When I first got my 2010 MacBook Pro, I constantly heard this clicking noise whenever I’m using my MBP in bed or when it’s on my lap. I found out that it was the feature of the MacBook Pro called “Sudden Motion Sensor” – it is designed and patented by Apple as a data protection system to protect the notebook’s hard drive in the event that the device has been dropped or very strong vibrations.
I found this feature quite annoying however and almost unsettling so I searched for ways to disable it. Please note that the Sudden Motion Sensor feature is useless for me as I’ve replaced the original internal hard drive with a Solid state drive which has no moving parts.
Disable the Sudden Motion Sensor on a Mac
- Launch Terminal
- Type the following at the command line: sudo pmset -a sms 0
- Enter your Password
- Hit Enter
Congratulations, you’re Done!!! Easy right?
If for whatever reason you decide to return to using a mechanical hard drive, you can enable this feature again.
Enable the Sudden Motion Sensor on a Mac
- Launch Terminal
- Type the following at the command line: sudo pmset -a sms 1
- Enter your Password
- Hit Enter
To verify that SMS is On or Off
- Launch Terminal
- Type the following at the command line: sudo pmset -g
- Enter your Password
- Hit Enter
As you can see on the screenshot, sms has a value of “0” which means it’s OFF, “1” would mean the SMS feature is ON.
Hope that helps
