01-09-2012, 08:13 PM

Hi - My daughter has a 13" MacBook that was purchased new in late 2010.

Two weeks ago it would not boot up. The Apple Logo would be on the screen after the beep and then the turning timer would come on and it would stay there for as long as the computer was on.

The only way I could get it to boot up was with the original disc and I could do nothing with it from there so I had to reformat it and then re-load the Snow Leopard from the original disc.

This solved the problem and it worked perfect for one week.

Identical problem returned so I had to repeat the same procedure. All was good until the first time we turned it off and now it has the same issue. It won't boot.

Does the hard drive need to be replaced or do these symptoms indicate something else?

Thank you for any advice or knowledge that you can share. - Ron

01-09-2012, 11:28 PM

Does the hard drive need to be replaced or do these symptoms indicate something else?

Those symptoms are indicative of a bad hard drive. If her machine is still covered under the Apple warranty or extended Apple care, make an appointment with Apple and take it on in. Otherwise if not under warranty, swapping out the hard drive as a do it yourself project is a relatively easy procedure.

01-10-2012, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by chscag

Those symptoms are indicative of a bad hard drive. If her machine is still covered under the Apple warranty or extended Apple care, make an appointment with Apple and take it on in. Otherwise if not under warranty, swapping out the hard drive as a do it yourself project is a relatively easy procedure.

Thank you for your reply. I can switch out the hard drive since it is not under warranty.

Does anybody have a recommendation for where to buy a hard drive from. When I was reformatting it I believe it said Toshiba 250.0 GB.

01-10-2012, 12:54 PM

If your going to upgrade the harddrive anyways, i'd recommend going to a SSD if your budget allows for it. The intel 320 GEN3 120 gig drives run for about $200 CND. This will give you alot more longevity out of the drive, as well as increase the speed. Its a direct swap in, no modifications required and you will notice the performance increase.

01-10-2012, 05:38 PM

You can purchase a replacement hard drive locally or from any good on line reseller. Just make sure the replacement drive is SATA and the dimensions are 2.5" wide and 9.5 MM thick. If you wish to go with a SSD as the previous post recommended, be aware that anything that is 250 GB or larger is costly. A smaller drive than that may not suffice.

01-10-2012, 11:40 PM

Originally Posted by chscag

You can purchase a replacement hard drive locally or from any good on line reseller. Just make sure the replacement drive is SATA and the dimensions are 2.5" wide and 9.5 MM thick. If you wish to go with a SSD as the previous post recommended, be aware that anything that is 250 GB or larger is costly. A smaller drive than that may not suffice.

We were on a budget to repair this so I went to Best Buy and paid $80.00 for the WD internal Hard Drive.

Installed it, formatted, and downloaded the operating system. So far all is good and my daughter states that it is faster and quieter than before.

Thank you very much to all for sharing your knowledge. - Ron