HDD to refurbish 2010 macbook pro: advice?!

[scharah]

I have a 2010 macbook pro which, sadly, suffered a (suspected) hard drive failure.

I was kindly gifted a brand new macbook, but am considering buying a HDD to replace the faulty HDD on my former model.

The apple store couldn't be 100% sure that it was a hard drive failure, and it was going to cost a lot of money to find out exactly what caused the machine to stop working, however they said it was most likely HDD failure based on the test they did in store.

I am looking to buy a cheap, but still attractive to potential buyers, HDD which fits the model, and am hoping to install the drive myself using youtube tutorials.

If possible, I'd maybe like to buy it somewhere that I can return it, if it turns out to be redundant (that is, the macbook failure wasn't attributed to a failed HDD)

Any pointers as to where to look and price ranges would be appreciated! (novice!)

thanks.

 

[brdeveloper]

I have a 2010 macbook pro which, sadly, suffered a (suspected) hard drive failure.

I was kindly gifted a brand new macbook, but am considering buying a HDD to replace the faulty HDD on my former model.

The apple store couldn't be 100% sure that it was a hard drive failure, and it was going to cost a lot of money to find out exactly what caused the machine to stop working, however they said it was most likely HDD failure based on the test they did in store.

I am looking to buy a cheap, but still attractive to potential buyers, HDD which fits the model, and am hoping to install the drive myself using youtube tutorials.

If possible, I'd maybe like to buy it somewhere that I can return it, if it turns out to be redundant (that is, the macbook failure wasn't attributed to a failed HDD)

Any pointers as to where to look and price ranges would be appreciated! (novice!)

thanks.

Firstly, get a small sized SSD. I know, HDDs are so 2010, but it doesn't mean you have to use 2010 stuff on your Macbook just because it was manufactured in 2010. Get a Crucial SSD (120 or 240GB) and you'll be very happy with the results.

 

[scharah]

Firstly, get a small sized SSD. I know, HDDs are so 2010, but it doesn't mean you have to use 2010 stuff on your Macbook just because it was manufactured in 2010. Get a Crucial SSD (120 or 240GB) and you'll be very happy with the results.

ok great thanks.

any ideas on the sort of price? and how would I boot up the computer using one of these?

 

[simonsi]

Just buy a small HDD (500GB is the smallest easily available now and that will be much bigger than the standard 2010 drive.

You can easily swap it out yourself so it will only cost you the drive to find out, not "a lot of money". Worst case if it isn't the drive then you can buy an external case for it and use it with your new Mac.

 

[T5BRICK]

If it isn't the HDD, there is a chance that it is the SATA cable. Is it a 13" model?

 

[brdeveloper]

ok great thanks.
any ideas on the sort of price? and how would I boot up the computer using one of these?

Crucial BX100 SSD:
- 250GB: ~$100,00
- 120GB: ~$70,00

500GB hard drive: ~$30 to 50

I think it's worth buying a 250GB SSD for this Mac. My Late-2009 Macbook (slightly slower than yours) is still a nice machine.

If you have the installation DVDs, all you need is pre-formatting the SSD in Disk Utility using another Mac (you'll need an enclosure to plug the SSD externally on it). If I'm not wrong, the installation DVD doesn't partition/format the drive automatically so you need doing it on Disk Utility.

Then you can put the SSD inside the Mac and install the system normally as you would do with a HDD.

If you aren't sure if it's a HDD failure, you should try a cheaper HDD as simonsi says. Just don't be afraid if the system doesn't install in the first place. You may have formatted wrongly the HDD, so stay calm and try again.

 

[scharah]

If it isn't the HDD, there is a chance that it is the SATA cable. Is it a 13" model?

it is a 13" model yes. We tried internet reset and some other various things in-store (which I didn't understand!) and nothing would work.

Crucial BX100 SSD:
- 250GB: ~$100,00
- 120GB: ~$70,00

500GB hard drive: ~$30 to 50

I think it's worth buying a 250GB SSD for this Mac. My Late-2009 Macbook (slightly slower than yours) is still a nice machine.

If you have the installation DVDs, all you need is pre-formatting the SSD in Disk Utility using another Mac (you'll need an enclosure to plug the SSD externally on it). If I'm not wrong, the installation DVD doesn't partition/format the drive automatically so you need doing it on Disk Utility.

Then you can put the SSD inside the Mac and install the system normally as you would do with a HDD.

If you aren't sure if it's a HDD failure, you should try a cheaper HDD as simonsi says. Just don't be afraid if the system doesn't install in the first place. You may have formatted wrongly the HDD, so stay calm and try again.

thanks for all your advice! I do have the installation DVD's somewhere I'm sure. If I can't find them however, will this process not work at all?

I'm hoping there will be youtube tutorials that would talk me through the process as I wouldn't know where to start reformatting a new SSD/HDD on another laptop. (I also don't have a disc drive on my new MBP so I would need to buy an external one to run the startup software)

 

[scharah]

Firstly, get a small sized SSD. I know, HDDs are so 2010, but it doesn't mean you have to use 2010 stuff on your Macbook just because it was manufactured in 2010. Get a Crucial SSD (120 or 240GB) and you'll be very happy with the results.

Thank you. It's really for the purpose of selling on so I can try and make a bit of money from it, so I think i'll just buy the bare basic drive, the cheapest I can find, and then the person buying it can get an SSD if they want to use one.

 

[brdeveloper]

thanks for all your advice! I do have the installation DVD's somewhere I'm sure. If I can't find them however, will this process not work at all?

I'm hoping there will be youtube tutorials that would talk me through the process as I wouldn't know where to start reformatting a new SSD/HDD on another laptop. (I also don't have a disc drive on my new MBP so I would need to buy an external one to run the startup software)

If I remember well, I think the installation DVDs provide a recovery mode which you can use Disk Utility, but I'm not really sure. If this is true, you can format the drive without connecting it to another Mac.

If you don't have the installation DVDs you'll have to purchase them or copy the media from another MBP of the same model, I guess.

 

[B-Eugen]

I test systems like that using Scannerz from an external hard drive. That would be able to tell you if the problem is with the drive, a cable, or it's a logic board problem. If the problem is a cable or drive it can be fixed, but if it's the logic board you might as well disassemble the unit and start selling it for parts. It's best to do cable and logic board tests from an external drive anyway, IMHO.

Regarding a hard drive, if you're interested in keeping costs as low as possible I'd recommend the new line of Hitachi 7200 RPM 2.5" drives, but make sure you get the new line because the older models are still on the market and by comparison, they're slow as molasses. I've seen some of the 500GB models selling for about $50 (U.S.) The new ones use advanced format and have at a minimum 32MB cache, but the old (slow) ones have a smaller cache and run at 5400 RPM.

Step by step instructions on just about anything can be found at iFixit.

Here's a bunch of links for the stuff I've just mentioned:

Hitachi HD Line:https://www.hgst.com/hard-drives/mobile-drives/7mm-thin-and-light-drives/travelstar-z7k500
Scannerz: http://scsc-online.com/Scannerz.html
iFixit: http://www.ifixit.com

Good luck.

 

[ZVH]

I would second the Hitachi HDD if you just want to resell it. They're fast and inexpensive. Stay away from refurbished drives, whether it's an HDD or an SSD because they can be lemons and it would only save you a buck or two.