Hard drive Crash? Symptoms and solution?

Question

Hard drive Crash? Symptoms and solution?

Help I am a Apple challenged PC mom who's daughter has a circa 2007 Mac Book. Yesterday, computer went gray screen. Used restore discs but no matter how long I waited I could not get any destination volume to appear. I went to disc utilities and tried verify disc and repair disc and got an error message. I took hard drive out and put it back in the off chance it came loose. Nothing.

When it is searching for disc there is a noisy clicking sound at time. After reading all the boards it seems that the hard drive is gone. My concern is not so much what she lost on there but I have NO money and need to figure out what I need and the cheapest but best way to do it. I found several instructional videos on youtube on how to replace the hard drive and know where to get one at a reasonable price but I would really like your advice on whether you concur that this is probably the problem and any helpful hints on replacing the hard drive because cluelessapplemom here is going to have to do it herself.

Thank you in advance. I have an hysterical 14 year old girl who is driving me crazy!

Macbook 13" circa 2007, Mac OS X (10.0.x)

Posted on Mar 22, 2009 7:20 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Len D

Level 4

1,004 points

Mar 22, 2009 8:46 AM in response to cluelessapplemom

Yes, it does sounds like the drive has crashed. Since you already know how to take the drive out and put it back in, it sounds like you're all set. You can get a replacement drive for as cheap as $55-60 at newegg.com.

Once you fit the new drive in, you'll boot from the restore disc, and use disk utility to format the drive as Journaled HFS+ using the GUID partition scheme. Then the installation of the OS will proceed.

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Answer 2

swisswiz

Level 1

55 points

Mar 22, 2009 9:11 AM in response to cluelessapplemom

Is the Macbook possibly under warranty or do you have an Applecare plan?

https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do

I strongly suggest getting the Applcare plan if possible, call apple before to make sure you can still get one for the Macbook.

I had roughly the same problem with my Macbook and unfortunately it wasn't the problem of the hard drive, but rather the logic board connection was bad causing the Hard drive to short out after multiple replacements of the hard drive. Luckily I had the Applecare plan and after several failed replacements of the hard drive they gave me a brand new Macbook.

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Answer 3

Mar 22, 2009 12:28 PM in response to swisswiz

Thank you so much for your help. I should have clarified that it is out of warranty and I don't have applecare. Wish I did!

I am afraid that is more than the hard drive too but I don't know what else to do but start from there.

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Answer 4

swisswiz

Level 1

55 points

Mar 22, 2009 12:41 PM in response to cluelessapplemom

Bring it into an Apple store. Ask them for help, they might tell you what the problem is. Make sure to ask them how much they charge before they repair it, they usually do, but just make sure. Sometimes Apple is very kind and will repair something without charge, even if it's out of warranty.

If it is the logic board, then it might be worth it to get a new or refurbished computer.

If it is just the hard drive then it shouldn't cost too much to replace, but don't do it through apple. They will overcharge for a replacement hard drive.

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Answer 5

Mar 22, 2009 1:00 PM in response to cluelessapplemom

The hard drive on my macbook died in february after only 18 months. Since then, 3 of my close friends have had the same thing happen, where their machines were just 2 years old. They are clearly not made to last. I wonder if Apple is happy with this situation? We believe we are buying quality equipment and we are not plus it's expensive. I hope Apple will reply to this thread. They say the failure rate is only 1-2%. I don't believe it.

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Answer 6

swisswiz

Level 1

55 points

Mar 22, 2009 1:10 PM in response to givemepeace

Yah the Macbooks have a serious logic board issue. I had to have mine replaced numerous times as well as getting a replacement, knock on wood this one lasts longer.

I feel Apple keeps reusing the problematic logic board over and over again for new Macbooks, probably the new aluminum ones have the same issue. I've heard almost no problems with the Macbook pros.

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Answer 7

Mar 23, 2009 4:44 AM in response to swisswiz

Out of the 4 machines that I mentioned failed, 2 of them were macpros.

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Answer 8

Mar 23, 2009 8:06 AM in response to cluelessapplemom

That definitely sounds like the hard drive. I recently had the same problem with my macbook, and mac fixed it for free. Mine is a bit older, so its possible yours won't be, but many macbooks were fitted with hard drives that mac must unofficially consider faulty. Take it to a mac store first, ask them if its the hard drive (this should probably be free). If it is, ask them how much it would be to replace it. At this point, its not uncommon for them to tell you they will do it free of charge if its a hard drive they unofficially think is faulty. If not, you should definitely try to do it yourself-its a matter of getting one online and popping it in.

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