I thought nothing could ever happen to my macbook :-/

[coday182]

Hey guys. Been a member here a long time since before I had my first mac. Now I'm on my 3rd and for the first time I'm getting the same frustration I got when I was on windows computers. (Well I guess it's more depression now, because I'm attached to my macbook and it's a part of me that I can't stand to be sick lol).

But anyways I hope I get some help here. I've gotten good help before, but other times I've had threads go unreplied even after a bump or two...

My macbook was purchased Fall of 2007. It was one of the first rounds of Santa Rosa macbooks. It's got a 2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo processor and also has 2.5 gb ram (originally had 2x512, but a friend gave me a 2gb stick he didn't need so it's now 1x2gb and 1x512mb).

So I'll be straight up... I'm a working DJ/producer/remixer. Not big time, but I definately keep busy doing it on top of school. My old 120 gb hd wasn't cutting it with a 90 gb itunes library and 30 gb sample library, so last fall I got a 500gb external hd, velcroed it to the top of the laptop and for about 5 or 6 months it worked great just like a 2nd bay. But obviously they arent built for tha abuse and it failed me so about a month ago I got a 500gb internal HD. I can't remember the model #, but it was a Seagate and when I was taking out the factory HDD, I made note that it was actually the same model as the new 500gb just a different size. So I got everything installed on the new one and things were going great till about a week later...


THese are the problems I've had and I don't know if they are related or not, and I don't know if they are software or hardware issues either. So it all started one night when the hard drive (I'm assuming, anyways because it sounded like it was coming from that part) began making a very loud clicking noise, and it was also noticeable by touch. When this happened, everythign on my computer froze. I could move the cursor, but the dock, apps, toolbar, etc. were all frozen completely. So I restarted it and it was ok. A week or so later it happens again, only this time while I'm in Safari. I restart it again and now Safari doesn't work (and still 3 weeks later it doesn't). When I open safari it doesn't get past the initial blank white page before freezing. So nowadays, the same clicking and freezing are happening, but are slightly increasing day by day in frequency. Also it's running noticabley slower. I may be wrong on this next part, but I'm thinking that the slower times are all related to apps that have to pull a lot of data from the HDD in a short amount of time, for example when I used to run ableton I could have 3 or 4 tracks running with no FX and maybe be using up 4-5% CPU, but now with one or two tracks I'm getting 7-8%, and with a few FX I can't even play midi instruments in it anymore because the lag is so bad. But ableton has to pull all of the audio material off the HDD, so maybe if there was a problem with the hard drive then that would cause the CPU drainage?


Any input, tips, people having similar problems would be greatly appreciated. I know my posts are always long but I like to be thorough because I want you guys to have the right info to give me the best advice.

ANd here's what I've tried with no success: Disk repair in Directory Disk Utility, Disk Repair in DiskWarrior, Resetting the PRAM and the the other kind of ram you reset but I forget what it's called lol. (taking the battery out and disconnecting power, then holding power button). Doing these steps seemed to make a difference but only for a day or so.

[g8minhquan]

I think you should try replacing your hard disk
Hope that all your samples and songs are still recoverable

[waremaster]

After reading your post I agree with the previous poster that you should replace the drive.

[BeauGiles]

Yup it's the hard drive - it's about to die
Backup all data ASAP, and then look into replacing your drive.

[coday182]

I have Time Machine working with a 1.5 TB Firewire Drive so I'm safe. But how do you explain the problem with Safari?