever to load anything) unless I disable SMS. Where would I clear the data / tell it that my HD is safe to use again. Restarted pram and reinstalled OS, but it didn't help.

    Thanks for the responses. Yes, as JoeyR stated, I replaced my superdrive with an SSD and the hard drive is in it's original place so I wanted to re-enable the sudden motion sensor. Thank you for clarifying how the SMS works. I wasn't sure if there was a state that was saved somewhere.
    Well the original issue was that my OS would boot (SSD), but I couldn't get into my login (HD). I have a temporary user on the SSD so I was able to use that to troubleshoot. I swapped my HD with another one and it worked (STOCK HD). Then I tried putting the HD into an external closure and that worked as well. I had a feeling it was the connector, but I did not have spare parts to test this theory. I would swap the HDs back and forth and sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't. It was a hit or miss situation. It worked when I disabled the SMS, but when I enabled / disabled it again it didn't work. Ran diagnostics on the HDs, both drives seem fine and in perfect condition. Tried to format the hard drivers and do various combinations of swapping drives and in the end the problem still persisted so it had to be a connector issue. I brought it into repair and they replaced the SATA cable for me and all is good now.
    Thanks for the help.

  • 2011 MBP - HD in Optibay - Sudden Motion Sensor?

    2011 15" MacBook Pro with BTO Apple SSD.
    Optibay with WD 750GB Scorpio Black.
    What is the correct setting regarding the Sudden Motion Sensor?
    There is conflicting information that this drive does or does not have a SMS - according to WD's website it does have "ShockGuard"
    There are several that have had trouble with motion sensor in a hard drive, in the optibay and in the Mac software. Some have not... and it seems to depend on drive.
    What is the correct setting - should one turn OFF Sudden Motion Sensor in the operating system? or leave it on?
    and either way, does SMS or "Shockguard" work properly when in an optibay?

    Jim,
    I have a similar setup to yours. SSD in main MBP drive bay, and WD 750GB Scorpio Black in the optibay.
    Ok, so we know that:
    SMS doesn't work in the optibay.
    Having the boot drive in the optibay causes hibernation issues, which could be "solved" by disabling hibernation and its creation of the /var/vm/sleepimage file.
    WD has something called ShockGuard on their Scorpio Black drives:
    "WD's ShockGuard technology protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks during shipping and handling and in daily operation. WD’s SecurePark parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down, and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface, resulting in improved long-term reliability due to less head wear and improved non-operational shock tolerance." [http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/SpecSheet/ENG/2879-701275.pdf]
    I'm wondering if, after a few months with your setup, you still consider the WD ShockGuard to be a sufficient reason for leaving the WD Scorpio Black in the optibay.
    My initial instinct is that ShockGuard may not be as effective as SMS. I wonder, in part because whenever the Scorpio Black is accessed (via spotlight usage or what have you), it stays spinning for quite a while before eventually spinning down. Do you experience this? Do you have any more advice from your experience?
    Thanks.

  • Should I disable the sudden motion sensor after upgrading to an SSD

    I put a 1TB Samsung 840 EVO in my MacBook Pro (9,1).  Should I disable the sudden motion sensor?  Does it do anything else other than park the hard disk (like something with the fans)?

    You may want to read up on the SMS here:
    Mac notebooks: About the Sudden Motion Sensor
    Sounds like you can safely disable it if you wish since MacBooks which ship with an SSD drive seem to have it disabled.

  • Logic 9 sudden motion sensor error.

    Hi Guys,
    my rig often gives me the "system overload, sudden motion sensor" error during playback, its driving me nuts, the thing that really gets me is that its a mac pro, booting off an SDD, audio is running off a fast drive and the whole lot is in a shockmounted flightcase, i have no idea how the sudden motion sensor could be doing anything at all.
    does it have something to do with the 2.5" SSD the rig boots off?

    Hi - I am experiencing this error as well. I believe the issue is due to Logic Pro not quite ready for Lion. I just bought a new iMac 2.5 GHz 4GB RAM.  Got it to run Logic, and found 9.1.1 doesn't even run on Lion. After upgrading to 9.1.5 the first thing I tried to do was open the demo projects from The Killers and Lilly Allen, to see what this software is all about. Logic hangs somewhere while loading all of the tracks/software instruments, and needs to be Force Quit. The Santigold project loads but it gives me this error about a minute into playing it:
    Disk is too slow or system overload
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    The sudden motion sensor may have parked the hard drive head, or the disk performance is not sufficient to read or write all audio tracks, or the system was not able to process all data in time.
    I do not yet have an external drive and am not sure if running project files off a fast external (as opposed to the system drive running Logic) would resolve the issue. But I notice the error is broad and basically multi-purpose, not necessarily stating that your hard drive has parked for sure, rather that disc/system performance couldn't keep up. I haven't duplicated the error when playing my own projects, with less tracks/software instruments. I think that there may be a threshold where you can just push logic too far for Lion interoperability on this 9.1.5 release. Hoping for a new release soon! Good Luck!

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