My 2011 mbp says it has a hard drive failure. Can I replace drive myself

My 2011 MacBook Pro says panic kernel not readable. I'm guessing hard drive failure but a post said it could be the cable. Can I troubleshoot this myself.

yes - you can purchase a external usb enclosure - around $10 at Radio Shack and $8 at Staples.
you can install your hard drive there and if it boots as a external drive - then your cable needs to be replaced.
http://www.amazon.com/Vantec-NexStar-2-5-Inch-External-Enclosure/dp/B002JQNXZC/r ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366843524&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+external+enclosure

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I want to make a TimeMachine backup in a new hard-drive I just bought. It says it has to erase the info but as the drive is new there's no info in it, so what it is going to be erased?

I want to make a TimeMachine backup in a new hard-drive I just bought. It says it has to erase the info but as the drive is new there's no info in it, so what it is going to be erased?
I had to format it after I bought it so that it could work with windows and Mac and I'm afraid that if I erase the info in the hard-drive, the format will also change. Is that possible to happen? Or the format will stay the same?
Thank you

Do you want to continue to use it to share and store files between Windows and NTFS and Mac which uses HFS?
Maybe you need another drive. I would never have only one backup and one "live" data set.
you probably installed something, whether it is current or well supported or not, that came with the drive to allow writing to NTFS.
TimeMachine has to use HFS only and use Apple GPT (GUID) format.
sometimes erase changes a drive to GUID when you click on the raw hard drive name in Disk Utility. other times you can erase a volume and leave the partition format type as is. The wording use to be clearer when people knew when and how to initialize, format and setup a drive. And sometimes a message on the screen says it will be only launches Disk Utility and not to the PARTITION tab to make changes.
In addition to TimeMachine, having a clone of your system or data or both can be very useful as well. Drives fail.
And with a MacBook Air you probably have a smallish internal hard drive and might need to store media files and data on another drive to supplement the internal SSD.

When i try to install windows 8 with bootcamp on my Macbook pro (early 2011) it says it only supports windows 7, how can i fix this?

When i try to install windows 8 with bootcamp on my Macbook pro (early 2011) it says it only supports windows 7, how can i fix this?

if your computer does not support the operating system you wish to install in bootcamp then you have to use a virtual machine like virtual box to install the operating system you wish to install

The instagram icon on my iTunes says it has been downloaded but I can't seem to find it. Where do I find it?

The instagram icon on my iTunes says it has been downloaded but I can't seem to find it. Where do I find it?

Hi Charlene1018,
You can locate any of your iTunes media including apps in Finder by following this article:
Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Locating the file for an item you see in iTunes
If you're not sure where some of the content you see in iTunes is stored, iTunes will also show you what it knows about your media in the Get Info window.
Select an item in iTunes and choose File > Get Info.
You can right-click on the 'Where' to get the option to Show in Finder (Mac OS X) or Show in Windows Explorer (Windows).
Cheers!
- Ari

I cant download the itunes 11.1 it says itunes has an invalid signature what can i do ?

i cant download the itunes 11.1 it says itunes has an invalid signature what can i do ?

Have you tried several times?
Look at some of the topics in the right panel ------->

HT4628 some times my internet connection will say it has timed out and I can not connect. but my friends mac never has a problem. How can I fix this?

some times my internet connection will say it has timed out and I can not connect. but my friends mac never has a problem. How can I fix this?

Just confirming, when you have the trouble, the wifi icon is grayed-out or has all bars showing? I believe you are saying that is is grayed-out - not connected to your wireless router.
I have a Mini that started to lose connection to the Internet after the 10.7.3 update but still showed the wireless as connected. If I pinged the wireless router, I would get a quarter of the packets failing to return. The router was a Netgear that supported 802.11N connections. As a test, I set it to 802.11G (54MBps) maximum and the Mini worked fine for a week - no dropouts. And for the other devices that did support 802.11N, while there was a noticeable delay with downloads and pages loading, they still worked.
As another test, I changed the Netgear router to a Billion 802.11N model and the Mini has not had a problems since. (It is still using 802.11g). So it could be your router that is causing trouble for your Mac.
Have a look at some of the More Like This postings in the right column. There has been a number of Mac owners experiencing wifi connection issues and some very good suggestions as to how to resolve their issue.

Safari says Netflix has a plug-in failure when loading for streaming. How do I find out what plug-in I need?

Safari says Netflix has a plug-in failure when I try to stream video. How do I find out which plug-in I need?

I understand Netflix requires Microsoft Silverlight.
http://www.microsoft.com/getsilverlight/Get-Started/Install/Default.aspx
Fault finding tips for Silverlight will be at that web site.
Netflix help site should have answers also.
https://help.netflix.com/help

2011 MBP 8.2 has horizontal blue/white lines on boot.

Like the subject line says my 2011 MBP only shows blue/white horizontal lines on boot.
Just started to happen.
The screen froze while I was swiping btwn screens so I rebooted and that's when it occurred.
Tried the SMC reset w/o any luck.
I hope nothing is fried.
Any help is appreciated.

Your profile says "2008" but the header says "2011"... which is it?
Regardless, it sounds as if you have a problem with either your Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) or with your screen - more likely than not, your GPU. You need to get to an Apple Store or an AASP and have them run diagnostics on your machine. The repair might be costly if you're no longer under AppleCare.
Clinton

Itunes wont open and gives me a message saying "Itunes has stopped working". What can I do to fix this?

I use windows vista and I have upgraded my itunes. Now when I open it, it gives me a message saying "itunes has stopped working" and then gives me a message saying it will notify me for a solution. What can I do to fix this so it can open and not give me any more problems???

First you can try;
Try restarting PC and run itunes again!
If error again than perform clean instal of itunes (uninstal first and than instal again)!

Trying to update iTunes 10.5.2 my mac book air keeps telling me that it is installed but when i plug my new iPad and iPhone it keeps saying it has only 10.3 iTunes can anyone help?

I m trying to update iTunes 10.5.2 my mac book air but it keeps telling me that it is installed but when i plug my new iPad and iPhone it keeps saying it has only 10.3 iTunes and it needs at least 10.5 version can anyone help?

no that does seem to work it is as if it is not recognising it. it says installed on screen but when plug new ipad and iphone4s in it says new version required but i have ran a system update and it says everything is updated

Hard drive failureâ¦ 3 1 TB drives dead?

I have had three 1 TB drives fail after very little use.
The first two drives were Western Digital Green 1 TB drives. Best Buy was overstocked and selling the Mac version of its USB Western Digital drives. I took the drives out of the cases and Installed them directly into an G4 MDD with a Sonnet's Tempo™ Serial ATA PCI adapter card)
When neither drive would operate, I learned that the sonnet card required me to install a jumper on the hard drives. I inserted the jumpers in the correct location, and both drives worked brilliantly… For about three weeks.
Now, both Western Digital drives are useless. One of the drives doesn't even spin up, the other is inconsistent and has a lot of read/write errors. Now, disk utilities cannot reformat the drive.
Suggestions? Could it be of the logic board on the drive? Would it be worth replacing that?
I purchased a Seagate barracuda one gig drive (Hard drive only) and put it into an external case which had 2 FireWire 800 and 1 SATA ports. The Seagate is a nice solid drive and never gave me any trouble… UNTIL… I accidentally plugged the wrong adapter into the external case. The power adapter was .5 A output and the correct power adapter was one amp output.
The drive worked at first and then suddenly stopped. With the correct power adapter, the case works fine with other hard drives… So it's not the case. But the drive is fried. It will not spin up. I tried installing it in the computer, but it was a no go. The circuit board must be fried.
AGAIN… There was a lot of critical information on the barracuda drive, and I wonder if I replace the circuit board would it do any good?
Thanks for anyone that can help!

What Mac are you using? Western Digital drives do not work with all of them.

Imac G3 ppc hard disk failure can't boot from cd

Hi All,
My hard is disk making repetitive clicking noises and the machine won't boot up, I just get a grey screen and eventually a flashing folder/question mark. I did manage just once to start from the install CD,but Disk Utility couldn't see the internal HD so that was a dead end, can't repair what it can't see! and I haven't been able to start it since. Tried various key combos on start (safe mode,clearing PRAM) still nothing. Bit the bullet and took out the internal drive and put it back (nothing to lose, you never know? ). As it seems the HD is beyond help and the fact that changing over the HD is reasonably straightforward physically, I am considering buying a replacement and doing it myself. Now I haven't done a repair like this before and wonder if when I power up with the new HD in place will I be able to boot from the original install disk ie. holding down "c" (which is not the case at the moment) and format and install the OS onto the new Hard Disk ?
I would rather spend a couple of quid and save the machine than have to spend hundreds on a new one.

I did try using my external USB connected CD reader/writer using the option key on start but couldn't get past the blue screen with the arrow and refresh icons.
The iMac G3 will not boot from a USB device.
Be careful when booting software that hasn't run on the machine before. You need to have the lastest firmware on the machine when booting 10.2, 10.3, or 10.4 on the machine. I
You could disassemble the external firewire drive & swap in a dvd drive. I did this. The dvd drive will not fit in the case, but who needs a case anyway. Just use the electronic parts.
You need to figure out the level of your firmware before installing10.2 or greater. ( The PC name for firmware is BIOS. ) Installing 10.2with a down level firmware will most likely make your iMac unusable anddifficult to fix.
What is firmware?
The firmware software receives control when you poweron your machine. It does some hardware testing and some hardware configuration then passes control to your version of MacOS. It reside on a PROM ( program read only memory ) chipon the logic board.
Figuring out what level of firmware you have?
1) Mac OS 9.x or 8.x, you need to use the Apple System Profiler.
Apple -> Apple System Profiler
2) Mac OS X, use the System Profiler.
Apple -> About This Mac
click on the More Info... tab
click on Hardware
read the Boot ROM Version
3) Open Firmware, boot into Open Firmware.
Power on your iMac while holding down command+option+o+f
The first output line contains the firmware level. Mine reads:
Apple PowerMac4,1 4.1.9f1 BootRom built on 09/14/01 at 13.18.04
Copyright 1994-2001 Apple Computer Inc.
On my machine, I have 4.1.9f1.
What firmware do you need?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117
For a slot loading iMac, this article indicates that you need to berunning 9.1 or later version of Mac OS Classic.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75130
"The iMac Firmware Update 4.1.9 will only run on iMac computers withlot-loading CD or DVD drives running Mac OS 9.1 or later from a localdrive. If you are using Mac OS X you must boot from a local Mac OS 9.1or later writeable partition (not a CD, or network disk) prior tofollowing the update instructions."
You can download the Mac OS 9 updates from the Apple site.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1387?viewlocale=en_US

ITunes saying - The song "XYZ" could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it? I have my songs all located on a 2TB hard drive and it still says it has 150GB on it but can't find them and they are there???

Help!
Opened iTunes to play some music on the computer tonight and its coming up that the songs cannot be located for virtually all of my iTunes library??? I store my iTunes library on a 2TB hard drive and its always worked fine but I ran iBoostup software earlier today and its hasn't worked since then although I have to admit I haven't tried it for a week. It was a free app to clean up files on the apps store.
When I click on the 2TB hard drive under the iTunes link it still comes up 150GB is in the file but it just can't find the songs???
Can anyone help?
Cheers!

The links below illustrate how your iTunes should look if you use default settings in preferences. If you don't use those settings then you have to know what you're doing.
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/message/13025536 and https://discussions.apple.com/message/17457605
The above links also illustrate the Media folder and its subfolders. Look for a file in there in the logical structure by folder artist and album. If you're lucky, linking one file will get an offer to link others and it iwll all come together again.
I see you are running OSX 10.5.8 it would help to know which version of iTunes you use now and which one you used before.

Has my hard drive failed, and if so can I replace it myself?

Can someone help me, please? I believe my hard drive has failed (or is about to) and needs replacing. Problem is I took my laptop (Powerbook G4, 15" 1.5GHz 512MB 80G Sdrv APX, recently upgraded to OS10.5) to our local official Apple Store to be serviced when this problem first became apparent. They returned the laptop two weeks later saying it had now been fixed using Disk Warrior, and was working fine – no charge as I bought the laptop there originally.
Great! Took it home, booted up OK first time, worked as it should for a few hours, then shut down unexpectedly. I have tried to revive it several times now, and all I get when I power up is the chimes, then a grey screen for several minutes followed by the dreaded flashing folder with a question mark, which I understand to mean it can't find a bootable system folder.
The background: Problems began when computer shut itself down during sleep (energy saver set to sleep after a time as is normal). I have a LaCie Little Book 320G connected by firewire, using Time Machine to make regular backups. The problem seems to relate to the laptop going into sleep mode after the alloted time and in some way this seems to make the Little Book think it has been ejected incorrectly, and puts up a warning message. Sometimes it is unavoidable to have to leave the laptop, with the Little Book connected, powered up and downloading (eg. podcasts) overnight. When I get back to the laptop in the morning it appears to be in sleep mode (which I would expect) but has in fact shutdown and is frozen. It has to be restarted with the power button, and even this doesn't work first time every time.
This happened regularly over a couple of weeks and I recall hearing a whir from the hard drive, which I'd never noticed before. Eventually the whir developed a few clunks and stopped and started intermittently. At the same time I got the chimes, followed by a grey screen for several minutes followed by the dreaded flashing folder with a question mark.
So what I need to know is does this sound like I need a new hard drive (what else can it be?), and can I fit this easily myself? I saw an item on TV recently which showed how 'easy' it is to replace a hard drive as they are all a standard size for laptops – just open the case, pull the old one out and slide in a new one. Knowing Apple there is probably more to it than this, so what problems should I be aware of, and can I upgrade the hard drive to a bigger capacity at the same time? Mine's got an 80GB drive at the moment.
Sorry this is so long, but there seems to be so much background I needed to give you. Thanks if anybody is willing to help me.
Bruce

Thanks to 'um' and BGreg for the helpful replies. I think I'll go for a new hard drive now. Although I'm not entirely confident inside the guts of a laptop (having looked at the iFixit guide, which does show things fairly clearly) I am less confident with my local Apple Centre for returning the laptop as 'fixed' when it clearly wasn't. They want about £50 to do the work on top of the drive cost too.
I'll get myself the torx screwdriver – not familiar with the small allen 'hex' key. I have a set of allen keys, so I assume hex keys are similar in having the right angle bend but with the star shaped end? Wouldn't the torx screwdriver do the job just the same? Don't see why I would need to hunt down a small allen hex key, but I would hate to end up stripping a screw head by having the wrong tool.
Western Digital do a 250G parallel ATA drive I hear, but only give 3 years warranty. Suppose that's a decision I'll have to make for myself. I've done the "powerbook hard drive replacement" Google search and there's loads to read. A quick glance over one article spoke of the 'horror' of lost screws so I'll find some empty yogurt pots as you suggest BGreg.
Lots to read, then order the drive. After that I've got to fit the thing, and my work shifts don't leave me much free time right now, but I'll drop back online when it's done and let you know how it went – or maybe ask for help if it goes pear-shaped!
Thanks a lot guys!
Bruce

Can't get itunes. I get the following message when I click on either the shortcut or the program. It says ITunes has stopped working and I can either check on line for a solution and close the program or just close the program.

When I click on the itunes shortcut or the program I get the following message:
ITunes has stopped working. My two options are: Windows can check on line for a solution to the problem or close the program.
It seems that my entire library is not there. If I sync my ipod will it add it back into my library on the computer?
I've even tried installing again and nothing works. Tried the "repair" and it says that ITunes is loaded but I stil get the above error when I try to open the program.
Thanks

Let's try the following user tip with that one:
iTunes for Windows 10.7.0.21: "iTunes has stopped working" error messages when playing videos, video podcasts, movies and TV shows

My 2011 mbp says it has a hard drive failure. Can I replace drive myself

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