Upgrade Hard Drive in 17" Unibody Macbook Pro

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Upgrade Hard Drive in 17" Unibody Macbook Pro

Hello,

I have the late 2011 unibody 17" macbook pro. I've been having an issue where when I close programs or even sometime on startup the computer locks up, sometimes a blue screen with flash for a moment. I can move the the mouse around but nothing is clickable and my batter icon disappears. I have been thinking that might be the hard drive that needs replacing. Do you all agree? Does anyone have a suggestion on brand or model of a hard drive? I have good luck with external western digitals and seagates.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 4gb ram, 2.2 ghz intel i7

Posted on Feb 1, 2013 1:46 PM

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Answer 1

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OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Feb 1, 2013 1:51 PM in response to bessera

Why don't you first open Disk Utility>First Aid and run Verify and Repair. That may actually solve your problem.

All brands of HDDs have there cheerleaders and detractors. I use Seagates, HGST, and Toshiba HDDs and all are still spinning.

Ciao.

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Answer 2

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Feb 1, 2013 1:57 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

Do a Repair Disk Permissions too. Many issues solved with that, especially if never done before.

Note that in order to be able to do a Repair Disk (which requires overwriting some critical guts of the drive), as a snowy cat user, you need to boot from your Install DVD and run the Disk Utility found there. The drive can't self-repair.

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Answer 3

bessera Author

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Feb 1, 2013 6:44 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

So I did the run verify perfmissions and disk permissions I did get an error that I uploaded as an image in they verify stage. I'll try this stuff out and see if it fixes my issue.

Thank you,

Ashley

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Answer 4

bessera Author

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Feb 1, 2013 8:27 PM in response to Courcoul

Nope just quit chrome and it locked up again. It also does this with firefox

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Answer 5

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Feb 2, 2013 1:33 AM in response to bessera

I am inclined to believe that you have an early 2011 MBP. Regardless, I would suggest a reinstall of the OS with a total erase of the HDD. Naturally have a backup of your user data.

Ciao.

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Answer 6

bessera Author

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Feb 2, 2013 12:15 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

Hmmm does the early 2011 mean something that I should know? Well I was just thinking about doing that so I guess that will be plan for the day.

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Answer 7

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Feb 2, 2013 12:34 PM in response to bessera

Not really, at least for the purpose of this discussion. The drive is right where it has always been for the sealed Unibodies of that size, give or take a screw or two (or, God-forbid, one of those accursed pentalobular "fasteners"!). A Good Point in favor of that model is that you can still install Snow Leopard, should you need. Newer models don't like aging p.u.s.s.i.e.s too much.

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Answer 8

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Feb 2, 2013 12:57 PM in response to Courcoul

Courcoul, saludos: Just for the record, ALL 2011 MBPs can have Snow Leopard installed. I have it on my late 2011 Tyrannosaurus REX.

Ciao.

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Answer 9

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Feb 2, 2013 1:00 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

Uh, sorry Mr. Museum Curator. Just in case the OP had sampled the Lions and was unsatisfied with the experience.

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Answer 10

bessera Author

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Feb 2, 2013 11:51 PM in response to Courcoul

So I backed everything up and put in my snow leopard disk and hit restart but it just sits on a blue screen. I reboot and held down alt and click on the disc as what I want to boot with and it just sits these frozen.

When I go into recovery it says I can install lion but doesn't that just over write my os? Can I do an erase and install with lion?

Or what should I do as far as reinstalling my OS X and not getting it to boot from the disk. Can I erase it with disc utility and then boot from the OS X disc?

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Answer 11

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Feb 3, 2013 4:25 AM in response to bessera

If you are using your original install disk for Snow Leopard (10.6), hold the C key when starting the MBP. See if that will start the installation sequence. When you see a menu bar on top of the display, click on UTILITIES. From the drop down menu select Disk Utility and proceed to repair the disk.

If you start the MBP holding the OPTION key, it should display two HDD icons. Select the one on the rightt, the RECOVERY icon. That should display a 4 option menu. One of the options is Disk Utility. Select that one and proceed to repair the disk.

Ciao.

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Answer 12

bessera Author

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Feb 4, 2013 9:57 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

I upgraded to lion. Then did a erase and install for lion. I figured I did all this I might as well upgrade to mountain lion. I did so and everything is running smoothly so far! It feels like I have a new computer. I even upgrade my adobe suite!

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Answer 13

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Feb 4, 2013 10:08 AM in response to bessera

Excellent! Best of luck.

Ciao.

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