Just dropped my macbook unibody... what should i be looking out for

[albuhhh]

i had my macbook unibody on a low table, open and on when i tripped on a plugged in USB cord. It dropped from a height of about 18 inches and hit my wood floor... with me screaming the whole time. (it was was like a slow motion movie) Miraculously, it seemed to be ok, no scratches or dents, and it kept on chugging and continued to play music. However, I am now super paranoid. I usually don't even like moving my computer when its on for fear of damaging the hard drive. I have had one too many hard drives die on me. Is there anything I should be cautious and on the lookout for? what might be the long term implications of my clumsy mistake?

 

[Radio Monk33]

Er you should look out for an external drive and time machine. A clicking noise means the drive is about to bite it, but frankly everyone should assume their hard drive will spontaneously combust at any given moment and plan accordingly.

 

[morrisman1]

good to hear a survival story. you should write to apple and tell them to release magsafe-USB!!

id be backing up the harddrive pronto. if everything else looks good and works, then it is good (no doubt somebody will be able to object!)

 

[shady825]

but frankly everyone should assume their hard drive will spontaneously combust at any given moment and plan accordingly.

This is 100000000% true. Its the way I feel after loosing everything on my Dell.
I NEVER backed up anything on my Dell but now that I have my MacBook I seriously back up like every 5 days or so. People might say it's a waste of time or whatever but when my hard drive goes, this time I'll be prepared!
Taking 5-10min out of your day to backup will be worth a million the day your hard drive poops out! TRUST ME!

 

[cashmoney]

If you're worried about the hard drive failing soon, I think you can see the status before it goes dead in disk utility. Select the hard-drive on the left and look at the bottom for the S.M.A.R.T status. If all is good, it should be "verified".

 

[mbleopard]

I can't be positive about this as I forgot where I read it, but I saw somewhere that the MacBooks have an accelerometer in them and they "park" the heads in the harddrive to prevent any damage to the hard drive, or atleast minimize it, if the laptop was dropped

 

[Bryan Bowler]

I can't be positive about this as I forgot where I read it, but I saw somewhere that the MacBooks have an accelerometer in them and they "park" the heads in the harddrive to prevent any damage to the hard drive, or atleast minimize it, if the laptop was dropped

That is correct. It can go a long way in helping to protect your hard drive!

Bryan