MacBook Pro hard drive is HOT

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sanjaysanjay
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
My MacBook Pro came with a 7200 RPM Hitachi drive that runs very hot. Almost so much that I need to insulation between my left hand and the MacBook. I am thinking of replacing it with a different drive and was wondering if anyone has experience with either the Seagate Momentum or WD Scorpio. Was wondering if these run any cooler. Would also appreciate any other recommendations on drives.



Regards.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    kmac1036kmac1036 Posts: 281member
    stay away from drives that feature sudden motion sensors. Macs already have this & will cause problems (kernel panics)



    WD & certain seagates feature this.
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  • Reply 2 of 6
    sanjaysanjay Posts: 6member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kmac1036 View Post


    stay away from drives that feature sudden motion sensors. Macs already have this & will cause problems (kernel panics)



    WD & certain seagates feature this.



    Hello kmac1036,

    Thanks for that advice! I assume you mean something like Seagate's G-force sensor and WD's free-fall sensor? I never imagined that would be an issue and in fact was specifically looking at those versions of the drives. I will do my research before buying.

    Regards.
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  • Reply 3 of 6
    kmac1036kmac1036 Posts: 281member
    yes, those drives will not work. the mac laptops have the sudden motion sensor in them already. it will cause problems.
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  • Reply 4 of 6
    sanjaysanjay Posts: 6member
    Thank you for the information on sudden motion sensor drives. I will stay away from them. However, I am wondering if anyone has any experience with drives that may run cooler than others. I have installed SMC FanControl but still my left palm (over the drive) gets very hot, without taxing the drive or CPU. I would greatly appreciate knowing if there is a drive that might be cooler than the Hitachi 7200 RPM that came with the MacBook Pro.



    Regards.
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  • Reply 5 of 6
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,464member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sanjay View Post


    Thank you for the information on sudden motion sensor drives. I will stay away from them. However, I am wondering if anyone has any experience with drives that may run cooler than others. I have installed SMC FanControl but still my left palm (over the drive) gets very hot, without taxing the drive or CPU. I would greatly appreciate knowing if there is a drive that might be cooler than the Hitachi 7200 RPM that came with the MacBook Pro.



    Regards.



    Put a SSD in it.
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  • Reply 6 of 6
    sanjaysanjay Posts: 6member
    After researching and the advice from kmac1036, I ended up replacing the Hitachi drive in the Macbook Pro with a Seagate 500GB 7200RPM drive - without G force sensor - and am very pleased with the change.



    The drive definitely is cooler than the Hitachi. No vibration or noise are a bonus as is the extra space. But temperature was the primary reason for the change. My hands are warm but comfortable. Very glad I made the swap.



    If anyone else is looking, this is a good drive.
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