WD 640GB Scorpio Blue

Hello:
I just ordered the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 640GB hard drive from OWC. I ordered their "do it yourself" kit that includes a couple tools and a USB 2.0 enclosure into which I intend to place my old 120GB Fujitsu hard drive.
Given the OWC part number, I thought I was getting the WD 6400BEVT (non-advanced formatting) drive. However, the emailed invoice shows I will be getting the WD 6400BPVT (advanced formatting) drive. I was under the impression the non-advanced formatting drive would be a better choice since I run Windows XP natively on a drive partition. It seems the BEVT part is an older drive and may have been replaced by BPVT. Can anyone comment on the use of one of Western Digital's advanced-format drives with XP on a partition?
Secondly, this will be the first hard drive replacement I've done myself. I would ask by what means I should format the new drive. Will the OWC enclosure allow me to run the new drive in the USB 2.0 enclosure, format the new drive using Disk Utility (I run Snow Leopard), then switch the two drives?
Thanks,
Bryan

You can format the new drive with Disk Utility and install the OS on it while it is in the enclosure. You can install as much software as you want to by selecting it as the destination disk.
You can also boot from the new drive in the enclosure to check out if it is working properly.
Is your old drive OK, but you just need more hard drive space? If so, you could even format the drive and then make a bootable clone using Super Duper. Then select the clone as your startup drive and boot from it to be sure everything is in place. Then you can install the new drive in your Mac and all your stuff will be on it, just as it was on the old drive.
If your old drive is failing or has problems, you don't want to clone it. It would be best to install all the software fresh and then migrate your data.
Good luck!

Similar Messages

I need to upgrade my MacBook 13" white 2008 hard drive. I have found a WD6400BPVT western digital Scorpio blue 640GB (5400rpm) SATA 8MB 2.5" will this fit and work? Many thanks for any help

I need to upgrade my MacBook 13" white 2008 hard drive. I have found a WD6400BPVT western digital Scorpio blue 640GB (5400rpm) SATA 8MB 2.5" will this fit and work? Many thanks for any help

I had a 640GB HDD in my Early 2008 Macbook and it was just too much it would always freeze up the computer a bit for only a few seconds but ya. Then I realized that it was the size of the HDD that was causing it since the Early 2008 Macbook models can only handle a MAX od 500GB while the Early 2008 Macbook Pros could have a MAX of 640GB (Lucked out there!) lol But ya the Early 2008 Mocbooks can only handle a MAX HDD size of 500GB and that's it!! lol

WD Scorpio Blue 640GB external drive wonkiness

I've had a WD Scorpio Blue 640GB drive in an external enclosure all obtained via OWC for past year.
While it operates normally 90% of the time, it has tendency to disappear from the Mac desktop (and so is inaccessible). This happens after I've left it on and not used it in a couple hrs or more.
I am guessing the drive is sleeping and then the Mac can't find it. But I thought that's normal and that the Mac should wake up the drive.
One result is that my iTunes cannot access the music library stored on this drive. Only thing I can do is just power down the drive and hope that the wrongful ejection won't result in any disasters.
Any hints/experience with this drive in an external FW800 enclosure? Is it a bus-power issue? What gives with these drives?
Thanks for the help!

You should be able to fit a 2.5" serial ATA hard drive. The original drive is probably 9.5mm high, so it it would be good to match that (it's a standard height). I like the WD Scorpio Black drives, as they are warranteed for 5 years vs 2 years for the Scorpio Blues.

WD Scorpio Blue still spinning

Hi everyone,
I've been reading this forum through for almost two days, tried everything but nothing helps. Here is my problem:
I've bought WD Scorpio Blue 640GB a replaced with it my previous Hitachi factory HDD. The Hitachi HDD was perfectly calm, I didn`t even know that it spins. The WD HDD spins all the time at full speed. It never slows and thats really annoying. There are several topic where people have the same problem, but there is no solution working for me.
I`ve tried to:
verify disk permissions and repair them,
use HDAPM with Lingon (http://mymacfixes.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-do-i-stop-clicking-noise-from-hard.ht ml),
disable the Sudden Motion Sensor (pmset -a sms 0),
uncheck "Put the HDD to sleep when possible,
maybe even something more I cant remeber now, but the HDD is still spinning. My problem isnt clickinkg or any other head parking issue. It just still spinns.
If anyone of you can provide me with a solution (link etc.), I will be gratefull. I have one 3,5 WD external drive which is not doing this sound so I hope WD is not producing just 2,5'' HDDs with this sound. Its not usual (compared to my other 3 notebooks I have/used to have).
Just to make sure, I have a clean install of Lion. In Activity Monitor there is no CPU or disk activity, but it still keeps spinning...
Thanks for any help!
Charlie

Fixingclip wrote:
I'm no tekkie but could it be anything to do with the way the original dive was cloned? I use Carbon Copy Cloner.....?
The problem is I didn't clone the drive, I've installed it regularly...
Well guys, it seems to me there is nothing more we can do about it. I'm removing the disc and sending it to the reseller. I will let you know once I get any reply.
I'm pretty shure my next internal drive (I don't blame them for external drives, they seem to work allright) won't be WD, although they say on their website that Scorpio Blue is "optimized for operation with Mac OS X" and "tested for compatibility". I really don't know how could they say the drive is "ultra quiet"...
I was wondering if you have found an alternative solution, that means an internal drive withou any ShockGuard or AdvancedFormat technology, 500GB in size, that will be really quiet. I know the best way is the SSD but it's still too expensive and the minimum size I need is 400GB. I have been looking all over this forum and found many threads, but none of them seems useful to me.

Western Digital Scorpio Blue 640 Drive draws too much power in a MacBookPro

I just received a Western Digital 640 gb (WD6400BEVT) Scorpio Blue Drive for my MacBookPro. I've noticed that the drives "Throttles" a lot, i.e. seems to accelerate/spin and slow down/stop in a way I've never seen in any other drive, and I've been through lots. It wouldn't be a problem if the computer didn't seem to be sluggish in response, much more sluggish than with the 200G Hitachi drive I had before. I will sometimes start typing something and the computer will be slow to react; I also see the spinning ball much more often.
I contacted WD and was told that "It is quite possible that the computer cannot manage the capacity and energy demand of this drive. If the previous drive was under 250 GB, a 640 GB drive will encounter these issues."
I'd never hear of this problem, and I'm really confused since the new drive has a lower rated energy requirement (it's a 5400 rpm vs 7200) than the previous drive. Has anyone else had these problems? Can someone tell me whether this is reality or obfuscation on the part of Western Digital?
Message was edited by: jdcineaste

Hi Brody - what makes you think the 640Gb isn't a 'notebook' drive? I've a 640Gb one that's been in my Macbook Pro, although now it's in my Samsung Netbook.
The unit worked perfectly fine in my late 2008 unit? It's a 9.5mm unit that as far as I know adheres to the 2.5" SATA specifications? Like I say, worked fine in mine.
This is the unit in question: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-322-WD&groupid=701&catid =14&subcat=896
...or full specifications here: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=683
Even WD's spec says 'Big Capacity for Mobile Computing'.
Personally I doubt whether this issue is with power - it's probably more to do with the random pausing that some machines experience with certain drives. I had it before I upgraded to an SSD back when I had a 500Gb 5400RPM Seagate Momentus for example - you can read about my experiences with there here: http://www.markc.me.uk/MarkC/Blog/Entries/2009/6/13Macbook_Pro_Hard_DiskUpgrade.html
I know that doesn't help the original poster that much unfortunately, but I don't think it's an issue with the drive being inherently incompatible with the Macbooks/Laptops as such. Saying that, the OP has a 2.33Ghz MBP and I don't think the pausing issues apply that far back, well not in the same manner anyways.

Will this WD 1TB Scorpio Blue hard drive fit in my 2007 macbook?

Hello all
I'm shopping for a new internal hard drive for my 2007 macbook(the actual label in System Profiler is "macbook 2,1"). Nothing wrong with the one I have, I'm just looking for a bigger drive. I've come across one in particular - the Western Digital 1TB Scorpio Blue 5200 RPM 8MB Cache, model WD10TPVT - there are plenty of reviews from people saying that it fit in their 13" unibody macbooks and macbook pros, but I want to know if it will fit in my 2007 13" macbook. I ask because the drive appears to have different dimensions than most other laptop hard drives. Does anybody know? I'd appreciate any assistance. Thanks.

No it won't fit. The maximum height of a hard drive for your model is 9.5mm and the 1TB WD drive is 2.5mm.

Macbook Pro Harddrive Upgrade Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD10TPVT

I recently purchased a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB hard drive (WD10TPVT) in order to replace the 500GB hard drive in my Unibody Macbook Pro 15" running Mac OS X 10.6.4.
After swapping the hard drives I wanted to install Snow Leopard from the scratch on the empty hard drive. I partitioned the hard drive and started the install, but after about 30 min the computer seems to freeze. I tried several times, and each time the behavior is similar. After swapping the hard drives again (back to the old hard drive) I connected the WD10TPVT via an external USB enclosure, and now it works fine - over an extended period of time. So I'm fairly sure the drive itself is working properly.
I did some research, and it seems that people had similar issues with this drive (e.g. a thread in this forum titled "WD 1TB WD10TPVT in Late 2009 15" Unibody Macbook Pro - NEED HELP!" from April 15). It seems to me that this issue is old but still unresolved, and I wonder if there are any new developments concerning this problem. Is there a "generic" solution?
Another question: the WD10TPVT has 4 additional pins next to the ribbon cable connector. I didn't find any documentation on this, but I assume that these are jumper pins. I found some information that certain jumper configurations will/will not work in the Macbook Pro, but no details on this. What jumper settings do I need to get the WD10TPVT running in my Macbook Pro?
Thanks a lot!

There are known issues with replacement HD's on 2009 MBP (and, posibly other models too).
According to Apple support, it is due to acceleration sensor, which in MBP requires HD to have custom firmware.
There was even a fix to solve this issue (which I cannot find now, and it actually didn't solve much).
So far, the best "fix" seems to be to install HD with Apple firmware (works 100%). There are reports that certain drives without acceleration sensor are working properly too, a bit expensive to try, though.
Still a mystery why Apple does not clearly warn about this issue.

WD scorpio blue 500GB doesn't run at 5400 rpm constantly

Hello there
I dit upgrade my macbook late 2007 with a 500 GB wd scorpio blue disk and i noticed that it will not run constantly at its 5400 rpm but keeps running sloweren then faster and so on and so on. Not only is the sound anoying but i notice that it affects the preformance while it has to speed uo for a task. is there al slution for thos problem. I just want it to run at a constant 5400 rpm like my previous disk dit.

Those drives like other "green" drives use variable speed motors to reduce energy consumption. It's something you'll have to bear. Open your Energy Saver prefs and turn off the option to spin down drives when idle.

PS3 and Advanced Format Issues (scorpio blue 500gb)

I just bought a scorpio blue 500gb that has advanced format i.e. 4k sectors and it is not working correctly with my PS3 slim with 4.75 firmware. I believe it's due to the advanced format tech used on the drive. Symptoms are constant corruption, PS3 rebuilds the database often after a cold start.very slow boot up sometimes, not everytime, but sometimes the drive indicator is solid for a long time and the screenstays black, sometimes it won't boot at all. I put a older scorpio blue 320 from 2008 and all the symptoms went away. The 500gb seems to work just fine in a USB enclosure when I format it on windows. Is there something special that needs to be done to these advanced format drives for the PS3?

Hi,
As a recommendation, check on the PS3 forums to see if they have any specific information about this. I haven't seen any post about this on the community.

New HDD: Will the 1TB WD Scorpio Blue work?

Anyone know if this HDD will work in my non-unibody Titanium Macbook?
The WD webpage says the 1TB models requries "SATA 3 Gb/s w/AdvFormat".
"About this mac" says my Macbook SATA looks like this:
NVidia MCP79 AHCI:
Vendor: NVidia
Product: MCP79 AHCI
Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed: 1.5 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported
Does AHCI mean the same as "advanced format"?
Thanks
-- Mike

You need a drive that is 9.5mm high, and the 1TB drives are 12.5mm. I have read conflicting reports about whether it can be muscled in, but it would be safer to stick with what definitely fits.

Cannot boot from 750GB Western Digital Scorpio Black

I just installed a new 750GB 7200rpm Western Digital Scorpio Black in my early 2008 15" MacBook Pro (last pre-unibody). I can boot the computer from the Scorpio Black when it's in an external enclosure, I can boot another computer, a MacBook, from the Scorpio Black via firewire while that's installed in my MacBook Pro, but what I cannot do is get the MacBook Pro to boot off the Scorpio Black as the internal drive. It will recognize it and show the main and recovery partititions, but it won't boot the OS (10.7.1.).
Here's a rundown of the installation and troubleshooting steps I've taken:
1.) Installed the drive in an external USB enclosure, formatted GUID partition table (GPT), file system HFS+ extended journaled.
1.b) Downloaded and installed Lion (10.7.1) from the App Store, used migration assistant to transfer accounts from my (now former) internal drive, and then booted from the Scorpio Black in the external enclosure to ensure everything worked fine.
2.) Installed the drive via iFixit instructions. Everything fit properly and I double checked the SATA connector was seated correctly.
3.) Booted computer for the first time with the Scorpio Black. It stuck at a spinning wheel on a grey screen.
4.) Held down option key at startup -- the computer showed the main partition and the recovery partition on the Scorpio Black as the startup drive options.
5.) Tried the recovery partition -- spinning wheel on a grey screen.
6.) Tried safe verbose boot (command - shift - v) -- it interleaves "still waiting for root device" with "SATA WARNING: Enable Drive PHY PM failed" and "SATA WARNING: auto-activate failed".
7.) Reset PRAM & NVRAM -- no joy.
8.) Connected the MacBook Pro via firewire to a Core 2 Duo white MacBook also running 10.7.1. The MacBook recognized the drive and in Disk Utility, I could see all the partitions on it.
9.) Ran repair volume (for the drive) and repair partition (for my main partition) from disk utility on the MacBook -- it said everything's fine with both.
10.) In system preferences, set the Scorpio Black as the startup drive for the MacBook.
11.) Astonishingly, the MacBook booted up just fine off the Scorpio Black in the MacBook Pro. I logged in, opened a few photos and played a video. Everything worked just peachy.
12.) Booted the MacBook Pro off my old internal hard drive, now in an external enclosure.
13.) Disk utility sees the internal Scorpio Black, and reports everything is fine with the volume and the partition.
14.) System profiler says everything is fine when I check under SATA. SMART status is verified.
Which brings me to step 15: admit defeat and ask for help. Any suggestions? The exact model number of the drive is WD7500BKPT. I purchased it from Other World Computing.
Thanks for any help.
Cheers.

I actually first replaced the stock hard drive with a Western Digital 500 GB Scorpio Blue (i.e., a 5400 rpm drive). Here's what I can tell you about all three.
First, I didn't notice any difference in noise, vibration or power consumption between any of the drives. The computer felt stock with both of the Western Digital drives.
In terms of speed, my understanding is, all other things being equal, a larger drive is always faster than a lower capacity drive (I believe that's because more of the data is on the faster rotating outer areas). That being said, the step up to the 750GB 7200 rpm Scorpio Black was a bigger one than to the 500 GB 5400 rpm Scorpio Blue -- it gave a noticeable bump in performance. Opening my Aperture library and browsing photos went from sluggish and borderline unusuable to acceptable, or even good.
Bottom line, it's not a solid state drive, so don't expect MacBook Air levels of responsiveness, but I can wholeheartedly recommend the Scorpio Black.

What Blue Microphone is best for MacBook Pro?

I am thinking of the Blue microphones' snowball or the tiki mics. They are both portable and have excellent reviews for MacBook Pro users, and can use in Garageband for voice overs audio to put in iMovie/FCPX...

Hi Melophage,
Thanks for your helpful reply
I bought a new MacBook 13.3 / MacBook Pro 15-inch Superdrive 9.5mm 8x
Part No. : 661-4279
For hard drives, I have a choice of:
1)   W. Digital Scorpio Blue SATA 3GB/s   5,400rpm   8MB   2.5" 500GB
2)   W. Digital WD7500PPVX SATA111   5,400rpm   8MB   2.5"   6GB/s   750MB
3)   W. Digital Black 9.5mm   7200rpm   16MB   SATA   6gb/s
Will any, or all of these be installed and function easily in my A1260 Macbook Pro?
Again, thank you for your help,
Tim (fridgemagnett)

Hitachi vs. Segate vs. WD Scorpio

Hello,
I'm about to upgrade my Unibody Macbook Pro (late 2008) with a brand new 500 GB HD - 7200 RPM. I have been searching for an answer but people are "always" a fan of something.
Anyway, I'm considering these following Drives:
1- Seagate Momentus 7200 500GB 7200RPM
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?linkcode=ur2&camp=1789&tag=macrumors-20&creative=9325&path=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.c om%2FSeagate-Momentus-7200RPM-Internal-ST9500420AS-Bare%2Fdp%2FB001R4BBLU%2Fref% 3Dsr_17%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Delectronics%26qid%3D1269978037%26sr%3D8-7
2- Hitachi 500GB Travelstar SATA 7200
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?linkcode=ur2&camp=1789&tag=macrumors-20&creative=9325&path=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.c om%2FHitachi-Travelstar-Internal-HD20500IDK-7K%2Fdp%2FB002FYJQB8%2Fref%3Ddp_cp_o b_e_title2%3Fie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1269970419%26sr%3D8-1-fkmr1
3- WD Scorpio Blue ( Although it's 5400 RPM huge number of people recommended it)
http://wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=803
So, I'd like to share your experiences with each of the ones above, in order to be sure while placing my next order
Thanks,
Rashid

I would choose Seagate or Hitachi. I think I would lean more to the Hitachi drives right now.
If everyone is a fan of something, then you need to do some Google research and make your own decision. You can find some reviews at:
Storage Review
Tom's Hardware Review
Bare Feats

Blue screen, mouse battery image

Bought a white Macbook, just over a year old. Replaced the hard drive to a compatible 320gb WD Scorpio Blue and 4GB Ram.
Tried to install Leopard on it. Usually tone, Apple sign, then spinning circle....then it pauses a bit to a blue screen with then a picture with a grey background, and an image in white of two mice 1 and 2 asking me to replace the batteries. Firstly this is a laptop and I dont have an external mouse for it.
Either way the cursor doesnt move and the keyboard appeards not to work either.
Any ideas?

What disc are you using to install Leopard on the machine? Did the computer come with any discs?
My computer is just over a year old and came with Leopard installed.
~Lyssa

2008 15" MBP 4.1 (Penryn 2.5GHZ) - WD Blue 500GB - intermittent beeps

I had this Macbook Pro’s stock 250GB hard drive replaced with a 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue. The machine is running 10.5.8 and all the firmwares made available by Apple.
Sometimes and seemingly more and more often (probably since the latest firmware meant to improve the behavior of fans), at startup or on waking up, the machine emits a few short, rather faint I would say, consecutive non rythmic beeps (let’s say four to five beeps in half a second). No clicks (that I coud hear anyway), just beeps.
Recently, the same patterns of beeps have also appeared not only upon startup or waking up but also during operation. There is nothing “bad” in Smart Reporter’s log concerning the drive’s SMART status. Any idea? Are those beeps a sign of problems to come?
Thanks
Philippe

Check your ram. Rember:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/52452

WD 640GB Scorpio Blue

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