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Hard drive on old Macbook

P

phpcat

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 19, 2012
7
0
Hey!

A few days back, my friend dropped tea on my macbook by mistake. The macbook was on sleep and the tea dropped on the side (i.e. it probably got inside the mac through the USB ports or something).

I left the macbook for about 2 days without any current and removed the battery as well. After about 2 days (i.e. today) I tried powering it on, and it still doesn't work! I tried with the battery and 2 different chargers!

I'm assuming it's messed up inside, but I really need to get my data!

My Macbook:
macbook.png


I don't know the exact model etc, but I'm assuming the HDD model in this generation is similar if not the same.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to retrieve the data? Perhaps opening up the macbook and removing the HDD? And then using some SATA to USB Connector on another laptop?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
 
phpcat said:
Does anyone have any ideas on how to retrieve the data? Perhaps opening up the macbook and removing the HDD? And then using some SATA to USB Connector on another laptop?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
Click to expand...

That will work. There are also enclosures for 2.5" S-ATA HDDs, in which you can put the HDD and then connect it to any other computer via USB. Those enclosures often cost around 10 € and more. If you have a Mac to connect to, nothing else is needed.
If you only have access to a Windows computer, you need additional software to read from the HDD, the 7-day trial for MacDrive will work for that.
 
simsaladimbamba said:
That will work. There are also enclosures for 2.5" S-ATA HDDs, in which you can put the HDD and then connect it to any other computer via USB. Those enclosures often cost around 10 € and more. If you have a Mac to connect to, nothing else is needed.
If you only have access to a Windows computer, you need additional software to read from the HDD, the 7-day trial for MacDrive will work for that.
Click to expand...
That's the route I'd go. It's probably the most low cost solution. Plus you get an external drive out of it!
 
simsaladimbamba said:
That will work. There are also enclosures for 2.5" S-ATA HDDs, in which you can put the HDD and then connect it to any other computer via USB. Those enclosures often cost around 10 € and more. If you have a Mac to connect to, nothing else is needed.
If you only have access to a Windows computer, you need additional software to read from the HDD, the 7-day trial for MacDrive will work for that.
Click to expand...

Sounds great. Are you sure a 2.5" will be fine? I'm going to find the exact model number today and update it here.

Thanks for the solution.
 
Ah forgot to quote @QuarterSwede

QuarterSwede said:
That's the route I'd go. It's probably the most low cost solution. Plus you get an external drive out of it!
Click to expand...

Are you sure a 2.5" will be fine? I'm going to find the exact model number today and update it here.

How exactly do these things work? They have a SATA port you plugin the HDD to and then that case goes to another computer via USB? Do those SATA ports from the HDD enclosure work on any SATA HDD? i.e. do all SATA HDD's use exactly the same port? Sorry I'm a bit of a novice in this topic.
 
QuarterSwede said:
Go to newegg and drill down: Computer Hardware > Hard Drives > External Enclosures. Then filter it to include 2.5" and the SATA speed.
Click to expand...

You mean filter by 2.5" and Internal Interface right? How would I know what SATA to use? There's SATA, SATA I/II, SATA I/II/III and then SATA & IDE. How do I know which SATA works for me? I could probably just buy the SATA I/II/III option to be safe but just out of curiosity, which one would my HDD actually need?
 
phpcat said:
You mean filter by 2.5" and Internal Interface right? How would I know what SATA to use? There's SATA, SATA I/II, SATA I/II/III and then SATA & IDE. How do I know which SATA works for me? I could probably just buy the SATA I/II/III option to be safe but just out of curiosity, which one would my HDD actually need?
Click to expand...
SATA I/II/III are all compatible. They use the same connector.

If you have a SATA I drive and connect it to a SATA III bus/interface it'll work, just at SATA I speeds. That's the beauty of it.
 
QuarterSwede said:
SATA I/II/III are all compatible. They use the same connector.

If you have a SATA I drive and connect it to a SATA III bus/interface it'll work, just at SATA I speeds. That's the beauty of it.
Click to expand...

Completely forgot about this!

Okay the Macbook Model number is: MC240LL/A

Code: 
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP512
this one if Im not mistaken

Default HDD is 160 GB..I think this one has like 500 though because of some upgrade

In any case, standard SATA enclosure (either I/II/III) should be fine for the above model I hope?

Once that's confirmed I'll go ahead and order it

Thank you once again!
 
phpcat said:
Completely forgot about this!

Okay the Macbook Model number is: MC240LL/A

Code: 
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP512
this one if Im not mistaken

Default HDD is 160 GB..I think this one has like 500 though because of some upgrade

In any case, standard SATA enclosure (either I/II/III) should be fine for the above model I hope?

Once that's confirmed I'll go ahead and order it

Thank you once again!
Click to expand...
I'd still read some reviews on the drive before you buy it just to see if anyone else has tried it (you'll be surprised at how many people are trying to speed up their old MacBooks). From my research, yes, it ought to work fine.

I was going to upgrade my white MacBook's HDD to an SSD but the wife and I decided to just upgrade this year and be done with it. Who am I to argue!? ;)
 
QuarterSwede said:
I'd still read some reviews on the drive before you buy it just to see if anyone else has tried it (you'll be surprised at how many people are trying to speed up their old MacBooks). From my research, yes, it ought to work fine.

I was going to upgrade my white MacBook's HDD to an SSD but the wife and I decided to just upgrade this year and be done with it. Who am I to argue!? ;)
Click to expand...

Really? The only reason why I want an enclosure is to recover data from the Macbook to be honest..the acual laptop is dead.

Are there cases where Macbook HDDs dont work with some enclosures? isnt a standard SATA connection on the HDD? and then a USB from the enclosure?

I understand haha, rather upgrade! :p
 
phpcat said:
Really? The only reason why I want an enclosure is to recover data from the Macbook to be honest..the acual laptop is dead.

Are there cases where Macbook HDDs dont work with some enclosures? isnt a standard SATA connection on the HDD? and then a USB from the enclosure?

I understand haha, rather upgrade! :p
Click to expand...
Grab a cheap SATA I/II/III enclosure with decent ratings off of Newegg. That'll do. Shouldn't be more than $30.
 
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