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Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Notebook Hardware
Is my hard drive dead?!
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<blockquote data-quote="dogtanian" data-source="post: 854053" data-attributes="member: 103880"><p>Hello</p><p>I wonder whether anyone could kindly give me some advice please?</p><p></p><p>I have a Macbook, about 20 months old, running 10.4.</p><p></p><p>Last night it froze for no reason and I couldn't do anything, not even Force Quit applications as it was totally unresponsive. I turned it off by holding the power key. When I restarted the macbook it had a grey screen and flashing folder with a question mark in.</p><p></p><p>I googled and found loads of info on what I needed to do.... but I'm having the following probs.</p><p></p><p>When I boot pressing C the machine will not startup from DVD. I've tried this about 50 times! On one occasion only it DID, but when I selected the Disk Utility it got stuck on <em>Gathering Disk Information</em> with the cogwheel and wouldn't progress past there. I haven't been able to get back to that stage again. </p><p></p><p>When I boot pressing D with DVD1 in the drive - nothing happens.</p><p></p><p>When I boot pressing T I have managed to get the firewire logo to appear twice.</p><p></p><p>When I boot pressing shift or Command-V or Command-S -- nothing happens.</p><p></p><p>When I boot pressing Control - the mouse pointer appears but the blank screen remains. At this stage the caps-lock key will light if pressed, whereas on trying the other boot sequences above it will not.</p><p></p><p>I have reset the NVRAM which appeared to work because it reset my volume level (previously on mute) so I now hear the start-up tone... but it hasn't helped my problem.</p><p></p><p>I now don't get the flashing folder when I try and start up... I just get the grey screen. After a period of time it will spit my DVD out and the flashing folder with question mark reappears.</p><p></p><p>My wife has a Macbook Pro so I've just ordered a firewire 9 to 6 pin cable and if I can get my Macbook to boot into firewire mode again I will try and see if I can grab any of my files from the hard drive. But to be honest there is nothing on my hard drive that I am that worried about, so if I can't salvage anything it doesn't matter -- I certainly don't want to be paying for any attempted data recovery.</p><p></p><p>I have a few questions it anyone can help:</p><p>- Does it sound to you like this is just a hard drive failure or could it be something more catastrophic?</p><p></p><p>If it is just a hard drive failure then I don't really want to be paying my Apple service centre for tell me this....... not least because they are 40 mins drive away but also because the instructions/pics I have seen make it seem like it's a very simple job to change my own hard drive.</p><p></p><p>Therefore if I were to buy my own I'm not really sure what to get? I don't really need anything bigger than 250 or 320GB. I don't know what make is good or who is a good online retailer? </p><p>For example these 3 are all £59.99 but one is 160GB, one 250GB and one 320GB and the spec all looks pretty similar to me:</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.onlyformac.co.uk/epages/es109262.sf/?ObjectPath=/Shops/es109262_shop/Products/%22160Gb%202.5%22%22%20SATA%20Hard%20Disk%20Drive%20Apple%20MacBook/Pro/Mini%22&ViewAction=ViewProductViaPortal&Locale=en_GB" target="_blank">160Gb 2.5" SATA Hard Disk Drive Apple MacBook/Pro/Mini - Apple Mac Store</a></p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.onlyformac.co.uk/epages/es109262.sf/?ObjectPath=/Shops/es109262_shop/Products/%22Hard%20Disk%20Drive%20Apple%20MacBook/Pro/Mini%20250GB%22&ViewAction=ViewProductViaPortal&Locale=en_GB" target="_blank">Hard Disk Drive Apple MacBook/Pro/Mini 250GB - Apple Mac Store</a></p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.maconestopshop.co.uk/scorpio-blue-320gb-hard-drive-upgrade-for-macbook-and-mac-mini.html" target="_blank">- Scorpio Blue 320GB Hard Drive Upgrade for MacBook & Mac mini Mac One stop Shop</a></p><p></p><p>Many thanks for any help.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="dogtanian, post: 854053, member: 103880"] Hello I wonder whether anyone could kindly give me some advice please? I have a Macbook, about 20 months old, running 10.4. Last night it froze for no reason and I couldn't do anything, not even Force Quit applications as it was totally unresponsive. I turned it off by holding the power key. When I restarted the macbook it had a grey screen and flashing folder with a question mark in. I googled and found loads of info on what I needed to do.... but I'm having the following probs. When I boot pressing C the machine will not startup from DVD. I've tried this about 50 times! On one occasion only it DID, but when I selected the Disk Utility it got stuck on [I]Gathering Disk Information[/I] with the cogwheel and wouldn't progress past there. I haven't been able to get back to that stage again. When I boot pressing D with DVD1 in the drive - nothing happens. When I boot pressing T I have managed to get the firewire logo to appear twice. When I boot pressing shift or Command-V or Command-S -- nothing happens. When I boot pressing Control - the mouse pointer appears but the blank screen remains. At this stage the caps-lock key will light if pressed, whereas on trying the other boot sequences above it will not. I have reset the NVRAM which appeared to work because it reset my volume level (previously on mute) so I now hear the start-up tone... but it hasn't helped my problem. I now don't get the flashing folder when I try and start up... I just get the grey screen. After a period of time it will spit my DVD out and the flashing folder with question mark reappears. My wife has a Macbook Pro so I've just ordered a firewire 9 to 6 pin cable and if I can get my Macbook to boot into firewire mode again I will try and see if I can grab any of my files from the hard drive. But to be honest there is nothing on my hard drive that I am that worried about, so if I can't salvage anything it doesn't matter -- I certainly don't want to be paying for any attempted data recovery. I have a few questions it anyone can help: - Does it sound to you like this is just a hard drive failure or could it be something more catastrophic? If it is just a hard drive failure then I don't really want to be paying my Apple service centre for tell me this....... not least because they are 40 mins drive away but also because the instructions/pics I have seen make it seem like it's a very simple job to change my own hard drive. Therefore if I were to buy my own I'm not really sure what to get? I don't really need anything bigger than 250 or 320GB. I don't know what make is good or who is a good online retailer? For example these 3 are all £59.99 but one is 160GB, one 250GB and one 320GB and the spec all looks pretty similar to me: [url=http://www.onlyformac.co.uk/epages/es109262.sf/?ObjectPath=/Shops/es109262_shop/Products/%22160Gb%202.5%22%22%20SATA%20Hard%20Disk%20Drive%20Apple%20MacBook/Pro/Mini%22&ViewAction=ViewProductViaPortal&Locale=en_GB]160Gb 2.5" SATA Hard Disk Drive Apple MacBook/Pro/Mini - Apple Mac Store[/url] [url=http://www.onlyformac.co.uk/epages/es109262.sf/?ObjectPath=/Shops/es109262_shop/Products/%22Hard%20Disk%20Drive%20Apple%20MacBook/Pro/Mini%20250GB%22&ViewAction=ViewProductViaPortal&Locale=en_GB]Hard Disk Drive Apple MacBook/Pro/Mini 250GB - Apple Mac Store[/url] [url=http://www.maconestopshop.co.uk/scorpio-blue-320gb-hard-drive-upgrade-for-macbook-and-mac-mini.html]- Scorpio Blue 320GB Hard Drive Upgrade for MacBook & Mac mini Mac One stop Shop[/url] Many thanks for any help. [/QUOTE]
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Apple Computing Products:
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Is my hard drive dead?!
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