Mac (notice I didn't capitalize all of it) Lover HD Probs

I'm fairly certain or at least worried that my HD is going south. I am a new Mac owner and have read these forums on and off for months. I have an April 2011 13" MBP and love it. I bought it because I was curious more than anything. I am sold on the product. I had an iPhone, but where I work I couldn't get a signal and Verizon has repeaters in the building which lead me to a Droid X - don't like it much. Waiting for the iPhone 5 to come along and hopefully with a larger screen (I'm getting old).

Anyway, I realize there are other forums within the Mac-Forums where I could have posted this, but I figured I still fall under the switchers arena and need recommendations for a new HD. I would like to make an image of my current HD on the new HD, and just swap them out and reboot. I have Paralles installed with Window if that makes any difference.

My HD is making clicking noises while I type. I've built 4 different PC's and never had an HD crap out on me. Consequently making an image is new to me.

Thanks for your help,
Steve

PS - There aren't any Mac Stores in Wichita, KS, and I realize it is still under warranty, but I'd rather replace the HD than send it back to Apple with all of my personal info and what not on the drive and wait weeks to get it fixed. I need my Mac.

I would imagine in a city as large as Wichita, Kansas there are a least several authorized Apple service centers. I don't like to recommend Best Buy but in a pinch they can be used to replace the hard drive under your warranty. Look in your phone book or use Yahoo Yellow Pages to find an authorized Apple dealer and get the MBP repaired for free.

As far as backing up your data, use the built in Time Machine to back up to an external drive. Your Boot Camp partition can be likewise backed up with the free WinClone (if it's formatted as NTFS).

Before taking the machine in for repairs, erase the hard drive or at least remove all sensitive data. Replacing the hard drive should take no more than an hour.

Thanks for the information. Now that I think about it, there is a computer shop hrer that advertises Apple service. I'll check them out. Thanks again.

Steve

I agree with Chscag and do not usually recommend Best Buy either. Try and find a real authorized Apple place.

When I saw your post that said no caps on Mac I was tempted to tease you and change the title to MAC but won't do that to a new user! Grin

Keep us posted how it all goes when you take it in.