Is my MacBook dying?

My MacBook Pro works just fine, except as time goes on, the whirring noise the disk drive makes sounds "sicker" and "sicker" every time I restart it or start it up. This is the only issue I have right now, but I was wondering if this is something I should worry about.

Disk drive?
If you mean the HD, back it up right away! Your drive is giving you warning signs that it's about to crash.
If your taking about the DVD/CD drive, then it may be failing. These Laptop DVD drives seem to fail faster than other DVD drives, due to their cramped environment.

Both cases, don't ignore it. Take the Laptop to apple and let them take a look at it.

McYukon said:

Disk drive?
If you mean the HD, back it up right away! Your drive is giving you warning signs that it's about to crash.
If your taking about the DVD/CD drive, then it may be failing. These Laptop DVD drives seem to fail faster than other DVD drives, due to their cramped environment.

Both cases, don't ignore it. Take the Laptop to apple and let them take a look at it.

Click to expand...

I've talked to a friend about it before, and he's certain it's the CD/DVD drive that makes the sound. Still, I've played/ripped CD's before with no problem so I still don't know if this is serious or not. I guess I should take it in (though I hate the fact that Apple Stores aren't near me in any direction).

Is there anything I could be doing that contributed to this noise? I rarely turn off my MacBook; I just leave it in sleep mode unless I'm about to move it elsewhere. However I am aware that most people do this, so I don't think this is the case. I always though I took extremely good care of my MacBook, so I'm perplexed that something like this is happening.

sleep condition is good, but in right situation ..
for examples : if you want to go lunch, or pick up a phone call, you may sleep your mac, it's still okay
or maybe if you want to leave your desk for a couple of minutes, then you sleep your mac, it's okay
but if you want to move from one place to another place with your car or bike better you turn off your mac .. it's more safely for a hard drive ..

tambalpanci said:

sleep condition is good, but in right situation ..
for examples : if you want to go lunch, or pick up a phone call, you may sleep your mac, it's still okay
or maybe if you want to leave your desk for a couple of minutes, then you sleep your mac, it's okay
but if you want to move from one place to another place with your car or bike better you turn off your mac .. it's more safely for a hard drive ..

Click to expand...

If I'm moving my Mac in such a way, I always turn it off (though I didn't do that at first, but I did start doing it before too long). So I don't think that's the problem. But otherwise, I pretty much leave it in sleep mode if I'm not using it, period. So it stays asleep overnight, etc. So is that bad...? I don't think so, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Nope it's ok, my Mac is always in sleep mode when I'm not using it.
Apple recommends though that you shutdown your Mac if it's not going to get used for more than several months.

As for the DVD drive, you could theoretically replace it yourself it you wanted to.
If your not going to get it fixed, it will most likely just die someday. It won't hurt anything else if it does, but the best thing to do is to get it replaced.

These people make excellent repair guides, and also sell replacement parts but those you can get elsewhere.
iFixit: The free repair manual

McYukon said:

Nope it's ok, my Mac is always in sleep mode when I'm not using it.
Apple recommends though that you shutdown your Mac if it's not going to get used for more than several months.

As for the DVD drive, you could theoretically replace it yourself it you wanted to.
If your not going to get it fixed, it will most likely just die someday. It won't hurt anything else if it does, but the best thing to do is to get it replaced.

These people make excellent repair guides, and also sell replacement parts but those you can get elsewhere.
iFixit: The free repair manual

Click to expand...

I'm not particularly handy, even with instructions, however I AM still under warranty, so I'll make the effort to take my MacBook to the Apple Store to have it serviced. I only hope that they would be able to take care of it within the same visit. Thanks!