Strange Macbook Pro issue Sata bus

anthlover · 01-26-2013, 04:32 PM

Strange Macbook Pro issue Sata bus

Machine is 2010 Early Macbook Pro 13 OSX 10.8.2
Hard Drives : Segate XT 500 and Vertex 4

In Mid December I swapped out by perfectly functioning but certainly not SSD Segate XT 500 for a Vertex 4.

All of a sudden on this morning I got an I/O not smart status error from SmartReporter 11 errors. Noticed certain folders were not accessible, Apps that would not launch.

I have back ups Physical and Crash plan, etc. I pulled the Vertex 4 thinking that was probably the problem and put back the Segate XT which also was not acting well now. Would not boot actually either, did not want to unmount, even when booted off one of my back up drives. It would force unmount.

In the interim I mounted the vertex in an external case and it seemed to be fine (by now I had made RMA arrangements already (Amazon gives you 6 weeks, which was up on the 31st).

I decided to make yet another back up form the now seemingly functional vertex 4 to one of my back up drives.

And here I stand. Could not even format the segate now booted off a ML USB stick. Odd Odd.

I feel like there may be something wrong with the Macbook Pros Sata bus.

Anyone see any odd behavior like this?

anthlover · 01-26-2013, 05:10 PM

Sure enough mounted the Segate in an external case and its running fine too.

Very very strange.

anthlover · 01-26-2013, 09:57 PM

Well Im pretty sure in retrospect I was Hasty with the return. I had pretty much proven it was SATA issue probably this inexpensive cable, around $40 delivered. Weird that it went bad while in use. I have swapped drives in that machine 4 times over 3 years.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00

Bummer I had gotten a good price on that Vertex 4 just before Christmas. Looks like I will have to get a Vector. There the same price now.

agentx · 01-27-2013, 06:24 AM

Those cables are very temperamental. Had a few go bad and would not seat correctly leading to issue with Bus errors.

anthlover · 01-27-2013, 08:44 AM

TY

Yeah so it seems. So odd. All drives have failure rates so that was in the back of my mind with the Amazon return window closing, rather then exercising the warranty. Difficult to be rational with my kids running around at times

Of course I had already more or less ruled out the drive but figured I was being extra cautious.

I ordered a new cable, well I will be ordering a new drive too, wish I kept the vertex.

agentx · 01-28-2013, 02:47 AM

Hope it all works out OK

anthlover · 01-30-2013, 08:47 PM

TY

Well I ended up ordering OCZ Vector, the sata cable and a macsales data doubler. I had decided to use the datadoubler as a local back up in addition to crash plan and hooking up to externals periodically. It will also make a fast migration back to the SSD sata to sata.

The datadoubler came in first. Not to bad to install I already had the computer 1/2 apart for the drive removal. The Segate XT is happily running from the data doubler. The vector will live in the regular drive bay.

All the parts work in unibody macs (2008 to 2012 [non retina]) so they can be migrated when i finally update the 2010. I have been wishing upon a quad core 13 but you have to go to 15 for that.

anthlover · 01-31-2013, 07:06 PM

Well amazingly (coming from two different vendors) the Vector and the Sata cable came the same day. New sata cable and all is working like a charm. Hardest part of the install is that the sata cable/ir senor cable came with heavy masking tape that was very difficult to remove without damaging the cable.

Loving the Sata to Sata copy speed of the Clone.

01-26-2013, 04:32 PM	#1
anthlover Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 2,663	Strange Macbook Pro issue Sata bus Strange Macbook Pro issue Sata bus Machine is 2010 Early Macbook Pro 13 OSX 10.8.2 Hard Drives : Segate XT 500 and Vertex 4 In Mid December I swapped out by perfectly functioning but certainly not SSD Segate XT 500 for a Vertex 4. All of a sudden on this morning I got an I/O not smart status error from SmartReporter 11 errors. Noticed certain folders were not accessible, Apps that would not launch. I have back ups Physical and Crash plan, etc. I pulled the Vertex 4 thinking that was probably the problem and put back the Segate XT which also was not acting well now. Would not boot actually either, did not want to unmount, even when booted off one of my back up drives. It would force unmount. In the interim I mounted the vertex in an external case and it seemed to be fine (by now I had made RMA arrangements already (Amazon gives you 6 weeks, which was up on the 31st). I decided to make yet another back up form the now seemingly functional vertex 4 to one of my back up drives. And here I stand. Could not even format the segate now booted off a ML USB stick. Odd Odd. I feel like there may be something wrong with the Macbook Pros Sata bus. Anyone see any odd behavior like this?

01-27-2013, 08:44 AM	#5
anthlover Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 2,663	Ty TY Yeah so it seems. So odd. All drives have failure rates so that was in the back of my mind with the Amazon return window closing, rather then exercising the warranty. Difficult to be rational with my kids running around at times Of course I had already more or less ruled out the drive but figured I was being extra cautious. I ordered a new cable, well I will be ordering a new drive too, wish I kept the vertex.

01-30-2013, 08:47 PM	#7
anthlover Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 2,663	TY Well I ended up ordering OCZ Vector, the sata cable and a macsales data doubler. I had decided to use the datadoubler as a local back up in addition to crash plan and hooking up to externals periodically. It will also make a fast migration back to the SSD sata to sata. The datadoubler came in first. Not to bad to install I already had the computer 1/2 apart for the drive removal. The Segate XT is happily running from the data doubler. The vector will live in the regular drive bay. All the parts work in unibody macs (2008 to 2012 [non retina]) so they can be migrated when i finally update the 2010. I have been wishing upon a quad core 13 but you have to go to 15 for that. Last edited by anthlover; 01-30-2013 at 08:58 PM.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes	Rate This Thread
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode	Rate This Thread:

01-26-2013, 05:10 PM	#2
anthlover Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 2,663	Sure enough mounted the Segate in an external case and its running fine too. Very very strange.

01-26-2013, 09:57 PM	#3
anthlover Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 2,663	Well Im pretty sure in retrospect I was Hasty with the return. I had pretty much proven it was SATA issue probably this inexpensive cable, around $40 delivered. Weird that it went bad while in use. I have swapped drives in that machine 4 times over 3 years. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00 Bummer I had gotten a good price on that Vertex 4 just before Christmas. Looks like I will have to get a Vector. There the same price now.

01-27-2013, 06:24 AM	#4
agentx Hall of Famer Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Brighton, UK Posts: 3,807	Those cables are very temperamental. Had a few go bad and would not seat correctly leading to issue with Bus errors.

01-28-2013, 02:47 AM	#6
agentx Hall of Famer Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Brighton, UK Posts: 3,807	Hope it all works out OK

01-31-2013, 07:06 PM	#8
anthlover Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 2,663	Well amazingly (coming from two different vendors) the Vector and the Sata cable came the same day. New sata cable and all is working like a charm. Hardest part of the install is that the sata cable/ir senor cable came with heavy masking tape that was very difficult to remove without damaging the cable. Loving the Sata to Sata copy speed of the Clone.