MacBook Hard Drive Problems?

I've used this MacBook for a few years without any issues. It has always had very snappy response and very few problems. Earlier this week, I noticed that it takes about 4 minutes to boot up now as opposed to the 30 seconds it used to take just a week ago. Once running, Safari also tends to be unresponsive at times and slow to load. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that during boot up, I can HEAR the hard drive give off some "clicks" and faint "beeps" (for lack of a more technical description). In my experience with Windows machines, this is often a sign of hard drive problems.
With Vista, I can run a CHKDSK and fix the drive by taking the bad sectors out of the mix. I am trying to figure out how to best diagnose and repair my drive on this Mac. I tried booting from the Snow Leopard DVD and running Disk Utility/First Aid to find the problem, but this utility reports that everything is fine and dandy. I am not sure I agree.
Can someone tell me of a more powerful tool for the Mac that will fully diagnose any hardware or software problems on this machine so I can get it back to tip top performance. Is there a diagnostic utility provided by Apple? Other utilities built in to Snow Leopard? Third party applications?
As I have never had problems with a Mac before, I am in uncharted waters with regard to diagnostics so if anyone can help, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks!

domtrump wrote:
In addition to OSX (Leopard) I have two (2) "MacBook Mac OSX Install" discs. Does anyone know which one is bootable and contains the AHT utility?
You have to determine what version of Leopard shipped with your Mac. It might say on the disk. If not, put in the leopard disk and see which version it is. As stated in the link I gave you.........
For Intel-based Apple computers shipping with Mac OS X v10.5.4 or earlier, Apple Hardware Test is located on the Mac OS X Install Disc 1 and should be included with your computer.
For Intel-based Apple computers shipping with Mac OS X v10.5.5 or later, Apple Hardware Test is located on the Applications Install Disc 2 and should be included with your computer.
Here's another AHT faq.
DALE

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MacBook hard drive transform into an external hard drive problem

My macbook pro early 2008 just died. The mother circuit fried and well its not usuable anymore and the repair for it are like 900$. Having alot of data in my macbook hard drive , i ask the guy that work at the genius bar to take out of macbook hard drive.
then i install the hard drive in a enclosure kit to transform it into a portable external hard drive. My problem is:
It only read the Window partition info and doesnt even give the choice to view my Mac partition.
i divided my Macbook HD with bootcamp and i divided the window partition to only have 30 G and the rest (280g) to leave it for my Mac exploitation.
The HD cant seen to find my Mac partition and only shows the data i got on my Window partition, i was wondering wat can i do to get my HD to see the data of my MAC partition
Thx in advance for the answers

There are third party programs for Windows to read HFS+, and I won't promise anything, but a Linux LiveCD may work as well. I don't have any names off the top of my head for those third party programs, but google something like "Windows HFS+" and you should be able to come up with a few leads.
But in general, yes, you'll need a Mac to read a Mac partition.

MacBook Pro 15" Hard Drive Problem.

Hello ... I have a MacBook Pro 15" which recently died on me. When I turn it on, on the "gray" screen there is a blinking folder in the middle. Snow Leopard never boots up. I thought that my hard drive died, bought a new one for it. Replaced it and when I boot it from leopard to install it on the new drive, when I was asked to select the volume in which I want it the new OS, there was no drive that I could select. Therefore, I am stuck in that step. I used an external enclosure to see if the drive was faulty, but it came up on my iMac. I also placed the old hard drive on an enclosure, and it came up fine on the iMac. So, looks like it is not a hard drive problem, any ideas on what I can try or might be ... ? Thanks!!

Did you use the disk utility on the Snow Leopard installation disk to partition the new disk. If you don't do this the installer does not see the disk.

HT4759 I had to change my apple password to fix hard drive problem in my iPhone and now I cannot connect date stored in iCloud as my password has changed. How do I plug in new password to iCloud to be able to retrieve data from my MacBook Pro to my I pho

If you change your apple password how do you notifly icloud to resync everything? Forgot my apple password, had to change it due to hard drive problem on my iphone 4 which had to be totally erased then rebouted and now works but cannot download from my computer/icloud due to password change. So how do I orchestrate the change of password to icloud/computer to allow all to sync together?

If you use Lion, boot into your recovery pressing Command and R buttons, press "Utilities" menu, open Terminal and write:
resetpassword
If you have Snow Leopard, boot into your install DVD pressing C button, click "Utilities" and press Password Reset

MacBook hard drive and SATA hard drive

Can I use the Hitachi’s Travelstar 5K160 HTS541616J9SA00 2.5-inch SATA hard drive to, instead of putting their drive in the enclosure (it doesn’t come pre-installed), put my MAC Book (black model) hard drive in? I want to transfer the data from this hard drive into another MAC Book. My original computer had a problem with the board but I have my hard drive with data intact. I want to buy this SATA but am not sure if this would work, if I can put in the MacBook hard drive as if it was the SATA one... Help, anyone? Thanks!
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Hi there,
A number of people on NewEgg's product page for that drive say it's great for a MacBook, so I'd assume it's ok.
You can put your old MacBook hard drive into any external USB2.0 enclosure and retrieve the data.
Regards!

MBP Hard Drive Problem (Again)

My MBP is going back to the Geniuses for a HD problem for the 3rd time tomorrow, since I bought it in July. I am confused about exactly what is happening, and I would like any advice anyone might have about salvaging any of my data.
(The first two times, I brought it in because the HD died. The first time, they told me they had replaced the HD, though they hadn't. They ran diagnostics, decided it did not need to be replaced after erasing my data, and then gave it back to me. I brought it back the next day [t died that night as I was reinstalling] and they replaced the HD in about a day.)
Everything got really slow this weekend and I had "index" and "database" problems in my mail.app (twice), and my iTunes (twice). Now, the replacement HD has disappeared when I tried to reinstall the system software/repair the disk in disk utility.
This is the chronology:
I have had this hard drive for 3 weeks, installed at the local apple store to replace my factory-installed dead hard drive.
On Friday, my mail app stopped working. After diagnosing the error message (thanks to this forum), I learned that the index file was corrupted, so I reinstalled the index.
On Saturday, my iTunes said it couldn't read my iPod, so I restored my iPod, erasing all of my data (music, calendars, contacts, important documents). I continued to get the same error message.
Today, I restored it again, but I still couldn't get iTunes to write more than 2 gb of information (of the 20 gb of data). At that point, I decided I would have to send my iPod in for repairs and stopped trying.
8 hours later, I got an error message that said the iTunes index was corrupted. I started to put the music back in to iTunes, but the MBP kept kept freezing.
I restarted the machine and received the blinking questionmark. I put in my system installation disks to run disk utility and, if need be, reinstall my system software.
This is where it gets interesting:
Disk Utility can see the topline Disk Description and the SMART status is verified. But the name of the disk itself is wrong and the mount point says it is unmounted. The capacity is correct, but under everything from owners enabled to number of files and space available, there is just a dash.
Unlike my previous hard drive problem, there is no clunking, and the hard drive appears to be working. Disk Utility found the following: Invalid B-tree node size. The volume needs to be repaired. Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit. 1 HFS volume checked: volume needs repair. And that's it.
My questions are:
1. What is happening to my hard drive?
2. Is it dead or is there any way to fix it?
3. Is there any way to salvage my data? (Because of my iPod failure, I lost my calendars, contacts, important data from my last big back up 3 weeks ago, not to mention my carefully curated music collection. I have my documents backed up to gmail, but not my notes, which were on my iPod.)
4. Does it sound like an internal hardware problem or is it really just two bum hard drives (from two different manufacturers) in a row?
MacBook Pro 2.16 ghz Intel Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

In case anyone receives a series of index problems which escalate into apparent hard drive failure and blinking question mark of doom . . .
the Geniuses fixed the computer by doing a complete wipe of my hard drive.
They said that the directory error may have existed from before my last hard drive was installed, but I am not certain how such a thing could exist.
Because it was a directory error, I lost all of my data on the hard drive, but I was able to take the machine home with me within an hour. Since the erase and reinstallation, my computer is running much, much faster, and seemingly cooler, but that may just be my relief at having a working machine back.

Mac Hard Drive problems

So recently My Macbooks hard drive crashed so I was forced to buy a new one but I don't have an OS disk and I don't think the laptop came with one. Am I just screwed or would mac support give me another cd of the same version my compture came with? It's obviously a mac and Mac people were the ones to diagnose my problem. Any answers?

Hi and welcome...
I was forced to buy a new one but I don't have an OS disk and I don't think the laptop came with one
All new Macs come with install discs excluding the new MacBook Air.
You can get replacement System Install & Restore CD/DVDs from Apple's Customer Support - in the US, (800) 767-2775 - for a nominal S&H fee. You'll need to have the model and/or serial number of your Mac available.
Carolyn

After I configure my time capsule to my newly replaced macbook hard drive, are my old backups still available?

After I configure my time capsule to my newly replaced macbook hard drive, are my old backups still available?

How old was this backup? It sounds like it was at least several weeks old.
You can look directly in the TM backup for the music.
1. Connect to the external HDD the backup is kept on.
2. Open a Finder window and select the backup drive in the left hand panel. Double click into the folders until you see a list of folders with dates.
These are the incremental backups. You can start at the top or the bottom of the list but I suggest you double Latest/<HDD Name>/Users/<Account Name>/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music. From this location you can start looking for the "missing" music. When/if you find it you can simply drag-n-drop to ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music on the internal HDD.
If the music is actually not in the backups (for whatever reason) then you've got a problem.
You can download the uploaded files from the cloud by deleting the affected tracks from the iTunes library (but not the cloud!), highlighting multiple tracks at once, right-clicking and choosing "download."

BACK UP THOSE MACBOOK HARD DRIVES!

The hard drive on my MacBook FAILED! There were no warning signs!! It is currently in for the installation of new hard drive (via extended warranty). When talking to my repair technician he said this is not the first MacBook he has seen come his way with a failed hard drive. I did have my data backed up but I will need to reinstall all my apps. This is the second major problem I have had with this MB. I was a victim of the "random shut down" some time ago (lost all my hard drive data that time too!). Please be warned - BACKUP - BACKUP - BACKUP!

Hard drives do fail. The particular problem with the Apple OEM Seagate drives is a bit frustrating, but I'm guessing that they're trying to sort things out for some sort of compensation before making the resolution public. Even without a serious manufacturing defect like the Seagate Momentus 5400.2 Firmware 7.01 drives, random hard drive crashes happen enough.
In any case, hard drive failures are the most common way for things to go bad easily and possibly the easiest to recover from with a decent backup strategy. The MacBook hard drive is ridiculously easy to replace compared to the iBooks that it replaced in Apple's lineup.

Hard drive problem...... Please Help

Hard drive problems
I am sure it is due to my error or mistake but I received a new Maxtor III touch as a replacement for my failed drive yesterday after connecting it I went to Maxtor one touch manager software that came with it and the drive did not appear in the window so then I opened disk utilities and copied my notebook hard drive over to the Maxtor ran permissions on each drive and then closed down my system ! today when I opened my Powerbook with the Maxtor on it gave me the grey screen 2x so I disconnected the Maxtor ran permissions again and everything was fine until i power up the Maxtor and Grey screen again! Help How do I fix this?????

Maxtor one touch III firewire 800 its connected to my Titanium G$ Powerbook I am beginning to think its just another drive failure

I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

In the Mac side of things, backups usually come in two flavors: clones or incrementals.
A bootable clone is a bit-for-bit copy of all essential files in the startup volume. If using the Lions, clones can be made using CarbonCopyCloner or just plain old Disk Utility. These backups represent the safest protection of your info, but take the longest to do. Recovery is an inverse process: you copy the clone back into the internal drive.
Incremental backups start with a complete backup of the startup volume and only copy whatever changed from the previous run. OS X includes the fully integrated Time Machine backup utility to do this. It is extremely easy to do and takes the least amount of time. Recovery is another matter altogether since you have to start with a freshly installed instance of the OS and have to apply all intervening backups to bring the result to the latest saved version.
As for where the backup takes place, the recommended media is an external dedicated drive or drives connected via the fastest interface available on your Mac: Thunderbolt, USB3, Firewire, or USB2. Network-based backups, wired or wireless, are attractive but may not offer the same performance and hence take longer. Also important to note that the entire drive need not be completely dedicated to a single backup. The Mac's EFI firmware infrastructure allows for an unlimited number of partitions on a hard drive and each can be used for either type of backups.
Holler if you need specifics on how to do each. This was just an executive summary.

What All Do I Need If I Want To Upgrade My Macbook Hard Drive?

hey guys.
i've tried reading up a little but i was hoping someone (or a few people) could give me some straight up answers.
if i want to upgrade my macbook hard drive what all do i need? just the hard drive? or are there other pieces?
also.. whats a good 250GB one? i found this one on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-2-5-Western-Digital-250GB-SATA-Harddrive_W0QQitemZ220271 134397QQihZ012QQcategoryZ158853QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
is that one any good? i just know the name (Western Digital) and have heard good things about them...
any comments are welcome.
thanks!
beau

I got a 320GB sata 2.5" hard drive and installed it myself, its easy. I also got a caddy so I can use my old 120GB drive as a back up. Make sure u have everything backed up! Seagate and western digital drives are most popular. I asked similar q and got this answer"
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.
If your backup is bootable, then boot from the external drive and use SuperDuper to clone it back to the newly installed drive.
Mac Pro 2.66 Ghz; MacBook Pro C2D 2.33 Ghz; MacBook Pro 2.16 Ghz Mac OS X (10.5.4) Intel iMac C2D 17 "; MacBook 2.0 Ghz.
And
Now, to install the hard drive, follow http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Core-Duo/Hard-Drive-Replacement/86/5/

Computer is balky random freezes across apps. Two hard drive cleans later (their scan reveals no hard drive problems) photo shop won't work at all, magic touch mouse inoperable and their diagnoses is corrupted data? Anybody heard of this?

Computer is balky random freezes across apps. Two hard drive cleans later (their scan reveals no hard drive problems) photo shop won't work at all, magic touch mouse inoperable and their diagnoses is corrupted data? Anybody heard of this?

Well, yes, data does get corrupted sometimes.
The trick is finding what data.
By 'cleaned' are you therefor meaning that the drive has been erased and the system re-installed?
Because that's the quickest way to deal with such a situation.
Back up the system first of course,
Add back 3rd party apps one at a time in case one of them is causing the problem.

I was trying to sync my 120GB iPod Classic earlier and it said it couldn't sync as the iPod disk could not be "read" or "written to". I now can't get anything onto my iPod, and I was wondering if it is a hard drive problem? Any help appreciated. Thanks.

I was trying to sync my 120GB iPod Classic earlier, and it said it couldn't sync as the iPod disk could not be "read" or "written to." I now can't get anything onto my iPod, and I was wondering if it is a hard drive problem? Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Did you go into iTunes to change the location of your media files? if not you will need to go into iTunes and click on preference and select the advance tab then click the iTunes Media folder location. Select the location of your on external hard drive.

MacBook hard drive is full again. Replaced original hard drive with a Samsung SSD 840 Pro Series 256GB hard drive about 18 mo. ago, but my MacBook is now already saying that my hard drive is full again. 13in. Alum. Late 2008 MacBook

My MacBook hard drive is full again. I have a 13in. Aluminum, Late 2008 MacBook, and about 18 months ago (in October 2013), I replaced the original hard drive with a Samsung SSD 840 Pro Series 256GB hard drive. However, my MacBook is now already saying that my hard drive is full again. When I check "System Information," under "Storage," it states the following: Audio 52.02 GB; Movies 33.68GB; Photos 43.13GB; Apps 14.76 GB; Backups 174.4 MB; and Other 96.39GB.
Also, at home, I have an Apple Time Capsule 4th Generation 2TB that I use as my wireless router, and I also use it for automatic backup via Time Machine. And when I first purchased Time Capsule, the first time I connected Time Capsule, Time Machine asked if I would like to use it to back up my files, and I clicked, "Use as Backup Disk." And that's really all I've ever done with Time Capsule.
In addition, I also have a LaCie Porsche Design P'9223 1TB external hard drive. I have copied my MacBook's hard drive onto my LaCie external hard drive.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Obviously the Audio, Movies, Photos, and Apps are taking up a lot of space... Any suggestions re: what I can do with Audio, Movies, Photos, and Apps? And what about the Other? Other is taking up 96.39 GB. What is Other, and what can I do about it?
And what about partitioning my hard drive... Is that something I should do? Should I partition, or configure, my MacBook's internal hard drive differently? And should I partition, or configure, my external hard drive? And if I need to partition, or configure, my MacBook's internal hard drive differently, how do I setup Time Machine to backup per any such changes? Same thing for my external hard drive?
13in. Aluminum, Late 2008 MacBook, 250 GB (with upgraded Samsung SSD 840 Pro Series 256GB hard drive)
Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
OS X 10.9.5
plus
Apple Time Capsule 4th Generation 2TB
LaCie Porsche Design P'9223 1TB external hard drive
Thank you for your help.

Partitioning makes no sense. You have a drawer full of stuff. Split it into two smaller drawers and you have two smaller drawers full of stuff.
Decide what you can store on external storage - your iPhoto/Aperture/Lightroom libraries can all be stored on externals, as can your iTunes Libraries and so on. Do you need to carry 30 gigs of movies with you all the time? You can get portable drives the size of an iPhone these days.

MacBook Hard Drive Problems?

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