Momentus XT + Macbook Pro 13 Install Problem

After receiving my Momentus XT 500 yesterday, I downloaded SuperDuper and cloned my internal drive to the Momentus XT using a USB-to-SATA adapter I bought a couple years ago. Apart from the transfer taking a LONG time, everything seemed to be fine, and SuperDuper completed the task without reporting any errors.

Installing the drive was rather painless, except that once I reassembled the machine, turned it over, and powered it on, it didn't boot into Mac OS, but instead gave me a flashing folder icon with a question mark. I've done a fair bit of investigating into this issue, and it seems that it could be a hard drive failure. Except, when I re-installed the original HDD, the Momentus XT still showed up when plugged into the external USB-SATA setup, and all the directories and files were there.

I read on legitreview's review that the Lenovo T61 has had problems with the Momentus XT, but that a simple jumper connection can resolve the issue.

Two things bother me about this: I haven't heard any other MBP owners express issues of this nature, and I don't want to limit the drive to 1.5Gbps (with the jumper workaround).

Am I alone on this, and does anyone know what could be wrong? Thanks in advance.

 

the Macbook doesn't have the chipset SATA 1 limitation like lenovo T61 so u should have no problems at all.. it should run at SATA-2 speed of 3.0Gb/s

 

Do you mean that adding a jumper won't fix whatever is wrong, or that adding a jumper could fix what's wrong but won't reduce bandwidth? I appreciate the help.

 

I had a 09 Macbook Pro 13, the one with a shared mic/headphone port. I heard it had SATA 1.5. I heard a lot of people complaining about it on the macforum. I'm hijacking peoples Wi-Fi as my mom goes to garage sales, so my posts are kinda short. Google it for sure.

 

Apple fixed that issue with a firmware update, I thought. SATA 1.5 on a $1200 notebook kinda made ppl mad REAL quick. lol... i'm on an HTC HD2 in line at Popeyes.

 

Exactly the same problem here, with MBP 15.4 (mid-2009). The drive seems to be fine, and it has been verified using S.M.A.R.T test. I can boot from it as external drive (connected via USB), but when I install it inside the MacBook Pro the system fails to boot showing a blinking folder with question mark.

I tried SuperDuper as well as Carbon Copy Cloner to clone my old system, both with no success. I tried to reset PRAM, but also with no hope.

Have you been able to get this out? Is it something with this specific Hard disk drive?

 

Do mac's not like cloning? (I really don't know).

Have you tried a clean install? That would be my first step.

Good luck.

 

You're probably safer doing a clean install since there could have been an alignment problem when you clone the image to the 500+4

 

mlpjunior, two things:
- I always recommend doing a clean install because it will give you better performance.
- Are you running the latest firmware SD23? If not, I think it will fix your problems.

 

In all fairness, mechanical hard drives never bottlenecked on the SATA 1.5Gbps interface, let alone the SATA 3.0Gbps interface. Even if they had the SATA 3.0Gbps interface, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference as long as you were on a mechanical hard drive.

 

i've see differences in 7K500 in SATA 1 and SATA 2 and there is some difference.. but if u have a SATA2 laptop and only getting SATA 1 out of it ,i'm quite sure u won't be happy.. after all u did pay for that..

 

That's fair enough to say - there is no reason to have SATA 1.5Gbps in your laptop, when SATA 3.0Gbps is the norm.

 

Unfortunately, I left my original system discs in my country. I am on vacation now, and ordered the hard drive from eBay to be delivered here. I am so excited to test it, so I didn't want to wait until I return

Strange. I remember that I tried a lot to find any firmware upgrade, but I didn't find a newer one. I am on a Mac so I cannot run the utility they offer to check, but I see now from what it was written on the drive that it contains the version SD22. I will give it a try once I reach any Windows computer. Or maybe I use the bootable disc image they offer as an alternative.

Thanks for your help. I will keep you updated
Ma'moun

 

Well. I have successfully upgraded the hard drive firmware to the latest version D23, using the bootable CD. However, the same booting problem still happens with the already cloned system on the drive. It shows a blinking folder icon with question mark, forever.

I will try to format the partition, and re-clone my system.. May some 'magic' happens


Any other thoughts...?

 

Well yeah clean install, but you already knew that.

Maybe there's some alternative way you can get the OS discs.

 

Bad luck. The same problem still happens after a clean cloning with the latest firmware. Looks like I should wait

What confuses me is that the system does boot without problems when I connected it via USB as externel drive, isn't that strange?

Hmm.. like what?

 

@thread starter:
Could you figure that out? how (in case you could)?

 

Like borrowing them from a friend or a near by Macstore.

 

Isn't there a unique serial number for every medium (OS installation DVD)? I mean, is it OK to install Mac on two computers from one medium?

 

I'm not sure. I do believe that discs are usually specific to the type of Macbook you have.

I moved your thread to the Apple forum, there's probably more expertise there.

 

You can use any mac to create a BOOT drive

just make sure that the DISC you are using matches the MAC your on..


Clean install is a bit drastic..

go back to your old drive... if you put it in the external case you can boot your macbook from it by holding down the option key then select it as your bootdrive...
once up and running use DISKUTILITY to create a backup of your "OLD" to the new... this will ensure that it can boot


there is no need to update to SD23 I still run SD222 in 2 books 0 issues (+3 weeks)

BTW Carbon Copy Cloner uses the same DD command that DISKUTILITY uses it just has a bunch of additional functions..

 

Well. Finally I came back from my vacation, and had the opportunity to use the original system disk.

Unfortunately, I couldn't do a fresh installation. Every time I try to install Leopard, the installation process ends up with 'Install Failed' message. After a lot of trying, I decided to try to make it external and then install the system via USB port.. as I was coming to think that it's a cable-related problem. Surprisingly the installation was completed successfully, and I could boot from the system via USB (still connected as external.) Once I make it internal again, I got the exact blinking folder icon with question mark.. with no hope to boot.

Could be a problem in the cable connecting the hard drive to the motherboard? If so, any body knows a way to check it?


Thanks in advanced.

 

mamouneyya, if you haven't done it yet try upgrading the firmware to SD23. You will need a Windows system for that.

 

SD23 is supposed to just fix the spindown issue, according to some notes online I found.

Newegg reviews mention no problem like what you're reporting with bootup among the XT 500GB buyers, so maybe something's bad with the drive interface and it should be RMA'd instead?

 

I have already upgraded the firmware to SD23.

What do you suggest to check the drive status? It is verified using S.M.A.R.T test.
Also, do you still think it might be a drive-related problem, even if it behaves/boots without any problem as external hard disk?

 

im leaning towards an EFI or controller issue with the MBP ... I have yet to have problems like this. and the fact it works perfectly as an external seems to reinforce it

 

Interesting. I searched for a way to downgrade the EFI to 1.6, as I am working on the latest, which is 1.7. I have found a way on MacRumors forums. I will try it.. will keep you updated.

P.S. Just to be clear. I searched first for a solution to reinstall the EFI, and found a restoration CDs Apple provides. Unfortunately, there is no one available for my MacBook Pro (mid-2009.) Therefore, I decided to try to downgrade it to 1.6, and maybe re-upgrade it again (maybe not, in case it worked with the earlier.)

 

Wahooo!! it works!! it works!!
The EFI has been successfully downgraded to version 1.6, according to this way. I have just tried now to connect my new drive as internal, and could successfully boot from the latest fresh installation I tried to install. Finally

Now I will try again to clone my already existed system. I preferred this solution against a fresh installation + Migration Assistant.

Will keep you posted.
Many many thanks man.. I am really happy

 

Congratulations. Im glad your up and running finally. and I will keep a note on how 1.7 might muck with booting an internal SSD

 

System clone is complete. Everything is working like a charm. Ma'moun is really, really happy!

Thanks for all.. and special thank for crazycanuk!

 

Hmmm.. Just noticed that the SATA controller speed was reduced to 1.5 Gb. Anything we can do to reset it back to the full speed?

 

just run an hdd speed test, if your sequential read is 95-100MB/s then you are fine, if you get a true SSD then worry.

 

not at the moment as the older firmware had SATA speed throttled by Apple for some reason or another. may have to wait for EFI 1.8 or 1.9 ... I really cant say.

 

OK, I see. Will wait.

A quick test using Xbench shows these results:

Code:

Results	42.23	
	System Info		
		Xbench Version		1.3
		System Version		10.5.8 (9L30)
		Physical RAM		4096 MB
		Model			MacBookPro5,4
		Drive Type		ST95005620AS
	Disk Test	42.23	
		Sequential	96.85	
			Uncached Write	104.75	64.31 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	105.87	59.90 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	74.60	21.83 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	112.31	56.45 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Random		27.00	
			Uncached Write	7.94	0.84 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	211.12	67.59 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	93.00	0.66 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	147.84	27.43 MB/sec [256K blocks]

What do you think?

 

I will ask phil to have a look at these results, as it confusing for me, the 4k block score looks a lot better than mine, but i am most likely interpreting the results wrong.

Here is mine on a windows notebook, with an gs45 chipset, with my Seagate XT 250gb

 

Both results look fine to me. They're not identical but I attribute this to different benchmarks and different testbeds used.