Slow write to internal hard drive

The write speeds for my internal hard drive on my iMac are painfully slow (under 1 MB/s) for all kinds of files; whenever I am moving files the entire system would become unresponsive. I did not have this problem when I was running tiger; when I installed leopard it took an unusually long time (5 hrs or so), which I thought was strange but decided not to trouble myself over.
I tried to erase the partition and zero the disk from disk utility on the OS X install CD and it said it would take 24 hours, then disk utility crashed. I tried again from my iBook with the imac as a target disk and the same problem occurred.
I am reinstalling leopard now (having erased but not zeroed the disk) and it says it will take 12 hours (it has already been running for an hour).
The SMART status is "verified" but I think the problem may be the hard drive itself. When the system was running, writing to an external disk was perfectly fast.
Does anyone have any ideas? Firmware update, disk controller software update, etc.? I can't find anyone else with the same problem.

Funny thing is I was suffering the same problem on my 24" iMac for the past month or so.. of course after the first year warranty was expired.
24" iMac, 2.16Ghz C2D, 2Gb Ram, 250Gb WD HDD, 7600GT
OSX was going terribly slow, but kept working and I wasn't sure what the problem was right away. After a watching the Activity Monitor I also noticed the HDD on my iMac was suffering from horrible write speeds.. read was fine but writing.. well the HDD was dying.
I went out this morning and bought myself a new 500Gb Seagate with the 32Mb cache to replace my the trusty Western Digital in the iMac.. came home, busted out the philips screwdriver and Torx-8 opened her up and replaced the drive myself. It took under an hour and was a pretty painless process. Once the new drive was installed I restored from a TimeMachine backup and wham bam she was done!
Anyone with good PC assembly knowledge should be able to replace the drive on their own, just find a guide on the net and follow the instructions. The key is to take your time as its not as simple as removing a panel off a PowerMac or PC and swapping the drive.. there is a lot more patience to it since your dealing with such a confined space and other components. But I took my time and cleaned out the cooling system inside my iMac while I was at it.. overall it turned out okay and i'm happy with the performance upgrade on the drive with the larger cache.
I should note, if your iMac is in warranty or your reluctant to open it up yourself (i don't blame you!) just take your Mac into a authorized repair centre and i am sure they would be happy to help replace the drive for a small fee. I on the other hand prefer to save a few bucks and use the money on buying a better drive, plus it was fun to do!

Similar Messages

Is it possible to resize partitions on a write protected internal hard drive?

Hi everyone,
The internal hard drive on my computer has been created into two partitions, one for Mac (350 GB) and another for Windows (150 GB).
Since I rarely use Windows (only for one scientific application from CambridgeSoft), there are a lot of free space on Bootcamp (115 GB). So I would like to resize these partitions to make it the Mac partition maximized, like 450 GB, and 50 GB for Bootcamp.
And the problem is that I'm unable to do that by using Disk Utility, Stellar Management Partition, iPartition.
It says something about write protected (images below).
So are there any ways to undo the write protected or resize those partitions?
Another small question is why the total volume as seen in the second image (iPartition) is not 500 GB, but just 465 GB (50 + 415).
All comments or suggestions are highly appreciated. Thanks!
p.s. I'm the only user.

To resize a Bootcamp partition you must use Bootcamp Assistant to remove the partition then create a new Bootcamp partition, or, use a 3rd party tool such as CampTune.
If you use Disk Utilities you will mess up your hard drive and it will be necessary to erase, format, and reinstall OSx and Windows again. You will lose all your data in OSx and Windows if you try to use Disk Utility to resize a Bootcamp partition.
And, 50 GB is too small for Windows, especially if you install programs and create/use data. 100GB minimum wouls likely work.
Back up all your data before messing with partition changes.

Slow Mavericks - internal hard drive failure?

Hi
I recently updated my iMac 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 4GB RAM to Mavericks. Before I was working on OS X Lion 10.7.5. Until the day I updated I never had any problems with my computer being slow, unless when I was using heavier applications or heavy files like in Adobe PS for example.
Since I've updated however, it often happens that the icons in my launchpad load slowly, my computer shows the spinning circle more often, and especially Microsoft applications (Word and Excel) take much longer before they are launched. I don't think I have to explain how this is bugging me, since we all like a fast computer. So I kind of regret updating.
I wanted to downgrade to 10.7.5 again, but this doesn't seem that easy even though I know my way around reformatting Apple computers…
So this is kind of a last option. Now I went to the Apple store in Belgium, and they told me that it could be a bug and that I should wait for the next version (yeah right…) or that it could be my internal hard drive was failing. Now I tried to find some information on how to recognize a failing hard drive, but I mostly bumped in to extreme errors. So I was wondering how to know your internal drive is failing? Second of all could it be failing all of a sudden? Since I hadn't had those problems before I updated. Thirdly is it possible that the next update would solve these problems, as they mentioned? Could a clean install help?
Anyway, I find it pretty weird, and there's a lot of different opinions and options, so I would like a more expert view on the problem, so get to a solution and an answer whether or not my disk could be failing, cause then I would like to get it replaced.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Grts
Matthias
In a previous topic, I was asked to deliver some information in order to get a diagnosis, but there has been no more answer. This is why Now I would like to ask if anyone can interpret this info below… Cause I have no idea what it means…
When I entered the following query in Terminal this is what happened:
syslog -k Sender kernel -k Message CReq 'GPU |hfs: Ru|I/O e|find tok|n Cause: -|NVDA\(|pagin|timed? ?o' | tail | awk '/:/{$4=""; print}' | open -ef
It produced a text editor window without any content. It didn't take long either, just one or two seconds. (Is this normal?) Does this mean my hard drive is intact?
Disconnect all non-essential wired peripherals and remove aftermarket expansion cards, if any. - there are none
Reset the System Management Controller. - does this simply imply that I have to hold the power button for 10 seconds?
Run Software Update. If there's a firmware update, install it. - done
If you're booting from an aftermarket SSD, see whether there's a firmware update for it. - not the case
If you have a portable computer, check the cycle count of the battery. It may be due for replacement.
- not the case
If you have many image or video files on the Desktop with preview icons, move them to another folder.
- not the case
If applicable, uncheck all boxes in the iCloud preference pane. See whether there's any change. - not an icloud user
Check your keychains in Keychain Access for excessively duplicated items.
- not the case either
Boot into Recovery mode, launch Disk Utility, and run Repair Disk. - is this necesary if the former step didn't bring up any text in the text editor window?
If you have a MacBook Pro with dual graphics, disable automatic graphics switching in the Energy Saverpreference pane for better performance at the cost of shorter battery life.
- not the case
Since I am doing jack right now and am solely typing this topic, the highest %CPU is about 2-3 percent and is "Safari web material". In the second place there is Safari with about 1-1.5%.
System is about 0.76, user 0.89 and inactive is the leftover. 98,"something".
In the memory tab:
In the disk tab… It varies a lot:
After launching the Console application, I copied the 50 or so most recent entries in the log All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. This is the result:
27/01/14 18:13:56,000 kernel[0]: IOThunderboltSwitch<0xffffff80356b5200>(0x0)::listenerCallback - Thunderbolt HPD packet for route = 0x0 port = 1 unplug = 0
27/01/14 18:13:59,000 kernel[0]: [ PCI configuration begin ]
27/01/14 18:13:59,000 kernel[0]: [ PCI configuration end, bridges 14, devices 18 ]
27/01/14 18:14:10,094 fseventsd[49]: could not open <</Volumes/"name"/.fseventsd/fseventsd-uuid>> (No such file or directory)
27/01/14 18:14:10,095 fseventsd[49]: log dir: /Volumes/"name"/.fseventsd getting new uuid: "…"
27/01/14 18:14:10,000 kernel[0]: hfs: mounted "name" on device disk1s3
27/01/14 18:14:19,385 mds[39]: (Warning) DiskStore: Server returned -1 setting attributes
27/01/14 18:14:37,139 sandboxd[330]: ([1116]) mdworker(1116) deny file-read-xattr /Volumes/"name" 3TB/Backup Januari 17:01:2014/Mailboxes (pre-plugin fstype:hfs fsflag:"…" diag:0 isXCode:0 uti:com.apple.mail.mbox plugin:internalPlainTextImporter - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 71392)
27/01/14 18:14:37,164 sandboxd[330]: ([1122]) mdworker(1122) deny file-read-xattr /Volumes/"name"/Backup Januari 17:01:2014/Mailboxes (pre-plugin fstype:hfs fsflag:4A09018 flags:250000005E diag:0 isXCode:0 uti:com.apple.mail.mbox plugin:internalPlainTextImporter - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 71387)
27/01/14 18:15:29,970 WindowServer[87]: disable_update_timeout: UI updates were forcibly disabled by application "Safari" for over 1.00 seconds. Server has re-enabled them.
27/01/14 18:15:32,310 WindowServer[87]: common_reenable_update: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "Safari" after 3.34 seconds (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds)
27/01/14 18:17:35,918 ntpd[113]: ntpd: time set -0.367612 s
27/01/14 18:17:35,943 com.apple.time[150]: Interval maximum value is 946100000 seconds (specified value: 9223372036854775807).
27/01/14 18:17:35,946 com.apple.time[150]: Interval maximum value is 946100000 seconds (specified value: 9223372036854775807).
27/01/14 18:17:48,846 com.apple.SecurityServer[14]: Killing auth hosts
27/01/14 18:17:48,846 com.apple.SecurityServer[14]: Session 100029 destroyed
27/01/14 18:18:45,357 mdworker32[1162]: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.
27/01/14 18:18:45,357 mdworker32[1162]: CGSGetSpaceManagementMode: No connection with id 0x 0
27/01/14 18:23:57,000 kernel[0]: CODE SIGNING: cs_invalid_page(0x1000): p=1219[GoogleSoftwareUp] final status 0x0, allow (remove VALID)ing page
27/01/14 18:24:32,979 VDCAssistant[1221]: AVF encoder error: fail to create accelerator instance
27/01/14 18:25:15,338 com.apple.SecurityServer[14]: Killing auth hosts
27/01/14 18:25:15,338 com.apple.SecurityServer[14]: Session 100038 destroyed
27/01/14 18:25:15,342 com.apple.SecurityServer[14]: Session 100040 created
27/01/14 18:25:15,345 com.apple.security.XPCKeychainSandboxCheck[1229]: Can't get sandbox fs extension for /Users/Home/Library/Application Support/Adobe/AIR/ELS/com.adobe.amp.4875E02D9FB21EE389F73B8D1702B320485DF8CE.1/ PrivateEncryptedDatak, status=-1 errno=No such file or directory ext=(null)
27/01/14 18:25:15,346 com.apple.security.XPCKeychainSandboxCheck[1229]: Can't get sandbox fs extension for /Users/Home/Library/Application Support/Adobe/AIR/ELS/com.adobe.amp.4875E02D9FB21EE389F73B8D1702B320485DF8CE.1/ lck~PrivateEncryptedDatak, status=-1 errno=No such file or directory ext=(null)
27/01/14 18:25:15,346 com.apple.security.XPCKeychainSandboxCheck[1229]: Can't get sandbox fs extension for /Users/Home/Library/Application Support/Adobe/AIR/ELS/com.adobe.WidgetBrowser.E7BED6E5DDA59983786DD72EBFA46B159 8278E07.1/PrivateEncryptedDatak, status=-1 errno=No such file or directory ext=(null)
27/01/14 18:25:15,346 com.apple.security.XPCKeychainSandboxCheck[1229]: Can't get sandbox fs extension for /Users/Home/Library/Application Support/Adobe/AIR/ELS/com.adobe.amp.4875E02D9FB21EE389F73B8D1702B320485DF8CE.1/ .fl89CB8354, status=-1 errno=No such file or directory ext=(null)
27/01/14 18:25:15,346 com.apple.security.XPCKeychainSandboxCheck[1229]: Can't get sandbox fs extension for /Users/Home/Library/Application Support/Adobe/AIR/ELS/com.adobe.WidgetBrowser.E7BED6E5DDA59983786DD72EBFA46B159 8278E07.1/lck~PrivateEncryptedDatak, status=-1 errno=No such file or directory ext=(null)
27/01/14 18:25:15,346 com.apple.security.XPCKeychainSandboxCheck[1229]: Can't get sandbox fs extension for /Users/Home/Library/Application Support/Adobe/AIR/ELS/com.adobe.WidgetBrowser.E7BED6E5DDA59983786DD72EBFA46B159 8278E07.1/.fl89CB8354, status=-1 errno=No such file or directory ext=(null)
27/01/14 18:25:16,750 Mail[1227]: Could not create query for expression ((null)) && (kMDItemContentType == 'com.apple.mail.emlx')
27/01/14 18:25:17,116 WindowServer[87]: disable_update_timeout: UI updates were forcibly disabled by application "Mail" for over 1.00 seconds. Server has re-enabled them.
27/01/14 18:25:18,209 WindowServer[87]: common_reenable_update: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "Mail" after 2.09 seconds (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds)
27/01/14 18:26:58,258 WindowServer[87]: CoreAnimation: context hosting changed while locked!
27/01/14 18:29:03,058 com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.WebKit.WebContent.4A179DCB-D12E-433B-B053-89B6CA18DF91[1233]) Exited with code: 1
27/01/14 18:30:53,000 kernel[0]: hfs: unmount initiated on "name" on device disk1s3
27/01/14 18:31:01,000 kernel[0]: IOThunderboltSwitch<0xffffff80356b5200>(0x0)::listenerCallback - Thunderbolt HPD packet for route = 0x0 port = 1 unplug = 1
27/01/14 18:31:01,000 kernel[0]: [ PCI configuration begin ]
27/01/14 18:31:01,000 kernel[0]: [ PCI configuration end, bridges 12, devices 18 ]
27/01/14 18:31:01,000 kernel[0]: Fixing incorrect zfree from zone kalloc.16 to zone kalloc.32
27/01/14 18:31:40,520 login[1261]: USER_PROCESS: 1261 ttys000
27/01/14 18:34:18,863 mDNSResponder[40]: 48: Could not write data to clientPID[1131](com.apple.WebKi) because of error - aborting connection
27/01/14 18:34:18,863 mDNSResponder[40]: 48: DNSServiceGetAddrInfo v4v6 e4233.b.akamaiedge.net. PID[1131](com.apple.WebKi)
27/01/14 18:46:49,368 com.apple.IconServicesAgent[225]: Icon filename entry missing from bundle info dictionary for bundle at URL: file:///System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/ShareKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServi ces/com.apple.ShareKitHelper.xpc/
27/01/14 18:46:49,450 com.apple.IconServicesAgent[225]: Icon filename entry missing from bundle info dictionary for bundle at URL: file:///System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/WebKit2.framework/Versions/A/XPCServic es/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent.xpc/
27/01/14 18:46:49,701 com.apple.IconServicesAgent[225]: Icon filename entry missing from bundle info dictionary for bundle at URL: file:///System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MailService.framework/Versions/A/XPCSe rvices/com.apple.MailServiceAgent.xpc/
27/01/14 18:46:49,834 com.apple.IconServicesAgent[225]: Icon filename entry missing from bundle info dictionary for bundle at URL: file:///System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/XPCServices/com.apple.doc k.extra.xpc/
27/01/14 18:46:49,988 com.apple.IconServicesAgent[225]: Icon filename entry missing from bundle info dictionary for bundle at URL: file:///System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/WebKit2.framework/Versions/A/XPCServic es/com.apple.WebKit.Networking.xpc/
27/01/14 18:50:27,143 com.apple.IconServicesAgent[225]: Icon filename entry missing from bundle info dictionary for bundle at URL: file:///System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/InternetAccounts.framework/Versions/A/ XPCServices/com.apple.internetaccounts.xpc/
27/01/14 18:53:26,913 WindowServer[87]: _CGXSetWindowBackgroundBlurRadius: Invalid window 0xffffffff
27/01/14 18:53:26,942 WindowServer[87]: _CGXSetWindowBackgroundBlurRadius: Invalid window 0xffffffff
27/01/14 18:55:40,974 login[1261]: DEAD_PROCESS: 1261 ttys000
27/01/14 18:55:55,199 Console[1343]: setPresentationOptions called with NSApplicationPresentationFullScreen when there is no visible fullscreen window; this call will be ignored.

I was copying files to my external drive a few minutes ago, and my computer was reaaaally slow at that time. So I figured opening the Activity monitor and I took some screen shots:
The only thing I tried to interpret is the CPU tab. It shows 94.67% was inactive, and still my computer was being terribly slow… Is this normal and is this the right interpretation?

Incredibly slow MacBook, Internal Hard Drive issues...

Good morning everybody! I'm apologize if this post is extremely wordy...
I am extremely baffled by a particular issue with a MacBook 2.0GHz C2D which belongs to a friend of mine. The warranty is expired.
_Brief history:_
Several months ago, this MacBook could not find a bootable volume. The drive would not mount when booting from an external FireWire hard drive. It would not mount when the MacBook was put in Target Disk Mode and connected to another Mac. When booting from an external USB hard drive or with my MacBook Pro connected to the MacBook via Target Disk Mode, the MacBook booted up quickly. I came to the conclusion that the internal hard drive must have failed and needed to be replaced. Ultimately, the data was not recoverable from this drive.
I then proceeded to swap out the defective Apple OEM Seagate hard drive with a known working Apple OEM Fujitsu hard drive. When booting from the Leopard Install DVD, the MacBook would boot incredibly slow, but would finally reach the Installer Language screen. When proceeding to install Leopard, the drive would take a very long time to have data written to it, and ultimately the install failed. I removed the new hard drive from the MacBook and placed it in an external USB enclosure, attached it to the MacBook and booted from the Leopard Install DVD. Leopard would install successfully. I removed the hard drive from the enclosure and reinstalled it the MacBook. When booting from the freshly installed OS, the MacBook would take a very long time to boot. The MacBook is extremely slow!!!
I checked the Activity Monitor to ensure CPU & System Memory Usage was not going crazy. All Processes where normal with adequate CPU & Memory headroom.
I took the MacBook apart thinking that the SATA Controller Cable might be loose. No, it was firmly in place. I reassembled the MacBook and booted it up again. Still incredibly slow!
Finally, after several reboot attempts, the MacBook would book up quickly and operation was perfect. I applied all updates and continued testing the MacBook with great success. Gave my friend his MacBook back and he was grateful.
_Now for the kicker..._
My friend brought me his MacBook a week ago complaining that the MacBook was operating extremely slow (much like when I was initially testing it before). I verified the MacBook was slow when I tried using it. I tried several reboots and then it would get stuck on the gray Apple with spinning gear.
I tried booting into Single User Mode, but it gets stuck on "Waiting for root device"
I put the MacBook in Target Disk Mode and connected it to my G5 2.0GHz Dual Core. The hard drive would mount quickly on the G5 and I used Disk Utility to create a Restore Image. The disk operation would perform normally and the image would be created successfully.
I then partitioned the MacBook's hard drive when connected to the G5, ejected and proceeded to attempt OS reinstall. No dice! The hard drive is not even detected by the Disk Utility on the Leopard Install DVD.
Finally after several reattempts, the hard drive is recognized, but is extremely slow when trying to reinstall...and again, ultimately install fails. Using Disk Utility from Leopard Install DVD, the hard drive fails to unmount when I try formatting.
I don't have Apple Hardware Test disc for the MacBook or Apple Service Diagnostics disc for this model. Running TechTool Pro shows hardware to be okay, disk controller onboard the Fujitsu drive is okay, but running SMART & Surface Scan takes a long, long time (which I'm certain will ultimately error out). Running Drive Genius takes a long, long time as well.
Conclusion:
I think the SATA Controller Cable is defective. I can't think of anything else that would cause disk errors or performance issues like this. Your input is truly appreciated!

Even though no one responded to my post, I thought I'd share the resolution with the entire Apple community. I hope this information will be helpful to some of you with MacBooks or MacBook Pros that may be running painfully slow or may be exhibiting hard drive issues because your machine won't recognize the boot drive or fails to properly boot on a perfectly healthy S.M.A.R.T. verified hard drive. It just might be the hard drive connector/cable. Here it goes...
I visited my local Apple Retail Store and asked a "Genius" at the Genius Bar about this issue and told him my thoughts about a possible failed hard drive connector/cable. First, he didn't even know what a hard drive connector was! Then, he arrogantly stated that he never heard of such a thing and that these cables never fail. Finally, he blatantly dispelled this as a possibility.
On the contrary with my experience, I have had many failed PATA controller cables that required replacement when supporting the desktop PC's at work. I have personally owned and supported many Apple manufactured laptops and desktops and have never encountered this issue on a Mac...until this MacBook!
So, after looking at the Service Manual for the MacBook, I went over to my local Apple Authorized Service Provider and purchased the Hard Drive Connector Apple Part #922-7579. I replaced the original cable, reassembled and proceeded to boot the MacBook with the Leopard DVD installer. The Fujitsu drive was immediately recognized and was able to be formatted and Leopard installed without incident. The MacBook boots off the internal hard drive as normal again and works nice and fast again.
Thank you all for your time!
:D

When I try to use the internal hard drive as a scratch disk I get this error "unable to set scratch disk- the selected directory is on write protect or non-writable media. Any ideas on how to fix this. It only happens in fcp.

When I try to use the internal hard drive as a scratch disk I get this error "unable to set scratch disk- the selected directory is on write protect or non-writable media. Any ideas on how to fix this. It only happens in fcp.

By internal, I assume you're referring to your systems (boot) drive. Is it, by chance, a partitioned dive?
Also…although many people successfully use their systems drives as scratch disks, over time you'll have better results using a dedicated drive for your media.
Good luck.
Russ

New internal hard drives, seems slow with Logic 8, how can i test

Hi,
I just bought a new internal hard drive, but it seems subtley too slow!,
On a Logic 8 song i'm working on the tracks timing seems slightly off, it's kind of driving me crazy because at times it is subtle, and other times obvious.
and 2 other things, one is an iTunes playback stalled twice, and that's never happened before,
also, when working on a Word doc, the screen was not re-drawing properly. i had to repeatedly reisze the doc window to get it re-draw itself. this has never happened before either.
is there a way to test this new hard drive?,
thanks

There are though all the ones I've used, TechTool Pro, Disk Utility, Intech Speedtools, none were 'perfect' or as good as the vendor's own utility which runs on Windows.
But you might do something for us - include the drive make/model version, and, do a look up with Google and see if you get any helpful hits.
How you have your system setup, number of drives and organization of files, can also have an impact.
Off hand, WD Caviar 640GB is cheap and fast, or there are some 1TB drives that look good, too.
Drives do break in over a period of days or first week, and it can help to break in and torture, zero the entire drive, run media scan, use a benchmark utility to graph I/O over the full drive.
Check out Barefeats, they do a bit of drive testing benchnmarks and see what they use and results. Or Tom's Hardware.

My Macbook Pro, After a while, will not allow me to write to the internal hard drive.

I have recently had the same problem over and over again and the only way to fix it is to restart.
After some time using my computer it all of a sudden begins to stop letting me write to the hard drive.
It does not let me open disk utility or most prefrence options.
several times i did a permission repair and a verify disk it did not help.
I reformated my hard drive and the problem still persists i also changed the hard drive.
If this is a sofware problem then it should have been eradicated when i reformated and installed the new operating system.
I have also changed the hard drive so it is unlikely that It would have anything to do with the hard drive.
what else could it be?

bill_001 asked:
if it is not the sata cable then what else could it be?
I have no idea - as I've said, you've already tried all the options that I would try - even up to replacing the HD. I would try OWC for a new SATA cable - http://eshop.macsales.com/. Call or email them with your model and they should be able to suggest the correct cable.
Clinton

Early 2009 Mini's internal hard drive slow after sleep

I'm posting this in the hope that somebody else may have the same problem, and may have a fix. My Mac Mini doesn't go into full sleep, usually it just shuts off the monitor. And that doesn't bother me, because I know it's on account of my third-party mouse and keyboard.
What does bother me is that after waking from sleep, the mini is very sluggish. Anything that requires you access to the internal hard drive results in a spinning beach ball and bouncing Application icons in the dock. A quick check of the activity Monitor showed very little going on CPU–wise. If one application that might have been able to shed some light on the subject, Drive Genius, was unable to work on the internal drive because it was the boot drive. I would've had to reboot, regarding new would have solved the problem.
At that point I gave up and decided to restart the machine so I can get some work done. As soon as I selected the “restart” from the Apple menu, got a kernel panic. At this point I'm concerned about the integrity of the internal drive. The mini is only about a year old, and I have AppleCare, but I'm hoping it is not that serious. The drive checks out in Disk Utility, BTW.
Any ideas?

The keyboard is a Macally Bluetooth (full size) keyboard. I bought it because I didn't like the little Apple BT kbd. No special drivers for the kdb.
The mouse is a Targus BT mouse, and it does have a System Preferences pane because it has 2 programmable buttons on the side (besides left, right, and center/scroll).
The system is set up as a server as well as my personal machine, so it has "wake for network access" checked in Energy Saver settings. It never goes to sleep fully unless I turn off the kbd and mouse and then push the power button. Then it pulses. Otherwise, it just turns off the monitor and stays awake, I assume.
Often I leave Safari and Mail running, and I know Mail is constantly getting stuff because both accounts are IMAP accounts. But even when those apps are closed, it still doesn't fully sleep. I have it set to display sleep in 5 min, complete sleep in 10, and to put HD to sleep when idle.
Hope those answers help, thanks for taking the time to respond!
K.

Can I boot mac from an external hard drive (internal hard drive hard drive closure)

Model: Macbook Pro 2010 mid
OS: OSX 10.9 Hard Drive: WD5000BPKT 500GB
For some reason I need to change my perfectly working internal bootable drive to external bootable drive.
I took out my internal hard drive, put it into closure, and then connected it to mbp with USB. But my mac cannot even recognize my external hard drive. It displays a folder with a question mark with grey background, which means it cannot find executable boot drive. I tried pressing option key during start up and nothing showed. Also, I tried resetting parameter RAM but still no luck. Any help will be appreciated.

The reason is somehow complicated and most likely be related to the question itself, so I did not write it down. But here is the situation.
I bought a new SSD to update my HDD. I found a software called carbon copy cloner, which could do a bootable clone. I tried to clone my original hard drive to SSD and turned out the SSD only worked when it was connected externally. After I seeking a while, I found a solution from CCC website: do the clone again with putting my original drive externally and the SSD internally (I think it is a bug of CCC.)
You may say, "why not use time machine" instead of using a third party software. My answer is time machine is too slow, and I have to reinstall the OS. My focus is why my internal hard drive does not work externally since it should work.

How do I recover files from an internal hard drive that is no longer recognized?

Hi there,
Any help on this problem is greatly appreciated! I have a MacBook Pro (late 2009) running Snow Leopard. Over the last few years, after having brought the computer in to get checked, it seems that the RAM cards have gotten loose (or the bottom cover of the computer gets loose) and occasionally a grey curtain will come down from the top of the screen and everything stops working. Restarting the computer is often fine but sometimes it can't be restarted and I have to take the cover off, reset the RAM cards in their slots, and retighten the cover. The computer usually works fine after that, but verifying the disk using Disk Utility will sometimes indicate there is an error and the disk needs to be repaired. Repairing it in Disk Utility is usually fine.
Last year this happened but the disk could not be repaired. The operating system could still be run, and after making a backup of all my files I reinstalled the operating system from the installation DVD, which didn't delete any of my files on the hard drive anyway.
A few days ago the same grey curtain issue happened, however upon resetting the RAM and back cover and restarting the computer, the apple logo appeared which was quickly replaced by a prohibitory sign, which stayed on the screen indefinitely. After putting in the installation DVD and trying to reinstall the operating system, when the option comes up to choose which disk to install OS X on, the internal hard drive does not appear as an option. Going to Disk Utility from the DVD, the internal hard drive appears on the left but the text is greyed out. Attempting to repair the disk gives the following error message:
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Invalid key length
Invalid record count
Catalog file entry not found for extent
The volume could not be verified completely.
Error: Disk Utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
While I know I could completely erase and reformat the disk, I really don't want to lose any of my files (ideally). If I erase the disk but select "Don't Erase Data" from the "Security Options..." in the "Erase" tab in Disk Utility, will this keep all my files in tact and will I be able to access them later? Are there third party applications that can recover my files so I can make a back up before I delete and reformat the hard drive? I am currently running the computer through an external hard drive connected by USB, but the internal hard drive still doesn't show up in Finder (only in Disk Utility as greyed out text).
Can I recover my files?
Thanks so much!

Try using a data recovery product such as the ones listed here. Don't erase the drive or write anything else to it until the files are recovered or you choose not to recover them.
(117246)

Internal Hard Drives Disappeared, Finder Memory Problem

Hello Helpful Folks,
I recently installed an addional internal Hard Drive, and an additional 1GB SDRAM. This worked great for a day, but the next morning, after powering up, system was extremely sluggish, and after much deadline-induced impatient problem solving, has gone from bad to worse (system refuses to acknowledge existence of internal Hard Drives). I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but as
the devil is in the details, I figure too much info is better than not enough.
Following is a breakdown of my system: AS IT LAST WORKED; RECENT UPGRADES; and MY LAME ATTEMPTS AT PROBLEM SOLVING THAT HAVE MADE THINGS WORSE. Please don't interpret my all caps as shouting, just trying to organize this post for better clarity.
System is dedicated to Video Editing with FCP 3, running under OS 9.2.2. System is "off the Grid", i.e. no network, no internet, no printer, no gaming devices. System was purchased new in July 2001, by a friend. At one point I know this system had an Airport card, which was removed prior to my purchase in 2003. I can't remember what else it may have had installed in its history, but here's what it has now:
SYSTEM AS IT LAST WORKED:
**bold items are upgrades Original Owner or I installed with no apparent problems**
Power Mac G4 "Quicksilver" 2001
867 PowerPC G4, 256 L2, 2MB L3
-1 Stick "ValueRAM - KVR 133 x 64 C3/512" in PC 133 DIMM slot **
- "Virtual Memory" was turned off years ago due to conflict with FCP 3
-2 empty DIMM slots
-1 60 GB internal HD (Maxtor Ultra ATA/100), 1 partition, formatted HFS+, jumpered as "Master" on Internal ATA 2 ID=0 (which as I understand it is ATA/66 speed)
-1 Pioneer "Superdrive" DVD-R/W/CD-R/W on Internal ATA 0 ID=0
-NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 32MB SDRAM in AGP Slot, feeding a 17" Apple Studio Display.
-PCI Display Card "formacGA7" - not attached to any external device, not sure what its intended purpose is.**
-3 Empty PCI Slots
-OEM Keyboard attached to Monitor's rear USB port.
-Microsoft 3 Button Wheel mouse with "IntelliEye" (wheel is 3rd Button) connected to Keyboard USB port (right side).**
-2 OEM FireWire (400) ports
-2 OEM USB (1) ports
Peripherals that have worked in various configurations with this system over the past 3 years:
-3 OWC Mercury Elite ("Oxford Chipset") Externally powered, External FireWire(400) 200GB Hard Drives, 1 partition each, formatted HFS+, daisy-chained to either of the FireWire ports.
-1 Canon GL1 MiniDV camera, attached either to the other FireWire port, or to the last drive in the chain, depending on my urgency/laziness factor. BTW, FCP 3 has worked flawlessly controlling this Cam for logging and Batch Capturing.
Applications on System Hard Drive that I have OEM CDs for:
-OS 9.2 - (I think I remember that OS X was removed from system due to conflicts shortly after original purchase)
-FCP 3
-DiskWarrior (version unknown, purchased from Alsoft in 2003)
-OWC Intech Hard Disk SpeedTools ver 3.5
Other CDs I have:
OEM CDs for Power Mac G4:
-Software Install, OS 9.2, CD vers 1
-Software Install, OS 10.0.4, CD vers 1
-Software Restore, OS 9.2 & 10.0.4 CDs vers 1, Discs 1-4 of 4.
-OEM Apple Hardware Test; Power Mac G4, SW vers 1.2.1
Applications on system Hard Drive that I don't have CDs for, that I rarely use, but I'd like to keep:
-After Effects 5.0
-QuickTime Player 6.0.2
-Toast Audio Extractor 1.1
-Toast Titanium 5.0.2
Applications on system Hard Drive I use if my wife is busy on our Windows XP machine:
-Photshop 6.0
-Microsoft Word & Excel
# of other Applications on System Hard Drive I either don't use or may be integral to the system: 260
# of Control Panels:
-Enabled: 34
-Disabled: 0
# of Extensions:
-Enabled: 174
-Disabled: 0
note: a number of the applications and extensions are for AOL, Quickbooks, Microsoft Money and the like, as well as other things I don't use (Airport, USB printers, Networking, etc.)
Smart things I did:
-Regularly made backup copies of my FCP projects to the external drives.
-Bought a copy of MacDrive so I can see what's on my External Drives on the XP machine.
-Printed out System Profile before I installed upgrades.
-Thoroughly searched this discussion board for and gathered as much info as I could before upgrading.
Dumb things I did:
-Made a copy, but not a clone, of my System Folder to one of the external drives when I first got it.
-Didn't keep any sort of separate log of what's on the External Drives.
-Never ran any sort of Disk Maintenance, even after one of the Externals crashed (DiskWarrior saved my butt on that).
-Ignored some of the advice on this discussion board.
Really dumb thing I did without even realizing it:
Captured all media for a rush job onto my internal system Hard Drive, as well as storing and using massive jpgs for the same job on that same drive...
Which led to painfully slow rendering times, and crashes caused by "Error: Out of Memory", which I interpreted as "Must buy more memory" and not "must make sure I'm not trying to edit media stored on system drive, especially with massive jpgs that I should reduce"
RECENT UPGRADES:
Here's what I did, and how I did it:
Turned off system, disconnected all External FireWire Devices, disconnected Monitor, opened case, touched various metal parts of case and power supply to discharge any Static, unplugged power cable.
-Installed 2 512MB sticks of "Lifetime" PC 133 SDRAM; total System RAM is now 1.5GB, all 3 DIMM slots now occupied.
-Installed 1 Maxtor "DiamondMax" Ultra ATA/133 100GB Hard Drive (8 MB buffer) as "Slave" (no jumper) in top of U-Carrier above System Hard Drive; attached to middle of original Apple ribbon cable, attached available power plug.
Taped spare jumper to inside of empty drive bay, noting origin and date. Did NOT push PMU button. Carefully closed case. Reconnected Monitor, did NOT reconnect any FireWire devices. Powered System on, but did NOT perform PRAM reset.
I don't remember the exact order of what happened next, but I think: System booted up normally, a window popped up saying a new drive had been found, would I like to intitialize it?, which I did as Mac OS extended, and then named. If I was instructed to restart, I did so, otherwise did not. Clicked on "about this Mac" and saw that it now showed 1.5GB RAM. I then went about moving Media/Render files off the System drive (and one of the Externals) onto the Internal Drive, with a combination of FCP's Media Manager, and dragging from the Finder. After files had copied, dragged Media/Render files from System Drive to Trash. Opened FCP project, had FCP re-link to new locations of missing files. Saved, closed, and re-opened project, set Capture/Scratch disc to new internal Drive. At some point I changed FCP's Memory Allocation from whatever it was to 512000KB Minimum, and 900000KB Prefered (and I hope I got all those zeroes right). Did NOT restart after changing Memory Allocation, unless a window popped up instructing me to do so, in which case I did. Re-opened my project, rendered a few thing at a noticeably increased speed, saved everything, emptied the Trash, shut everything down, and called it a night as it was 4:30 am.
A few hours later, I plugged the MiniDV and an External Drive into the FW ports and powered up the System. It was behaving extremely sluggishly. I would click on something, the pointer would turn into a wristwatch (sometimes with the minute-hand moving, sometimes not) and like an actual minute later, what I'd clicked on would open. All three drives were on the desktop, still had their files, and "About this Mac" still showed 1.5GB total Memory. So I powered down, disconnected the FW devices, waited a bit, and powered back up. Same sluggish response. I tried to open my FCP project file, and instead got a Window that said something to the effect of "The Application associated with this document could not be found". I think I tried to open FCP from the Applications folder on the System Drive and got the same message (I'd only had 3 hours sleep, no coffee, my client had died, and his family was coming for whatever I had in a few hours).
LAME ATTEMPTS AT PROBLEM SOLVING THAT HAVE MADE THINGS WORSE
Panic had set in, which never solves anything, so I don't remember what order I performed which tasks, between searching for clues in this forum, and convincing myself that that would be faster than trying to compose a question, waiting for a response, etc.
The first two things I did, and I can't remember which I did first (both from Keyboard Commands during Restart):
Rebuild Desktop
PRAM Reset
Neither of those solved the problem, so I continued.
I tried restarting without extensions.
I would get errors that said something like "Not Enough Memory to Open Finder".
I tried booting from Disc 1 of the Software Restore Disk, which only wanted to destroy my data.
I tried booting from the OS 10 disk, with the same result.
I was finally able to boot from the OS 9.2 Software Install Disk, and actually saw both internal drives on the desktop, and the 1.5GB RAM in About this Mac. I tried to allocate more memory to Finder, but was informed that "Cannot Perform Requested Operation. This operation requires versions above 8.0".
I think at this point I decided that I must have too many extensions, and started disabling ones I thought irrelevent to my cause (mostly anything that said "AOL", "Airport", "Ethernet", "Printer", "Modem", "Speakable", and a couple things called "Open TPT".
It gets worse. Then I decided to turn off some "unnecessary" things via the control panels, but somehow managed to disable the control panels themselves: AppleTalk, DialAssist, File Sharing, Modem, Mouse (as I saw that Microsoft Mouse was among the others), Remote Access, Speech, USB Printer Sharing, and possibly TCP/IP.
That certainly didn't help anything (though upon restarting from the OS 9.2 Disc I was able to see the extensions and control panels in their respective "Disabled" folders in the System Folder). But I still wasn't able to get more Memory to Finder.
So, I decided a few more PRAM resets might help, which succeeded in making both Internal Hard Drives disappear. I tried booting up from the DiskWarrior disc, but even the Mighty DiskWarrior couldn't find the drives. I performed the longer, in depth version of the Apple Hardware Tools tests, which reported that everything's fine (including the new RAM), but made no mention of the Hard Drives at all. The deadline having long passed, I shut the system down. I read through more posts and tech articles, etc.
I searched my External drives with MacDrive on my XP, and found the drive that has the copy of my System Folder (which shows all extensions and control panels as enabled); not sure if the Quicksilver will boot from that, I don't know what the Keyboard command for booting from a FireWire drive is (if there is one) and the drive itself only has 900MB of free space.
I can't find any reference to Internal ATA drives anywhere in the MacDrive documentation; if it was possible I'd put them into the XP, get the files off the Mac drives, reformat them and install OS9 from the Discs.
This is where I am now:
The Quick Silver is still powered down. I removed the Microsft mouse and replaced it with the OEM Apple mouse. I opened the case, and removed the PRAM/Backup battery (manufacture date: July 2001). Couldn't find my voltmeter, so took the bat to Radio Shack and bought a new one. Had the Radio Shack guy test the old one: it showed 3.69 volts still. Have not installed the new battery yet. The case is still open, waiting for any advice any of you might have to offer.
Thank you all so much for your patience in perusing and pursuing this.
Sincerely,
Patterson
Power Mac G4 Quicksilver 867 Mac OS 9.2.x 17" Studio Display, 512MB RAM

Thank you Rodney and John,
The jumpers are correct for both Maxtor Drives.
Rodney, you are correct in that the initial problem (slow rendering/"out of Memory" crashes) was caused by my not realizing I'd stupidly captured several GBs of media to my system drive, and not checking which drives those files were on (as I'd assumed I'd put them on one of my external media drives) once that problem presented itself.
Before I'd determined what I'd done, I bought the extra RAM. After I'd found the media files on the System Drive, and saw that my dedicated media drives were too full to easily move them, I decided to buy an additional Internal drive so that I could:
-Move the Media onto it relatively quickly and finish my urgent project.
-Juggle all my media into a more organized fashion for archiving (as most of my projects are on-going long-term affairs)
-Wipe it, Partition it, and clone my System Drive onto it, as a spare bootable drive in case my OEM System Drive failed.
Copying the Media files onto the New Drive and moving the System Drive's Media files into the Trash worked great: huge improvement in Rendering, etc.
Before shutting down for the night I Emptied the Trash, and was pleased with the amount of space I'd freed up on the System Drive.
My guess is that the System Drive was terribly fragmented, having been subjected to intense use over the past 5 years without any sort of Drive Maintainence, and deleting that massive amount from it in one shot caused my extreme system sluggishness upon Startup the next day.
My subsequent lame attempts to solve the sluggishnes ultimately resulted in my losing access to both drives.
Today, I replaced the Backup Battery, pushed the PMU, re-attached the AC, and Powered Up with the case open as per your suggestion.
It was trying for a few minutes (the gray screen went black at one point, and then returned to gray) before presenting me with the flashing question mark.
There was, however, a quiet but distinct "buzzing" sound that would alternate: 1 sec "buzz", one second silence, one second "buzz", one second silence, etc. coming from the drives, even after the "?" appeared.
I powered down, removed the Ribbon and Power Cables from the new "Slave" drive, and powered up again, with the exact same results.
I powered down, removed the Ribbon and Power cables from the original "Master" drive, reinstalled the Jumper on the New Drive as "Master", plugged the End of the Ribbon and the Power cables into the New "Master" drive and powered up. The screen went to the "?" within 20 seconds instead of 4+ minutes, and no more "buzzing".
I put the Apple Hardware Tools Disk in, ran the "long" test, and everything came out fine.
I have to abandon this for now, but thanks again for your previous advice, and any more you may have!
Cheers,
Patterson

I am migrating to a new iMac via TimeMachine back up. My iPhoto libraries are on external drive. I'd like to migrate only the internal hard drive data to the new internal Drive then just plug in iPhoto library drive. Is this going be a problem?

I am migrating to a new iMac via TimeMachine back up. My iPhoto libraries are on an external drive. Both drives are backed up on Time Machine. I'd like to migrate only the old internal hard drive data to the new internal Drive and then just plug in iPhoto library drive to the new iMac. This would save having to transfer several hundred GBs of data. Will this work using Set Up Assistant?

Your user account on the new Mac must have a different UID than on the old one. See the pink box in Problems after using Migration Assistant for an explanation.
You'll need to change the permissions on the iPhoto library on the external HD. Do a Get Info on it, click the padlock at the bottom of the Sharing & Permissions section of the Info window and enter your Admin password.
Then click the plus sign, select the user account you want on the next screen, and click Select. Then change Read only to Read & Write for that user via the little arrows. Finally, click the "gear" icon and select Apply to enclosed items. That may take a few mintutes on a large library.

How to connect my MacBook's internal hard drive as an external drive to another computer?

My MacBook suddenly became extremely slow, so slow that it takes over an hour to display login screen.
Therefore I'd like to clean our my hard drive but i have a couple things I'd like keep before i do that. It's not possible to transfer these files using Mac so is there a way I can connect Mac internal hard drive as external one via USB to a Windows computer?
I have a MacBook Pro 2010 17"

I was actually looking at enclosures butwasn't sure which ones would be suitable. Would something like this work? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00A0HBJLW?cache=76a97cdbbf58eb4ad66ed32bb2668f0 6&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1408052242&sr=8-2#ref=mp_s_a_1_2

Installing internal hard drive on an old iMac

I am an absolute novice when it comes to taking apart a computer and know nothing about any technical terms or parts. I was able to install a new battery when the original died, so when the "genius" at the Apple Store said I could install an additional internal hard drive, I gave it a whirl. Before I try to return the hard drive, I thought I would give this a shot.
My iMac is a 400 MHz PowerPC G3, one of the early generations, if the not the first (see-through cobalt blue exterier). I am running with 256 MB of memory and the CPU type is PowerPC 750 (83.0). I have Mac OS X Tiger, version 10.4.6 and this machine had been working great until we recently purchased our first iPod. Now with all the music being loaded in iTunes, the iMac has slowed down and even frozen when trying to use a few applications at once.
I figured I needed more hard drive space and/or memory and the people at the Apple store suggested I purchase a Seagate 80 GB Barracuda and install it myself.
Well, I got the computer apart and found the old hard drive, but that is about as far as I can go. I read about making the new hard drive the "slave" hooking up the BLUE, BLACK and GRAY connectors on the new cable, but I don't know a motherboard from a jumpdrive and the new connectors do not match up with the old one (the Blue connector is not the same size as the old one that I think was going into the motherboard). There is also something about an unused power cable in the old computer for the new hard drive, (which I did not see) and a suggestion that I get a Y-shaped power cable from an electronics store, which even if I knew what it was, I would not know where to begin connecting it. Not only does the new connector not match up, it is about 10 times as long as the old one, which leads me to the final issue: if I could get this all hooked up and power-supplied, where in the world would I put the new, additional hard drive? There is no room I can see adjacent to the current hard drive. Do I have to take the thing further apart?
I realize this may provide a great laugh for anyone who knows how all this works. If trying to walk someone through this process using Apple Discussions does not make sense, I completely understand. I had nothing to lose (except possibly the cost of the Seagate drive if they won't take it back).
I was able to put everything back together after taking the old hard drive out, so I think I could do this if the parts were all there and matched up....but I would still need to know where to put the new drive!
Any suggestions are appreciated. I have already resigned myself to the fact I may just need a more expensive external drive...I just have few available ports.
Thanks,
Conrad Farner

"...when the "genius" at the Apple Store said I could install an additional internal hard drive, I gave it a whirl... if I could get this all hooked up and power-supplied, where in the world would I put the new, additional hard drive?"
Your iMac has room for one hard drive and the optical drive (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, etc.). Any ribbon cable supplied with the hard drive or a Y-splitter power cable is of no use in the iMac. The new drive must replace the original, because the two can't coexist internally. Additionally, you need to configure the new Seagate as "master," since the optical drive is "slave." Refer to Seagate's accompanying documentation, for instructions on setting the small jumper(s) to designate the drive as "master." The drive may have been factory-configured for "cable select," which isn't supported in your iMac. After you get that straightened out, you'll need to boot the computer from the Tiger installer CD and use "Disk Utility" to format the new drive as a Mac OS Extended (HFS+) volume. You may also want to partition it as well.
Incidentally, you should post any future questions about your iMac in the Forum dedicated to the CRT-style iMacs. You'll receive informative answers to any questions that you might have, from those who are thoroughly familiar with your model iMac.

PLEASE HELP me select new internal hard drive for Macbook Pro 2012 (non-retina)

Good afternoon.
I just bought a Macbook Pro 2012 (non-retina) 15 inch from a friend. I think it is running Mountain Lion (has not been upgraded to Mavericks yet), and has iLife on it. It came with the stock 500 gb 5400 rpm internal hard drive. At home, I only have the Snow Leopard OS installation Cds and a copy of iLife 2011 installation Cds. I am going to buy 16 gb of RAM from Other World Computing to install.
I want to replace the hard drive with a 1 tb hard drive, preferably something that is $100 or less.
I talked to Other World Computing (OWC) and looked at the Data Doubler Option to replace the optical drive with a Solid State drive, but decided that for now I want to keep the optical drive inside the computer for portability issues.
I know that Solid State drives are better, but they are still too small, and I want the ease and portability of a 1 tb size INSIDE my computer.
Initially I was going to order this from Other World Computing: 1.0TB 2.5" HGST Travelstar 7K1000 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 9.5mm Notebook Drive 32MB Cache. *'New' Factory Replacement with 2+ Year HGST Warranty*    As of April 4, 2014 it's on sale for $79
But then I started reading some of the discussions online and thought maybe I should get a hybrid solid state drive?
I saw on Amazon the Seagate 1TB Solid State Hybrid Drive SATA 6Gbps 64MB Cache 2.5-Inch ST1000LM014 It's on sale for $94.
But according to some reviews, this Seagate has a platter that is only 5400rpm, unlike the previous Seagate Momentum that has a platter speed of 7200rpm.
How reliable are the Seagate, versus a Toshiba or Western Digital or Hitachi or something else?
Here are my questions about replacing the hard drive:
1. Is a hybrid solid state drive going to need some kind of special formatting after I put it into the macbook so that I can put the operating system on it?
2. Is a "normal" platter hard drive more reliable than a hybrid solid state drive?
3. Is there any additional driver or special software that I have to install for a hybrid solid state drive?
4. Currently there is no personal data stored on the computer. Can I just put the new hard drive in, and then insert the snow leopard install cd?
5. If I install snow leopard, can I just go to the App store and get the free upgrade to Mavericks?
6. If I want to do the "Data Doubler" option in the future and add a normal Solid State drive into my computer, will it have trouble interacting with the 1 tb hybrid solid state drive?
I would love to get some recommendations about the smartest option to upgrade my hard drive with something that will be fast (I edit lots of photos) and large (1 tb) that isn't going to cost too much. I don't know much about the different brands or options (and there are so many listed in tons of online reviews), that I got really overwhelmed and confused by the info out there.
I would really appreciate any help and advice. I've never switched out a hard drive before.
PLEASE HELP !!! Thanks!
Here is the "About this Mac" Info:
Macbook Pro 15-in Mid 2012
Model Identifier: MacBookPro9,1
Processor: 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Software: OS x 10.8.5
Storage (Hard drive): APPLE HDD ST500LM012 Media, Rotational, SATA, GPT (GUID Partition Table)

1. Is a hybrid solid state drive going to need some kind of special formatting after I put it into the macbook so that I can put the operating system on it?
The boot drive, regardless of what it is, needs to be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). This is standard with OS X.
2. Is a "normal" platter hard drive more reliable than a hybrid solid state drive?
There are arguments pro and con. Bottom line, SSD's and hybrid drives are still quite expensive per GB than standard hard drives. If you have the bucks and are a speed demon, go ahead.   I have better use for my money.   Standard hard drives are mechanical and may wear out over time. But even though SSDs are not mechancial, they can still go bad and ultimately they even have a limit to their write capacity. The jury is still out on this debate.
3. Is there any additional driver or special software that I have to install for a hybrid solid state drive?
No
4. Currently there is no personal data stored on the computer. Can I just put the new hard drive in, and then insert the snow leopard install cd?
You can physically put the hard drive in but probably not install Snow Leopard on this MBP.
The mid-2012 MacBookPro9,1 models came with Lion 10.7.3 (11D2097) preinstalled.   It is very unlikely you would be able to install Snow Leopard on it. Historically you cannot install a version of OS X that is earlier than the version that came with your Mac (even if you replace the hard drive).
5. If I install snow leopard, can I just go to the App store and get the free upgrade to Mavericks?
Not via Snow Leopard on this MBP. See my response to #4.
6. If I want to do the "Data Doubler" option in the future and add a normal Solid State drive into my computer, will it have trouble interacting with the 1 tb hybrid solid state drive?
No. They are completely independent of each other; they are just independent storage units (drives) and their RAM does not interact.

Slow write to internal hard drive

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