I haven’t posted much lately because my computer took another nose dive. I say another, because this has happened before. The hard drive died very early this year. Since it was still under warranty, Apple simply replaced the hard drive free of charge and I learned my lesson about backing up my data. Apple didn’t give a reason for my hard drive dying last time, but when I called the support number, they didn’t sound all that surprise either.
Last Friday, the same thing happened again. When I tried to boot up my computer, it never got past the initial blue screen and eventually showed a folder with a question mark icon, indicating that it couldn’t find a the hard drive. This time, my computer is out of warranty, so I was on my own. Luckily a new hard drive cost less than $70 on New Egg and it arrived yesterday. I took it into the campus tech services and they were able to physically isntall the new hard drive in about ten minutes. It would have been quicker if they hadn’t dropped one of the miniscule screws on the carpet and had to search for it.
Luckily, I’ve been backing up all my data with Time Machine, so after I reinstalled the operating system this evening, I was able to get all of my data, and even all of my settings back. As much as I appreciate that, I wish my computer’s hard drive would just stop dying. I love my MacBook, but the only time I’ve had something like this happen with either of my two previous PCs, it was on a refurbished Dell laptop during my freshman year of college. My second laptop still works, albeit very slowly and get almost too hot to touch. I’m not sure I’ll be able to say the same thing about this computer when it’s four years old. I don’t know if there’s something about the MacBook that is killing the hard drive, but here’s to hoping that the third time is the charm.
Boo for crappy computers! Sean’s Toshiba has gone through two hard drives too. Hope this one hold out!