Macbook harddrive problem?

lee_baby_simms

My macbook has slowed down a lot over the past few days. I rebooted and it took ages to start up.

I kept getting no response - beachball - music cutting out for a few seconds etc. I have a feeling it'll just get worse until the harddrive dies.

Disk utility couldn't repair it. It said something about a node structure.

So I ran diskwarrior and it told me that my harddrive was damaged. It was able to rebuild a new file system but unable to replace the current one.

It allows you to copy the newly built folder containing all data to an ext hard drive which i'll do tomorrow.

So i'm wondering -

If I format the hard drive will I be able to copy over the rebuilt folder from the ext hard drive and bingo?

I have applecare - should i just backup and send it off to be fixed?

Lastly i'm using a 320gb drive that i swapped out myself. Does this affect the warranty?

Thanks in advance.

thecommander

lee_baby_simms wrote: »

My macbook has slowed down a lot over the past few days. I rebooted and it took ages to start up.

I kept getting no response - beachball - music cutting out for a few seconds etc. I have a feeling it'll just get worse until the harddrive dies.

Disk utility couldn't repair it. It said something about a node structure.

So I ran diskwarrior and it told me that my harddrive was damaged. It was able to rebuild a new file system but unable to replace the current one.

It allows you to copy the newly built folder containing all data to an ext hard drive which i'll do tomorrow.

So i'm wondering -

If I format the hard drive will I be able to copy over the rebuilt folder from the ext hard drive and bingo?

I have applecare - should i just backup and send it off to be fixed?

Lastly i'm using a 320gb drive that i swapped out myself. Does this affect the warranty?

Thanks in advance.

Straight off, Applecare wont look at your machine if you've opened it up. And they def wont repair a harddrive that they (Apple) didnt sell with the machine. Waste of money getting it.

lee_baby_simms

Applecare is the name of the coverage plan not the company. Mactivate and a few others carry out repairs.

Apple provide instructions on how to upgrade the hard drive in the macbook manual which i'm sure you knew.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook_13inch_HardDrive_DIY.pdf

Its very easy to do. That would lead me to believe that it doesn't affect the warranty. I'm well aware they won't replace it

The macbook pro is a lot harder to upgrade and definitely does void the warranty.

I'm more concerned with how to restore from DiskWarrior backup.

thecommander

lee_baby_simms wrote: »

Applecare is the name of the coverage plan not the company. Mactivate and a few others carry out repairs.

Apple provide instructions on how to upgrade the hard drive in the macbook manual which i'm sure you knew.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook_13inch_HardDrive_DIY.pdf

Its very easy to do. That would lead me to believe that it doesn't affect the warranty. I'm well aware they won't replace it

The macbook pro is a lot harder to upgrade and definitely does void the warranty.

I'm more concerned with how to restore from DiskWarrior backup.

Not exactly familiar with Disk Warrior, but if you backup from it, format HD, install Disk Warrior again, and then restore from your backup file everything should be back to normal.

I've done it from a Time Machine backup.

Edit: I know what you mean about Applecare, but in any event it wont cover a piece of hardware you bought and put in yourself.

Type 17

lee_baby_simms wrote: »

Disk utility couldn't repair it. It said something about a node structure.

So I ran diskwarrior and it told me that my harddrive was damaged. It was able to rebuild a new file system but unable to replace the current one.

It allows you to copy the newly built folder containing all data to an ext hard drive which i'll do tomorrow.

As far as I remember, a node structure issue means that the data on the HD is corrupted, but the HD itself is fine. (If anyone else knows better, speak now).

If so, and you can recover the data that you need, you can then format the HD and re-load Mac OS X and it will be fine.

Although it's "only" corruption (rather than a hardware fault), the node structure is the layout files that tell the OS the sizes and structure of the disc entity that is on your HD's platters, so corruption of it means that the OS doesn't have a correct picture of the contents of the HD, and errors/slowdowns will keep occurring (and may get worse) until you re-format the HD.

There should be no need to return the Mac to Apple or a reseller, as there is no hardware fault to fix/parts to replace. (If you look again, you should see that Diskwarrior said that your <startup disc name> was damaged, rather than your Hard Drive - they are two different things)

Wibbs

The diskwarrior report does sound like a software rather than hardware fault, but and it's a big but, macbooks are very prone to frying hard drives. Apple acknowledged it with some (seagate IIRC) drives of a certain batch and serial number run. Well if it's a certain batch it must be a big batch spanning over a year..... It seems to affect the earlier ones more though.

If it was me, I would back your data up as soon as and look to getting a replacement drive, or just keeping very regular backups. I've seen this node fault just before a complete loss of the drive. Coincidence? Possibly, but as I say these macbook(white/black) are very prone to killing drives. I know more than one person on their second replacement drive. Better safe than sorry.

lee_baby_simms

Wibbs wrote: »

The diskwarrior report does sound like a software rather than hardware fault, but and it's a big but, macbooks are very prone to frying hard drives. Apple acknowledged it with some (seagate IIRC) drives of a certain batch and serial number run. Well if it's a certain batch it must be a big batch spanning over a year..... It seems to affect the earlier ones more though.

If it was me, I would back your data up as soon as and look to getting a replacement drive, or just keeping very regular backups. I've seen this node fault just before a complete loss of the drive. Coincidence? Possibly, but as I say these macbook(white/black) are very prone to killing drives. I know more than one person on their second replacement drive. Better safe than sorry.

I was able to backup everything bar a few 100mb of mp3s.

I formatted and i'm reinstalling now. Fingers crossed.

KonstanDKAY

macbook flashy folder with question mark on it on startup on macbook

tried everying mentioned online; thought that macs were meant to be foolproof and now I'll bee stuck all week scouring the forums looking for info tha'll help me

During disk utility (10.5 OS-X)

• invalid node stucture
• unable to unmount disk

nota able to spend more days looking into this and getting nowhere but am not willing to fork out 100e for disk warrior and then find out that I need a new harddisk.

could I bring it around to someone in the know who coudl help fix it? or a walkthrough of anyone who has had this problem

am willing to give a reward to anyone who can help me out!

Sad Professor

KonstanDKAY wrote: »

macbook flashy folder with question mark on it on startup on macbook

tried everying mentioned online; thought that macs were meant to be foolproof and now I'll bee stuck all week scouring the forums looking for info tha'll help me

During disk utility (10.5 OS-X)

• invalid node stucture
• unable to unmount disk

nota able to spend more days looking into this and getting nowhere but am not willing to fork out 100e for disk warrior and then find out that I need a new harddisk.

could I bring it around to someone in the know who coudl help fix it? or a walkthrough of anyone who has had this problem

am willing to give a reward to anyone who can help me out!

Any important data on the drive? Do have a backup? If so, try reformatting the disk and reinstalling. If that doesn't work the drive is dead.

Unfortunately hard drives are very prone to failure and should never be trusted with important data.