The sad truth

Shannonb · Apr 16, 2008

I just had my hard drive fail and haven't backed it up in forever. Lost the majority of my music.

Here's a sad truth I learned today: all computer companies are the same.

Although Apple advertises superior products, the reality is there going to break down all the same just like Dell or HP. Apple is not infallible company and they have a bottom line like everyone else.

I don't want to be misunderstood. It was completely my fault I didn't back up everything but a lot of times I hear people talking about how great Apple is and they may even make better software but in the long run, their computers aren't any better than anybody elses.

My $0.02.

P.S. This was a brand new laptop that was a replacement for an old one that had a screen flickering issue. So it isn't like I'm ranting off of a one time occurrence.

The Vindicat3d · Apr 16, 2008

So you're stating your opinion as fact? Kay... and technically seagate is at fault here not apple, just my 2 cents.

dtravis7 · Apr 16, 2008

The Vindicat3d said:
So you're stating your opinion as fact? Kay... and technically seagate is at fault here not apple, just my 2 cents.

Hard drives fail all the time in any brand. Do people really believe Apple makes their own drives?

Most of the drives that are dying in Mac Notebooks are Seagates. Issue with the heads tearing up the platters. It's a known issue with that revision Seagate 2.5" drive.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/11/27/failing.macbook.drives/

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/warning/seagate-25+inch-hard-drive-flaw-affecting-macbooks-316350.php

And just to add after reading the rest of this thread, even if Apple WERE to make their own hard drives, they would not be perfect.

D3v1L80Y · Apr 16, 2008

Shannonb said:
Here's a sad truth I learned today: all computer companies are the same.

Although Apple advertises superior products, the reality is there going to break down all the same just like Dell or HP. Apple is not infallible company and they have a bottom line like everyone else.

It is unfortunate that this happened to you. But... look on the bright side... one good thing came from this....

You have reached a milestone and an epiphany that too many Apple users never reach or completely neglect to admit... and I commend you for it.

Today you've realized that the kool-aid doesn't taste as great as everyone says it does.

Computers will fail. Computers will crash. Computers are neither perfect nor near perfect.
Apple is no exception.

cwa107 · Apr 16, 2008

Hard drives are the single largest point of failure for any computer. This is why servers have redundant drive arrays and companies spend millions in backup tapes and devices. If your data is important to you, you should have a strategy for keeping it backed up. Hopefully someone else reading this thread won't have to learn this lesson the hard way as you did.

CL33Zero · Apr 16, 2008

D3v1L80Y said:
Computers will fail. Computers will crash. Computers are neither perfect nor near perfect.
Apple is no exception.

QFT..

Edit: Hmmm, kinda confused as to how I would get negative rep for this.. :Confused:

Derek McNelly · Apr 16, 2008

This has taught me a valuable lesson.

When I upgrade my hard drive, I should definitely go Western Digital.

I'm really sorry to hear about your experience, but at least now you can see through the RDF haze.

Corbri · Apr 17, 2008

I think overall I agree. I don't even have my mac yet, so I don't even have much to base opinion off of but I do have a website lol. And yeah I think there is a bottom line with all of them. My .02 is the companies are there to make money and if they kept things working we wouldn't pay extra for applecare and there would be no reason to buy new ones:

http://www.appledefects.com/wiki/index.php?title=MacBook_Pro

Dysfunction · Apr 17, 2008

Derek McNelly said:
This has taught me a valuable lesson.

When I upgrade my hard drive, I should definitely go Western Digital.

I'm really sorry to hear about your experience, but at least now you can see through the RDF haze.

Their MTBF rates are about the same as anyone elses. My professional advice, back up your data regularly. Would be better to have a RAID array in addition to back ups, but it isn't always possible

JohnTheMacGeek · Apr 17, 2008

Well, I guess I'll defend Apple here a bit. I believe they do produce a superior product, however, not an infallible one. Your drive wasn't manufactured by Apple so it isn't their drive that failed. The one thing you've learned from all of this, I'll assume, is to have a stronger backup strategy. You will likely not run into this data loss tragedy again!

Also, thanks for reminding me: I didn't run a backup yesterday so I'll do it right now.

Derek McNelly · Apr 17, 2008

Dysfunction said:
Their MTBF rates are about the same as anyone elses. My professional advice, back up your data regularly. Would be better to have a RAID array in addition to back ups, but it isn't always possible

If only I could do RAID on a MacBook.

However, I do regular (daily) time machine backups, monthly Carbon Copy Cloner backups, and I keep all my irreplaceable data in offsite storage about 30 miles from where I live on DVD-Rs.

dtravis7 · Apr 17, 2008

Derek McNelly said:
If only I could do RAID on a MacBook.

However, I do regular (daily) time machine backups, monthly Carbon Copy Cloner backups, and I keep all my irreplaceable data in offsite storage about 30 miles from where I live on DVD-Rs.

Yeah Macbook Raid! Cool!

You sound like you are very prepared in case of a drive failure or any other accident.

TopDog · Apr 17, 2008

I think Apple should get kudos for focusing on backup. With Time Machine (that I not a big fan of) they put the importance of backup on the map.

Where is Dell, HP, Microsoft, etc on that subject? When you buy any other consumer PC out there, you get no option for backup, they don't even mention that it's a good idea, probably because that would mean admitting that their products may break and loose your data.

While Apple in reality says: "Hey, stuff may happen. Here's what we think you should do...".

jah · Apr 17, 2008

TopDog said:
I think Apple should get kudos for focusing on backup. With Time Machine (that I not a big fan of) they put the importance of backup on the map.
While Apple in reality says: "Hey, stuff may happen. Here's what we think you should do...".

ya i am looking fwd to 10.5.3 to fix some time machine problems.

this is my first mac (macbook pro) and the apple stuff is over rated. all my previous portables lasted more then a few years but the macbook bricked inside a few months. the extended warranty is expensive.

mynameis · Apr 17, 2008

People always blame M$ for PC hard drive failures. Only natural that Apple is going to get a little blame for hard drive failures in their systems especially when you look at the hard drive and it has an Apple logo on it. Not saying it is right, but just how it is.

skaheadpunk · Apr 17, 2008

Sorry to go way OT, but what was happening with the screen on your old one? Mine's flickering. I'm worried.

Shannonb · Apr 17, 2008

dtravis7 said:
Hard drives fail all the time in any brand. Do people really believe Apple makes their own drives?

Most of the drives that are dying in Mac Notebooks are Seagates. Issue with the heads tearing up the platters. It's a known issue with that revision Seagate 2.5" drive.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/11/27/failing.macbook.drives/

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/warning/seagate-25+inch-hard-drive-flaw-affecting-macbooks-316350.php

And just to add after reading the rest of this thread, even if Apple WERE to make their own hard drives, they would not be perfect.

cwa107 said:
Hard drives are the single largest point of failure for any computer. This is why servers have redundant drive arrays and companies spend millions in backup tapes and devices. If your data is important to you, you should have a strategy for keeping it backed up. Hopefully someone else reading this thread won't have to learn this lesson the hard way as you did.

mynameis said:
People always blame M$ for PC hard drive failures. Only natural that Apple is going to get a little blame for hard drive failures in their systems especially when you look at the hard drive and it has an Apple logo on it. Not saying it is right, but just how it is.

Stop drinking the kool-aid here people. You are all making my points for me. The point is, Apple doesn't have any superior parts or new technology inside their computers that makes their hardware better. They have seagate hard drives, intel chips, etc. Which means that their is in reality no difference between Apple and Dell, HP, Sony, ... The difference is software, which I acknowledged that Apple's is better in my first post. But software isn't going to stop your screen from flickering, your optical drive from breaking, or your hard drive from failing. And from experience, Apple's hardware fails even more. I have no evidence to support besides my own experience.

Thank you for your time.

Shannonb · Apr 17, 2008

skaheadpunk said:
Sorry to go way OT, but what was happening with the screen on your old one? Mine's flickering. I'm worried.

It can be fixed. Or they can tell you its fixed three different times before they finally give you a new computer. Who knows?

I would recommend taking it to the apple store and if you can have video evidence of the flicker because it seems to be an on and off issue.

cheesybanana · Apr 17, 2008

My car would turn off whenever it got wet.

I had to fix it.

Stupid Hondas.

Shannonb · Apr 17, 2008

cheesybanana said:
My car would turn off whenever it got wet.

I had to fix it.

Stupid Hondas.

What if your engine fell out when you were driving?