Can anyone help me pick out a new laptop hard drive?

Well hopefully it isn't an SMB bus problem or something like that. I had one of those with a Mac and they wanted over $1K to replace a MB in a computer barely worth $200 more than that. That's why I left Mac.

 

I guess maybe I should take it somewhere so it can be properly diagnosed? It was working flawlessly when I fell asleep, I woke up and it was done for.

 

Sometimes when drives go they won't be recognized at all. I'd take it out and put it in an external dock or enclosure and see if it spins up or another machine recognizes it. If you don't have a friend with one, you can pick one up for ~$10 online.

 

I'd also hook up the internal SATA to another drive and see if the system recognizes it.

 

Could I just do that with my GF's hard drive? Like take it out of hers and plug it in to mine? Or would that somehow erase her data on there? I wouldn't think it would but just checking

 

Sure, but then you are messing with a perfectly good computer that is your girlfriends. Do you want to die? Jks

 

So small update.

I finally found a screwdriver small enough to take off the back panel of the laptop and after I did that I pulled out the hard drive and let it sit unplugged for a few minutes. Then I plugged it back in and tried to start it up. It started up like normal, I was able to log in, and then after about 30 seconds of being logged in and on my desktop it went back to just pinwheeling. Then when I restarted I got the flashing folder icon again. Soooo not sure exactly what that means but it seemed odd that it would start to work and then quit again.

 

It is likely your drive is dying. Do a data transfer while you still can. Get the kit and get it done.

 

thanks for all the help!

 

No problem . Best of luck!

 

Go with a samsung ssd drive. I got the 500gb in my macbook that I got off ebay for $250. When one of my previous drives went out on my macbook the drive would work for a bit then stop, but I was eventually able to retrieve all my stuff. What you can do and this might sound crazy is to put the harddrive in a bag and place in the freezer for 20-30 mins take it out plug it in right away. I did this lots of times until I got all my data. Freezing it does something to the inside of the drive.

 

It has to do with the way electromagnets are slightly stronger when cold. At least that's what I was told.

 

Yeah I ended up ordering a samsung one off newegg. Should be here Tuesday hopefully. I'll try the freezer trick to get as much data as I can. There really isn't anything super important aside from a few hundred pictures and some school documents.

 

Well the saga continues. New Samsung SSD got here today. I opened everything up, switched out the bad drive and put in the new drive, and did a recovery boot so I could get to reinstalling a fresh copy of the OS.


Buuuuuut the computer is still not recognizing that a hard drive is even connected. So now in thinking it's something with the connector or mkre internal that was causing it to seem like my hard drive was shot.

I then took the SSD back out and plugged it in to the USB port and fired things up that way. The laptop recognized the hard drive just fine that way. So now my question is, what is the next logical possibility it could be?


And can I in theory just install the OS to the SSD and just keep that plugged in to the USB so I can at least use my laptop until I get things figured all the way out? Or is that a no no?

 

Also not sure if it matters, but I can feel:hear the old drive spinning when the computer is powered up as well. Not sure if that really helps anything

 

Does the MB connect to the HDD with a SATA cable? All do, but that cable can in theory go bad so try replacing that. You can find one almost anywhere for $5-10 if they sell computer parts. IF the cable is fine then the MB is screwed, or possible the connection to the MB. Either way you can't usually replace the MB in a Mac without a lot of work and $$$.

 

Crap. This is probably an error with the MB firmware. I don't think Mac allows you to update or repair the firmware (AKA flashing the BIOS on a windows machine). You'll have to get them to look at it and that can cost $$$, especially since they will likely want to replace the MB. Never replace a MB in a laptop. You can almost buy a new one for the same amount of money.

I know this will suck to hear but this is why I don't buy Macs. On my windows machines I can easily reflash the BIOS. With a Mac I don't know if you can.

 

This is the cable:



Also when the old hard drive is connected via USB it's read just fine as well.

 

I'll look in to it. It was a graduation gift from my family/grandparents so I didn't really get to pick it out.

 

Yeah, that's a SATA cable and it looks like a custom one that carries both power and data. Since the signal for data is carried on a separate cable, as it is with all SATA drives, there is a chance the data cable is damaged.

However the most likely problem is that the Motherboard, or Logicboard on a Mac, is damaged. The damage can either be to the EFI, which is the firmware that tells the system what to do, or the damage could be physical.

Unfortunately all you can do at this point is play around with the cable. I wouldn't try to flash the EFI with an update unless you have experience doing so. Playing with the EFI can cause a fatal error, and a fatal error to the EFI means your computer is toast.