Beeping + Clicking WD5000BEVT in Macbook 2.4Ghz (Late 2008)

[sappiou]

i think you have to upgrade the firmware of the drive in order to work. Have you noticed that apple uses their own firmware in drives? But overall it was a wise choice getting a WD Drive...

[AutoBat1]

I've got a WD 500gb in my 2006 mbp, it does that about ever 8th time I wake it up.

[9000cc]

I think it might just be a power issue and possibly only affects a particular batch of the drives in combination with the MB.

I bought another WD5000BEVT and installed it in the MB a few months ago. The original beeping drive is now in my netbook. Since the swap neither drive exhibits the beeping.. I didn't make a note of manufacture date to compare but it's been almost a year and the drive still works.

[rileylim]

i have a WD5000BEVT WD passport, it does the same beeping thing as in the video, im pretty sure its a power issue, well i hope thats it, it hasnt died yet and its been doing it for a good 6 months now.

[rileylim]

oh forgot to mention, it normally happens on my usb drive after its been on standy/idle/sleeping/parked (the usb drive itself, nt laptop) and i open windows explorer to open something. its spins up to seek and beeps, then carries on.

[smellmyfinger87]

Anything new about the hdd? =)

[twesslen]

I have what appears to be a similar problem on a new mbp. Any updates on this problem?

[9000cc]

I've heard similar but not identical beeping with some external 2.5 inch drives (usb bus powered) where the usb port isn't providing enough juice to run the drive. With my Seagate FreeagentGo drive I have to use two usb ports (one for power, one for power+data) when attached to the front panel ports on my htpc. Same drive works just fine using only one usb port on the macbook or my nc10.. If your WD Passport came with a Y shaped usb cable I would try using two usb ports and try another computer.

[ChunkyChaz09]

I am having the same problem on my macbook but with an external WD Passport 400GB drive. Does anyone know why this happens?

[starkerkrieger]

hi 9000cc, have you updated firmware and everything else on your MBP aluminum with the software update? has the beeping ceased??? i plan on upgrading my MBP for this HD but im worried about getting that annoying beep too. would you recommend me on buying it anyways? i really need you word of advice. thanks a lot.

[9000cc]

Hi, Sorry to take so long to reply. I've applied all updates as they came out.. The December EFI and SMC Firmware updates didn't solve it as I was still getting the noise in January. I haven't had the beeping in months so perhaps something since then fixed it? (nvidia update?) Overall I would say the disk is a good buy despite all the people that have the beeping problem. Mine has gone away and the drive is fast and offers plenty of space. I'm happy with it! (now)

[hch2817]

I have a WD5000BEVT in my Aluminum Macbook (Late 2008), and have had the exact same problem. Exact same beeping pattern, and it occurs usually after waking from sleep, although it is infrequent. I hope that we can get to the bottom of this. Thanks for recording the symptom and allowing us some place to communicate!

[9000cc]

No trouble, having said that.. I've not heard the sound in a few months and everything still works well...

[etx1979]

I also haven't found any problems with the temperature or fan since installing the WD5000. I spoke to apple support and they said it could be the firmware or that they're not compatible but as usual not much help!

Having said that the drive seems to be working like a dream. I checked with smart reporter and disk utitlity and both said it was working fine.

[etx1979]

I installed my WD5000BEVT a few weeks ago and have also been getting this beep. However as previous comments stated this only occurs from a cold boot.

Stangely enough it only occurs after it's been switched off overnight (around 7 hours). However after getting back from work the same day which is almost the same amount of time it doesn't make the noise!

Also some days it does it and some days it doesn't!

[9000cc]

Yeah I've found it hard to isolate a cause. My beep went away for a couple weeks but returned in the last few days. My Macbook stays on 24/7 almost since I bought it so I can't say what effect cold boots have.

My HD temp is a consistent 30C and I keep my place on the cool side in the winter but nothing extreme.

Once the new year rolls around and I get some free time I'll RMA this disk.

[cjmildenberg]

please see my video response for another account of the same problem

[cjmildenberg]

I am trying to fix this by using acoustic management and power management software in boot camp.

Are most of the people who contact you using OSX? Similar problems?

[9000cc]

Any luck with the acoustic/power settings? So far I think everyone has been using Mac OS X.

Have you run an extended test on your disk with the WD Windows diagnostics tools? Their tech support suggested trying this so I'd be interested to see the results of the test on your drive.

[cjmildenberg]

I installed "notebook hardware control" on the bootcamp side. I enabled advanced options, and went to the hard drive settings. In there you can set acoustic management, and power management. I set both values to the highest (fastest, least efficient).

[cjmildenberg]

Apparently these settings are sent directly to the drive, and hold after a reboot. After I did this, I have not received the noise once in OSX, while working. I HAVE however received the noise on cold boots, and coming out of standby. If this is it, I can deal with it. Maybe a semi-normal coming out of head-park type noise. Maybe it was parking too much in the OS, causing the above noise?

[9000cc]

Yes the acoustic and power management settings are stored on the drive itself once set; they remain in effect after reboots, changing OS or even moving a disk to a new computer.

I unchecked the "Put Disks to Sleep" setting and the beeping remained. I've performed a few reboots since and not heard the beeping in a several days. Perhaps it is sleep or power related.. but that doesn't explain why the beeping only started after the disk was in the laptop for a month with the original settings.

[9000cc]

If this does solve the problem then it should be possible to change the drive settings using hdparm in Mac OS X if Windows or a livecd is not an option.

[cjmildenberg]

Well, I now have gone two days with no clicks or beeps during use. It was happening at least two time an hour before that. I still occasionally get the beep when coming out of standby, or on a cold boot. Suggesting that sometimes the drive does this after the heads are parked.

I think thats why the AAM settings are working - less head parking, or overriding the OS power management, not sure which.

I tried turning on and off "put disks to sleep" previously but it had minimal if not no effect

[cjmildenberg]

Have you made any progress with this? I have a very similar problem with the same hardware.

[9000cc]

I've had quite a few people contact me about this video.

I contacted Western Digital email support and after a little effort I was able to get them to abandon the script and listen to the recording. They don't offer any tools that will work on Mac OS X or boot the new MBs and MBPs but they said if the drive makes the same sound in another computer I should get it replaced (under warranty) asap.

I've been on the road for a while so when I have a moment I'll pull the drive out and test it.