Hard drive not recognized - cable?

I had the same problem today. My MBP is only 4 months old and the HD cable needed to be replaced. Computer first froze about 3 weeks ago, and rebooting it did the trick. But, the freeze today was a hard freeze and the HD disappeared. Apple Store geniuses were able to identify the problem - HD cable - and replace it.

There is no doubt that this cable problem is a design fault with the Apple MacBook Pro. After using mine for 13 months the flashing ? mark appeared and I tried to find out what the problem was - couldn't locate the startup disc. So off to Apple in Toulouse - fixed it very quickly! Magic! However, 13 months later the same problem occurred! Off to Apple again - diagnosed the same as before. Another 75 Euros! Come on Apple - look at this it must be a deign fault? Please get it sorted!

I've been using Macs since 2006. I own a 13" MacBook Pro 2010, it worked like charm for like 2 1/2 years in a row without any issues whatsoever! I upgraded to a solid state drive (256GB) which increased the performance substantiall, a relief, that I won't need to think of a new computer for like next 3 years. After a year, all of a sudden, it failed to boot. I tried repairing disk permissions, repairing the disk and when I tried to format the hard drive, it was not getting formatted, I suspected it's a hard drive issue! For worst case scenarios, I had made a backup installation of OSX in my external hard drive which saved my life (Sigh!) So I decided to pop in the stock hard drive which did work but at a superbly low performance compared to my good old MacBook 13' 2006. The speeds were not more than 15MBPS (Read) and suddenly, the hard drive wasn't detected later on. I also tried to format the hard drive (SSD which was in my MacBook Pro 2010) using my MacBook 2006. It was formatted perfectly and I installed the OS. It worked perfectly in that MacBook, so I decided to pop the hard drive back to the MacBook Pro 2010, which didn't work! I rectified that it's the hard drive cable. The SSD is perfect and it's working perfectly on other Macs. Like I tried my hard drives on my MacBook 13" 2006 which worked perfectly, so I overnighted the hard drive cable, replaced it, and guess what! It stopped working after like, 3 weeks or so!? So frustrating, I thought that I got a defective cable, so I ordered another one, which I replaced it with the defective one and guess what!? It stopped working in jus 2 weeks! Like I read the post, MacBook Pro's logic board is acting weird which is frying up the cables so frequently! And the authorized service center says that it's an expensive replacement of the logic board for like Rs. 48000. (approx. $1000). So I think that like some folks discussing above, I am not the only one facing this problem, so we need to reconsider, maybe we have a defective batch of production line like someone said in the posts above? These symptoms are seen only in the 2010 versions of 13" MacBook Pros! 😠 This is too much! The malfunctioning of my MacBook Pro is becoming expensive in terms of my projects and academics. Hopefully a replacement program or something can save my life or I'll need to reconsider getting another MacBook Pro. I hope apple takes some actions.

Description :

13" MacBook Pro 2010

2.4GHz Core2Duo 4GB RAM

256GB SSD

OS X 10.8.3

Hard drive cable (Apple Part #: 922-9062, 821-0814-A) replaced twice.

i'm on my second failure of the hard drive cable on my 2009 mpb 13". the second cable lasted 12 months.

i like S.Armodin 's idea of putting the hdd in place of the dvdrw. but can't we also put a ssd in there?

i don't like the experience and the unreliability of the mbp dying unexpectedly.

hopefully apple will take some responsibility for this and offer some recompensation/recall.

any thoughts on switching over to a hd/ssd bay in place of the dvdrw?

Good luck on the recall; it'll never happen without some kind of class action suit.

I'll add my experience, with my 13" MacBook Pro from 2010. I just had the hard drive cable replaced for the 3rd time. First time was 1 year ago, that lasted until March when it failed again. That replacement only lasted 2 months. This time the Genius bar agreed to fix it without charge. Also this time the genius admitted to me that the fault lay with a weak cable, and said that Apple had upgraded it. No one was able to confirm to me that my lastest replacement was with the upgraded cable. We'll see.

Same issue here - MBP late 2011. Flashing question mark after 14 months of use...

Went to a "genius" bar in London - they had me buy a new hard drive. Which I did, but it's still time for me to return it. I was even told by the "genius": "we buy our components in Thailand - don't expect the highest quality"...

Does anyone have the exact description of the cable? It's a MBP 13" bought in December 2011.

I found a few ones on Amazon but this one sounds like the right one: 821-1226-A

Thanks for the support guys!

Nathan H wrote:

When I try to boot up my computer, I get a flashing folder with a question mark on it. However, when I move the hard drive to another computer and then boot up, there are no problems at all. Would I be correct in guessing that it's the hard drive cable at fault here? Has anyone had this problem, and if so, how did you fix it?

Nathan

I had exactly the same problem. Took me ages to solve the problem. Thought it was the HD initially. The SMART statis gave me a clue though as it reportes the HD as verified just before I lost complete connection (it was intermittent for a while at first). Luckily I have access to 3 MBP's - swapped the cable out from my son's MBP and mine works fine! His doesn't though.

Googling this - it seems quite a common issue. Has anyone managed to resource a HD cable and if so from where?

Best bet is to go to an apple store. I had the same issue and was originally planning to buy a part and install it myself since its really simple, but the parts went for over 50$ online (plus s+h) so I just brought it in the apple store. They only charged me a bit more than $20 for the part. I heard that some employees try to charge customers for labour but maybe mention that you knew people who only had to pay for the part and they might not charge you. Good luck!

I just wanted to add that I had a disk0s2: I/O error, but found that the hard drive was still working via external case, and that I was able to fix it by replacing the cable. I bought it from eBay for $18 as I needed it shipped to India (otherwise I would have just went to the store!). Hurray.

links:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2010+Hard +Drive+Cable/4304/1

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111009192268?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m149 7.l2649

http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Cable-Sensor-MacBook-Unibody/dp/B004VSZCL4

So what model is your macbook? Is it a mid 2012? Mines a mid-2012 13" macbook pro but I'm not sure if the hard drive cable 922-9062 will work for mine. 8( Anybody know?

kizzlebot

http://www.ifixit.com/MacBook-Parts/MacBook-Pro-13-Inch-Unibody-Model-A1278-Mid- 2012-Hard-Drive-Cable/IF163-041

Clinton

Mine is a mid 2010 13".

The cables appear different. You can check you laptop yourself.

mid 2010:

http://www.ifixit.com/MacBook-Parts/MacBook-Pro-13-Inch-Unibody-Model-A1278-Mid- 2009-Mid-2010-Hard-Drive-Cable/IF163-013

mid 2012:

http://www.ifixit.com/MacBook-Parts/MacBook-Pro-13-Inch-Unibody-Model-A1278-Mid- %202012-Hard-Drive-Cable/IF163-041

Anyone have this problem with a 13" Mid 2007? It seems to be either the hard drive cable or the logic board but haven't found much info for the mid 2007 models. The hard drive cable also looks more robust in this model which leads me to think that it might be the logic board.

http://www.ifixit.com/MacBook-Parts/MacBook-Hard-Drive-Cable/IF186-018

HD flexi-SATA cable is only $7

If thats all you need, thats great