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Model A1286. Released February 2011 / 2.0, 2.2, or 2.3 GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7 Processor

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Problems with formatting & copying files to new disk

Hey guys I had this travelstar drive installed to replace the optical drive and am having problems with it.

It formatted no problem, but then when I was copying files from an ext drive the transfer the speeds were slow 4 gig - 3 hours.

Afterward the disk unmounted again so i I reformatted in disk utility under partition - Mac OS extended/GUID and copied files it was faster for a few then slowed down and unmounted again. I was concerned that it was the SATA 2 issue but my system info says:

Link Speed: 6 Gigabit

Negotiated Link Speed: 6 Gigabit

I can't mount the disk and when reformatting under partition/guid option it gets stuck at "waiting for disks to reappear" or if it completes it doesn't mount and is greyed out on the left.

@Dan i saw your comment about the hardware profiler app does that mean that even though it says 6 Gigabit that is actually only SATA 2 and 3 gigabits?

Sorry to intrude on your post Gary i posted separately but am looking for advice before returning drive etc.

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Robert please double check the system listed here if not correct please tell us what your model it as it makes a difference.

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Hey Dan thanks for the response below, I think mine is the same model as above (MBP 15" Early 2011 although I've never seen the Link speed change ever when checking. Knowing this is my model should i go ahead and get a Sata II drive?

: Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2

Processor Name: Intel Core i7

Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 4

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 6 MB

Memory: 16 GB

Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B2A

SMC Version (system): 1.69f4

Serial Number (system): C2QGV00RDRWD

Hardware UUID: 86EB5A2E-A8C7-5D30-8106-5419B0D0ED13

Sudden Motion Sensor:

State: Enabled

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Yes, the model info is correct.

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The system Profiler services is not that useful here as it is showing what the System hardware thinks the drive can run at. So your Profiler output states the Link Speed is 6 Gb/s (SATA III) when the Optical drive carrier is unable to support this data rate due to a hardware limit within the MacBook Pro's systems hub controller chips logic.

Basically, the drive you got is not going to work in this system as it's a SATA III (6 Gb/s) drive where you need a SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) drive as the optical drive port in the system is not able to support the data rate the drive you have without encountering errors which is what you are seeing.

If you run the Profiler application a few times you might notice the Link Speed with jump every so often to 3 Gb/s (SATA II) which is a clue here.

Time to return your drive and get a FIXED SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) drive or one you can manually set to SATA I (1.5 Gb/s) or SATA II. Sorry ;-{

Update (01/06/2016)

Just be careful here! The HD crash guard protection is only on the HD SATA port not the optical drive SATA port so make sure you shut the system down before you move it.

Yes, you need a SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) drive for the optical carrier if that is what you want.

Frankly, we put in SSHD's replacing the HD's in this series system so we gain the speed of the SSD cache with the deep storage of a disk drive and forgo the dual drive config. We have started to just put in larger SSD drives (1 & 2 TB) in some of the systems with the folks who tend to kill the HD's. While still more expensive they do offer still more dependability than a spinning disk drive.

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One more update. I used this Hitachi Tool online to change the speed of the drive to 3.0gb/s . Everything works perfectly now!

http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/sata3to2....

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Good find! The write up is a bit off, but that's ok. The issue is the support logic on the logic board is not able sustain the burst. Which then creates a CRC error which is held in the drives RAM and then you have a CRC fight between the system and the drive at the higher data rate until the CRC agrees for the given data block and around it goes. This is all within the drives cache.

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Robert will be eternally grateful.
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