Hey, I was hoping to get some input on this matter. I purchased my mini 4 months ago and the HD just went to crap. I have an apple store here in my town, so its not too much of a hassle to take it down there and have them throw a new HD in it. That being said, how many of you would ask for a new mini? I honestly have no idea how long it takes to put in a new HD, but Im guessing they will want to keep my computer a few days. I'm a student preparing for a big test this friday before spring break starts, and I need a computer. So, would I be out of line just asking for a new one, given that this one is so new, so that I have something to study with this week? Thanks for any feedback.
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Mini dead after 4 months.
- Thread starter eddvedd
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They will replace the disk and that's it. On a 4 month old computer, things break and get repaired; that's why you have a warranty. It shouldn't take long to repair.
Apple doesn't manufacture the hard drive. It failed, **** happens. There is no chance you are getting a new mini for free due to a hard drive. Hope your schoolwork is backed-up.
Hi edd,
this takes not more than ½ hour to change ➢ so if they aren't busy they could do it the same day (& if you'll be nice, maybe it'll be done while you're waiting...).
this takes not more than ½ hour to change ➢ so if they aren't busy they could do it the same day (& if you'll be nice, maybe it'll be done while you're waiting...).
I never said that Apple manufactured the hd, I realize that seagate is the one to blame here. So please don't get defensive, I love apple just as much as the next guy. I've just never had an hd fail after a few months, so I was simply looking for some feedback into what might or might not be appropriate in this situation. And in the event that you were actually concerned about my work being back up, although I doubt that you were based upon your somewhat snide response, yes it is.
I doubt they will give you a new computer but maybe they will give you a better hdd. If you have a 320gb it would not hurt to ask for an upgrade to a 500gb hdd. If it was a 500gb seagate you could say the 5400rpm seagate is such a dog do you have a different hdd like a 7200rpm hitachi?
I hate to have to come back in four more months for another hdd if you put in another seagate. By the way if it was a 500gb seagate I can show lots on info on the 7200rpm model being a real piece of SH_T!
I hate to have to come back in four more months for another hdd if you put in another seagate. By the way if it was a 500gb seagate I can show lots on info on the 7200rpm model being a real piece of SH_T!
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Thanks Stan, that's great news! Like I said, I've been lucky enough to never have an hd die on me, so I wasn't sure what the turnaround would be. If they can do it the same day, or even over night, I'd be stoked.
It was a snide response because you were mentioning a free unit when a part fails 1/3 into the warranty period. Saying that because you have a deadline you somehow should ask for a free unit is absurd. It's like asking the dealership for a new car because your tires that are supposed to last X miles blew out after 20K. And it's especially important to get a new car because you are late for work.
And yes, I was hoping you were smart enough to back up since it seems like it is used for an important purpose.
PS... I have had tons of stuff replaced. Hard drive, super drive, screen (x3). All of them were done under 24 hours and once the screen was done 2 hours later. Just bring it in, explain that you are in a bind with school work, be nice and they should help you out.
PSS... If you haven't bought Applecare yet, you should. As you can see, **** happens. If I didn't buy AC for this MBP I am typing on I would have spent comparable to a new machine with everything that needed to get fixed after the year.
I have had relatively good luck with computers so to me it seemed strange that the HD failed this early. And since I bought AC with the computer I guess I was coming from the perspective that it died 4 months into a 36 month contract. I'f my experiences were similar to yours, I would have realized that hardware failure this early happen all the time. Nonetheless, your making it sound like I was demanding a new computer, or faulting apple, and neither of which is the case. I was simply asking if it was an appropriate question, you've clearly illustrated that you think it is not. I disagree with the manner in which you chose to inform me of your opinion, as I try to be helpful to others even when I disagree with them, but to each his own I suppose.
Yes it was, why so rude? He was only asking for advice. It was a fair question. I agree, just replacing the hard drive is fair but you gotta ask
. With some technology it might just be economical to swap out the whole unit than replace a broken part. (Although not in this case)
This isn't how the warranty works. They will replace the part with the original type. As per the terms of the warranty, Apple is under no obligation to do anything different and a failure 4 months in is not all that unusual.
It's the 5400 Seagate that's the culprit. I wonder if I offered to pay the difference between the Seagate and that Hitachi, if that is something they would consider? Personally, I know very little about any of this, but if the Seagate is as bad as you say, I wouldn't really mind paying to upgrade to something that isn't going to fail like this. I know any drive can fail, but this thing was getting very, very light usage before it went.
You wouldn't want to pay whatever Apple would charge for a disk. I'd consider buying a new disk on your own and using the instructions available online to upgrade it.
failure rate on newegg site is 25% under 4 months
click here and look at the bottom reviews 6 out of 24 died in under 4 months
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rue&Keywords=(keywords)&Page=1#scrollFullInfo
on this 48 out of 207 failed in under 5 months 23.2 percent
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rue&Keywords=(keywords)&Page=1#scrollFullInfo
based on those failure rates asking for a non-seagate hdd is not unreasonable. Apple has used other hdds in minis
this one has 78 failures out of 712 10.9 percent
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...western_digital_500_gb-_-22-136-314-_-Product
My point is you are allowed a 500gb 5400 rpm hdd. So asking for one other then the seagate which is known to have the highest failure rate is not abnormal or wrong.
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I'm guessing you're not aware that 99.9999999999% of seagate drives are never reviewed. Given that, why are you trying to assess failure rates from the .0000000001 that reviewed their drives? If Seagate had failure rates as high as you're trying to suggest, they'd be out of business.
Seagate has not sold enough hdds for your percentage to be correct. Your numbers mean 1 in a trillion. I listed 231 reviews so according to your math seagate has sold 231 trillion hdds of the 2.5 inch 500gb 5400rpm size. .
Even if your math is perfect and the percent of reviewed drives is correct. It does not account for the failure rate of 23 percent vs 11 percent. That newegg review's are claiming when comparing the seagate hdds to the Western digital hdds.
The op can state seagate has double the failure rate of western digital and ask for a western digital over a seagate. If the apple store say they don't have any western digital hdds for the mini he can ask for anything but a seagate. If the store says they only have seagate as a replacement he can take the seagate and use this thread as evidence if the new seagate fails in a few months.
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It's obvious that statistics isn't a strength of yours. 20 HDs is NOT in any way shape or form statistically valid. Seagate sells millions of hard drives. Again, if Seagate HDs were as bad as you say, they'd be out of business. Yet, they're not. So obviously, you're wrong about Seagate failure rates. Seriously, who knows more about HD failure rates than the computer manufacturers, who continue to buy Seagate HDs???
Why so offensive today, gameface?
I see nothing wrong with asking for an upgrade when the mini is brought in. The store can either do something or it can't but you never know if you don't ask. I'd shoot for an SSD and get an external drive.
20 hdds from different sellers with different build dates is a valid sample with over a 90 percent chance of being accurate. But who is to argue you are entitled to your own belief system. So peace out bro.
What else have I done offensive in the couple hours I have been awake? And more to the point, why do you care?
And as far as asking for an SSD drive as a replacement I would laugh in your face if asked for that. So you buy a 4 cylinder and because of some failure (remember, **** happens... things fail) you think you deserve the v10? Are you guys out of your minds????
20 HDs is not even worth discussing. Again, if Seagate HDs are so terrible, why are the computer manufacturers buying them??? Are you trying to suggest that the computer manufacturers enjoy HD failures and consumer complaints? Perhaps you're trying to suggest that your 20 HD sample is better than the millions that the computer manufacturers have experience with?
No I am suggesting that seagate has a higher failure rate with 500gb 2.5 inch hdds then western digital based on the newegg numbers I posted.
I have one question what is more likely to be true that seagate built 231 trillion 2.5 inch hdds of the 500gb 5400rpm model. Your claim not mine. Or that seagate has a failure rate higher then western digital. Based on neweggs 23/24 percent failure rate for seagate against 10/11 percent failure rate for western digital.
My point is seagate fails more often then western digital in this example. Not that the 23/24 percent rate is true for seagate the 23/24 percent rate is higher then western digital 10/11 percent. Remember I started with that comparsion 23 percent vs 11 percent. So would you want a drive with double the failure rate at the 4/5 month rate. I don't >
Also when a builder like apple, deal, Lenovo buys a set of hdds they want price over everything. Price is not price per unit it takes into account replacement rates and other factors. The 5400rpm hdds are not considered premium hdds they run 50 to 65 dollars retail. If seagate sold apple 100000 at 25 dollars each and 10000 go bad in a year cost is 110,000 units at 25 or 2,750,000 since apple is on the arm to replace the bad ones for one year. If Hitachi sells apple 100,000 units at 28 bucks a piece and 1,000 go bad cost to apple is 2,828,000. So even though seagate had a 10 percent failure rate vs 1 percent with hitachi apple would buy seagate..
Remember the op said I know it is not apples fault it is seagate's fault. Well legally for the first year it is apple's fault. I certainly can not prove that apple did the above cost analysis when they put in the seagates. I can say they did a cost analysis of the hdd to use. They had a few bids and they picked the seagate. It is a dog for this op. Go over to the apple website and read about how many of the 2010 minis had bad seagates. Go further back and read how many minis had bad hitachis from 2009 minis. Personally seagate FREEAGENT FOR MACS have been great for me. Seagates have been bad for me in mac minis.
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the reason is very simple seagate gives the manufacturers the highest discount for bulk orders and in today's market all manufacturers go for the cheapest parts they can get at the time they order ,ready available in amounts they need ..and most times you will then end up with seagate
after all apple is not a non profit charity organization, to my knowledge at least... apple is making some profits
and if you buy cheap and sell expensive , the difference is called profit
and it was after all only a HDD that cost apple some peanuts , as they like i said above, buy more then 1 at time ,so they get discounts you as a consumer could not even dream of