I think the Apple store may have swapped out our hard drive? Unibody white owners please answer

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Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014


Everything is still on it, but this is strange. 



I sent our unibody white macbook in for service since it had the service battery warning within the warranty period (it had worn to 75% with only 700 charge cycles, and they say 1000 to 80%...Before you say anything I do do the best practices for lithium ion, avoiding full discharges and keeping the current flowing). That was fine, they swapped that out. However, upon getting it back, I noticed I could hear the hard drive seeking a lot more than I previously could. All my files were still there, but it was just louder than I remembered, I remembered initially being in awe of how silent the thing was even when working, I could not hear a single whine or click from the hard drive or even fan before. 



Now, I can hear both the electronic whirr and the head seeking just fine. I checked the system report, and it's a Toshiba drive! Now that is really weird, because I remember checking what hard drive maker could make a drive so silent before, and I'm pretty sure it was a Hitachi before. 



So, uh, what's up with that? Was there a recall on drives? Performance characteristics seem the same, but the Toshiba is just louder and I prefer the Hitachi for it. 



Am I nuts, am I wrong? Did the white unibodies always use Toshiba? 

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    marvfoxmarvfox Posts: 2,275member


    They used both. I had the white mac book and I had a Hitachi drive. my friend had a Toshiba drive.

     

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  • Reply 2 of 13
    tipootipoo Posts: 1,166member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by marvfox View Post


    They used both. I had the white mac book and I had a Hitachi drive. my friend had a Toshiba drive.

     



     


    That's what I thought, but any idea why they would switch them without mentioning it to me at all? It didn't seem like it was failing, always passed SMART. Did you notice a noise difference between the two? THe Hitachi one in mine I could almost not hear at all, the Toshiba one is fairly noisy. Not the worst I've heard in a laptop, but noisier than most recent HDD macs I've heard. 

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  • Reply 3 of 13


    Odd.


     


    While Apple WOULD swap your HDD without warning if they felt it needed it (and when they have a machine in for service, they will do a full diagnostic and are known to replace things other than the "known issue",) I have never heard of them cloning/copying your old drive/data for you.  Normally you get it back in a "like new" condition (if they swapped it) and it is up to you to restore your data from a backup.  


    While your suspicions COULD be correct, it seems more likely that your memory of the brand is incorrect, and that SOMETHING about the way it was reassembled is causing it to be louder. (a gasket or isolator missing or out of alignment, screws too tight, a heat shield rubbing against the HDD... any number of possible causes.)

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  • Reply 4 of 13
    tipootipoo Posts: 1,166member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by KingOfSomewhereHot View Post


    Odd.


     


    While Apple WOULD swap your HDD without warning if they felt it needed it (and when they have a machine in for service, they will do a full diagnostic and are known to replace things other than the "known issue",) I have never heard of them cloning/copying your old drive/data for you.  Normally you get it back in a "like new" condition (if they swapped it) and it is up to you to restore your data from a backup.  


    While your suspicions COULD be correct, it seems more likely that your memory of the brand is incorrect, and that SOMETHING about the way it was reassembled is causing it to be louder. (a gasket or isolator missing or out of alignment, screws too tight, a heat shield rubbing against the HDD... any number of possible causes.)







    It's possible, I felt fairly sure it was the Hitachi before though, I seem to remember it clearly but if human memories were perfect we wouldn't build computers image



    Come to mention it, it does look like the tech put on the bottom too tightly rather than too lose, as the rubber around the screw holes towards the trackpad end is raised a bit from the contact with the actual chassis. Hmm. 

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  • Reply 5 of 13
    Marvinmarvin Posts: 15,585moderator
    Some of your log files might have older entries with your drive model. Safari crash logs have older system profiles in them. These are in /Users/name/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports. The system profile is right at the bottom and the SATA drive model is listed. Sometimes the drive model is listed in system logs too, which you can look through using /Applications/Utilities/Console - open the sidebar at the left and you can click through them and there's a search box at the top right.
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  • Reply 6 of 13
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tipoo View Post


    I checked the system report, and it's a Toshiba drive! Now that is really weird, because I remember checking what hard drive maker could make a drive so silent before, and I'm pretty sure it was a Hitachi before. 



     


    I suspect that you are remembering wrong. Because it would be illegal just about everywhere for them to do service you didn't authorize and if they did replace your drive they don't transfer your data. They give you a machine with a drive that has only the OS and same apps that were preinstalled when you bought it. 

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  • Reply 7 of 13
    tipootipoo Posts: 1,166member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


     


    I suspect that you are remembering wrong. Because it would be illegal just about everywhere for them to do service you didn't authorize and if they did replace your drive they don't transfer your data. They give you a machine with a drive that has only the OS and same apps that were preinstalled when you bought it. 



     


     


    I'm thinking maybe this is right, if they usually don't transfer data. But it is very noticeably louder, the machine was barely audible before, if I put my ear to it I would hear the faintest hum at most, now both the clicking for seeks and the regular spinning are audible from a standard distance. Maybe the tech left something too tight or loose, or left some rubber gaskets from the screws out or something. 

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  • Reply 8 of 13


    Apple are arrogant bastard. Even though you sign a consent forum for data lost. They should would of and should of called you for permission if they will swap out a hard drive on a person data.


     


    That is one rule of thumb keep customer inform. Your only complaint was the battery, they only should fix the battery. If anything else failed or a hard drive with data, they should of called you.


     


    Well this is apple. Ex employee at sony. We do call people for data if we need to back up or replace the drive.

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  • Reply 9 of 13
    marvfoxmarvfox Posts: 2,275member


    They use either Toshiba or Hitachi in their drives.

     

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  • Reply 10 of 13
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    billy bob wrote: »
    Even though you sign a consent forum for data lost. They should would of and should of called you for permission...

    I don't think you understand what that form was for.
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  • Reply 11 of 13
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    I don't think you understand what that form was for.

    Kidney donation, he's screwed.
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  • Reply 12 of 13
    kingerkinger Posts: 1member


    Lol apple is a piece of shit computer spics suck and the only good part about apple is the feel of the software but its shit for gaming and with windows you can do everything and more so who gives a shit SWITCH TO WINDOWS bro....

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  • Reply 13 of 13
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    kinger wrote:
    [post]

    People like you deserve jail time.
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