[VividWire]

My macbook pro has started to make a funny noise, at first I thought it was the fan, but it's on the left hand side of the trackpad so I am assuming it's the hard drive?

It sounds like a fan / slight grinding noise it's not too loud but it's noticable and irritating.

Anyone had this issue before or have any suggestions on how to fix?

I really don't want to take my MBP back to my local apple reseller, i've not long had it back from the last repair which took a month even though they told me it would be a week.

[ibook_steve]

Back up now! Your hard drive may be dying.

Steve

[VividWire]

Luckily I was planning on running a backup anyway.. Ihave pre-ordered leopard and was going to do a fresh install, doesn't look like this is going to happen any more.

I can't afford to loose my machine for another month, I'm a freelance designer, last time I took it to my apple reseller store (Bristol) and lost a month wages and I was told it would be a week. What are my other options?

[ibook_steve]

Use the iFixit guides to replace the drive yourself, but that depends on how comfortable you are in opening your machine.

Steve

[VividWire]

I was thinking of doing that, but my machine is still under warranty which means I could get it repaired for free, I was just so angry at the service I received last time I'm not sure I could deal with it again.

[seanc]

Why not pick up a Mini while you're in the store. If you rely on your computer that much, you really need a backup.

[SierraDragon]

[1] Backup immediately. Everyone needs a large external FW800 or eSATA drive anyway (e.g. for Photoshop scratch as well as for backup and images storage), then back up hourly until the problem is resolved. Noise often presages drive failure which can include motherboard failure (happened with my G4 PB), a good reason to actually have documented Apple repair performed. Also note that noise can represent things other than drive failure, all bad.

[2] Call Apple support if you want warranty repair. (In the US at least) overnight shipping repair is available such that a PB gets fixed and returned within 2-3 days total after Apple delivers a special shipping box to you. It is (in the US) not necessary to utilize local repair facilities.

Note that Apple warranty repair may wipe hard drives without data backup, so full data backup is absolutely required before shipping for repair.

-Allen Wicks

[analogika]

If you're a freelance professional, a backup *computer* is simply the way to go.

Get the cheapest Mac mini, or the smallest MacBook. They're cheap enough to be fairly easily affordable (and are fully tax deductable) - they *certainly* would have been a lot cheaper than losing an entire month's income.

Prices on machines have dropped so much that it's sensible to buy a backup. Think of it as spending the same money as you would have five years ago, but actually getting two machines for it.

Even the lowest-end machines are fast enough to do pretty much everything you'd want to well enough to get by in a pinch.