Apple opens up repair program for some MacBook hard drives
By Donald Melanson 
posted February 17th 2010 3:17PM
posted February 17th 2010 3:17PM
This one goes back a few years, but Apple has now finally, officially confirmed a hard drive problem that has plagued some MacBooks, and it's announced a repair program that will allow you to get your hard drive replaced even if the MacBook is out of warranty. The specific models covered are both black and white MacBooks from 2006 and 2007 with 1.83GHz, 2GHz, or 2.16GHz processors, and either 60GB, 80GB, 100GB, 120GB, or 160GB hard drives. As you may recall, the hard drive issue in question is a pretty nasty one that can leave your data unrecoverable, but it seems like Apple will only replace your drive once you're stuck with the flashing question mark on boot-up -- it's just recommending that people backup their data in the meantime. Hit up the link below for the complete details.
I've had the ticking and the flashing ? folder on my early 2008 MacBook4,1 too. Just opening removing and reinserting the HDD solved the problem. Three times already
Woo that's awesome :) even though I don't really need it, its still nice that Apple will replace out of warranty computers. Usually other companies would never do that even if the problem is really widely spread
@mtnDewFTW
Awesome?!?!?
They are replacing an out of warranty product because the product is defective by design. Seriously stop drinking the f-ing Jobs juice.
@mtnDewFTW Its a wide reaching problem, the product was defective. Any respectable company would do the same. Quit patting Apple on the back for having issues.
@mtnDewFTW
Wow...just wow.
@mtnDewFTW Yeah because no manufacturer replaced out of warranty laptop motherboards when the Nvidia GPUs on them shot craps.
@KAL326
Considering the notion that Apple is supposed to be the BMW of computers, Apple warranties are really quite pathetic. Also, trying to point at other vendors is equally pathetic. Apple is the sole caretaker of the MacOS brand reputation and mindshare. They really can't tolerate anything that leaves them merely at parity with other clone vendors. Unless they expect to depend on the goodwill of fanboys, they really do need to be better than everyone else in all things.
If Apple is just another Dell then why bother?
@jedi WTF are you talking about the MacOS brand reputation? Its a hardware issue, regardless of how tight MasOS and Apple hardware are this is still a hardware issue. My point was that other vendors have stepped up and taken responsiblities for manufacturing defects that surface long after the product is out of warranty. This isn't anything special that Apple to take care of their customers which is what the original poster was spraying a load of joy juice over.
As for the Apple brand reputation, it seems that they fix hardware issues just slightly slower then they address software issues.
My girlfriend's PPC Macbook went kaputs. After she gave up on the Applestore fixing it I ran Ubuntu on it for a while after replacing the HD.
After running across errors with the new HD I ran some diagnostics and it became pretty clear to me the HD controller was corrupting the drives.
I am guessing it is probably a crappy OS that did it then and now.
The OS doesn't get viruses, it breaks hardware.
@glamajamma
loled at last sentence, its the new anti-apple-line
@glamajamma:
>PPC Macbook
wat
That sucks. I understand that many new products have one fatal flaw that tends to become the thing that breaks on that particular model. But it's shady for Apple to refuse to acknowledge it for so long that most people probably are ready to buy a new computer, if they haven't already, and if they've suffered from the problem, have already had to lay out money to repair it.
@HeadsetChatter
I'd so like to hear Jobs opinion on this
@kiyu727
I wonder what the Space Baby thinks of all this.
Good for Apple, owning up to a problem that has been around for four years.
They are also refunding people who paid to have their hard drive replaced prior to this...
Already had mine replace while it was under warranty. Hopefully they put a better one in when they replaced it.
I'm not sure whether this problem is limited to the MacBooks mentioned in the article. I have a Aluminium MacBook 5,1 (2008) and the same thing happened to me last month. Luckily I had bought an external HD the day before! Apple care replaced it for free so all was good. I'm sure most people have external HDs these days anyway, it's just the hassle of it all!
@to86 It was limited only to the mentioned models, because those are the only ones that used the specific Seagate HDDs that had the problem. But this is why I get the Apple Care protection plan. Any issue is quickly resolved and I go back to my regular schedule.
I guess, "it just works" is not what it used to be...
The problem is that apple uses other brands of hardware, so the relibility of the parts is only as good as the company that supplies them. As much as I love Apple machines they need to rethink their hardware choices.
@Gdog
No. They just can't hope to be any better than anyone else. It simply doesn't work as a matter of pure logic. A broken Seagate drive is a broken Seagate drive no matter what logo is on the outside case. You can't even necessarily just run from Seagate. You'll run to Western Digital to find out that they're the next ones to have a a problem.
You can fix the assembly line once you see a problem but you still have to worry about all the units that made it into production.
OTOH, a user serviceable machine will at least allow you to fix your own problem with a cheap aftermarket drive.
@jedi I was't saying that a "good brand" means no problems I was just saying that when there are so many problems from a company its time to look to another brands. And you can replace the HDD in macs, but a CheapO drive kinda defeats the point.
I have a macbook that would be covered under this program, and my hard drive failed just after the warranty expired. I replaced the drive myself. I just got off the phone with "James" at apple support and he said that only repairs done at an apple store or at an authorized service provider are eligible for reimbursement under this program. So if your drive failed and you changed it out yourself....apple is not going to reimburse you for the cost of the drive. At least that's what they told me.
bet you they are using WD hard drives. Western Digital sucks! Silly Apple, you are just having issues cropping up all over dont you. Security issues, Hacks, attacks, Failing hard drives, Viruses, Failed IPAD.....The future Microsoft.
@Toshiba
The iPad's a failure, all right... especially since it isn't even for sale yet.
@Atkins I did try a emac and the screen had this annoying flicker and the hard drive. After that it was hacked like the iphone and the Itunes store. Then I was trying to put my Palm Pre into.. but the Emac was hacked again, because apple concentrates more on stopping the Palm pre from accessing Itunes more then they do security. Yes, did you know there are over 10,000 known viruses for Apple? Ever notice Apple charges for everything and anything. The making the Battery in the iphone non-removable was a good money maker in itself.
I had no idea this was a "thing". My drive died catastrophically and suddenly last summer. I just took it as an excuse to buy a fat new one and reinsatalled. It was a good opportunity to put SL on there too. I had to use a 6 month old data backup though.
I still have the old drive in a drawer for if I ever get an external sata enclosure to try some recovery on it.
This is funny. 90% of the MacBook 13" WB models I have repaired have been for this defect. Most of the failures were with seagate drives as well. I'd say I've fixed about 30 of then since 2006.
Another note. This repair extension program is only valid till august, or 3 years from the purchase date. If you don't know when you purchased it, just go to the apple store and they can look it up based on the serial number of the notebook.
My HDD died one month out of warrenty ~June 2007, I kept it waiting for this day!
My iPod Photo 60GB HDD needs to be replaced too!
All of you straight party line voters are the same. The problem is Apple wasn't willing to admit their fault until 4 years later. That is the same problem with the head of Toyota. Look at the PR mess they are in now. How much is their irrogance going to cost them? Only time will tell for both Toyota and Apple. If I were a PC, I would exploit this MAC indefinitely!
How depressing upon reading this article my Mac Book hard drive decided it too should fail. Loan it to my girlfriend I have no backup :(