MacBook problem - urgent help required please!

[legallyblonde30]

Hello Community,

I urgently require help with my MacBook. I'm a postgrad student with a thesis to write, and at the worst possible time my faithful MacBook has given up on me!

It was working perfectly yesterday, until it kept freezing as I was browsing the Internet using Google Chrome, bringing up the pinwheel. I decided to call it a night and shut down in the usual way. It took an unusually long time to shut down.

This morning, it has taken an hour to start up. First the Apple logo, then a blue screen displaying just a cursor, then my desktop background, then (very gradually) the Finder bar, dock, and icons one by one.

Whenever I click on an App, or a menu, the pinwheel appears and it takes up to half an hour to perform the requested action.

My MacBook is essentially unusable.

I've tried restarting, but it simply starts the same process again, taking another hour to start up. This has never happened before, and it was working perfectly yesterday.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Many thanks.

 

[trevm999]

Stop trying to turn it on. Take it in to a shop. Your hard drive could be failing and anything more you try to do could damage the drive further and prevent you from recovering data from the drive. It is best you have someone check it out.

 

[MCAsan]

Yep, get it to apple ASAP

 

[g4manimac]

You could easily remove the drive yourself,re-install a new drive (purchased at most computer stores) and then with a external hard drive caddy run most recovery software that any of these computer Guys do at half the cost.

 

[old-wiz]

Do you have a backup of your system?

 

[trevm999]

You could easily remove the drive yourself,re-install a new drive (purchased at most computer stores) and then with a external hard drive caddy run most recovery software that any of these computer Guys do at half the cost.

If the drive is failing, connecting the drive to OSX could harm the drive further. You do not run data recovery software on a failing hard drive, the drive needs to be cloned without using OSX or Windows.

Do you have a backup of your system?

This is what I should have asked. If you have a backup, then we can try and guide you through determining whether or not the hard drive is failing.