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McMenace

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 15, 2008
12
0
Hi

I've got a 2gb MacBook Black, which is about 2.5-3 years old.

Last year (about October I think) I had the hard drive fail, at which point I got the IT guy in work to replace it with a spare from a similar machine. The new drive has just failed - it makes tick-tick noises when you try to boot up, and the ?-folder icon appears on the screen. The new drive is dated 2008, so it's not like it got an old wreck.

Could I have another problem that's killing hard drives? The only non-standard thing in the machine is a memory upgrade from crucial.com. Are there any common user behaviours which would increase the risk of hard drive failures. The machine is left at home most days, and is always carried around in a padded sleeve/case.

The machine mostly gets used for internet browsing, with a bit of iTunes and photo organising, but nothing particularly heavy.

It's a Hitachi hard drive that was in it - I've ordered a Seagate as a replacement. If it dies I'll get a new machine, but I'm hoping I won't have to.
 
Could just be bad luck. The only precaution I can come up with are to avoid too high temperatures (which shouldn't be a problem with your usage) and and to avoid moving it while it is turned on (better to put it to sleep).
Also keep a good backup just in case...
 
Sometimes hard drives fail. Even new ones. I doubt there is a problem that is causing your drives to die. I wouldn't worry about it, statistically speaking you shouldn't be due for another fail for a least a couple of years...;)

Oh and back up your data...
 
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