Hard drive diagnostic

[cardsdoc]

My Macbook Pro suffered some cosmetic damage (so I think) after my backpack fell off my desk with the MBP in it. There is a dent by the magsafe port and express card slot. It was in sleep mode at the time. Everything seems to work and the diagnostic via Techtool checks out. I'm concerned that I may have shortened the life span of my hard disk. If it was in sleep mode, and the heads were parked - is this still a real concern? Are there any diagnostics I can run to detect any potential issues?

Also say I decide to get the cosmetic issues fixed through Apple and sometime later (but within warranty) the disk fails. Will they check and see that I had some cosmetic damage in the past and deny warranty coverage?

 

[gr8tfly]

Obviously, there's no 100% guarantee, but it's probably fine. The drives have a non-operating shock spec. of something like 900Gs.

 

[cardsdoc]

900Gs sounds pretty good to me. Is this true for when the MBP is in sleep mode?

 

[gr8tfly]

900Gs sounds pretty good to me. Is this true for when the MBP is in sleep mode?

Should be - the drive is spun-down and heads parked.

 

[XTRanger]

And isnt this the reason why the MBP has an accelerometer in it? If it detects a fall, it parks the harddrive head properly- even if the computer was awake.

I dont think you need to worry, unless the fall was really bad.

 

[cardsdoc]

Thanks for the reassurances. Now I have to figure out if I want to pay the ridiculous prices to make my MBP look new again. It's so sad looking now.

 

[Trepex]

Are you still under warranty for the repairs and if so, would you be planning to have Apple make the repairs in order to stay under warranty or would you be considering taking it on yourself with parts from somewhere like eBay? Obviously Apple won't repair it for free, but it might be worth it if you have a reasonable portion of your warranty remaining. If Apple repairs it now and certifies it OK, later on if something else goes wrong they won't attribute it to being caused by this damage.

 

[cardsdoc]

Are you still under warranty for the repairs and if so, would you be planning to have Apple make the repairs in order to stay under warranty or would you be considering taking it on yourself with parts from somewhere like eBay? Obviously Apple won't repair it for free, but it might be worth it if you have a reasonable portion of your warranty remaining. If Apple repairs it now and certifies it OK, later on if something else goes wrong they won't attribute it to being caused by this damage.

I'd have Apple do it. It's only 4 months old and I have Applecare. It's over $300.