Cannot find hard drive

[mjwilco]

Hi everyone,

I have a 2009 13" MBP. A few weeks ago it spontaneously started giving me the "question mark folder" on startup, i.e. it couldn't find the startup disk. I used the CDs to examine the problem, and figured I would replace the hard drive in case it failed.

Well a hard drive replacement has not fixed the problem. Disk Utility still does not list the hard drive in its list, and basically it seems the computer just can't see it.

What else should I look into?

Thanks for any recommendations!

 

[Weaselboy]

It is fairly common for the drive connector cable to fail on these machines and that may be what is going on with yours. Do you have an external USB enclosure you can use to see if the drive works that way?

 

[mjwilco]

Thanks for the reply. I don't have an enclosure like that. Would that or a new cable be something cheap I could pick up and try?

 

[Weaselboy]

Thanks for the reply. I don't have an enclosure like that. Would that or a new cable be something cheap I could pick up and try?

You can get a cheap enclosure like this for $9. I know iFixit sells the cables but I don't know the price for your model.