MacBook failing or not?

[Peter Crisp]

HI there, this morning my sons MacBook Pro (late 2011 500GB HDD - Yosemite) was 
not booting up after many attempts. The progress bar at boot up would not 
commence progressing. I read a few Google tips and figured I would try Recovery 
mode which I did then with Disk Utility did a Verify Disk test. It indicated 
some errors and “needs repair”. I pressed the Repair Disk button and left it to 
itself and that indicated the repair was successful. Then I selected Reboot on 
Startup disk which also succeeded. I did need to log into iCloud again which 
wasn’t necessarily a surprise. So it all seems fine now but I wonder is this 
the start of a failing HDD? He has a Time Capsule Backup which hadn’t backed up 
for a couple of weeks (my kids insist on slamming the lid of the MBP shut when 
they walk away which interrupts the backup so it doesn’t ever get a chance to 
complete unless I intervene!!). 

So backup is completing now. 

With my other son James a couple of years back I successfully replaced his 
internal 500GB HDD with a 250GB SSD (supplemented with a 1TB external for 
Photos and iTunes libraries) and upgrade to 8GB RAM Because it was very slow. 
It all worked fine just slow. This sorted it completely and now a very fast 
2011 MBP.

Should I do the same for Tim’s MBP?

Regards


Pete
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Re: When Time Capsule no longer functions

[petercrisp]

Noted Alan, and agreed.
Regards
Pete. 

- Original Message -
From: wamug@wamug.org.au
To:"WAMUG Mailing List" 
Cc:
Sent:Fri, 18 May 2018 13:48:07 +0800
Subject:Re: When Time Capsule no longer functions

 Hi Peter

 I had a Plan B but …

 My 5 year old Time Capsule had indicators of pending failure
(intermittent orange light, auto restart of TC) towards the end of
last year. Web searches showed that the Netgear wireless router AC1750
(R6400v2) with an external hard drive was promoted as a TC/TM
replacement. It was available as a post-Christmas sale special at
around $160. Several times during the week it took me to install it I
was ready to throw it away and buy a genuine $420 Time Capsule. It
does work reliably as a WiFi router. I don’t use it as a Time
Machine. It’s network printer facility needed constant care and
attention. Its support documentation …!

 Hence Plan C - buy an Apple Airport Express ($300) and use an
external hard drive for TM.

 As it turned out it was probably the WiFi/router component of the
Time Capsule that was about to fail. I’ve had the TC in bridge mode
with both the internal drive and an attached external drive for Time
Machine, and a network printer - and use it as an ethernet hub too. No
problems at all. 

 A five year life expectancy is probably industry standard. I try and
keep things alive a little bit longer.

 I know much less than Daniel about future parts/support for a
superseded (but new) TC. But for ease of mind and comfort “for the
foreseeable future”, go for an Apple TC!

 Cheers
 Alan

 > On 18 May 2018, at 1:00 pm, Daniel Kerr  wrote:
 > 
 > Hi Peter
 > 
 > Quick reply, as just walking into another job.
 > But basically - either a wireless type hard drive. If the Time
Capsule works but internal drive “fails” then you can use a USB
drive plugged into it and “ignore” internal drive and use external
drive. (done this for a few clients). A NAS can be used as a Time
Machine backup - some specially say they’ll work with it - e.g.
Synology off top of head.
 > Just a few suggestions there.
 > 
 > I would imagine Time Capsule will keep going for a while. As it’s
just a “box” that keeps working. Only thing may be Airport Utility
that stops being able to work. But I don’t see that happening for
many years to come. Apple will keep parts for Time Capsule up to 5
years (as that’s legally how long they have to support hardware -
same as other manufacturers for parts of computer hardware).
 > 
 > Kind regards
 > Daniel
 > 
 > Sent from my iPhone 7
 > 
 > ---
 > Daniel Kerr
 > MacWizardry
 > 
 > Phone: 0414 795 960
 > Email: 
 > Web: 
 > 
 > 
 > **For everything Apple**
 > 
 > NOTE: Any information provided in this email may be my personal
opinion and as such should be taken accordingly, and may not be the
views of MacWizardry. Any information provided does not offer or
warrant any form of warranty or accept liability. It would be
appreciated that if any information in this email is to be
disseminated, distributed or copied, that permission by the author be
requested. 
 > 
 >> On 18 May 2018, at 12:47 pm, petercr...@westnet.com.au wrote:
 >> 
 >> HI WAMUG users. I have been following a current thread but
Daniel's comment about the Time Capsule demise in that thread on the
horizon made me type this one. If I were to buy a spare Time Capsule,
would the software be compatible forever even with Apple no longer
supporting it?
 >> 
 >> What is Plan B in the event of the Time Capsule failing (hardware
failure) for those that do not have a spare Time Capsule - and then
eventually when no spare exists? 
 >> 
 >> Regards
 >> 
 >> Pete.
 >> 
 >> 
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