Hi
My daughter's macbook was experiencing the spinning beach ball whenever she tried to open anything up. We took it to the apple retail store and talked to a support guy. She does have an apple care protection plan.
He ran the disk utility software and then Disc Warrior. He said the problem was a failing hard drive and recommended replacement. However, she hadn't back up her documents or itunes so stood to lose everything. (Note, at one point during his efforts, we saw that the desktop background picture reverted to an older one - something that was on the first computer when she got it from her college.) We chose not to go the new hard drive route immediately as the tech guy said we could try connecting an external hard drive and hoping the existing hard drive must have some life left in it so that we could backup her stuff.
Now we're back home and things actually seem to be working; I'm posting this from her mac. However there is nothing in her documents folder, no Itunes music, etc. It all seems to be gone. Everything seems to be the way it was originally. Since the drive was not replaced, I'm wondering where all of her stuff went? Any thoughts?- Is there any hope for us?
I saw a thread somewhere on another forum that talked about taking the hard drive out and putting it back in and that sometimes would reset things.
Is that worth a try? I'd be concerned about doing this myself - wondering if the folk at the apple store should try this too.
Even though the technician did not replace the hard drive, could all of her stuff have been wiped out? Some other points - the spinning had been going on intermittently for about two weeks, where everything would just take so long to work. She had been able to use finder just a few days earlier and her documents and itunes were there.
Any suggestions - your help is greatly appreciated. This is the first mac in the family. Obviously she should have backed up her stuff - won't make that mistake again. HELP and Thanks!
My daughter's macbook was experiencing the spinning beach ball whenever she tried to open anything up. We took it to the apple retail store and talked to a support guy. She does have an apple care protection plan.
He ran the disk utility software and then Disc Warrior. He said the problem was a failing hard drive and recommended replacement. However, she hadn't back up her documents or itunes so stood to lose everything. (Note, at one point during his efforts, we saw that the desktop background picture reverted to an older one - something that was on the first computer when she got it from her college.) We chose not to go the new hard drive route immediately as the tech guy said we could try connecting an external hard drive and hoping the existing hard drive must have some life left in it so that we could backup her stuff.
Now we're back home and things actually seem to be working; I'm posting this from her mac. However there is nothing in her documents folder, no Itunes music, etc. It all seems to be gone. Everything seems to be the way it was originally. Since the drive was not replaced, I'm wondering where all of her stuff went? Any thoughts?- Is there any hope for us?
I saw a thread somewhere on another forum that talked about taking the hard drive out and putting it back in and that sometimes would reset things.
Is that worth a try? I'd be concerned about doing this myself - wondering if the folk at the apple store should try this too.
Even though the technician did not replace the hard drive, could all of her stuff have been wiped out? Some other points - the spinning had been going on intermittently for about two weeks, where everything would just take so long to work. She had been able to use finder just a few days earlier and her documents and itunes were there.
Any suggestions - your help is greatly appreciated. This is the first mac in the family. Obviously she should have backed up her stuff - won't make that mistake again. HELP and Thanks!