Resolved Bad SATA cable or HDD?

[KUguardgrl13]

I woke up my computer (the one in my signature) today after getting home and got the notification that a disk had been ejected unexpectedly. I had no externals attached. The mouse was moving and I could open one of the hard drive scanning programs (not disk utility, a one that someone on here mentioned but I can't remember) which said there was no disk. I couldn't get it to sleep or shut down, so I held down the power button to restart and waited five minutes or so. Tried again and got a white screen no Apple logo or spinning wheel. Turn off. Wait 10 minutes, this time I got the folder of death.

This hard drive and cable were installed at the end of May out of warranty. I've been planning on getting a replacement rMBP, but I've wanted to wait for the holidays and the refresh with haswell. I was hoping this one would last that long, but it doesn't look good.

What are my options? I'm in college, so I don't have a ton of money. I've had this issue a few times, so I expect that the drive is fine but the cable failed. The above program was saying as much yesterday. Disk Utility hasn't seen any problems with the drive. Anyone know where to get a cheap SATA cable that will at least last for a few months? I can ask a friend to install it for me.

Thanks!

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And please don't suggest an SSD. I can't afford one in the capacity I need, and it's no help with failing cables. Thanks!

 

[KUguardgrl13]

What's my best bet? Get a genius appointment and get them to install yet another cable and pay them to slap on a band-aid until the refresh?

I'm in an online class this semester and have papers to write, so a working laptop is a necessity. I'm wary of the current rMBPs with my luck, and the MBA seems flimsy. CMBP is old tech.

 

[Astroboy907]

What's my best bet? Get a genius appointment and get them to install yet another cable and pay them to slap on a band-aid until the refresh?

I'm in an online class this semester and have papers to write, so a working laptop is a necessity. I'm wary of the current rMBPs with my luck, and the MBA seems flimsy. CMBP is old tech.

If its out of warranty getting a cable off of eBay would likely be cheaper (~$20), and pretty easy to install, if it is a fairly macbook (unibody or later).

 

[KUguardgrl13]

If its out of warranty getting a cable off of eBay would likely be cheaper (~$20), and pretty easy to install, if it is a fairly macbook (unibody or later).

Mid-2009, so it's a unibody. Since I had the work done back in May I know that parts are around $17, and labor should be no more than $39. I'm not confident enough to do it myself, and my computer science friend killed a hard drive the last time he tried to install one in a laptop.

They also didn't charge me back in May. I'm guessing I got lucky and fell into the multiple repairs category. I've dealt with this issue several times before both with Apple and authorized service providers.

 

[KUguardgrl13]

Genius said the hd cable was loose or something like that. He reattached it and didn't charge me anything. Hard drive is fine.

Now to continue waiting for the rMBP refresh.