Are these symptoms of hard drive failure?

If you are unable to repair the disk from the recovery partition then you will need to try an erase and reinstall. When you try this it will reformat the HD. If you are still having startup issues after trying this I would say that the HD would need to be repaired/replaced. Be warned that if you don't have a backup your data will be lost. If you need to recover any data before you try this step there are data recovery experts probably in your area. Best of luck to you!

OS X Mavericks: Erase and reinstall OS X

Restart the MBP holding the Command and Option and R keys (you need a good internet connection) and you will boot from the Apple servers. Then go to Utilities on the menu bar, Disk Utility and choose the internal hard drive and then Repair disk. See what that says. If that says the disk is bad, take it to an Apple store genius bar and have it tested and decide on a new hard drive after that.

I would recommend taking it to an Apple store genius bar, have the techs test it (that part is free) and if the hard drive is not operable you can make the decision on replacement after they give you a cost estimate. To echo what Kappy said, with the 2012 MBP the hard drive is not considered user serviceable...so if you do it yourself and damage anything, Apple will not touch it. You have to make that decision for yourself.

If the hard drive is bad, replacement should restore the system to operation.

Yes, we know that it's an issue with the start up disk itself. If he is able to see the disk and attempt repair from the recovery partition then he will be able to attempt erasing said disk, formatting it, and then reinstalling OS. Now, if there is an issue trying those 3 steps then his only option would to have it replaced. But why not at least try?

Basically what I'm saying is we won't know for sure if the HD isn't functioning if he doesn't at least try an Erase and Reinstall.

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You restart holding the Command and R keys so you are booted from the recovery drive, go to Utilities on the menu bar, Disk Utility, highlight the internal hard drive, choose Erase. Quit Disk Utility, choose Install Mac OS X. If all of that is successful, go to the apple left side of the menu bar, Restart.

Go ahead and do the Mac OS X install and see if it remains useable...you really don't have much to lose if it does work. But, based on the experience you have had it would be EXTREMELY good to get an external hard drive if you do not have one and backup the entire contents of your internal drive. If it does fail, and fails catastrophically, you will lose everything. The drive has been unstable to the point that you should be protecting your information.

Just be aware that once you open your computer you forfeit any future support from Apple including out-of-warranty repairs.

Most likely yes, but before doing that I would at least try the erase and reinstall.

Mike41880 wrote:

Most likely yes, but before doing that I would at least try the erase and reinstall.

If a hard drive is not functioning, erase and install is not going to be possible.