Hard Drive Crash

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Hi everyone! My name is Cat, and earlier this month my Macbook froze up and after shutting it down manually it will no longer boot up. It shows a blue screen, with a folder and flashing question mark. It also makes a clicking noise.

I purchased my Macbook 13" in October 2006. Never had a problem till now. I've been doing some online research and it seems to be a hard drive failure.

Unfortunately I lost my start up disk. I've been looking up hard drives online to purchase, I just could use some suggestions on which one to purchase. It seems pretty easy to install on my own vs paying someone to do it. I'm just worried about not having the install disk. Could I use an install disk from a newer gen Macbook? I'm not that tech savvy, so I need some help!

Thank you!
 
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Las Vegas, NV USA
Your Mac's Specs
iMac, and Macbook Pro
The online sellers will show you which HDs are compatible with your model Macbook. So you shouldn't have a problem there. Using an install disk from a newer generation Macbook should work fine as long as your machine has the Intel processor. Otherwise, I think you need the older install disk. I don't remember what was in the 2006 Macbooks.
 
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Montreal, Quebec
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Mini late 09 version
I believe it was Tiger ...
 
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Hi everyone! My name is Cat, and earlier this month my Macbook froze up and after shutting it down manually it will no longer boot up. It shows a blue screen, with a folder and flashing question mark. It also makes a clicking noise.

I purchased my Macbook 13" in October 2006. Never had a problem till now. I've been doing some online research and it seems to be a hard drive failure.

Unfortunately I lost my start up disk. I've been looking up hard drives online to purchase, I just could use some suggestions on which one to purchase. It seems pretty easy to install on my own vs paying someone to do it. I'm just worried about not having the install disk. Could I use an install disk from a newer gen Macbook? I'm not that tech savvy, so I need some help!

Thank you!
It has been my experience that any S-ATA (Serial ATA) 2.5" laptop hard drive will work fine.

I've replaced my HD two or three times - getting a bigger drive each time (80GB, 160GB and now at 500GB) and I just buy what ever is on sale at Fry's Electronics - Seagate, WD, Maxtor - it doesn't seem to matter. I'm running a Seagate right now.

I always buy the 7200RPM drives - they give you faster access to the data.

If you Macbook 13" is Intel based, any of the newer OS disks will work. If it is Intel based, then I think you can do a clean install from the latest Snow Leopard "Upgrade" disk even without an existing OS installed.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
Any top line drive will fill the bill, Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi, Fujitsu. As to the start up disc I think differently to VegasGeorge on the question of using a later model machine install disc. Usually they are extremely model specific, but by all means give it a try
 
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MacBook Pro 17" HD
harryb2448 is right. Many times the disks that come with you Mac will only be usable by a specific model. Typically you will receive an error message when attempting to use the disk. A newer disk may or may not work.

However, any off-the-shelf Mac OS X disk should work fine even without an OS installed. Apple doesn't appear to be quite as tied to the "Upgrade" vs. "New Installation" licensing model that Microsoft uses. One-size-fits-all.

You can also order replacement installation disks for your Mac through Apple Care. Typically the disks cost less (sometimes significantly) than purchasing a new OS disk. Remember, though, that they will be the same version operating system as was originally installed on your Mac.

Jeff
 

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