Sudden motion sensor and stock hard drive

my second mid 2009 17" has come with a 500gb fujitsu ( FUJITSU MJA2500BH FFS G1 ). it does click every 5 seconds (especially when using safari, god knows why).
i tried to disable the SMS to see if it would do any change and to my great surprise, sudden motion, while reading as disabled, was still activated. Seismac was reading the 3 axis values. I installed again snow leopard and the same thing happened. I'm pretty sure though enabling/disabling sms via command line does something because i hear a sound taking over the hard drive.
my hard drive still click, sometime randomly. using hdapm won't change anything to it.
would like to know if other mid 09 17" owners could repeat the process unders snow 10.6.2 and tell me if i'm the only one on the planet to have this strange issue !

You're not the only one:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10879511#10879511
Good luck!

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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

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

Can I get a new and bigger hard drive on my macbook?

Right now I have an 80GB Hard Drive, It keeps getting filled up too easily and I need a bigger hard drive. When I chatted with a person (online) at the apple store they said it couldn't be replaced after it has been formatted or something, unless something was wrong with it. I'm not worried about losing information because everything is backed up to an external hard drive. Why isn't this possible? In January I got this new 80GB Hard drive along with a new battery. I'm wanting to upgrade it to around 120/150GB or something like that, whatever is in the hundreds. Any help would be appreciated. My macbook's specs are posted below. Again, thanks for the help in advance!
Hardware Overview:
Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 2 MB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB11.0061.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.4f12
Serial Number (system):
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
Hard Drive Specs:
FUJITSU MHY2080BH:
Capacity: 74.53 GB
Model: FUJITSU MHY2080BH
Revision: 0081000D
Serial Number:
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Mac OS 9 Drivers: No
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
Macintosh HD:
Capacity: 74.21 GB
Available: 33.9 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s2
Mount Point: /

basstone97:
Your MacBook will support a 2.5" SATA drive. The largest drive currently available is 500 GB. Other sizes are 320 GB, 250 GB etc. The Apple tech was likely referring that Apple will not do a free replacement of your drive unless is was defective or failed. However, you can purchase the drive and install it yourself. It is relatively easy on the MacBook, or you can purchase the drive and have Apple or an Authorized Apple Dealer install it for you. The risk of DIY installation is that if you screw up Apple will not be responsible for any damages. If you are interested, please post back for a list of available HDDs and step by step directions and tips for installation.
cornelius

Sudden Motion Sensor

Hey all,
I'm contemplating upgrading my HD in my MBP and am wondering if the Sudden Motion Sensor is a Hard Drive feature, or a MBP feature.
In other words, do I need a "special" hd for the SMS to keep working?
Thanks,
Blue

It's functionality that's provided by your MBP. There's nothing to choose from in particular, however, do NOT use a Western Digital Scorpio. There's similar functionality in these drives that causes crashing or hanging.

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.

Cannot see status of sudden motion sensor ( imac 5,1 )

Im using logic 9 and ive fitted a new hard drive to my imac i keep getting a warning notice in logic that the sudden motion sensor may be parked however when i open terminal to try and determine the status of the sensor eg: to turn it off i cannot see the sms status option so i do not know if the sensor is on or even if i have one at all. can anybody help me with this thanks.

iMacs don't have a Sudden Motion Sensor.
Apple uses a Sudden Motion Sensor only in their portable Macs Apple Portables: About the Sudden Motion Sensor and Apple Portables: Advanced tips for Sudden Motion Sensor
Plus 3.5" harddisks used/fitted in an iMac don't have Sudden Motion Sensors to my knowledge.
To be sure check the product details of the harddisk you fitted in your iMac.
Stefan

Sudden Motion Sensor (Mobile Motion Module) Part 2

OOPS...
I was trying out a suggestion to manually enable the Sudden Motion Sensor, and instead of typing in the command "pmset -g" I accidentally typed in "pmset =g" and came up with the following:
Usage: pmset [-b | -c | -u | -a] <action> <minutes> [<action> <minutes>...]
pmset -g [disk | cap | live | sched | ups | batt
-c adjust settings used while connected to a charger
-b adjust settings used when running off a battery
-u adjust settings used while running off a UPS
-a (default) adjust settings for both
<action> is one of: displaysleep, sleep, disksleep (minutes argument)
or: reduce, dps, womp, ring, autorestart, powerbutton, halfdim,
lidwake, acwake, lessbright (with a 1 or 0 argument)
or for UPS only: haltlevel (with a percentage argument)
haltafter, haltremain (with a minutes argument)
eg. pmset -c dim 5 sleep 15 spindown 10 autorestart 1 womp 1
pmset schedule [cancel] <type> <date/time> [owner]
pmset repeat cancel
pmset repeat <type> <days of week> <time>
<type> is one of: sleep, wake, poweron, shutdown, wakeorpoweron
<date/time> is in "MM/dd/yy HH:mm:ss" format
<time> is in "HH:mm:ss" format
<days of week> is a subset of MTWRFSU
[owner] optionally describes the event creator
Have I messed up my machine (I rarely use Terminal!), and do I have to do anything to fix this? Rather, what can I do to fix this?
I haven't logged out of Terminal yet nor have I found any problems yet, but I'm worried...
Message was edited by: Pismo 900
Note that that "http" above is not what Terminal reported, but because of the key characters and how the Apple Discussions forums can format things, it turned into a link.

I was about to help out in my own posting!! (I knew that thread was familiar).
I have since reformatted the drive and erased everything as I will be selling that 1.5GHz model having since bought a 1.67GHz Double-Layer SD one.
I didn't find any problems after doing that bit of experimenting.
However, never did find out why the SMS was malfunctioning, and whether it was due to the drive having its own SMS-type feature installed, conflicting with the Apple SMS, or whether installing the new drive caused some damage (or another conflict), or if the Apple OEM hard drives really do have a firmware or something that marries it to the logic board.
Thanks for your help.

Sudden Motion Sensor working strange in Unibody!

I got a macbook pro 15 recently and i was trying out the applications on the Net. I tried smacbook which works with the sudden motion sensor of the hard disk...
Also i tried liquidMac app.. But what i realised is, they both didnt work for me well..
when i lay down macbook through left side, the liquid must go to left for example, but nothing happens, actually when i move laptop through forward or backward they are moving..
And when i run SeisMac to see the axis of Sudden motion sensor my result is like this
Y-axis positive is left up, right down (clockwise rotation)
X-axis positive is front up, rear down
(Actually it must be reverse)
And suggestions?? Can it be broken or sth?
OR is there any way to play with this directions?
Should i send the laptop to service?

Are you saying the SMS does not respond in the same direction that you move it... or that certain axis do not function at all? The SMS is designed to protect your hard drive and nothing more. While developers have come out with some applications that can use it, there is functional benefit to which axis activates by which motion. The idea is that it detects "any" motion and locks the drive head to prevent damage. Now, if an axis is not functioning at all, you may want to look into that.

Sudden Motion sensor works great!!!

Yesterday, I put my PowerBook G4 17" into a shoulder bag and was going back from university to my room on my bicycle...on the way unfortunatly, the shoulder strap gave way and the bag fell down on the road (it was a loud thud) my heart skipped a beat, since i was riding pretty fast, i thought this is it..i have lost my new 2 days old powerbook...i picked the bag, went to my room, switched on the powerbook...and surprise...it is back in business...i love my PowerBook G4....it is truly great!!!

Have some fun with your sudden motion sensors, and calibrate them too...
http://www.suitable.com/tools/seismac.html

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.

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.

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.

Driving and watching a DVD - sudden motion sensor

Just out of curiousity, I was on a road trip and brought the MBP with and watched a DVD. The ride was somewhat bumpy. My question is do you think the hard drive is being used slightly during the playback of the DVD? AND does this pose any issue or possible damage from the "Sudden Motion Sensor" working indefinitely?
What do you guys think

I would doubt it. The sudden motion sensor is only going to engage if there is a major change in G-forces on that machine -- i.e. it flies out of a seat. The normal vibrations associated with driving shouldn't activate the sensor and your machine ought to handle them... Of course, there is the issue of whether or not you ought to be watching movies whilst driving, but that's another matter altogether...

Sudden motion sensor and stock hard drive

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