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

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  • 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!

  • 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,
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    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

  • 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.
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    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.

  • 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.
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  • Sudden Motion Sensor (Mobile Motion Module) Part 2

    OOPS...
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    -b adjust settings used when running off a battery
    -u adjust settings used while running off a UPS
    -a (default) adjust settings for both
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    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.
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  • 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

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    Hello,
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    Western Digital Lists their drive features as:
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    * 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.
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  • 10.6.8 update and sudden motion sensor

    I have MBP 8,1, 2011 base model i5. Since i updated to 10.6.8 it seems like sudden motion sensor got a lot more sensitive. Never seen it work before, now if i lift the mbp from desk even i can hear the hdd clicking home. I have disabled the sensor and it stops even i move the computer around very fast. So it is not just the drive doing, sensor is triggering that.
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  • 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?
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    Here is an example of one of the most popular drives:
    http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/laptops/momentus/momentus5400.6g/
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  • 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.
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    3) Is the 5K500.B really a direct replacement with all the functionality of the original drive.
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    Secure Virtual Memory: Enabled
    64-bit Kernel and Extensions: No
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    Model Identifier: MacBookPro4,1
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    Memory: 5 GB
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    Hardware UUID: 5BCEDD41-1B9B-5311-A21C-3638AEAEE5BB
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    Model: Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00
    Revision: DC4AC77A
    Medium Type: Rotational
    Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
    S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
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    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?
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  • 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?
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    Just a quick question, can anyone tell me if the SSD option has a sudden motion sensor? I realize the benefits to hard drive health wouldn't be needed in a SSD but I find it extremely useful for security (ie: iAlertU).
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    SAM

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    SMC Version: 1.23f9
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    hi everyone,
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