Hard drive failing - replace out of warranty?

[Diode]

My 1.5 year old MacBook pro has what I believe is a failing hard drive. What is the likelihood apple will replace the drive? It should still be covered under the manufactures warranty.

I just think that 1 year and a few months is a little early for a drive to fail...

 

[Blue Velvet]

Back everything up as soon as possible and call them, even though I suspect that you've probably only got a one year standard warranty. Got receipts and stuff?

Why do you think it's failing?

 

[Diode]

Back everything up as soon as possible and call them, even though I suspect that you've probably only got a one year standard warranty. Got receipts and stuff?

Why do you think it's failing?

It's beachballing every few minutes and I get invalid node structure when trying to verify the disk.

It's backed up via timecapsule so I should be good on that front. Your right it's only 1 year but again I think 1.5 years is a little early for a hard drive. I know they replace stuff occasionally out of warranty so I was wondering about the hard drives...

 

[gnasher729]

My 1.5 year old MacBook pro has what I believe is a failing hard drive. What is the likelihood apple will replace the drive? It should still be covered under the manufactures warranty.

I just think that 1 year and a few months is a little early for a drive to fail...

Well, it is a bit early. But then some drives will last longer, and some will last less long, so this is a bit of bad luck but not too unusual. This will not be covered by any manufacturers warranty; you didn't buy anything from the hard drive manufacturer, so they won't give you any warranty.

On the other hand, you can take this as an opportunity to get a 1 TB hard drive, or a very fast hybrid drive.

 

[Blue Velvet]

...so I was wondering about the hard drives...

I've only known others, friends of mine, to have their drives replaced in a MacBook Pro and an iMac respectively, while still within their standard warranty period.

If calling them is awkward, if you're within easy distance of an Apple Store, you could always try the Genius Bar route, aiming for some sympathy or speaking loudly enough for others around to hear that your virtually new Mac's drive is falling to bits.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

I agree that it shouldn't have died within 1 year, but as you didn't get Applecare, you may end up footing the bill.

And the OEM hard drive that's included with the MBP is an Apple branded drive, yes from a regular vendor i.e. toshiba, but they will not talk to you. Most hard drive manufacturers will only talk to consumers who purchase bare drives from retail; if you strip a hard drive out of an enclosure(like the WD Passport, Seagate Expansion) or out of an OEM box, they more than likely will tell you that you have no warranty (trust me, i've stripped a lot of drives over the past couple of weeks).

 

[LiquidSpikes]

My 1.5 year old MacBook pro has what I believe is a failing hard drive. What is the likelihood apple will replace the drive? It should still be covered under the manufactures warranty.

I just think that 1 year and a few months is a little early for a drive to fail...

Is it a seagate?

with the 7.01 firmware? you might be in luck...

http://www.macmedics.com/blog/2009/03/07/macbook-hard-drive-failures/

anyways I think apple will replace it if you are friendly with them...

I went to the genius bar and helped a lady in line with her iPhone that froze and they gave me a new logic board for my old Santa Rosa MacBook Pro even though it was way out of warranty

 

[Diode]

Is it a seagate?

with the 7.01 firmware? you might be in luck...

http://www.macmedics.com/blog/2009/03/07/macbook-hard-drive-failures/

anyways I think apple will replace it if you are friendly with them...

I went to the genius bar and helped a lady in line with her iPhone that froze and they gave me a new logic board for my old Santa Rosa MacBook Pro even though it was way out of warranty

No it's a Mid 2009 macbook pro. Phone support wouldn't do anything so I'll try in the store tomorrow but it looks like I'll be buying a new drive

Do the Seagate Momentus drives work well in the Mid 2009? I know their controller is finicky with certain drives....

 

[Diode]

Well the genius replaced it - no questions asked as soon as I mentioned "invalid node structure" to him (he even thanked me for "doing his homework for him").

This is why I don't mind paying a premium for Apple products.