Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

A gruesome murder-suicide: Hard drive ate my data and choked on it. Need help choosi

J

jemlunchbox

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 9, 2009
4
0
It seems as if the hard drive from my June 2006 Macbook model has died, and I'm dumb and didn't have much of my stuff backed up on there. I can't afford to take my computer into the specialists, so I'm planning on being bold and replacing the hard drive myself. I hope this is as easy as people make it seem on the internet? Eeek. I'm going to order a replacement hard drive online and I was wondering if this will work in my 2006 Macbook version:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136197&cm_re=Western_Digital_Scorpio_Blue_320GB-_-22-136-197-_-Product

Any other affordable hard drives I should consider?

Also, I'd like to see if I can retrieve any of my old files off of my crashed hard drive. I heard that I can buy a case or something that I can put it in and hook it up to a computer by usb. Can anyone tell me about that or recommend a purchase? Also, any other ideas for retrieving the files?

Thanks so much for your help! I'm just a poor gal who wants to fix her computer but has no clue what she should be doing or buying. I appreciate any advice you have for me!
 
I would definitely look at a brand other then western digital unless you want to be ordering yet another harddrive.

Seagate or Hitatchi or Samsung. Those are the three to stick with at the moment.
 
chrono1081 said:
I would definitely look at a brand other then western digital unless you want to be ordering yet another harddrive.

Seagate or Hitatchi or Samsung. Those are the three to stick with at the moment.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind my asking, why not WD? I purchased this exact drive back in June and I'm wondering if I should get rid of it...
 
This is a simple install. Have faith in yourself!

Remove battery. Loosen the three screws on the RAM shield, they don't come out so when they're loose just pull the ram shield free. (Make sure you use a tiny phillips head screwdriver so you don't strip the screws... a jeweler's "tweaker" screwdriver set for $5 is a very worthwhile purchase). Pull the tab you see sticking out to the left of the RAM slots, that's your hard drive. Gently.

Grab an allen wrench, or preferably a T8 jeweler's screw driver to remove the caddy screws. Take all four off, transfer the hard drive sled to your new hard drive, and screw in the 4 T8 screws. Turn the new hard drive face down so that the tab is on top and facing out of the hard drive slot, and push it in slowly, until you feel the SATA connections on the hard drive and in the hard drive slot connect.

Close up the RAM shield. Install Mac OS X. Have a few beers and congratulate yourself for kicking that hard drive problem in the butt. And then configure Time Machine so you don't lose all your data again. :p
 
Everyone has a horror story for a hard drive brand. I have had Western Digitals fail on me, a Seagate fail, and I currently have a Hitachi that won't seem to stay mounted on either Mac or Windows. It's never really a sure thing with any brand, so you just gotta jump in and hope for the best.

For the record, I currently have multiple Western Digital MyBooks and haven't had any problems with them, so WD is my current manufacturer of choice. :cool:
 
I agree, just buy whatever is cheapest

The one you linked to is fine.

If you want a touch more speed you could look at the WD Black series as well.

You should think about backup... =)
 
Horror stories can usually be prevent with ......... backups!

So buy an internal and an external drive. Unless your data is worthless, but I can't imagine that. Drives are cheap.
Also you can buy a usb to PATA/SATA for about $25 to attempt to retrieve data.
 
Thanks for all your help everyone! I really appreciate it. I ended up ordering the hard drive that I linked to since I was afraid of what a faster speed might do to the battery. Also ordered this since it was only $2.50 once I added it to my cart! I thought it couldn't hurt to try to get my files off the old hard drive with it. I can't wait to use my own computer again!
 
jemlunchbox said:
Thanks for all your help everyone! I really appreciate it. I ended up ordering the hard drive that I linked to since I was afraid of what a faster speed might do to the battery. Also ordered this since it was only $2.50 once I added it to my cart! I thought it couldn't hurt to try to get my files off the old hard drive with it. I can't wait to use my own computer again!
Click to expand...

Best of luck. I know you'll enjoy the extra space, I definitely did.

You got that enclosure for $2.50? Nice grab, it's now back up to $10.50.

Seth
 
Actually, it did say the $10.50 price on the page when I was there, but once I added it to my cart it provided me with a new bundled price for both things! Yay! $61 for everything. My bank account is happy.
 
newappleboy said:
Everyone has a horror story for a hard drive brand.
Click to expand...

Exactly - I'd buy another WD without a doubt because I haven't had a single problem with their drives, whereas I have with Seagate, while obviously there are others in the opposite situation.

Same rule applies everywhere, just back up your important data regardless. OP's drive is sitting in my PS3 at the moment working wonderfully.
 
Thanks for all of your help! I replaced the hard drive myself and feel very accomplished and happy to have 300 gb free.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back