MacBook Pro Hard Drive Dead? Missing Hard Drive Bracket.

[ZomBee]

My daughter had some problems with her MacBook Pro (late 2011) a couple of months ago. The first problems we've had with it. The backlight on the screen was pretty much dead and the keyboard was unresponsive. They gave us an awesome deal to basically replace the screen and body. Got it back and things have been fine. A few days ago, her computer started locking up, working slowly, and applications were crashing. When she restarted it, it would hang on the gray apple screen. I tried using Disk Utility to fix any issues it may have had. It couldn't. I tried safe mode. No luck. We were getting Disk1 I/O errors over and over. I figured the hard drive might be toast, so purchased her a new one with plans to replace the old. Today, I open her up and notice the hard drive bracket is not there. Maybe Apple forgot to put it in? How odd. Any idea if this could have caused her drive to jostle around and result in damage? She is homeschooled and has missed a couple of days being without a computer, so I went ahead and replaced with a new SSD drive...of course no hard drive bracket though.

I was going to order a new hard drive bracket online. But maybe I should take it to the Apple store? Will they say it's too late for them to reimburse or do anything since I already replaced the drive? I was hoping some of her info might be rescued from the old drive.

 

[Fishrrman]

What may have happened:

- When Apple tech replaced the parts, they forgot to re-install the hard drive bracket.

- Thus, hard drive "moves around" inside. Not much, but enough to flex the connecting cable.

- As the thin ribbon cable that connects the drive to the motherboard flexed, it got damaged. Failures of this cable are a common problem with MacBooks.

- A damaged cable will result in a hard drive that either seems "dead" (because it can't be accessed) or problematic (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't).

Is the Apple Store that fixed it nearby?
Perhaps you should take it back and explain to them.
They might replace the cable and bracket free of charge.

Otherwise, I think you need a new connecting cable.
They're not expensive.
Be careful putting it in not to flex it much, they are internally fragile.
Of course, you need the bracket too.
Put the SSD in there, of course.

 

[ZomBee]

Thanks!

Yes, the store is close by, so maybe I'll just make an appointment to go in. What you've said seems very plausible.