MacBook Pro (2007) - Strange Clicking, Bottom Left Hand Corner

[Amnesiac1]

My MBP was recently dropped. Ever since then, there has been a strange intermittent coming from within the computer, located around the lower left hand corner.

Usually, this clicking is accompanied by the MBP freezing or becoming unresponsive. I have to turn the computer off manually when this happens (most of the time, at least).

I brought my MBP into Apple Care and whoever I was speaking with very quickly concluded that my HD was damaged and would have to be replaced. He did not replicate the error during our meeting, although he claimed he did this for the purposes of the work sheet... He took my word for it and said the HD would have to be replaced. Curiously, he never mentioned that I would lose all of my data and that Apple does not transfer data for their customers. I'm glad I asked beforehand.

What I'm wondering is whether or not there is somewhere I can go that will replace my HD and also transfer all my files off of that faulty HD and onto my new HD. If Apple really refuses to do this for me, what is my next best option? Next to, of course, buying an external HD and doing the transfer myself. I don't want to purchase an external HD at the moment, as I'm already paying a lot to have the HD repaired.

Thanks!

 

[JonDownin]

Your HD is dying. Back it up immediately.

You will surely have to pay for a new drive whether you do it yourself or have it done somewhere. Buying a new 2.5 inch drive with an external enclosure will allow you to clone the drive and then swap them.

 

[THX1139]

You don't have a choice. You need to transfer your data to another drive and then get the internal replaced. This a no brainer. You say you don't want to buy another drive to backup... well, that means you don't care about your data. So just hand the computer over to Apple and let them swap it out under warranty and go back to what you were doing. Of course doing it that way, you WILL lose your data... but you don't care about that anyway, so no big deal.

 

[haruhiko]

Interesting.

Anybody reading your words can conclude that your harddisk drive is dying or already dead without hesitation. You have two choices though: to back up your data and exchange for a new hdd OR say good-bye to your data and exchange for a new hdd.

 

[falterego]

Since you'll have to buy a new drive anyway, the additional $15 for an enclosure is well worth it. Then just CCC to duplicate your dying drive onto the new one. After that it's a few simple screws to replace the drive yourself, or take it to just about any halfway decent shop to have them do the internal swap for you.

If you think the extra $15 for the enclosure is too much to save your data, then I suggest you just take THX's advice and drop it off at Apple and sacrifice all your data to the repair shop.

That's the enclosure and software I used to upgrade to the SSD last weekend. So simple anyone can do it, and should.

 

[greytmom]

What I'm wondering is whether or not there is somewhere I can go that will replace my HD and also transfer all my files off of that faulty HD and onto my new HD. If Apple really refuses to do this for me, what is my next best option? Next to, of course, buying an external HD and doing the transfer myself. I don't want to purchase an external HD at the moment, as I'm already paying a lot to have the HD repaired.

Thanks!

If you don't want to do the data transfer yourself, then you can probably find a local computer repair shop that will do it for you. They will charge you for this service, and they may or may not be Mac experts. I did this years ago with my last PC... they were able to transfer all of my data and they also made me a boot CD in case anything ever happened again.

So, you've got decisions to make:

1) Let Apple replace your hard drive, and don't worry about the data.
2) Ask Apple if they'll do the data transfer and if so, how much will that cost.
3) Buy a hard drive with enclosure and do it yourself.
4) Contact a local repair shop, verify that they work on Macs, and ask them to do the data transfer and HD replacement.

# 3 is by far your cheapest option.