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.

Similar Messages

  • Sudden Motion Sensor crash in MBP with SSD

    Hi.  I replaced my 2011 17" MBP's internal HD with one, then another SSD from OWC, going from 240 to 480.
    As indicated in OWC's instructions, the Sudden Motion Sensor no longer applies and should be disabled with this command from the terminal:
    $ sudo pmset -a sms 0
    And using this command, we can see that the SMS is off:
    $ sudo pmset -g
    Active Profiles:
    Battery Power                    -1
    AC Power                    -1*
    Currently in use:
    womp                    1
    halfdim          1
    sms                    0
    What happens all too often though is that my Mac issues an SMS crash while asleep if I am driving home and hit a bump in my car.  Just Monday, I was driving with my Mac open and on, the car hit a bump and I got to watch the Gray Screen of Death as the Mac issued a kernel panic from the Sudden Motion Sensor. 
    But it's off. 
    FYI, I turned it off to try and stop this behaviour

    Download an run memtest to check your RAM. 
    http://osxdaily.com/2011/05/03/memtest-mac-ram-test/
    www.memtestosx.org/downloads/memtest422/Users_Guide.rtf
    Don Montalvo was preventing the crashes by turning off SMS.  However, replacing bad RAM was the ultimate solution.
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3013824?start=0&tstart=0
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3013824?start=45&tstart=0

  • Is this a problem with the Sudden Motion Sensor or the HDD?

    I have a MacBook that I purchased in Septemberof this year, and for a while I have been having a problem with the HDD. I understand that there is a Sudden Motion Sensor that parks the hard disk when the computer is moved suddenly, but every hour or so I can hear the HDD make a single loud click for seemingly no reason at all. The computer can be sitting on my desk with no applications running and this will still happen. This is not really much of a problem other than the annoying noise, but if I am playing music or a video from the HDD it will skip when it does this. I have disabled the SMS for now to see if it will make a difference, I am very careful with my devices so I do not fear that I will cause any HDD damage without the SMS, but I am not sure if it is a problem with the HDD or the SMS. Could anyone shed some light on this for me?

    Well turns out disabling the SMS did nothing so I'm going to just take it in and hope it can be fixed.

  • Testing the sudden motion sensor

    is there a way to check this is working?? im not sure mine is

    eww... i noticed the site has a calibration app also, have you used this?
    i am curious to know if everyone sees SMS problems because i just bought this MBP Saturday and the first time i picked it up to move my position it clicked repeatedly. i have an older dell that i have never had the technology activate unless i overly shook the laptop...
    is it normal to have an over sensitive SMS? can the calibrate tool make it less touchy and not harm it?
    thanks.

  • Disable sudden motion sensor?

    Does anyone know if there is a way to disable the sudden motion sensor? Often I get frozen for a few seconds and I think it's because of the sensor.
    Suggestions?
    Thanks.
    Dual 1Ghz G4 MDD, MacBook Pro   Mac OS X (10.4.6)   Logic 7.1.1

    I think it’s doubtful you’re experiencing spurious SMS activation, but I suppose it’s possible. The answer to your question about deactivating it is given on this Apple documentation page:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300724
    Randall Schulz

  • Disabling sudden motion sensor - harmful?

    I've been having an issue where my unplugged macbook would randomly shut down when moved (even slightly), but the battery was in good health. Tried the usual resets, SMC, PRAM, etc and had no problems with temperature/overheating.
    The only thing that 'fixed' the issue was disabling the sudden motion sensor. Is it possible that the sudden motion sensor was hyper sensitive or something? Is it dangerous to keep it off? And is it worth getting fixed ( I'm a student out of warranty)?
    Thank you.

    nope... only stops working if moved from the bottom right hand corner when unplugged.

  • Sudden Motion Sensor -Disabled after fall?

    Hello.
    My Mac Book Pro had a short fall the other day. About a foot onto a carpet. Everything seems to be fine with it other than the Sudden Motion Sensor. System Profiler shows that it is disabled, and SeisMac gets no readings, but the terminal "pmset" shows that is is enabled. I tried turning it off and back on using the terminal commands, but it seemed to make no difference. Thoughts? Is it possible that the fall broke the sensor but nothing else?
    Thanks
    15" 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

    It is possible that the drive was actaully damaged from the fall and it can no longer enable SMS. You can realisitcally do three things…
    1) Replace the drive yourself
    2) Do nothing
    3) Call AppleCare and tell them that your SMS is not working (whether you tell tham about the fall of not is your business although is in part what the SMS is for)

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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 / Seagate Momentus 7200.4

    All,
    I am trying to check the Sudden motion sensor on my macbook pro unibody 2.8. Reason being i am a seagate momentus 7200.4 500gb (p/n ST9500420AS) drive and i want to make sure it is on. because I dont hear the drive park when I move it.
    I go to terminal and do the following
    When the command line appears, type sudo pmset -g and press Return.
    Type in the administrator password when prompted and hit Return. This command queries the computer for the current setting of the Sudden Motion Sensor, which you can determine by locating the ams entry (in Mac OS X 10.3) or the sms entry (in Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5) and looking to the right to determine its value. The default setting is "1" (turned on).
    But it shows no setting. After I type the password it shows a blank line. How come I can not see this setting?

    The SMS is not a part of the drive itself, it is a separate component normally located adjacent to the drive. It consists of a three-axis accelerometer that reports any motion of the computer to the Operating System. If it exceed a certain threshold, the O.S. causes the drive to park itself, presumably in anticipation to an impact. Some general purpose utilities, such as [MacPilot|http://www.koingosw.com/products/macpilot.php], allow you to enable or disable the SMS, there are also utilities specific for this.
    An interesting application is [SeisMac|http://www.suitable.com/tools/seismac.html], which reads the info produced by the SMS and displays it as a graph, turning your Mac into a seismograph.
    As for the operation of the system, I've found that if you close the lid on your portable and while it is updating the sleep image (before the LED starts pulsing), if you shake it, you will hear and feel the HDD coming to an emergency stop.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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 on OSX 10.4.6 (iBook/PowerBook  G4)

    cheers!
    according to http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303178, there is a problem with the sudden motion sensor on my ibook g4 14'.
    my questions are:
    1. is the sms really not working or is it just not showing up in the system profiler?
    2. what should i do to bring sms (back?)to work? install a macosx-version prior to 10.4.3?
    3. did the sms on my ibook ever work? bought it with 10.4.3 on it.
    thanks for the answers.

    Hi Mmkay,
    Welcome to Apple Discussions
    I am sorry, but just to make sure; Does the Sudden Motion Sensor not show up in System Profile (Getting Information About Your Computer (System Profiler)). In System Profiler > click on the Hardware tab > Look in the main window and you should seen Sudden Motion Sensor below Serial Number. Does it say State: Enabled? If it doesn't show up, bring it to your local Apple Store. I don't think that reinstalling the system software will make a difference.
    Jon
    Mac Mini 1.42Ghz, iPod (All), Airport (Graphite & Express), G4 1.33Ghz iBook, G4 iMac 1Ghz, G3 500Mhz, iBook iMac 233Mhz, eMate, Power Mac 5400 LC, PowerBook 540c, Macintosh 128K, Apple //e, Apple //, and some more...  Mac OS X (10.4.5) Moto Razr, iLife '06, SmartDisk 160Gb, Apple BT Mouse, Sight..

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