01-27-2008, 12:41 AM

My 6-month old MacBook displayed a flashing question mark folder two days ago when I was starting it up after a week away on holiday. Called up the Apple hotline, lady was not very helpful (insistent she could not give me over-the-phone support because the 90-days support was over) and sent me a troubleshooting email which I could easily find under Apple documentation.

I tried searching for my installation CD, which has gone missing, and decided to go for an appointment with the Genius. The tech guy was very helpful because I told him I need my MacBook for school when the new semester starts next week, and he said he would replace the hard drive first. It was done within a few hours, and he said that the hard drive could not be detected when he tried mounting it.

Unfortunately, the hard drive I had ordered to act as a back-up drive was only going to arrive after I came back from holiday, so no backups were done ever on the hard drive. The lack of backups may sound absurd, but I was riding on the Almighty!Mac thought and so all my important files (holiday photos... emails...) are all on the spoilt hard drive now.

The tech guy said he would hold onto the spoilt one until I sort things out with Apple when their hotline opens on Monday morning, and I'm hoping they would send it and pay for recovery because 6 months hard drive failure is bad (recovery would cost $2k Singapore dollars, more than what I paid for the MacBook). Plus there is a creaking hinge problem I have not resolved with the MacBook, and tech guy said the build of my Mac is a bit wonky.

I don't know, I'm worried and I'm upset about the loss of files. Now I'm worried about the new external hard drive (I don't know what brand and model it is because it's with my colleague); what if it fails in the near future?

Suggestions please? Maybe backup in two different hard drive? Feasible? I have never been a fan of backing up files in my decade of using a computer, going to change that stupidity.

01-27-2008, 12:55 AM

i have not had to use it but i back up my entire mac book pro to a lacie
320gb external hard drive as soon as time capsule is released next month
i will own that also.time machine looks to be the way to go to grab item
specific.

01-27-2008, 06:52 AM

It's a real drag when a drive fails.
Feel for you, only a little with the cost of backup solutions today.
Expecting Apple to pay for a recovery service because you didn't have a back up.... might as well hang that up now, not gonna happen.... nor would it happen from any computer nor drive manufacturer.... sorry.

01-27-2008, 10:29 AM

I'm not in high hopes that Apple would pay for data recovery, but I'm pretty much peeved because I had hoped the quality of hard drive might be better overall with the Mac, but apparently loads of people have had problems within the first year of use (tech guy said so) and it just left me so frustrated.

6 months! Cannot believe it.

01-27-2008, 10:48 AM

Just as an FYI: Apple doesn't manufacture hard drives. They purchase them from the same manufacturers everyone else does. Namely, Western Digital, Hitachi, Samsung, and Seagate (also Maxtor, purchased last year by Seagate).

06-04-2009, 02:18 PM

All hard drives from all manufacturers will eventually fail, you often just can't predict when. You should have been backing up from the beginning, as your Macbook could have been stolen or dropped, and you've had been in the same predicament as now. Apple isn't responsible for you not backing up. Additionally their terms state you only have 90 days free telephone support. Only by taking out Applecare will you get free tech support and hardware repairs for up to 3 years. Any future backups you do should be additional to what's on your Macbook drive, then if either drive fails you have your data. I hope you are successful in getting your data back, but none of your problems are Apples.

06-05-2009, 10:39 PM

ok my solution is not free but i am a tech and this is what we do(we use for windows but there is a mac version)

first off you are going to have to boot in mac osx some way on that computer with another hard drive or another computer. you are going to want to connect your hard drive to the computer if it is a laptop you are going to need an adapter like this one
Newegg.com - Nippon Labs USB-ADT-25SATA 2.5" USB to 2.5" SATA HDD Adapter - External Enclosures
you want to make sure your drive will power up. if it does not there service to recover data is very expensive.
download the trial of stellar here.
Mac data recovery software recover Mac data from damaged, deleted Mac hard drive - data recovery Mac provides HFS, HFS+, HFSX & HFS wrapper file system recovery.
run through stellar making sure you are able to recover what you want then you will go and purchase it so it will not be a waste. you will also need to make sure you have a place large enough to store the data you want to recover.

if you are in need of hard drives to do recovery you can purchase them very cheap at Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

Good Luck!

06-05-2009, 10:57 PM

I would give what rustyk123 suggested a try. It can not hurt. Can you get the drive back from Apple?

I did this very thing a few months back on a Hard Drive from a Windows machine. I used a similar program and got all his data back for him. Since Data Recovery is so expensive, it can not hurt to try.

06-06-2009, 02:57 AM

I work as a tech for an Apple Authorised Service Provider in the UK. When a hard drive is replaced under warranty it has to be returned to Apple within a set time. This usually gives an AASP time to attempt a software data recovery using various software packages. In many cases the recovery software won't see the drive so can't attempt a recovery, then only a clean room data recovery may be successful. This can be very expensive. We would never give a drive back to a customer. If it was opened up, damaged or not returned it would cost the AASP the revenue for the job, plus the cost of the drive and performance points. To avoid this problem, Apple offers an approved data recovery program where the drive is shipped to a data recovery company in the USA and it doesn't distort the service providers TAT or the drive's warranty status, but again, no cheap solution.

09-14-2009, 04:58 PM

Hi guys! first off, I'm new here and I'm just searching for info

well, it finally happened to me. My hard drive failed yesterday I took it in to the G-Bar today and they are going to replace my hard drive. I'm bummed though because I hadn't backed up my files since like February

Originally Posted by rustyk123

ok my solution is not free but i am a tech and this is what we do(we use for windows but there is a mac version)

first off you are going to have to boot in mac osx some way on that computer with another hard drive or another computer. you are going to want to connect your hard drive to the computer if it is a laptop you are going to need an adapter like this one
Newegg.com - Nippon Labs USB-ADT-25SATA 2.5" USB to 2.5" SATA HDD Adapter - External Enclosures
you want to make sure your drive will power up. if it does not there service to recover data is very expensive.
download the trial of stellar here.
Mac data recovery software recover Mac data from damaged, deleted Mac hard drive - data recovery Mac provides HFS, HFS+, HFSX & HFS wrapper file system recovery.
run through stellar making sure you are able to recover what you want then you will go and purchase it so it will not be a waste. you will also need to make sure you have a place large enough to store the data you want to recover.

if you are in need of hard drives to do recovery you can purchase them very cheap at Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

Good Luck!

Once I get my HD back, I'm going to try the above method to see if I can recover my recent files. Hopefully it works!

09-14-2009, 05:23 PM

Have you tried booting up Ubuntu from the cd and see if you can access your files through that? When my HD failed that's what I tried to do, amongst other things. Didn't work for me, but I've known people who've managed, it depends on how "dead" your HD is. Just burn a copy of Ubuntu Live cd from another computer and give it a try, can't hurt.

09-14-2009, 07:20 PM

Originally Posted by kalen

Have you tried booting up Ubuntu from the cd and see if you can access your files through that? When my HD failed that's what I tried to do, amongst other things. Didn't work for me, but I've known people who've managed, it depends on how "dead" your HD is. Just burn a copy of Ubuntu Live cd from another computer and give it a try, can't hurt.

the guys at apple are already swapping out the hard drive so I don't think I can do that any more