My 5 year old Macbook that hs NEVER had any issues suddenly made a humming sound while using it and froze. I eventually had to hold down the power button to shut it down. When I restarted it, that humming noise continued as it was trying to boot up, the noise then shorted out and died. My Mac began flashing the grey folder icon with the question mark and won't do anything else. I have read a past forum and it was concluded that it was a dead hard drive. My concern is that i will not be able to retrieve all the info. On that hard drive (5 long years worth) and that because my MacBook is so old that I won't be able to get help from Apple. Please inquire!
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black macbook 13" not booting up...
- Thread starter bpenny15
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The noise could have been the hard drive's bearings freezing up. It's likely that there is no way to get the data off of it.
Apple should be able to help you or at least confirm that the hard drive is totally dead. If it is dead, a new hard drive is not expensive and easy to install.
Do you have another Mac and a FireWire cable?
Apple should be able to help you or at least confirm that the hard drive is totally dead. If it is dead, a new hard drive is not expensive and easy to install.
Do you have another Mac and a FireWire cable?
Have you tried any of these steps?
As for getting a new HDD:
As for getting data off from it, once you get a new HDD, if the boot steps listed earlier don't work, also get an external enclosure for 2.5" S-ATA HDDs, USB 2.0 ones cost around 10 to 20 . Then put the old HDD inside and see, if you can retrieve data off it.
Also think about investing in another external HDD to backup your data.
Mac doesn't boot
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck
Troubleshooting: My computer won't turn on
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck
Troubleshooting: My computer won't turn on
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
As for getting a new HDD:
MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD
the guide includes:
the guide includes:
- 0. Identify your MacBook or MacBook Pro
- 1. Getting a new HDD
- 2. Guides to replace the internal HDD with a newer one
- 3. Transferring data from the old HDD to the new HDD
- 4. Using the optical disk drive (ODD) slot for placing an SSD or HDD inside the MB/P (OPTIBAY)
As for getting data off from it, once you get a new HDD, if the boot steps listed earlier don't work, also get an external enclosure for 2.5" S-ATA HDDs, USB 2.0 ones cost around 10 to 20 . Then put the old HDD inside and see, if you can retrieve data off it.
Also think about investing in another external HDD to backup your data.