Hard Drive Failure

My Mac PowerBook, purchased in the summer of 2005, began to experience odd hard drive problems. The computer has always become uncomfortably warm but I never experienced the blistering heat that caused Apple to recall the batteries. The computer has become hot enough that the shape of the case has distorted. When I type now, the computer wobbles back and forth. About two months ago the hard drive suddenly began to act odd. And then one day it wouldn’t mount. I rebuilt it. And then a week later it spun to a stop.

I do not maintain the best data back-up practice. Even so, I have an attached hard drive that copies my personal files every night. The result of the complete crash then wasn’t catastrophic. Instead used the hard drive (attached via firewire) as my start up drive and I didn’t notice any change at all. I lost about four hours of work.

Apple products have the cache of being better built better than anything associated with Microsoft. A common myth is that Macs do not crash. Every Mac I've ever owned has crashed and the crashes of a Mac come in a variety of flavors unknown to a PC. With a PC an application crashes, and you can stop the application and restart. Typically a Mac will crash and need to a restart. Or it will freeze and require a long period of time tapping on the power-button. Or it it will freeze and need to be unplugged from the wall, a walk around the block and then a restart and doggedly figuring it why it crashed.

I’ve had a lot of issues with my iPod. My wife’s iPod bit the dust after only a year of use. And when I my power book drive failed, I figured I would have to buy a new computer. I had no idea what I’d do. But then I discovered it was possible to replace the hard drive (provided this was the trouble). It seemed like it was the trouble since I could start from a different hard drive.

I followed the direction from the Ifixit web site, and incredibly they worked. Now I just need to figure out how to get the body back into the right shape so the computer doesn’t rock while I type.

Posted by mattbriggs at December 30, 2006 1:18 PM