Hard drive dying

[Robnot]

Skip to "**********" if you don't want to read the background and just want the questions!

Model Name: MacBook Pro 10.6.8 snow leopard
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,5
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz
Memory: 4 GB

I believe my 250GB HD is dying, an ornament smacked into the right hand palm rest leaving a big dent right over where the HD lives and from then on I kept getting rainbow wheels and then within a few hours everything just froze and I could not even shut down unless I reset. I could start up again but it just showed the same frozen screen as before.

After some tinkering, Genius bar said it was just a software issue and kindly reinstalled 10.6.8 which got back all functionality... however it was not long before I started seeing rainbow wheels all over the place again. Console logs disc0s2 errors at these times so I assume it was not just a software issue. Several freezes and difficulty starting up again from sleep. Disk utility verifies disk and SMART status is "Verified". However 3rd party SMART utility tells me disk is failing.

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At this point I think I better give up on the 250GB internal HD. I would like to buy a 3rd party 1TB HD and install it myself. My questions are:

1. With the new "blank" HD in there how do I get it up and running - I do not have install disks (thank you Fortress in HK international airport for that). I'd be willing to buy Mountain Lion but how to install this to a fresh HD? App store expects you to install "over" Snow Leopard or Lion.

2. I have Time machine backups on a Lacie 1 TB external HD. Can I use my Snow Leopard backups to restore all files and apps to my new Mountain Lion if I do go that route? Or will they restore Snow Leopard over my new Mountian Lion?

3. ANy other concerns / issues I need to think about?

 

[flatfoot]

Yes, your HDD is dying.

1. Download ML on a friend's Mac using your Apple ID.
   You can do a clean install of ML with the App Store download. Search Google on how to make a ML install thumb drive.
2. During/after the install process you will be asked whether you want to restore your user data from a Time Machine Backup. Do that. It won't harm your ML installation.
3. I'm pretty sure your MBP will only take normal 9.5mm HDDs and no 12mm ones (talking thickness here). Make sure you get a 9.5mm 2.5" HDD or an SSD if you have the money.

 

[Robnot]

Thanks flatfoot, will try that

1 quick question does it matter if new drive is SATA 1 / 2 / 3 for my mid 2009 MBP? (and what's the difference?)