Is hard drive my dead?!

RZetlin · Apr 19, 2009

About a week ago my hard drive overheated and my Macbook froze up.

Now my Mac OS does not start up.

I had the Macbook for a few years now.

When I run the Leopard Install CD->Disk Utilities, the Mac Hard drive is not displayed.

1) Is there anyway to get repair my hard drive?
2) Should I buy a new notebook hard drive and replace it myself?
3) Should I get the Apple repair to fix at it?

flopticalcube · Apr 19, 2009

1) Probably not
2) yes
3) no

angemon89 · Apr 19, 2009

Is your MacBook under Applecare or in the first year of warranty? If so, go to Apple.

If not, then #2

RZetlin · Apr 19, 2009

I bought my Macbook in 2007.

1) Am I still under warranty?

2) How much would the Apple Store charge me to repair it?

3) The current hard drive is Segate. What is a good recommendation for a notebook hard drive?

flopticalcube · Apr 19, 2009

If you didn't buy Apple's extended warranty, AppleCare, then you are no longer under warranty. Replacing a hard drive is fairly straightforward in a MacBook. I have had good experiences with Seagate, not so good ones with WD.

Analog Kid · Apr 19, 2009

I don't know if Maxtor still makes bare drives, but I've had horrendous experiences with their external drives.

Digital Skunk · Apr 19, 2009

Analog Kid said:
I don't know if Maxtor still makes bare drives, but I've had horrendous experiences with their external drives.

No, I think they were bought out by Western Digital as far as I know.

So far, it's:

Hitachi, Western Digital, Fujitsu, Seagate, and Samsung. In random order.

Mintin8 · Apr 19, 2009

Analog Kid said:
I don't know if Maxtor still makes bare drives, but I've had horrendous experiences with their external drives.

I don't really like Maxtor either. Go with seagate.

RZetlin · Apr 19, 2009

Which form factor do Macbooks use:

PATA or SATA?

flopticalcube · Apr 19, 2009

Digital Skunk · Apr 19, 2009

Mintin8 said:
I don't really like Maxtor either. Go with seagate.

Maxtor doesn't make drives anymore.

RZetlin said:
Which form factor do Macbooks use:

PATA or SATA?

SATA.

RZetlin · Apr 24, 2009

I don't trust Apple to repair my Macbook since I don't know which hard drive brand they going to use to replace it.

I have been thinking about getting my own replacement:

Western Digital Scorpio Black (WD3200BJKT)

Any known issues with this drive?

alphaod · Apr 24, 2009

Digital Skunk said:
Maxtor doesn't make drives anymore.

They do, but it's for their "solutions".

RZetlin said:
Western Digital Scorpio Black (WD3200BJKT)

Any known issues with this drive?

That's a good choice.

Scippy · Apr 24, 2009

This Seagate Momentus (ST9320421AS) is also a good hard drive, and it is $20 cheaper.

Digital Skunk · Apr 24, 2009

RZetlin said:
I don't trust Apple to repair my Macbook since I don't know which hard drive brand they going to use to replace it.

I have been thinking about getting my own replacement:

Western Digital Scorpio Black (WD3200BJKT)

Any known issues with this drive?

Apple will just put the stock drive with your machine inside. They would look up which model went in, and then replace it with that.

That's what they've done for me on the two occasions I had to get it replaced. If you are out of Apple Care, do it yourself and choose whichever drive you want. The one you have is a very good model.

alphaod said:
They do, but it's for their "solutions".

Thanks for that. I had a slight feeling they were still around, just not in full force.

alexuser · Apr 24, 2009

Some seagate HDs on older versions of MacBooks have been known to fail well before it expected lifespan. It may be possible that that has happened to you. As for investing in a new HD, they are relatively cheap, especially capacities less than 100, an 80GB HD could probably be picked up for around $30.

Good Luck

Chase R · Apr 25, 2009

What about an SSD? They have really come down in price and there performance has gone up a lot. If you have the money then I would give it a shot. I'll be installing one as soon as Snow Leopard is released.

Scarlet Fever · Apr 25, 2009

I own 3 WD drives, and none of them have put a foot wrong. They are all quick and quiet, exactly how I want them.

Chase R said:
What about an SSD? They have really come down in price and there performance has gone up a lot. If you have the money then I would give it a shot. I'll be installing one as soon as Snow Leopard is released.

They are still significantly more expensive per gig than normal HDDs. Most consumers are focusing on capacity rather than performance.

Chase R · Apr 25, 2009

Scarlet Fever said:
They are still significantly more expensive per gig than normal HDDs. Most consumers are focusing on capacity rather than performance.

Very true... however, they are more reliable than standard HDDs.

gr8tfly · Apr 25, 2009

RZetlin said:
I don't trust Apple to repair my Macbook since I don't know which hard drive brand they going to use to replace it.

I have been thinking about getting my own replacement:

Western Digital Scorpio Black (WD3200BJKT)

Any known issues with this drive?

You probably want the model w/o the drop sensor - WD3200BEKT. There is a conflict between the drive's sensor and the built-in SMS (Sudden Motion Sensor), causing kernel panics.

This might have been corrected in the UB models, as my 17" came with the "FFS" Fujitsu drive. But, since I hadn't read any reports one way or the other, I replaced it (just last night) with the -BEKT (no drop sensor) model. It's moot when installed in a MacBook, anyway.

btw: The WD drive is virtually silent, especially when compared with the 5400 RPM Fujitsu the UB shipped with. It [the Fujitsu] wasn't "loud", but did have very noticeable head seeking sounds. Spindle noise levels are about the same - which says a lot for the WD spinning at 7200 vs 5400 RPM.

(note: The retail box WD3200KTRTL contains the BEKT drive)

ppc750fx · Apr 26, 2009

Chase R said:
Very true... however, they are more reliable than standard HDDs.

Yes, just as long as you avoid RiDATA and Trascend.

And avoid the drives with JMicron controllers (since their performance is horrid.)

And I'd only really say the SLC drives are more reliable -- MLC ones don't have that great of an MTBF...

unixfool · Apr 26, 2009

Digital Skunk said:
Maxtor doesn't make drives anymore.

Funny...they still have a website. Why? They merged with Seagate in 2006. Seagate must be leveraging the Maxtor name. The webiste has several external HDD solutions, but no internal drive solutions. I'm pretty sure that if you cracked open one of their external HDD cases, you'd find a Seagate drive inside.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxtor

RZetlin · Apr 26, 2009

gr8tfly said:
You probably want the model w/o the drop sensor - WD3200BEKT. There is a conflict between the drive's sensor and the built-in SMS (Sudden Motion Sensor), causing kernel panics.

This might have been corrected in the UB models, as my 17" came with the "FFS" Fujitsu drive. But, since I hadn't read any reports one way or the other, I replaced it (just last night) with the -BEKT (no drop sensor) model. It's moot when installed in a MacBook, anyway.

btw: The WD drive is virtually silent, especially when compared with the 5400 RPM Fujitsu the UB shipped with. It [the Fujitsu] wasn't "loud", but did have very noticeable head seeking sounds. Spindle noise levels are about the same - which says a lot for the WD spinning at 7200 vs 5400 RPM.

(note: The retail box WD3200KTRTL contains the BEKT drive)

That's strange, the Seagate Hard Drive (Momentus 5400.3) that is in my Macbook now, has a built in-sensor and that doesn't interfere with my Macbook.

Isn't the motion sensor on the Hard Drive not on the Mac OS itself?

gr8tfly · Apr 26, 2009

RZetlin said:
That's strange, the Seagate Hard Drive (Momentus 5400.3) that is in my Macbook now, has a built in-sensor and that doesn't interfere with my Macbook.

Isn't the motion sensor on the Hard Drive not on the Mac OS itself?

It can be both, but there are sensors in the MB & MBPs http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1935

It might have been one particular firmware version or an issue with how the WD reports its sensor. (In other words, unique to WD drives with drop sensors)

RZetlin · Apr 27, 2009

gr8tfly said:
It can be both, but there are sensors in the MB & MBPs http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1935

It might have been one particular firmware version or an issue with how the WD reports its sensor. (In other words, unique to WD drives with drop sensors)

From what I read the Sudden Motion Sensor can be disabled.

Is it a good idea to buy a WD hard drive with motion sensor and then disable the Sudden Motion Sensor?

Is hard drive my dead?!

macrumors regular

macrumors G4

macrumors 68000

macrumors regular

macrumors G4

macrumors G3

macrumors G3

macrumors 6502a

macrumors regular

macrumors G4

macrumors G3

macrumors regular

macrumors Core

macrumors regular

macrumors G3

macrumors newbie

macrumors 65816

macrumors 68040

macrumors 65816

macrumors 603

macrumors 65816

macrumors 6502a

macrumors regular

macrumors 603

macrumors regular

Our Staff