My MBP 17 was purchased in May 2006 and from the beginning, had very intermittent disk clicking, but it didn't sound like failure. It got progressively worse, until after updating to 10.4.11 the system would click and then freeze hard, requiring a power down to restart, after coming out of sleep every time. Sure enough, the drive was model ST96812AS with firmware 7.01. I had it replaced (I'm under AppleCare) and the Apple Store replaced the faulty drive, which the Genius heard clicking away, WITH THE SAME BRAND, different model number (ST9120821AS), and firmware 7.01!!!! After driving over an hour back from the nearest Apple Store, doing a fresh install of Leopard, I was more than a little ticked off and called the Store back. I lost it. Of course, the Genius on the phone could only quote me the company line, but he offered to replace the Seagate with a different brand they had in stock. Beforehand, he told me he had no control over what brand of drive Apple sends them and that officially, he couldn't do anything more unless and until something official showed up on Apple's support site. Long story short, they're replacing the Seagate with a different brand, but it took some convincing on my part.
Yes, I understand that Apple is probably gathering data about all this, but I had called AppleCare about excessive disk clicking earlier this year, and they NEVER mentioned pending disk failure as a source. Yes, I have backups, but now I have do take yet another afternoon from work to get all this sorted out, permanently I hope.
Well I just got my brand new Macbook today and thank God it has a Fujitsu hard drive! So far I am loving this Macbook and the Macintosh platform. I shall never go back to Windows.
Has Seagate admitted to a problem yet? Presumably they'd have to recall them first... or else Apple's literally eating the cost of replacing all of those drives, for what may or may not actually be a line-wide problem...
Also... FWIW, the new Santa Rosa Macbook seems to ship with Hitachi drives.
I've just bought a macbook, and it has a Hitachi drive, and I can tell you that this macbook has no Santa Rosa architecture in it. Oh, this problem has nothing to do with Hitachi drivers right? because i can hear some noises coming from my macbook as well.
Two days ago, My Macbook inexplicably 'died', and subsequent investigation has narrowed this down to a Hard drive failure. I know my drive is a seagate, but i'll have to open up the machine (its out of warrenty) and check the serials. I wouldn't be at all suprised if my drive is the one with the known problem.
I'll watch developments with interest, but if there is a problem and Apple do not take action in the near future, then I will in the small claims court.
Fortunately, I backup vital data regularly, but i've still lost a fair bit of material, not to mention the massive inconvienience this will cause me.
Its the last time i'll buy a Macbook, my colleague has a Macbook Pro, the motherboard has been replaced twice in two years. Apple have lost the plot as a manufacturer.
Two days ago, My Macbook inexplicably 'died', and subsequent investigation has narrowed this down to a Hard drive failure. I know my drive is a seagate, but i'll have to open up the machine (its out of warrenty) and check the serials. I wouldn't be at all suprised if my drive is the one with the known problem.
I'll watch developments with interest, but if there is a problem and Apple do not take action in the near future, then I will in the small claims court.
Fortunately, I backup vital data regularly, but i've still lost a fair bit of material, not to mention the massive inconvienience this will cause me.
Its the last time i'll buy a Macbook, my colleague has a Macbook Pro, the motherboard has been replaced twice in two years. Apple have lost the plot as a manufacturer.
Regards,
Carl
I'm sorry to hear this has happened to you and the others here but don't give up on Apple's Macbook offerings just yet. I purchased a new Macbook Nov. 30th with a Fujitsu hard drive and the new Santa Rosa architecture and GMA x3100 graphics card and it is running like a charm.
Wow, this is like Twilight Zone. The hard drive on my MacBook died just this morning (the day I had to do a major presentation with it of course), and then I come home and read this! Mine's a Seagate but not one of the models they listed though. I guess I'll just buy a new one tomorrow (might as well get a bigger one while I'm at it...)
I purchased my macbook in oct 06 and 6 months later had my drive collapsed. As it was happily under warranty it was replaced free of charge, unfortunately they replaced it with the same model 60gb ST96812AS and now this one is showing errors and mac store won't replace it under warranty. Not happy.
That sucks, pantsotron. On the other hand, maybe you can use this time to upgrade to a bigger drive. When my 100 GB macbook HD died last week I replaced it with a 200 GB Hitachi 7200 rpm drive. Twice as big and faster too! And they seem to be a lot cheaper than they used to be... another piece of good news: the hard drives on the macbooks are easily user-replaceable, although I used instructions from ifixit
Yeah, I've already purchased a larger drive in an external inclosure, i though i could get the current drive replaced then swap it out for the larger one and stick the replace 60gb in my new shiny enclosure.... maybe i'm just being greedy.
Maybe the new Macbooks don't have Seagate HDs anymore? I'm getting mine this week, newly shipped so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get a non-Seagate brand
Maybe the new Macbooks don't have Seagate HDs anymore? I'm getting mine this week, newly shipped so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get a non-Seagate brand
I just got mine on November 30th and it had a Fujitsu HD.
I just got my white 2.2 ghz Macbook yesterday (Dec 19) and it's got a Fujitsu HD.
Fantastic! I purchased mine from the Manhattan Village store in beautiful Manhattan Beach, California and mine had a Fujitsu HD as well. It's very possible that Apple has quietly pulled most of the Seagate models from it's stores which is great news if it's true.
Tomorrow my 2GB stick of memory will arrive from OWC. 1GB is nice starting off but you will eventually find that 2GB or more is far better in overall performance.
I'm not sure what browser you will use but for a great internet experience I recommend both the Saft plugin for Safari which is simply awesome and a must have and the Camino browser. Firefox 2.0 is slow, sluggish and at times very unstable. However Firefox 3 beta 2 is very promising and a major overhaul of the 2.0 version on a Mac.
I feel compelled to add in my story. My HD died Dec 27th. I bought the macbook in June 06 in NYC. Unfortunatley I was not aware of user issues a month earlier and did not backup since October. My fault I know. It was a Seagate HD as discussed here.
Apple needs to do something with this issue. We all pay a premium price for a premium product. When a component of that product turns out to be defective I'd expect Apple to do something. It has been at least 1 month since reported and some are saying the issue was out there even before this.
Adding to my frustration is the fact I spent 90 minutes on the line with Apple technical support. On hold for 30 minutes then spoke to the first level of defense for 10 minutes then was informed he was getting his supervisor to help and I remained on hold for 50 mins and guess what ran up to thier closing time.
This was my first apple computer and the first time I needed support. I loved Apple and never regretted the switch from pc until now. Very let down by all of this. I need a second laptop now.. will it be a Mac...I am not so sure anymore.
Lesson learned, back up frequently, review this forum frequently and just because you pay more doesn't mean you are necessarily getting quality.
I feel compelled to add in my story. My HD died Dec 27th. I bought the macbook in June 06 in NYC. Unfortunatley I was not aware of user issues a month earlier and did not backup since October. My fault I know. It was a Seagate HD as discussed here.
Apple needs to do something with this issue. We all pay a premium price for a premium product. When a component of that product turns out to be defective I'd expect Apple to do something. It has been at least 1 month since reported and some are saying the issue was out there even before this.
Adding to my frustration is the fact I spent 90 minutes on the line with Apple technical support. On hold for 30 minutes then spoke to the first level of defense for 10 minutes then was informed he was getting his supervisor to help and I remained on hold for 50 mins and guess what ran up to thier closing time.
This was my first apple computer and the first time I needed support. I loved Apple and never regretted the switch from pc until now. Very let down by all of this. I need a second laptop now.. will it be a Mac...I am not so sure anymore.
Lesson learned, back up frequently, review this forum frequently and just because you pay more doesn't mean you are necessarily getting quality.
Wow, I feel your pain and frustration. No doubt you have every right to be angry and never use an Apple product again. While this has affected a certain number of Macs, fortunately this hasn't been the experience for most people switching to Macs.
Me and 3ple4 just got our Macs in November and December and they both have Fujitsu HD working smoothly. Also if you would like to give your Mac a second chance I would suggest visting Macsales.com and purchasing a non-Seagate HD and installing it. I didn't realize how easy it was to install a Hard Drive on a Macbook until I saw a video installation demo. I've installed 2GB of RAM on my new Macbook but I thought the HD would be much more complicated but it's just as simple as installing memory as seen by this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuyi-NWLLz4
Of course this doesn't remedy the fact that Apple support should be more competent and helpful but this is an affordable and viable solution. Hope this helps you consider staying with Apple in spite of your first experience with Apple hardware and support.
Wow, I feel your pain and frustration. No doubt you have every right to be angry and never use an Apple product again. While this has affected a certain number of Macs, fortunately this hasn't been the experience for most people switching to Macs.
Me and 3ple4 just got our Macs in November and December and they both have Fujitus HD working smoothly. Also if you would like to give your Mac a second chance I would suggest visting Macsales.com and purchasing a non-Seagate HD and installing it. I didn't realize how easy it was to install a Hard Drive on a Macbook until I saw a video installation demo. I've installed 2GB of RAM on my new Macbook but I thought the HD would be much more complicated but it's just as simple as installing memory as seen by this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuyi-NWLLz4
Of course this doesn't remedy the fact that Apple support should be more competent and helpful but this is an affordable and viable solution. Hope this helps you consider staying with Apple in spite of your first experience with Apple hardware and support.
Thanks for your condolences. I have the macbook in with an authorized dealer who has ordered a replacement hard drive. He promised it would not be a seagate but likely a toshiba or hitachi. I will be sure to verify this when I get it back Wednesday. It will also be a 120 or a 160gb drive. Better than the 80gb I had. I watched him take out the hard drive and it does seem easy. Hopefully there will not ba a next time but if so I will do it myself.
I think you will love the macs. I know I did until now. I agree that apple likely switched from Seagate in current macbooks because of the known quality issue with Seagates in the previous macbooks.
Maybe I will get another MB for my second laptop. I guess I will wait and see how things work out with this current issue. If Apple chooses to ignore this problem I will not buy from Apple. To save face for me Apple needs to issue a recall and honor replacement drive costs for all users with these drives regardless if they are outside the warranty period. A lot of users are having this happen after the 1 year warranty period and a recall is the only way Apple with get back users trust IMHO.
Thanks for your condolences. I have the macbook in with an authorized dealer who has ordered a replacement hard drive. He promised it would not be a seagate but likely a toshiba or hitachi. I will be sure to verify this when I get it back Wednesday. It will also be a 120 or a 160gb drive. Better than the 80gb I had. I watched him take out the hard drive and it does seem easy. Hopefully there will not ba a next time but if so I will do it myself.
I think you will love the macs. I know I did until now. I agree that apple likely switched from Seagate in current macbooks because of the known quality issue with Seagates in the previous macbooks.
Maybe I will get another MB for my second laptop. I guess I will wait and see how things work out with this current issue. If Apple chooses to ignore this problem I will not buy from Apple. To save face for me Apple needs to issue a recall and honor replacement drive costs for all users with these drives regardless if they are outside the warranty period. A lot of users are having this happen after the 1 year warranty period and a recall is the only way Apple with get back users trust IMHO.
Yeah, you're right. Apple has pretty much left you hanging on this issue and they need to save face and issue a recall on defective Seagate drives. But it's highly unlikely once you have a new HD this will ever happen again. Right now I'm not even sure you can get a new Macbook from an Apple store that has a Seagate HD. None of the Macbooks at the Apple store in Manhattan Beach, CA have Seagate HD, most have Fujitsu. I'm pretty sure you will be happy with your larger and faster HD. Good luck and happy new year.
Comments
Yes, I understand that Apple is probably gathering data about all this, but I had called AppleCare about excessive disk clicking earlier this year, and they NEVER mentioned pending disk failure as a source. Yes, I have backups, but now I have do take yet another afternoon from work to get all this sorted out, permanently I hope.
Has Seagate admitted to a problem yet? Presumably they'd have to recall them first... or else Apple's literally eating the cost of replacing all of those drives, for what may or may not actually be a line-wide problem...
Also... FWIW, the new Santa Rosa Macbook seems to ship with Hitachi drives.
I've just bought a macbook, and it has a Hitachi drive, and I can tell you that this macbook has no Santa Rosa architecture in it. Oh, this problem has nothing to do with Hitachi drivers right? because i can hear some noises coming from my macbook as well.
Two days ago, My Macbook inexplicably 'died', and subsequent investigation has narrowed this down to a Hard drive failure. I know my drive is a seagate, but i'll have to open up the machine (its out of warrenty) and check the serials. I wouldn't be at all suprised if my drive is the one with the known problem.
I'll watch developments with interest, but if there is a problem and Apple do not take action in the near future, then I will in the small claims court.
Fortunately, I backup vital data regularly, but i've still lost a fair bit of material, not to mention the massive inconvienience this will cause me.
Its the last time i'll buy a Macbook, my colleague has a Macbook Pro, the motherboard has been replaced twice in two years. Apple have lost the plot as a manufacturer.
Regards,
Carl
Hi,
Two days ago, My Macbook inexplicably 'died', and subsequent investigation has narrowed this down to a Hard drive failure. I know my drive is a seagate, but i'll have to open up the machine (its out of warrenty) and check the serials. I wouldn't be at all suprised if my drive is the one with the known problem.
I'll watch developments with interest, but if there is a problem and Apple do not take action in the near future, then I will in the small claims court.
Fortunately, I backup vital data regularly, but i've still lost a fair bit of material, not to mention the massive inconvienience this will cause me.
Its the last time i'll buy a Macbook, my colleague has a Macbook Pro, the motherboard has been replaced twice in two years. Apple have lost the plot as a manufacturer.
Regards,
Carl
I'm sorry to hear this has happened to you and the others here but don't give up on Apple's Macbook offerings just yet. I purchased a new Macbook Nov. 30th with a Fujitsu hard drive and the new Santa Rosa architecture and GMA x3100 graphics card and it is running like a charm.
Maybe the new Macbooks don't have Seagate HDs anymore? I'm getting mine this week, newly shipped so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get a non-Seagate brand
I just got mine on November 30th and it had a Fujitsu HD.
I just got my white 2.2 ghz Macbook yesterday (Dec 19) and it's got a Fujitsu HD.
Fantastic!
Tomorrow my 2GB stick of memory will arrive from OWC. 1GB is nice starting off but you will eventually find that 2GB or more is far better in overall performance.
I'm not sure what browser you will use but for a great internet experience I recommend both the Saft plugin for Safari which is simply awesome and a must have and the Camino browser. Firefox 2.0 is slow, sluggish and at times very unstable. However Firefox 3 beta 2 is very promising and a major overhaul of the 2.0 version on a Mac.
Anyway, best of luck and enjoy your new Mac.
So with the people who have the faulty Seagate HDs, you really can't boot up anymore? Not even access Time Machine for the backup files?
Yeah Firefox is slow but for some reason, I still prefer it over Safari. Never really like Safari.
Apple needs to do something with this issue. We all pay a premium price for a premium product. When a component of that product turns out to be defective I'd expect Apple to do something. It has been at least 1 month since reported and some are saying the issue was out there even before this.
Adding to my frustration is the fact I spent 90 minutes on the line with Apple technical support. On hold for 30 minutes then spoke to the first level of defense for 10 minutes then was informed he was getting his supervisor to help and I remained on hold for 50 mins and guess what ran up to thier closing time.
This was my first apple computer and the first time I needed support. I loved Apple and never regretted the switch from pc until now. Very let down by all of this. I need a second laptop now.. will it be a Mac...I am not so sure anymore.
Lesson learned, back up frequently, review this forum frequently and just because you pay more doesn't mean you are necessarily getting quality.
I feel compelled to add in my story. My HD died Dec 27th. I bought the macbook in June 06 in NYC. Unfortunatley I was not aware of user issues a month earlier and did not backup since October. My fault I know. It was a Seagate HD as discussed here.
Apple needs to do something with this issue. We all pay a premium price for a premium product. When a component of that product turns out to be defective I'd expect Apple to do something. It has been at least 1 month since reported and some are saying the issue was out there even before this.
Adding to my frustration is the fact I spent 90 minutes on the line with Apple technical support. On hold for 30 minutes then spoke to the first level of defense for 10 minutes then was informed he was getting his supervisor to help and I remained on hold for 50 mins and guess what ran up to thier closing time.
This was my first apple computer and the first time I needed support. I loved Apple and never regretted the switch from pc until now. Very let down by all of this. I need a second laptop now.. will it be a Mac...I am not so sure anymore.
Lesson learned, back up frequently, review this forum frequently and just because you pay more doesn't mean you are necessarily getting quality.
Wow, I feel your pain and frustration. No doubt you have every right to be angry and never use an Apple product again. While this has affected a certain number of Macs, fortunately this hasn't been the experience for most people switching to Macs.
Me and 3ple4 just got our Macs in November and December and they both have Fujitsu HD working smoothly. Also if you would like to give your Mac a second chance I would suggest visting Macsales.com and purchasing a non-Seagate HD and installing it. I didn't realize how easy it was to install a Hard Drive on a Macbook until I saw a video installation demo. I've installed 2GB of RAM on my new Macbook but I thought the HD would be much more complicated but it's just as simple as installing memory as seen by this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuyi-NWLLz4
Of course this doesn't remedy the fact that Apple support should be more competent and helpful but this is an affordable and viable solution. Hope this helps you consider staying with Apple in spite of your first experience with Apple hardware and support.
Wow, I feel your pain and frustration. No doubt you have every right to be angry and never use an Apple product again. While this has affected a certain number of Macs, fortunately this hasn't been the experience for most people switching to Macs.
Me and 3ple4 just got our Macs in November and December and they both have Fujitus HD working smoothly. Also if you would like to give your Mac a second chance I would suggest visting Macsales.com and purchasing a non-Seagate HD and installing it. I didn't realize how easy it was to install a Hard Drive on a Macbook until I saw a video installation demo. I've installed 2GB of RAM on my new Macbook but I thought the HD would be much more complicated but it's just as simple as installing memory as seen by this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuyi-NWLLz4
Of course this doesn't remedy the fact that Apple support should be more competent and helpful but this is an affordable and viable solution. Hope this helps you consider staying with Apple in spite of your first experience with Apple hardware and support.
Thanks for your condolences. I have the macbook in with an authorized dealer who has ordered a replacement hard drive. He promised it would not be a seagate but likely a toshiba or hitachi. I will be sure to verify this when I get it back Wednesday. It will also be a 120 or a 160gb drive. Better than the 80gb I had. I watched him take out the hard drive and it does seem easy. Hopefully there will not ba a next time but if so I will do it myself.
I think you will love the macs. I know I did until now. I agree that apple likely switched from Seagate in current macbooks because of the known quality issue with Seagates in the previous macbooks.
Maybe I will get another MB for my second laptop. I guess I will wait and see how things work out with this current issue. If Apple chooses to ignore this problem I will not buy from Apple. To save face for me Apple needs to issue a recall and honor replacement drive costs for all users with these drives regardless if they are outside the warranty period. A lot of users are having this happen after the 1 year warranty period and a recall is the only way Apple with get back users trust IMHO.
Thanks for your condolences. I have the macbook in with an authorized dealer who has ordered a replacement hard drive. He promised it would not be a seagate but likely a toshiba or hitachi. I will be sure to verify this when I get it back Wednesday. It will also be a 120 or a 160gb drive. Better than the 80gb I had. I watched him take out the hard drive and it does seem easy. Hopefully there will not ba a next time but if so I will do it myself.
I think you will love the macs. I know I did until now. I agree that apple likely switched from Seagate in current macbooks because of the known quality issue with Seagates in the previous macbooks.
Maybe I will get another MB for my second laptop. I guess I will wait and see how things work out with this current issue. If Apple chooses to ignore this problem I will not buy from Apple. To save face for me Apple needs to issue a recall and honor replacement drive costs for all users with these drives regardless if they are outside the warranty period. A lot of users are having this happen after the 1 year warranty period and a recall is the only way Apple with get back users trust IMHO.
Yeah, you're right. Apple has pretty much left you hanging on this issue and they need to save face and issue a recall on defective Seagate drives. But it's highly unlikely once you have a new HD this will ever happen again. Right now I'm not even sure you can get a new Macbook from an Apple store that has a Seagate HD. None of the Macbooks at the Apple store in Manhattan Beach, CA have Seagate HD, most have Fujitsu. I'm pretty sure you will be happy with your larger and faster HD. Good luck and happy new year.