Macbook Hard Drive

[Ryno]

Yer i did that :s haha this is all mad i dont mind using it with the external but i would prefer to use it internal haha

[mac_shinobi]

Yer i did that :s haha this is all mad i dont mind using it with the external but i would prefer to use it internal haha

 

aside from getting a refund on the hard drive and getting another one and trying that and seeing if it does the same or not, if it does then maybe a sata controller issue or otherwise but im not an apple expert by any means ( not yet ) but would like to be ( long road ahead !! )

[Chillibear]

Ok I got a enclouse to put the HD in and I have installed mac os x but now when I put the HD back in the mac it comes up with a folder and a ? Mark is there anyway to sort this or am I going to have to use the external enclosure!

The flashing question mark folder means the Mac can't locate the system disk to boot of. Hopefully that's just because it's looking for the external drive, which is now internal! I think you can hold down the option key (alt) when booting the Mac and that prompts you to pick a system disk, hopefully that will allow you to choose your now internal drive. I'm pretty sure this selection is temporary, so once booted you'll have to set the system disk from the Mac preferences.

 

If that doesn't work then the only other area I can think of to double check is that you set the patition type to GUID. Beyond that it might just be that this drive doesn't agree with your laptop.

 

Re suggesting the caddy:

If at any point os x needs re installing what will the asker have to do next time? Strip his laptop to bits again shove the hdd into a USB caddy just so they can do a re install and then go through the reverse of that ie putting it back and putting the laptop back together again?

 

I was hoping that perhaps once it's properly initialised and running then a second install might be more trivial, however this might not be the case and if a re-install was required it would mean re-doing the procedure again - nothing close to an ideal situation I know. I thought it was worth suggesting as another route towards getting his laptop working, external enclosures are useful to have and cheap enough that it seemed like a reasonable thing to try. I expect the only sure-fire way to avoid never needing to get inside the laptop again is probably to buy either an Apple certified drive or buy from a supplier who can assure you of compatibility.

Edited February 11, 2010 by Chillibear

[mac_shinobi]

If that doesn't work then the only other area I can think of to double check is that you set the patition type to GUID. Beyond that it might just be that this drive doesn't agree with your laptop.

 

Re suggesting the caddy:

 

 

I was hoping that perhaps once it's properly initialised and running then a second install might be more trivial, however this might not be the case and if a re-install was required it would mean re-doing the procedure again - nothing close to an ideal situation I know. I thought it was worth suggesting as another route towards getting his laptop working, external enclosures are useful to have and cheap enough that it seemed like a reasonable thing to try. I expect the only sure-fire way to avoid never needing to get inside the laptop again is probably to buy either an Apple certified drive or buy from a supplier who can assure you of compatibility.

 

That's fine and understandable ref the ext caddy but when you buy something new you just want it to work without all the faffing about and with the issues it was giving him formatting the drive , I wanted to see if trying another drive did the same ( new and working drive ) so you can see if its the drive at fault that he is using now or the controller ( sata ) chipset at fault.

 

Posted a link ref guid which he had already done now to the usb ext but if holding down the left alt key does not help then as above another drive and if that fails then chipset related to the controller for sata at a guess which will be a replacement logic board which are expensive ( thebookyard.com again site I mentioned above )

[OutToLunch]

when you replace a hard drive you only want to install it , put the laptop together ( once and once only ) and when you do anything else you do it by formatting it the way that its intended to be formatted not all this malarky of stripping a laptop down to bits and pieces , taking the hard drive out, putting it into an ext usb caddy and doing all the extra gumph just to install or re install an os etc so still not fit for purpose because it does not work how it should work

 

... it is not fit for your purpose, because you bought the wrong HD/didn't research/check compatibility etc. That does not make it 'not fit for purpose' under trading standards - there's nothing wrong with the HD and if it was put in a compatible laptop then it would work perfectly. You can't buy a Vauxhall engine then complain it's not fit for purpose because it doesn't fit in your Fiesta.