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Alu MB HD failure, need opinions

M

mcrisanti

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 1, 2008
9
0
Looking for opinions here. The hard drive on my 2.4 Ghz Al MB failed yesterday after a whopping 2 weeks. Long story short, they're sending me a new drive to replace myself.

But that got me thinking....

Now that I have to replace the hard drive anyway, is it a good idea to spring the $100 and get a larger (400 or 500 GB) drive or a faster (7200 rpm) one? Any brands to avoid?

Thanks!

P.S. this was my 3rd call to Apple after 2 weeks. I had my bluetooth flake out on me once and the computer was originally shipped to me with a CD-ROM Test disc from the factory still stuck in the optical drive. This computer is starting to make me wonder about the quality levels.
 
Ah, nevermind

In reading some of the threads out here, there seems to be no shortage of hard drive advice. I'll browse some of that and draw some conclusions.

Thanks!
 
mcrisanti said:
Looking for opinions here. The hard drive on my 2.4 Ghz Al MB failed yesterday after a whopping 2 weeks. Long story short, they're sending me a new drive to replace myself.

But that got me thinking....

Now that I have to replace the hard drive anyway, is it a good idea to spring the $100 and get a larger (400 or 500 GB) drive or a faster (7200 rpm) one? Any brands to avoid?

Thanks!

P.S. this was my 3rd call to Apple after 2 weeks. I had my bluetooth flake out on me once and the computer was originally shipped to me with a CD-ROM Test disc from the factory still stuck in the optical drive. This computer is starting to make me wonder about the quality levels.
Click to expand...

Do you still have the test disc?!? What exactly does it do?? :D

Wow.. if it's only two weeks you could've probably gotten the whole laptop replaced - however if you didn't have other issues with it, I wouldn't have taken that chance.

I don't think quality control had anything to do with the HDD... A lot of different things could've happened in two weeks.

If you use more than 2 thirds of the 250GB that they're sending you, then yes you might want to spring for that larger HDD.. but if not, I wouldn't worry about it right now, unless you just want to spend $100 :p
 
VSMacOne said:
Do you still have the test disc?!? What exactly does it do?? :D

Wow.. if it's only two weeks you could've probably gotten the whole laptop replaced - however if you didn't have other issues with it, I wouldn't have taken that chance.

I don't think quality control had anything to do with the HDD... A lot of different things could've happened in two weeks.

If you use more than 2 thirds of the 250GB that they're sending you, then yes you might want to spring for that larger HDD.. but if not, I wouldn't worry about it right now, unless you just want to spend $100 :p
Click to expand...


Ha ha, yes I still have the disc. I must say it was freaky when I pulled out a brand new laptop and it spits out a disc. The disc had scratches and fingerprints all over it, so I would imagine a good CSI on TV could track it to a factory worker. LOL. The phone support guys were fascinated by this and everyone wanted to see the actual disc.

BTW, the phone support has been great and the problem seems isolated to the drive. Hence, I didn't really want to replace the whole machine just yet.

Great advice on the drive. I'll likely wait. I literally just got this machine, I have a second MB in the house (my wife's) and I have a 750 GB external drive to handle my music, etc.

I could see the argument for a 7200 RPM drive, but I can always do that. Heck, if I wait a year or two, I'll have my choice of a 512 GB SSD or a 750 GB 7200 drive. It always gets cheaper....:)
 
mcrisanti said:
Ha ha, yes I still have the disc. I must say it was freaky when I pulled out a brand new laptop and it spits out a disc. The disc had scratches and fingerprints all over it, so I would imagine a good CSI on TV could track it to a factory worker. LOL. The phone support guys were fascinated by this and everyone wanted to see the actual disc.

BTW, the phone support has been great and the problem seems isolated to the drive. Hence, I didn't really want to replace the whole machine just yet.

Great advice on the drive. I'll likely wait. I literally just got this machine, I have a second MB in the house (my wife's) and I have a 750 GB external drive to handle my music, etc.

I could see the argument for a 7200 RPM drive, but I can always do that. Heck, if I wait a year or two, I'll have my choice of a 512 GB SSD or a 750 GB 7200 drive. It always gets cheaper....:)
Click to expand...

Dude, that disk is a KEEPER!! :D I would get a nice case for it and frame it up LOL... :D What kind of software is there on the CD? This would be a cool look into how they test these machines... More details would be appreciated :cool:

Yeah you're right, everything gets cheaper.. My next addition will be more RAM, but i'm giving it a little more time ;)
 
VSMacOne said:
Dude, that disk is a KEEPER!! :D I would get a nice case for it and frame it up LOL... :D What kind of software is there on the CD? This would be a cool look into how they test these machines... More details would be appreciated :cool:

Yeah you're right, everything gets cheaper.. My next addition will be more RAM, but i'm giving it a little more time ;)
Click to expand...

I haven't tried to see what is on the disc. I will once I get the MB up and running again. I'll report back. Maybe I send the disc to Jobs and let him know one of his factory workers sent it to me. :D

I'll put more RAM in next year. I just upgraded my wife's '07 MB with 4GB for $34. What continues to blow me away about the Mac OS is that it just never bogs down. I grew up on a Mac Plus (88-92) and just returned from Windows hell last year. Windows machines just get slower and slower. My wife's machine, after 18 months, is still every bit as fast as the day we got it. The lifespan of a Mac is at least double that of a Windows machine simply because of the OS. Not sure people ever really understand this.
 
Who was the manufacturer on the hard drive?

I've got the same mb, just wondering if i need more back up than I have...
 
California said:
Who was the manufacturer on the hard drive?

I've got the same mb, just wondering if i need more back up than I have...
Click to expand...

Fujitsu. My guess is this is pretty random. As long as you back up consistently with Time Machine, replacing a HD and restoring is pretty painless...compared to a Windows box. Then it just plain sucks.
 
mcrisanti said:
Fujitsu. My guess is this is pretty random. As long as you back up consistently with Time Machine, replacing a HD and restoring is pretty painless...compared to a Windows box. Then it just plain sucks.
Click to expand...

I almost wanted to guess Fujistu. Hate those drives and I have one, too, in my new MacBook.

I'm waiting for the 500gb seagate 7200.00 laptop drive to upgrade.
 
I bought a 320GB 7200RPM today, and it was vibrating way too much.

I'm going to return it for a 400GB 5400RPM for $2 cheaper ;)

I don't need that extra little speed, I need storage WITHOUT the vibration.
 
acfusion29 said:
I bought a 320GB 7200RPM today, and it was vibrating way too much.

I'm going to return it for a 400GB 5400RPM for $2 cheaper ;)

I don't need that extra little speed, I need storage WITHOUT the vibration.
Click to expand...

My 7200RPM drive never vibrated? I personally switched out to a SSD because I want performance over storage space... since I only use 30 GB of the OSX Partition even with my files on it.
 
acfusion29 said:
Thats exactly the one I put in. My entire bottom case was vibrating...:confused:
Click to expand...

I've noticed that different Unibody MB/MBP are displaying this problem with either vibration or noise related to the HDD. the Toshiba HDD I have is making a constant whirl noise, so I'm wondering if some of the mounting brackets are just not as tight as others???
It seems like higher RPM HDDs will make some of the the laptops vibrate but not others... Just an idea. I can't think of another reason why different people are getting different results from some of the same HDDs.
 
cogsinister said:
My drive is a Fujitsu, why do you hate them ?
Click to expand...

Because they suck. Also because when I was going through my "which iBook" and "which Powerbook" phase for about two years when I owned every single configuration of those laptops 'cept for the 17", I noticed that the Fujistus were always slower drives and always failed. They also would ship iBooks with Fujistus with a lowly 2mb cache while the Toshibas or Hitachis always had a faster 8mb cache. I would sometimes return the 'books with Fujistus just because they were Fujistus.

Got one now. Got to make sure i back up before buying the Seagate.
 
If you've got so many problems in few weeks just be honest and call Apple and that you are not happy for their product and other services which has failed. Usually in those cases they can send you a iPod or something, I called to Acer after my HD died within a week after I bought it and they send me a whole new computer and the old one back of course. They said that there was a mistake made in factory and thats why it died so soon.
 
California said:
Because they suck. Also because when I was going through my "which iBook" and "which Powerbook" phase for about two years when I owned every single configuration of those laptops 'cept for the 17", I noticed that the Fujistus were always slower drives and always failed. They also would ship iBooks with Fujistus with a lowly 2mb cache while the Toshibas or Hitachis always had a faster 8mb cache. I would sometimes return the 'books with Fujistus just because they were Fujistus.

Got one now. Got to make sure i back up before buying the Seagate.
Click to expand...

The FUJITSU MHZ2250BH has an 8mb cache....
 
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