my macbook pro finally karked it :(

Hard drive stopped spinning.

Turns on but wont get past boot.

Tbc

In the future I'd recommend this http://www.apple.com/timecapsule/

It helped me beyond words when my imac a few years ago bit the dust. I switched to a macbook pro and was able to retain every single detail of my imac from the last time I had it powered up. Definitely worth it!

Yeah, +1 for the timecapsule.

Yes, there are definitely cheaper wireless storage options (the time capsule is also a Wifi router), but none AFAIK that just work as easily as the time capsule.

With the time capsule, it's pretty much plug it in, configure the network, then select it in the Time Machine preferences. It will then automatically do hourly (or daily or whatever) incremental backups, all in the background. No hassle at all.
In the about 3 years I've had one, I've had no problems with it, except for last week when it was bugging out a bit (all fixed now).

You can also do multiple Macs on one time capsule (provided there's enough space. you need ~1.5x the capacity you're currently using, per computer), that's also all streamlined, you just select the same time capsule in the Time Machine preferences.


It just simplifies a process that doesn't need to be complicated.

padlock wrote:Hard drive stopped spinning.

Turns on but wont get past boot.

Tbc

It could be a software issue. Do you still have the original installation disc? Try and reboot from the disc.

it happened to me before. i couldn't get past the grey screen during boot up. thought i had a hard drive failure but turns out it was not reading the software.

Same thing happened to me MY hd failed so I bought a new one off amazon for 50 buc and had my friend install it with a fresh ver of contain lion . Works great

apologies for delay, long story...

to reiterate my model is mpb
mid '09 5,4
8gb, 250gb hitachi drive...

8 gb was aftermarket, the mbp has been a solid champ and has been thru alot of dings and wear n tear, drops etc.. suprised it's lasted this long tbg.

but main issue with this model (mid 09 october) is the HDD is limited to SATA 1.5gb

i went thru near 10 HDD's thru a tech store nearby that was good enough to let me keep swappin drives to find a match, no luck with any.. eventually just got a 1tb scorpio blue and a 500gb scorpio black as external 2.5" drives with enclosures for my needs n kept the tiny 250gb HDD in my mpb....

^250gb is so tiny when your a dj mainly etc, i was woring with 10 or so gig at a time.. not fun at all.

n e ways, i got by for a good year or so n left the upgrade.

i was unable use any other drive as it would beach ball every 30 secs, especially when playing a HD video or working with alot of data.. pro tools-forget about it...
useless!

i ended up just last month buying a 1tb HDD via
http://www.macsales.com/
really helpful with 24/7 chat tech support.
but i researched my issue and knew near just as much as they did blah blah.

although i found the best 'solution' so far, to be a drive that is backwards compatible with SATA 1.5gb (or sata 2 i think it's called)

also i purchased a 'data doubler' which is a bracket for the optical drive dvd drive & replaces it with the option to pack a 2nd HDD... still limited to SATA 1.5gb speed though, as opposed to everyone elses SATA 3gb

got a legit copy of parallels while i was at it, def a good investment as it's pretty much impossible to use a cracked copy for longer than a few weeks...

i was unable to recover my 250gb HDD, though i was able to back up all but my itunes/serato library (mega )
got all my PT sessions though which is a life savour!


this is as basic as i can get with the issue for now,
sure i missed some things.. i'll revise later.

anyone else with similar issues etc, please post your knowledge n tips
as my mbp is still unfixed and not as stable as it once was, get beachballs every 20mins for 20 secs... not pro tolls friendly

peace fam

apologies for delay, long story...

to reiterate my model is mpb
mid '09 5,4
8gb, 250gb hitachi drive...

8 gb was aftermarket, the mbp has been a solid champ and has been thru alot of dings and wear n tear, drops etc.. suprised it's lasted this long tbg.

but main issue with this model (mid 09 october) is the HDD is limited to SATA 1.5gb

i went thru near 10 HDD's thru a tech store nearby that was good enough to let me keep swappin drives to find a match, no luck with any.. eventually just got a 1tb scorpio blue and a 500gb scorpio black as external 2.5" drives with enclosures for my needs n kept the tiny 250gb HDD in my mpb....

^250gb is so tiny when your a dj mainly etc, i was woring with 10 or so gig at a time.. not fun at all.

n e ways, i got by for a good year or so n left the upgrade.

i was unable use any other drive as it would beach ball every 30 secs, especially when playing a HD video or working with alot of data.. pro tools-forget about it...
useless!

i ended up just last month buying a 1tb HDD via
http://www.macsales.com/
really helpful with 24/7 chat tech support.
but i researched my issue and knew near just as much as they did blah blah.

although i found the best 'solution' so far, to be a drive that is backwards compatible with SATA 1.5gb (or sata 2 i think it's called)

also i purchased a 'data doubler' which is a bracket for the optical drive dvd drive & replaces it with the option to pack a 2nd HDD... still limited to SATA 1.5gb speed though, as opposed to everyone elses SATA 3gb

got a legit copy of parallels while i was at it, def a good investment as it's pretty much impossible to use a cracked copy for longer than a few weeks...

i was unable to recover my 250gb HDD, though i was UNable to back up all but my itunes/serato library (mega )
got all my PT sessions though which is a life savour!


this is as basic as i can get with the issue for now,
sure i missed some things.. i'll revise later.

anyone else with similar issues etc, please post your knowledge n tips
as my mbp is still unfixed and not as stable as it once was, get beachballs every 20mins for 20 secs... not pro tolls friendly

peace fam

I got an '07 MBP that I installed a 256GB Vertex 4 SSD in since my last HDD started crapping out on me last October. 256GB isn't big enough for my DAW/DJ laptop but it is screaming fast now because of the SSD!!! With 10.6.8... 12 second boot up with 2-3 second shutdown compared to the old 5600RPM 500GB HDD at 127 seconds boot up & 48-93 seconds shut down.

I'm scared to death of losing all my shit off of my MBP so I am constantly making bootable HD clones with CarbonCopyCloner app every 2 weeks. Saved my ass once already.

Have you already booted off DVD to be able to use the Disk Utility to look at the system drive? That's really all you can do at the moment for the situation you described.

padlock wrote:anyone else with similar issues etc, please post your knowledge n tips
as my mbp is still unfixed and not as stable as it once was, get beachballs every 20mins for 20 secs... not pro tolls friendly

peace fam

Metatron72 wrote:Have you already booted off DVD to be able to use the Disk Utility to look at the system drive? That's really all you can do at the moment for the situation you described.

I'd definitely do what Metatron posted. In the Disk Utility app from your OS DVD you need to select your system drive, click "First Aid" tab, select "Repair Disk Permissions", and after that's done select "Repair Disk" to run.
Since you will be in the OS DVD, you should Reset Home Folder permissions by clicking on "Reset Password" app, select the drive your user account is on, select the "user Account", click on "Reset" at the bottom block and then reboot.

Check out these steps also... http://www.macworld.com/article/2018853/when-good-macs-go-bad-steps-to-take-when-your-mac-wont-start-up.html