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MacBook Pro new in January, HD no longer found

M

maclover17621

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 9, 2010
4
0
Hi - my hard drive appears to have crashed. MacBook Pro 13inch with 320GB drive was brand new in January.
What are the chances this is not a totally-dead hard drive?

Here are the particulars:
On two prior occasions in the last 6 weeks, this has happened, and I've used my Install disk to run disk utility, fix permissions, verify & repair the disk & gotten the hard drive up and running.

However, last night, and this morning (I've tried 6 or 7 times) the hard drive is not visible whether I look for it with Disk Utility, System Profiler, or Start-Up Disk, running from my Install disk.

The error from System Profiler says something like, there is an error scanning for the serial-ata.

What are the chances this is not a totally-dead hard drive?

The computer is under warranty, but I'm loathe to open it up and swap in a different drive, in case the problem lies elsewhere, but I'm even more loathe to give the Apple Geniuses my computer with a hard drive that still has private data on it.

I have a very recent Time Machine backup.

Let me say I love Macs, my husband hates them, and I begged him to buy this Mac for me (it's my sixth Mac laptop).

Thanks - maclover17621
 
Data can always be recovered somehow but I doubt an Apple employee would pay 1500$ for data recovery for HD which isn't even his.

I wouldn't be so scared, you can ask to have that HD after they fix it and even stand next to it when they fix it (tell them that there are very private data in it)
 
It looks like your Mac may indeed have a dead HD. That's the bad news, now, the good news. If you have a MacBook Pro that is built in January '10, it is extremely easy to swap the hard drive, and is considered a "user replaceable part", thus, not voiding your warranty (I am not 100% sure about this, anyone else who can confirm this?) Here is a guide to replacing your drive-"http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-MacBook-Pro-13-Inch-Unibody-Hard-Drive-Replacement/1337/1" And here is a place where you can get an inexpensive new 320GB hard drive, or if you want, you could get a different one, but it has to be in the 2.5" form factor, and must have a Serial ATA (SATA) interface. "http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136197" And you have the HD that you took out, and you can do what you want to with it. After it's all screwed together, just pop in the installation disc, hook up your Time Machine, and select something to the effect of (I can't remember the exact wording) "Restore from Time Machine Backup" from the menus. If you are worried that your husband may think that Macs are unreliable, HD failures can happen to any machine that is equipped with one. ;)
If it shows a failing Serial ATA bus, if that is what you said, your disc drive would also fail, as it is on the same bus, but that type of failure is much less likely, so you are safe.
 
I had a similar thing happen with my iMac G5 while I was in college. Regardless of whether or not you can do it yourself, I suggest taking it in and having apple take care of it for 2 reasons:
-There might be something else that's the matter than just the hard drive
-It's 6 months old, you should be under the included applecare. It's a free fix.

What happened to mine is that the hard disk wouldn't mount: the computer could find the hard drive inside of it. I don't recall what all the did to fix it, but it did involve a wipe of the hard drive.

Now, I see that you also have a recent backup on time-machine, that is where you are in a much better position than I was. I lost almost my first 2 years of college, and everything else I had on that computer.
 
maclover17621 said:
Hi - my hard drive appears to have crashed. MacBook Pro 13inch with 320GB drive was brand new in January.
What are the chances this is not a totally-dead hard drive?

Here are the particulars:
On two prior occasions in the last 6 weeks, this has happened, and I've used my Install disk to run disk utility, fix permissions, verify & repair the disk & gotten the hard drive up and running.

However, last night, and this morning (I've tried 6 or 7 times) the hard drive is not visible whether I look for it with Disk Utility, System Profiler, or Start-Up Disk, running from my Install disk.

The error from System Profiler says something like, there is an error scanning for the serial-ata.

What are the chances this is not a totally-dead hard drive?

The computer is under warranty, but I'm loathe to open it up and swap in a different drive, in case the problem lies elsewhere, but I'm even more loathe to give the Apple Geniuses my computer with a hard drive that still has private data on it.

I have a very recent Time Machine backup.

Let me say I love Macs, my husband hates them, and I begged him to buy this Mac for me (it's my sixth Mac laptop).

Thanks - maclover17621
Click to expand...

Take it in to the store and get the HD replaced. It's only 6 months old so it's still under the original one year warranty. After it's replaced, just restore from your Time Machine backup.
 
Thank you

Thanks for the advice and links, I will definitely follow up on the "user replaceable part."



Quad 2.5 G5 =) said:
It looks like your Mac may indeed have a dead HD. That's the bad news, now, the good news. If you have a MacBook Pro that is built in January '10, it is extremely easy to swap the hard drive, and is considered a "user replaceable part", thus, not voiding your warranty (I am not 100% sure about this, anyone else who can confirm this?) Here is a guide to replacing your drive-"http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-MacBook-Pro-13-Inch-Unibody-Hard-Drive-Replacement/1337/1" And here is a place where you can get an inexpensive new 320GB hard drive, or if you want, you could get a different one, but it has to be in the 2.5" form factor, and must have a Serial ATA (SATA) interface. "http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136197" And you have the HD that you took out, and you can do what you want to with it. After it's all screwed together, just pop in the installation disc, hook up your Time Machine, and select something to the effect of (I can't remember the exact wording) "Restore from Time Machine Backup" from the menus. If you are worried that your husband may think that Macs are unreliable, HD failures can happen to any machine that is equipped with one. ;)
If it shows a failing Serial ATA bus, if that is what you said, your disc drive would also fail, as it is on the same bus, but that type of failure is much less likely, so you are safe.
Click to expand...
 
Resolved & how it happened.

I ended up going to the Apple Store. A Genius there told me that replacing the hard drive myself would not violate the warranty, unless it was later determined by Apple to cause a problem that would have been covered by the warranty if the drive had not been replaced.

I suggest that everyone facing this issue confirm this with the Geniuses for themselves.

Anyway, it was definitely the disk, not a bus or any other issue. The Genius quickly replaced the disk in front of me, gave me my hard drive back, and upgraded my system for me.

My Time Machine restoration worked perfectly.

A happy resolution - I did not lose control of a disk with confidential data on it.
Thanks to all who replied.
 
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