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AppleCare and Wrong Hard Drive Replacement: RESOLVED

fleshman03

fleshman03

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 27, 2008
1,852
3
Sioux City, IA
So I've got a question for you all.

My Girl Friend's MacBook's hard drive recently decided to die. (I'm guessing the CPU made the decision and the hard drive just stored it.)

I had bought the laptop off Craig's List from a local seller. It had:
2GhZ
2GB RAM
250GB/5200RPM HD
AppleCare till 10/2009

So when the hard drive failed, I took the computer to the friendly, local AppleStore.

I asked the Genius to check the Hard Drive and make sure it was an Apple Branded Hard Drive and that it would be replaced with the like. He took it out, checked it and everything seemed fine. He did say that it wouldn't come back with Leopard. (I had upgraded it and it wasn't a big deal to do it again.)

Well today I picked up the laptop. They replaced the casing, optical drive, optical cable and LCD. (Seriously. It's much brighter and no more weak hinges!!!)

One problem. We got back an 80GB/5400RPM drive w/ Leopard. I want my 170GB back!

I checked what the early 06 MacBooks came with. Stock was the 80GB/5400RPM drives and it was only upgradeable at the time to 120GB/5400RPM.

So what are my options here? The tech knows it was a 250GB Apple Branded drive. Is it possible Apple made a mistake and will ship me a 250GB drive / the tech will put one in?

I'm going to call Apple Care tomorrow and the store.
 
Wow! Never thought about this scenario. The MacBook AppleCare Warranty is for the First Gen that came standard with a 60GB (White) or 80GB (Black). An aftermarket 250GB was installed by the original owner and now you are the second owner with a transfered warranty. The 250GB dead drive is probably under warranty as well but not by Apple. Seems that Apple did correctly by putting in the 80GB that they warranted. You really should have tried the manufacturer on the 250GB drive instead of Apple.

See what happens when you call but I doubt you have recourse. See if you can at least get the drive back...I doubt it though. I wonder if the seller bought an Aluminum 2.4, upgraded the standard 250 with a bigger drive (perhaps a 320 or 500 that might have been in the polycarbonate MB) and put the 250GB into yours to sell.

Post back with the results.
 
I don't think there is an "Apple brand hard drive." Apple just uses whatever OEM they get a contract from at the time.

The 250GB must not have been an Apple installed unit, or if it was, the previous owner had an Apple store do it sometime after the computer was released due to its being larger than was available at the time for that model.
 
If apple did put in the 250GB HDD, does the applecare for the machine still cover it? cause if apple put it in, and it is apple "branded" than who else can cover it but apple?
 
The Genius should've known that the HDD was not from Apple and therefore notify that the customer might not get the HDD back. If Apple did perform the upgrade, it should be noted in iLog and Apple should cover it.
 
iLog.Genius said:
The Genius should've known that the HDD was not from Apple and therefore notify that the customer might not get the HDD back. If Apple did perform the upgrade, it should be noted in iLog and Apple should cover it.
Click to expand...

Hmm, that makes sense. And good on apple if they do correct their mistake...I take it iLog is apple's log of every repair?
 
just try taking the harddrive back and not the computer >_> maybe he won't notice that you can't get that big of a harddrive.

Or just take it back. with everything. If they say no just ask for your old harddrive back. Odds are they won't be able supply it/its already sent back to apple and fixed/its thrown away, which means they will have to give you a knew one.
 
GfulDedFan said:
Wow! Never thought about this scenario. The MacBook AppleCare Warranty is for the First Gen that came standard with a 60GB (White) or 80GB (Black). An aftermarket 250GB was installed by the original owner and now you are the second owner with a transfered warranty. The 250GB dead drive is probably under warranty as well but not by Apple. Seems that Apple did correctly by putting in the 80GB that they warranted. You really should have tried the manufacturer on the 250GB drive instead of Apple.

See what happens when you call but I doubt you have recourse. See if you can at least get the drive back...I doubt it though. I wonder if the seller bought an Aluminum 2.4, upgraded the standard 250 with a bigger drive (perhaps a 320 or 500 that might have been in the polycarbonate MB) and put the 250GB into yours to sell.

Post back with the results.
Click to expand...

I'll post back tomorrow afternoon and let everyone know. I know this is a unique situation and I'd love to contribute to the knowledge base of MacRumors!

I made the dumb mistake of not taking a screenshot of the "About This Mac" section before handing it over. Should have done that to prove the size.

If this doesn't work out and she is stuck with the 80Gb drive, I'm going to upgrade to the 500GB/7200RPM and put my 250GB/5400RPM in the MacBook. Similar to what you were saying earlier.

The only problem for her is that I don't plan on doing that till late August...

Richard1028 said:
What's the mystery here? Why should Apple replace a third party drive?
Click to expand...

NewMacbookPlz said:
I don't think there is an "Apple brand hard drive." Apple just uses whatever OEM they get a contract from at the time.

The 250GB must not have been an Apple installed unit, or if it was, the previous owner had an Apple store do it sometime after the computer was released due to its being larger than was available at the time for that model.
Click to expand...

iLog.Genius said:
The Genius should've known that the HDD was not from Apple and therefore notify that the customer might not get the HDD back. If Apple did perform the upgrade, it should be noted in iLog and Apple should cover it.
Click to expand...

I had the tech pull it out of the MacBook because I was worried about this. I didn't think 250GB drives came in MacBooks of that age-old vintage. Apprantly I was right.

He pulled it out and showed me the drive. It had an Apple Logo on it. That makes me think it was an OEM part. Likely pulled from a newer laptop or upgraded at the Apple store. (I'm thinking the latter since he didn't seem very techno-savvy.

I'm not sure of the manufacturer, but this is the best looking match. See the Apple Logo?

hdaapto80.jpg


I wonder if they can find out the serial number of the old drive and if that would still be covered....

I know the tech scanned something... I just can't recall if it was the serial number on the MacBook or Hard Drive. Could be both...
 
Update:
Call AppleCare on the 18th. They said they had no idea about the hard drive mistake and the original wasn't scanned in their system. They said call the AppleStore where I dropped it off.

Called AppleStore, they said bring it in and talk with the same tech. I asked if I should do it tomorrow (19th) and they said wait till monday. So I'm playing the waiting game for a little longer.

Just thought I'd update you all for now...
 
Is it just me or does that not look like a SATA drive? Macbooks from that time only use SATA hard drives.

There are no Apple branded drives. Apple uses drives from Seagate, Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Toshiba. I have yet to see one come with a Western Digital, but that doesn't mean there isn't one out there.
 
l.a.rossmann said:
Is it just me or does that not look like a SATA drive? Macbooks from that time only use SATA hard drives.

There are no Apple branded drives. Apple uses drives from Seagate, Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Toshiba. I have yet to see one come with a Western Digital, but that doesn't mean there isn't one out there.
Click to expand...

That was just a picture of a similar drive. I posted it to show that there was an Apple logo on the bottom of the HD.

Another example of the Apple Logo on a HD

genuineap-1237094398-5673.jpg
 
That's one crazy scenario man. However I support the point that Apple was right not to replace your hard drive (no offense :D). But if you get it replaced clear and clean, good for you !!!
 
Ah, glad I'm not seeing things then. :D

"Apple branded" means putting an apple on the Panasonic UJ-857-C DVD-RW drive, or an Apple on top of a Toshiba drive. There is no difference in performance between it and a model with no Apple on it.

I do not think Apple should be required to cover parts under warranty that they never supplied you with, yet that they should inform you of what they are going to do before they do it if it results in a downgrade from what you had.
 
l.a.rossmann said:
I do not think Apple should be required to cover parts under warranty that they never supplied you with, yet that they should inform you of what they are going to do before they do it if it results in a downgrade from what you had.
Click to expand...

Update:
That's the stand they took. The Genius who helped me was really nice and showed me that the laptop shipped from Apple in early 06 with an 80GB drive. (IF you ever wanted to know, just check right in the battery compartment. The shipped specs are right in there.)

Anyway, the tech offered to put in a 120GB drive. (The highest capacity drive that was available in a early 06 MacBook.) He said that AppleCare wouldn't cover it, but the store would pay for the Hard Drive.

Since my GF is going to be getting my 250GB drive in a few months, she decided to think about it for a day or two. I'm going to call the store tomorrow and tell them to order the drive if she wants it.

Overall, great service and I feel really taken care of. Good One Apple!
 
fleshman03 said:
Update:
That's the stand they took. The Genius who helped me was really nice and showed me that the laptop shipped from Apple in early 06 with an 80GB drive. (IF you ever wanted to know, just check right in the battery compartment. The shipped specs are right in there.)

Anyway, the tech offered to put in a 120GB drive. (The highest capacity drive that was available in a early 06 MacBook.) He said that AppleCare wouldn't cover it, but the store would pay for the Hard Drive.

Since my GF is going to be getting my 250GB drive in a few months, she decided to think about it for a day or two. I'm going to call the store tomorrow and tell them to order the drive if she wants it.

Overall, great service and I feel really taken care of. Good One Apple!
Click to expand...

That's a "Hollywood" ending my friend, good for you !!!
 
NewMacbookPlz said:
I don't think there is an "Apple brand hard drive." Apple just uses whatever OEM they get a contract from at the time.
Click to expand...

I'm going to have to say you're wrong here. Apple, Dell, Gateway, HP, etc., all "brand" hard drives that are installed in their machines. As an earlier post clearly showed an Apple logo on the drive label, you will find those types of labels on every WD and Seagate drive that Dell sells in their machines, complete with a Dell part number. HP does the same thing with their desktops, laptops, and servers.

While it may be manufactured by a 3rd party (let's face it, Apple doesn't make hard drives--we all know that), the drives in Macs are in fact Apple branded.
 
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