Hard drive gone bye-bye. Which new one?

[EGT]

I knew it was only a matter of time. My worst nightmare.

About 30-40 minutes ago, my Powerbook just locked up completely and there was the dreaded clicking. It has been giving me stink for a few weeks now. I tried restarting but it was just stuck on the grey screen with no sign of life. So now, thankfully, I'm booted on my LaCie drive and right enough the smart status for the internal is "failing". It's very reassuring having a bootable back up!

I take it there is not much I can do apart from just replace the drive?

What do you guys recommend as a replacement? Preferably, I'd like to order from the UK but I'm not sure where or which manufacture (Not Toshiba again )

I must say, apart from the ill computer I'm enjoying the learning experience.

 

[grapes911]

I'd get any name brand. Some people will tell you that they've had problems with "brand X", but someone else will tell you that they only use "brand X". Just make sure which ever one you get has a good warranty.

 

[amacgenius]

Sorry to hear about your HD failure, is this PB still under warranty, because Apple might cover it...

 

[Blue Velvet]

Sourcing drives in the UK?
http://www.dabs.com can be a good place to start...

Isn't it nice having a bootable backup when things go wrong? Turns a complete nightmare into a mere inconvenience... wish some of my friends would learn the same lesson.

 

[EGT]

Sourcing drives in the UK?
http://www.dabs.com can be a good place to start...

Isn't it nice having a bootable backup when things go wrong? Turns a complete nightmare into a mere inconvenience... wish some of my friends would learn the same lesson.

No doubt about that. It's so simple and straight forward. I'm so relieved it's gone well

Thinking ahead for a second, when I have the new drive in, can I just transfer everything from the external to the internal without having to install the OS, get everything back in its place etc., or do I start from scratch?

Its well out of warranty so it's up to me. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Thinking ahead for a second, when I have the new drive in, can I just transfer everything from the external to the internal without having to install the OS, get everything back in its place etc., or do I start from scratch?

Depending on the state of your backup you could use CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper! to clone the drive... or you could do a clean installation and move the important stuff over and reinstall the apps.

Depends if you want to spend the time and effort to have a cleaner installation or just want quick and dirty...

 

[generik]

Seagate Momentus
5 years warranty

 

[EGT]

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?QuickLinx=3TQN

Just spied this one. A bit pricey but i could use the extra space.

Just to verify, form factor = 2.5" x 1/8H?

Depth=10 cm
Height=9.5 mm
Weight=0.1 kg
Width=7 cm

?

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Komplett usually have good prices, though I'm a little surprised to see they're lacking a 120GB in the sortiment at the moment.

I've bought a lot from them (or assosiates of them) here in Norway and never had any problems. The couple of times I've gotten faulty parts there has been no hassle to get it replaced to the same part or better.

My girlfriends sister even got to return a digital camera because she felt that it used too much battery (even if she used it indoors, with flash and a large LCD on at all time, no questions asked, I was a bit surprised about that one ().

 

[Lacero]

I knew it was only a matter of time. My worst nightmare.

Apart from my identical thread, this is like the second one this week!

Wow, I think dying PB HDs might be a widespread problem. Class action lawsuit against Apple, perhaps?

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​

 

[EGT]

Apart from my identical thread, this is like the second one this week!

Wow, I think dying PB HDs might be a widespread problem. Class action lawsuit against Apple, perhaps?

I know! There seem to be a high percentage of PB drives that die out rather quickly.

Your post was in my mind when I started getting the same laggy performance. The thing that has annoyed me is the SMART status and hardware test. The SMART status only showed "failing" after the drive became completely unresponsive today, booted from the external. I'd been checking it every now and again along with the Activity monitor just to see what's going on because it was touch and go some days.

I ran the hardware test when I first posted of lag problems a few weeks ago but it showed up fine. I was thinking there was something wrong with the fans or a software issue.

It's a good thing I'm paranoid about drives dying other wise I'd be a not so happy bunny.

 

[~Shard~]

I recommend Seagate drives. Best warranty in the business (I believe) with 5-years, and I have never had a problem with one.

 

[NewbieNerd]

I know! There seem to be a high percentage of PB drives that die out rather quickly.

Is that percentage actually based on the total number of PBs sold? Or just having seen a few people complain around you or just on macrumors? I'm not giving a hard time, promise ; I'm just curious if this is actually the case.

 

[dubbz]

Apart from my identical thread, this is like the second one this week!

Or third (if we're a bit flexible on the definition of 'week' )... Don't know if it's a hardware failure but my PB drive isn't exactly working optimally. Volume gone, doesn't boot. All weirdo errors when trying to check it.

Data Rescue II reported an ETA of about 1-3 years... for scanning the drive for recoverable data. Now add the time it takes to recover. I suspect this will take a while... (reporting all sorts of "slow" errors along the way..)

Don't remember SMART status, but I'm not inclined to check it right now.

 

[EGT]

Is that percentage actually based on the total number of PBs sold? Or just having seen a few people complain around you or just on macrumors? I'm not giving a hard time, promise ; I'm just curious if this is actually the case.

I like to talk. I don't know if there is any real evidence behind it, could be a coincidence that a lot of people like to post about it on macrumors. There has been a lot of posts here about failed drives though, more so for the portables. I suppose it's normal really. Portables get chucked about a bit more than the desktops.

 

[EGT]

New drive is here. Just printing out the PB Fix it guides. (What an awesome site that is.)

Installing later when I get home. Wish me luck.