How long till the dying hard drive keels over dead?

[benmhs]

Background Info:

Earlier today, I experienced a what I am 99.9% sure was a hard drive crash on my white MacBook (about 36 months old)

Everything stopped responding, and I heard a clicking noise coming from where the the hard drive is located. I forced a shutdown by holding down the power button, and tried to reboot, only to be greeted by the little question mark folder and the clicking sound.

Fortunately, I had just backed it up the previous night, so I knew I hadn't lost anything of value.

Then, about an hour ago, a made another attempted to start it up again, and to my surprise, was greeted by no clicking and an logo.

Actual Questions:

I am guessing this is not a one time occurrence, and that the noise and another crash will be back, am I correct?

If so, does anyone have any guess on how long until it does return, and ultimately, how long can I put off my trip to the genius bar?

Thanks in advance,
Ben

 

[toolbox]

Good to hear your data is OK.

if the Hard disk is clicking and making unusual noises it is very unlikely that it will sort it's self out. In past experiences doing data recovery for people a clicking hard disk normally means the end of the disk and a replacement is needed.

However if you still have your OS X DVD's that came with the macbook - boot of them and run diskutility see if it detects the drive. To boot of the DVD either hold Option or press C when your reboot / turn on the system.

I would bite the bullet and get a new drive put in it and restore your information.

 

[benmhs]

Retire the old boy earlier then planned?

I'm actually getting a new 15'' MacBook Pro* after the inevitable January Keynote. Maybe, While it works, I should just put it away while it works, and then try to use it for long enough to transfer data from one computer to the other.

It would only be a few weeks that I could easily tough out. All I need for school is word processing, and I could use a different computer at home for that. The only thing that I would miss out on is a few weeks of animation work and development of my website. Do you think that might work?

*or maybe a MacTablet**, who knows?

**[no I wont call it call it an iSlate )

 

[EndlessMac]

There is no guarantee that the new MBPs will come out that soon unless you are saying you are willing to get the current MBPs even if the new ones are not announced. Either way since you said you have backed up your current hard drive, I think you should invest in a new internal hard drive or go to the Apple store and see what they say is the problem. You don't have to repair it if it's going to be costly.

The reason I said to get a new hard drive is that it will allow you to not rush and get a new MBP because maybe the new MBP will have problems like the iMac. It will also give you something to sell in order to make the new MBP not such a financial burden. A functioning MBP will get a higher price than a broken one.

 

[benmhs]

I'm actually going to head to my local Apple store tonight to get it fixed. Hopefully they'll also be able to transfer my old data of the backup drive as well.

This is actually the 4th hard drive failure I've experienced in three years. As mush as I hate to say it, this makes me seriously consider making my next laptop a PC, seeing as Windows 7 has gotten such good reviews.

 

[Primejimbo]

I'm actually going to head to my local Apple store tonight to get it fixed. Hopefully they'll also be able to transfer my old data of the backup drive as well.

This is actually the 4th hard drive failure I've experienced in three years. As mush as I hate to say it, this makes me seriously consider making my next laptop a PC, seeing as Windows 7 has gotten such good reviews.

Apple uses the same hard drives as the PC makers.

 

[Mumford]

This is actually the 4th hard drive failure I've experienced in three years. As mush as I hate to say it, this makes me seriously consider making my next laptop a PC, seeing as Windows 7 has gotten such good reviews.

4 HD failures in 3 years would lead me to believe something is wrong with how the HDs are being treated.

 

[Dan73]

Could just be bad luck.

Win7 is nice, yes, but in the end they both use the same hardware. So you have the same chance on either OS to fail.

Also why do people use "PC" to refer to Windows computers? Last time I checked computers running OS X and Windows are both PCs!

 

[Primejimbo]

4 HD failures in 3 years would lead me to believe something is wrong with how the HDs are being treated.

Could there be a short or something wrong with the logic board also causing this?