MacBook Pro :: WD Scorpio Blue In 2010 MBP 13" - Sluggish Performance
May 13, 2010
I just upgraded my hdd to a 500gb WD scorpio blue in my 2010 MBP 13". It seems to start and stop a lot more than the apple one (if that makes sense). and every now and then the computer seems to lag for 1-2 seconds when doing things like typing, scrolling, etc. I've tried searching and found other people have had similar problems with older MBPs and they talked about some EFI firmware or something. Does this apply to my MBP too? Or does anyone have any other suggestions of what I can do?
The thing is I dont really need 500gb of space. But from reviews Ive read that the 500gb is faster in some cases because of its higher platter density. Vibration /noise issues on the scorpio black 7200rpm sway me towards the scorpio blue 500gb as well.
Anyone had experience of either hard drive or both? (this will be for a 2.2Ghz MBP)
I have a Black Macbook. 2.2ghz, 1GB Ram, running Snow Leopard. Recently I've been finding my laptop rather sluggish and slow when performing tasks and opening applications. Firefox will often be quite slow at performing mundane tasks as well as flicking between applications that are open which is also slow. I use a couple of apps to help clear out unnecessary files etc to help with performance and stuff but clearly this doesn't appear to be working.
When watching a 720p video on Youtube, my Mac jumps to like 50-60% CPU usage. The frame rate slows and is almost unbearable to watch. I have also noticed that if I leave my MBP on for like >3 days then sooner or later my computer will get really sluggish and unresponsive. I end up having to restart because the CPU is going so insanely high. Okay, as I write this, I am having huge CPU jumps while doing nothing but typing this. Yes, Youtube is open in another window, but still.
I'm aware that there are probably a dozen of these threads around in the forums, but if you have the time to tell me to search it up, then you have the time to answer my question. I am fully aware that this may void my MBP's warranty. I've decided to go with either the 500gb 5400rpm WD or Seagate. I'm just wondering which drive is more reliable and faster. Also, when installing the hard drive, is it ok to use a magnetic screw driver. Someone told me that there's an application called Superduper. It clones the original hard drive to make the upgrade easier. Is this a good application, or are there better options?
Is this hard drive compatible with the new 2010 13" MacBook Pro? [URl] I plan on upgrading the stock 250GB hard drive in the base model 13" (2010 model).
I have a MacBook pro 13" that I bought around April 2010 (right when they switched to the 4GB of RAM and GeForce 320M video card)The original problem started with my trackpad movements becoming very sluggish. This eventually led to a complete lockup at the apple screen. I did everything suggested in previous posts (reset pram ECT). Nothing worked so I reinstalled OSX and everything was fixed.
About a week later the problem started again with the same exact outcome. Now after reinstalling a third time, I have this very wierd screen on my screen. Its hard to explain so please see pictures. After sitting on the apple logo for about 5 min, this is now my screen...
I am planning to purchase a 13" Macbook Pro base model (first Mac by the way), and I want to upgrade from the stock 160Gb HDD.
I don't really see myself needing 500Gb, but I have read that a higher density drive outperforms a lower density drive. Newegg currently has the 500 WD Scorpio Blue drive listed for $30 over the 320Gb edition. Will I see significant performance increase by going with the 500Gb model instead of the 320Gb one?
What about power consumption? Is one better than the other?
I just got my new MBP and it has a Toshiba MK5055GSXF 500gb inside. My old one has a WD Scorpio Blue 500gb. I know the Scorpio Blue is supposed to be fast for a 5400rpm. Does anyone have an opinion whether it would be worth it to switch them? Is the WD superior?
I have a White MacBook version 3,1 made in 2008 w/ the intel ICH8-M AHCI SATA controller. Unfortunately this controller is only 1.5gb/sec. I picked up a WD7500BPVT, WD Scorpio Blue 750gb, with a spec of 3gb/sec. Western Digital tech support assured me it would step down to 1.5gb/sec, no jumpers needed (as it isn't configurable by a hardware jumper). So I install it in my MacBook, boot up from the Snow Leopard install disc but it doesn't see my fancy, schmancy 750gb drive. Is the drive not seen because of a compatibility issue w/ the SATA controller? If so, what is the largest capacity 9.5mm drive someone has installed in a MacBook w/ the intel ICH8-M AHCI SATA controller?
I am looking for advice on the wd5000bevt (500GB 5400rpm) Planning to get this as it supposedly has almost the same speed as a 320GB 7200rpm drive and doesnt come with the usual 7200rpm negetives (heat, vibrations and noise). Anyone with firsthand experience with this drive? It is quite popular so I am hoping I will find someone Also, I heard something about clashing motion sensor because the macbook already have one so you should avoid some drives. Does this drive have one? Is it compatible?
Ok guys, so here is the story, i just bought the 500 GB Blue Scorpio, ran the Time Machine back up on an external hard drive and wanted to install the 500 GB on my macbook, inserted the Mac OS CD and in the section where it asks where you want to install the Mac OS, i didnt see anything it was blank and it didnt give any options or anything.so now i installed the old hard drive and i am using that one, what am i supposed to do ?
I've recently bought a WD Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT 500GB 2.5" SATA hard drive to put in my PS3. I decided instead to put this in my MacBook Pro and put the 320GB drive from my MBP in the PS3 - which I have done and works perfectly.
Now the problem is the WD HDD in the MBP. I can physically hear the HDD spin down and then almost immediately spin up again. Whilst in this state of "spin down" OSX is a little unresponsive. Does anyone know how to stop the drive from shutting down so often. It literally happens every few seconds. I haven't noticed the problem when booted in Windows 7 though I could be wrong.
My Mac Pro (specs in sig) has recently been really quite slow. Opening Safari and Adium and iTunes all at once causes repeated beachballs, as does opening new tabs, switching back and forth from expose' etc. I use onyx and take very good care of my equipment, but am admittedly tech-lame about how to speed it up. It also hangs in photoshop quite a lot, and although the files are large (1-5GB) it seems to do so overly much. My own thoughts lend me to think that I need to purchase another harddrive to use a scratchdisk, but I'm not really sure.
I have been struggling with my Mac for weeks and weeks and before I finally decide to reinstall everything I wanted to turn to you experts for maybe the one hint that can resolve my problem: I have a 13 inch MBPro, mid 2010, basic version. Later I installed the WD Scorpio Blue 1 TB hard drive and copied the time machine backup. Shortly after, I recognized massive lags. I have quiet a few photos (3000 or so), 20gb of music and 40gb of films on this drive but only a few programs. Adium, Steam, Starcraft, MS Office, Skype, Growl and that is it I think. I use mobileme for synching, if that helps in any way.
Some examples: Sometimes youtube videos lag for a few seconds, even with HTML5, it takes 5 seconds to open a new tab in sapharie (again, only sometimes without any obvious rule)..................
It looks like it is less expensive to upgrade the memory to 8GB from Apple now. I need to decided whether to go for 4GB or upgrade to 8GB BTO. With the 8GB RAM, will there be noticeable gain in performance? I guess VMWare Fusion may run better. Not sure about other applications including the OS
Just bought this recently and installed Windows 7. The following screen shot under WEI Macbook Air 2010 13'' 1.86GHz 4GB RAM 256GB. The performance is quite amazing consider its 1.86GHz CPU, I bet 2.13GHz CPU would score bit higher.
Performance of the new MBP's as they take on the slew of new games being presented (VALVe has said they will release new games each Wednesday, so keep looking for your Css' and L4D's)
[URL]
Counter Strike Source will not be here all that soon so don't get your hopes up, they are redeveloping it, to run on a new engine. No point in porting the old engine when they will just have to do it again. Link:.....
I have looked over the postings closely but may have missed something. What is the current knowledge, now, in early September about Apple-installed SSDs and performance degradation over time? Early concern beginning with the release of MBP 2010 in April was the the lack of TRIM support in OSX. Has anyone at this point noticed or measured significant degradation of factory-installed SSDs? I am ready to purchase a MBP 2010 and I am considering a 256 GB SSD.
I needed to upgrade this unit in order to increase performance with VMWARE Fusion as I needed to use a few Windows 7 features and Applications... and although Mac OS is OK... I have to recognize that some features of Windows 7 are better and I need some only windows applications.
So I researched online the option of upgrading memory and HD. I read mixed opinions and experiences with non Apple Memory. But took the chance and during a recent trip to the US I purchased the Kingston upgrade kit... installed it... and so far no problems. I got a very noticeable increase in startup and working performance with Windows 7 and Fusion. Unfortunately I lost my notes regarding performance readings... sorry.
I was very intrigued with the Hybrid Seagate 500GB Momentus XT. Also read a lot of mixed experiences. I also picked up a unit during my trip to the US but waited to install it when I got back to Spain. I just installed it and made some simple timings to check the performance......................
How does StarCraft 2 perform on the current lineup of the iMac? I'm most interested in the 21.5" model, as I cannot afford the 27" version. Specifically, I'd like to know what resolution and settings the 4670 and 5670 models can handle...
just got me a brand new 2010 MacPro 2 x 2.4 Quad-Core with 12GB Ram and the ATI 5870. This is the first MacPro to system boot into the 64bit Kernel by default (ie, hold 3+2 on restart to boot into 32bit Kernel). One of the first things I did was run the Photoshop performance test, which FYI on my old G5 2.7 with 4GB Ram returned a time of 114 secs, and on the new Quad-Core in 64bit kernel returned a time of 14 secs, so as you can imagine I was pretty happy with the results.
Then the problems started...... when I was installing software I got the dreaded Kernel Panic, restart your machine screen. So I did, and it happened again on restart, so I did, and it happened again on restart, so I did.... you get the idea. So I put the system disk in and restarted, then reloaded OSX10.6.4 and everything seemed to be going fine, until I installed software again (different app from the first time), and I got the Kernel panic screen, then again on restart etc, so I booted into 32bit kernel and all is good. EXCEPT! - When running the Photoshop test in 32bit Kernel it returned a time of 17secs. Now, I know I am being picky here, but I do a lot of work in PSCS5, and by a lot I mean sometimes all day on large photographic images, so 3 secs is a big deal....
I have a 15" 2010 MBP. I got it well spec'd, with 7200 drive, 8 GB ram, best CPU... First thing I did was bootcamp. Went smoothly - did a 400 gb partition for Windows 7. The drivers all installed fine and Windows 7 does alright.
My Windows Experience scores: Processor: 6.9 RAM: 6.9 Graphic: 6.4 Gaming graphics: 6.4 Hard drive: 5.9
Things look good... But I am having trouble playing hidef content - VLC is choppy on a bunch of files that play smooth as silk when booted into Mac OS - and actually even play ok on my old Santa Rosa 15" MBP. Quicktime is also slow. I have always found VLC to be very solid. (actually use it on the Mac side for this test as well). I tried playing with the hardware acceleration toggle, and it does seem better with it disabled - anyone else having issues playing hidef media on the windows side of this MBP?
First I wanted to upgrade my new mac mini with a Momentus XT but now I'm thinking about getting a "real" ssd + a FW800 drive for storage to have the huge speed boost of the ssd drive. Does anybody have this combination in his mini? What I want to know: How is the performance like of the external drive connected to FW800? Is it comparable to a standard internal hard drive?
a week ago i replaced my stock HDD with a 640 GB WD Scorpio Blue, did a clean install and installed everything all over. Still feels a bit slow though. I'm not sure if i'm just being too demanding since it's a brand new, expensive computer. So i wanted to ask you how your computers perform in simple day-to-day tasks.
I've used Garage band as an example, since i guess most of you have that installed, and could try these things out on your machines, to help me determine if i have a problem:
1. I often, if not always, get the spinning beachball, when i launch not-light apps - fx. MS Excel or Garageband. Do you guys get that too (the beachball)?
2. Garageband takes 15+ sec. to launch (from click on icon till "New Project" pops up. How long do your computer take to launch it?
3. When quitting applications, this can sometimes also take a few seconds (not saving anything) and it feels slow. Do your computer act that way too?
4. Sometimes, when i'm writing a text, fx. in the Safari Google search box, the text "lags" - it doesn't appear right away, but 1-3 sec after i started writing it. Do your computer do that too sometimes?
5. Right before i posted this message, i was opening System Preferences (i only have 3 prefPanes besides from the standard ones). Even opening that very light app took a few seconds and gave me a beachball. Do you ever get beachballs from opening and working with such light applications?
I have iMac 27 and screen problem on start up i have blue vertical lines, when it start i have a lot of blue dots and nothing else. when I connect outside monitor its showing the same.
Just installed lion and still the same problem when it starts blue dots, when startup in safe mode loads of blue lines and dots on the screen.
i opened my macbook pro from sleep and it was extremely sluggish barely responding, i rebooted but had problems and force quit all applications that immediately opened. I was forced to reboot several times since each time getting a grey screen that very slowly evolves into my desktop but nothing will work not even disk utility to diagnose..
Three days ago a noisy fan brought me to the Genius Bar at my Apple store and when i got there the boot screen stayed gray and had a folder with a question mark in it. I have a late 2006 15" MPB running Snow Leopard 10.6.6. The guy told me i need a new hard drive so i went out and bought a Western Digital Scorpio Black 320g 7200 rpm SATA drive with a 16 mb cache. I replaced the old one with it, formated and installed OSX 10.6. I then used my time capsule to recover my last back up. I completely restored it. TWO DAYS OF PERFECT USE Now, i have the annoying fan noise again and my console is telling me that my HDD is having disk0-02 i/o errors. A LOT OF THEM. I've had at least 30 before noon today. Currently i am writing zeros to my drive and going to reinstall 10.6 WITHOUT using my time capsule restore (incase that has bad blocks written to it) Has any one heard of issues like this before with the particular HDD i bought? Two HDD failures two days apart seems fishy to me, what other issues should I be looking at? Is it possible i'm getting the i/o errors from a bad HDD ribbon cable to the logic board?
