Mid-2010 Macbook Pro is slow/laggy and makes a weird noise

[evilweasel47]

Hello members,

I have a Mid-2010 Macbook Pro running Mountain Lion with all the latest updates. Everything was fine until 3 days back, when it started acting up. Moving the cursor was extremely laggy, and starting up any application takes forever. I also noticed a weird noise, more like a phone pulse dial, coming from the front. It repeats itself every 3 seconds, so I first thought it must be the HDD failing. But I have run all sorts of hardware tests but every test seems to infer that the HDD is working fine. Is it possible that the HDD is failing even though it doesn't show up on any test (like SMART status)? The Apple store nearest to me is more than a 3 hour drive away, so it's almost impossible to go there in person. Can anyone please help? Thanks in advance.

 

[PurrBall]

Totally possible. I'd back everything up ASAP just in case that is indeed the problem.

 

[mpayne2k]

If you can afford the approx. $80 for 128gb or $140 for 256gb, I think you should consider upgrading to a SSD.

 

[evilweasel47]

Thanks. I have a Time machine backup and a Carbon Cloner backup thankfully. I will probably get a SSD then.

 

[Idefix]

don't suppose you bought applecare?