10 Computer pro tips for better laptop care

Want to improve your computing experience? Or simply looking for better ways to take care of your laptop? Here are 10 computer pro tips from the experts:

1. Turn off your laptop properly

Most people just close their laptop’s lid once they’re done for the day. It’s super quick, the laptop goes to sleep, always ready for you once you open it up again. But you might want to turn it off properly rather than keeping it on sleep mode all the time. And when we say properly, we mean shutting it off from the system interface. Not holding down the power button until the screen goes black.

When you put your laptop in sleep mode, RAM data from your previous session stays cached and does not completely reset until you turn the laptop off. It all just stays there even after the laptop wakes up, and the RAM then has less memory capacity to work on.

Turning off or restarting your laptop can reset this cached data and give you a clean slate to work on again. You might also be able to resolve a number of software bugs or issues when you restart it again. That’s why you might want to think twice before you roll your eyes to the IT guy when he asks “have you tried turning it on and off again?”

2. Back up your data

You never know what could happen to your laptop, unavoidable accidents and hardware failures can happen and possibly ruin your day. Safe and secure data storage is key to preventing lost data tragedies. Any type of data backup is a great place to store your files.

You can choose from online cloud based storage services like Google Drive or Dropbox, or even subscription-based ones if you have a lot of data you need regularly backed-up. If you’d rather have everything offline on an external hard drive, that’s good too! You can either drag-and-drop your files onto the drive, or set up a backup from Windows backup or Apple Time Machine.

The hard drive on your laptop can fail after 3-5 years. That doesn’t mean the whole laptop is dead, it just means you need to get the hard drive replaced. To avoid paying more for data recovery services, better make sure all your important data is backed up.

While you’re here, you can also see 7 best tools to test your broken computer (The best one is FREE), if you’re curious about how to diagnose your computer.

3. Disk cleanup

There’s a handy tool on every Windows computer that can help you find and free up space on your hard drive and it’s called Disk Cleanup. Unfortunately for Apple MacBook laptops there aren’t any built-in tools for disk cleanup, but there are a number of external apps that you can install and use to clear up space.

You can find Disk Cleanup by right-clicking on your local C Drive and click on ‘Properties’. From the ‘General’ tab you’ll find the capacity of your drive, and you can use Disk Cleanup there.

Disk Cleanup can find old Windows updates installations or temporary files that you don’t need anymore. If you’re looking to free up some space on your laptop, try using this tool first. Then you can move on to finding large files that photos or videos that you can move to an external hard drive or simply delete them.

4. Disable apps on startup

If you want your laptop to boot up quicker with no interruptions, you may want to disable some of the startup apps. These apps are set to automatically open once you turn on your computer. When your laptop has additional things to work on while it is starting up, it could slow down the whole process.

You can always start the apps you need after the computer boots up, it’s just a matter of convenience. Startup program apps on Windows laptops can be disabled from Task Manager, and System Preferences on Apple MacBooks.

From the Startup tab of Task Manager, you can assess the startup impact of each program and choose to disable them from starting up automatically. You should also consider how important these programs are beforehand.

Startup programs in Apple macOS are known as login items. You can find them from System Preferences > Users and Groups > Login Items.

5. Improve your accessibility with keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts can make things easier for you with just a few key combinations. With some of these shortcuts, you won’t have to bring your mouse to where you need, or even go through different windows. Here are some useful keyboard shortcuts to make your life easier:

Locks your computer: Win + L (Windows) / Cmd + Ctrl + Q (Apple)

Minimises a window: Win + D (Windows) / Mission Control (Apple)

Closes a window: Ctrl + W

Undoes a closed browser tab: Ctrl + Shift + T (Windows) / Cmd + Shift + T (Apple)

6. Use your laptop on flat and solid surfaces

Cozying up to your favourite TV show in bed is one of life’s great pleasures. But it can come with consequences. Using your laptop on fabric surfaces like your bed or sofa is not recommended, as this can block the vents of the laptop.

This kind of blockage can put a strain on the cooling system of your laptop. Blocked vents make it harder for the hot air to disperse out of the laptop. This increases the risk of overheating.

7. Clean the insides of the laptop

Compressed air is a quick and easy-to-use solution for laptop cleaning. You don’t need that many tools for the whole process either.

You can get a can of compressed air from any major hardware or electronics store. They usually come with a small nozzle that can reach the small gaps between components on a laptop. All you need to do is unscrew the bottom cover of the laptop and blow out any crumbs or dust trapped inside.

Cleaning your laptop is an important computer care habit to keep. Not only are you keeping the laptop clean, you’re also reducing the risk of laptop overheating. When you have a lot of dust accumulated inside the laptop, the dust can trap heat, putting a lot of stress on the fans.

8. Use a keyboard cover

Using a keyboard cover is more of a preventive method of keeping the laptop clean. You might not notice it, but dust and crumbs can get inside the laptop easily through the gaps in the keyboard. So these keyboard covers can stop that from happening.

9. Gentle taps, not clicks

The moving parts of a laptop are more prone to breaking due to our continuous use. That includes the touchpad of a laptop as well. Try tapping on the touchpad, instead of clicking down on the pad. By not using its moving parts so much, you can certainly lengthen the touchpad’s lifespan.

10. Turn down your screen’s brightness

Every laptop’s screen is lit by its backlight. It’s usually an LED light that will possibly burn out somewhere along the laptop’s lifespan. To conserve the backlight’s energy consumption and lifespan, you might want to turn down the screen’s brightness whenever you can.

Expert repairs at Safemode Computer Service

We’re here to help! At Safemode Computer Service, our experienced technicians are always happy to help with any computer issues all around Sydney. From Apple MacBooks to Windows desktops, we can assess and repair computer issues that you have.

Thinking about upgrading your laptop or desktop computer? We can also offer advice on how you might want to go about that. Book an appointment at our Inner West store or give us a call today.

What to do with an old MacBook laptop

Consider what you want to do with your old MacBook

Does the MacBook still work?

If the MacBook still works, you can choose to upgrade its hardware. This is a great cost-effective way to breathe new life into an old laptop. Sometimes you only need to upgrade a small part of the laptop just for it to work like new again.

If that’s not the case and the MacBook doesn’t work nor turn on at all, you can consider getting it repaired, upgraded, or recycled. It all just depends on what you’d like to do with it.

Repair and upgrade costs

The repair costs of each MacBook can differ. If you only need the hard drive replaced, or you want to put more RAM in, it shouldn’t cost a lot. What you can definitely be sure is, these repairs or upgrade costs won’t cost more than buying a new MacBook laptop.

A new entry-level MacBook Pro costs at least $2000, but if you just put in some useful upgrades to an old MacBook, you might be able to get great performance from it. This is only the case for Mac users who use their laptops for basic stuff like internet browsing and general word processing. If you do more than like, say things like graphics or video editing, then repairing or upgrading this old MacBook would probably be not that useful for yourself. Still, you could get a bit of cash if you upgrade and resell the Mac.

If you don’t want to go through all this hassle, you might as well trade the MacBook in at a computer repair shop. Most computer repair shops do this, so they can refurbish and resell the laptop, or they’ll just take it in for spare parts.

So now you have a few options for your old MacBook: upgrade it for better performance, repair or upgrade to resell it, or recycle the laptop as e-waste. Before you do anything to the Mac, you might want to check the MacBook with Apple Diagnostics, to test for any possible hardware faults. Backing up any important data would also be helpful. You might not be able to do much if the Mac doesn’t turn on or boot up properly, but you could still try it out.

Apple Diagnostics

As a simple hardware testing tool, Apple Diagnostics can help you quickly review your Mac’s hardware. So you can be aware of anything you need to fix up. Sometimes even if the Mac turns on and seems to work well, something could be wrong with it and you might not even be aware of it. It’ll only take a few moments, and could also inform your decision on what you want to do with the Mac.

To start Apple Diagnostics, restart your Mac and press the “D” key to trigger it. After a language selection page, it should automatically start testing your hardware. The test will look into hardware such as the hard drive, battery, and RAM. Any problems found will be reported with some support solutions.

Backing up data

Whether you’re upgrading the MacBook for yourself or to resell, or simply throwing it out, backing up the data on the hard drive is an important step. It’s also a great computing habit to keep, for any of your devices.

You can choose from an external hard drive, or just put it all up in the cloud. This keeps your data safe, and makes the upgrade process much smoother as you won’t have to worry about data loss or recovery.

Useful upgrades to boost your MacBook’s performance

Replacing the hard drive with flash storage

Flash storage, also known as a solid-state drive (SSD), is pretty much the standard on new MacBook models these days. They are much faster and more durable than traditional hard drives (HDD). Performance wise, flash storage can get you speeds up to 16x faster than an HDD.

Replacing a hard drive with flash storage is one of the easier computer repair jobs, so much so that you can even do it yourself. Older MacBooks are often more repair-friendly than the newer ones, so you should manage just fine. Remember to choose a flash storage model that is compatible with macOS, or else the drive might not work.

Adding more RAM for better multitasking functions

RAM (Random-access memory) is essential for even computing performance. Information that you need while you’re working is stored temporarily on the RAM, so it is readily available whenever you need it.

These days for most computer users, the minimum required amount of RAM is 4GB. It should get you through basic computing tasks. The recommended amount of RAM for a relatively smoother experience is at least 8GB.

Adding more RAM to an old Mac could also give you a better performance, for multitasking purposes. So this option could also be a way to refresh your old Mac. Just make sure that your RAM isn’t embedded on the logic board. If that is the case, you might not be able to add RAM capacity to your Mac. You can check this by opening up the Mac and look for where the memory chips are set.

Battery replacement

The battery pack on a MacBook doesn’t have an effect on its performance, but a battery replacement could be beneficial to the Mac’s lifespan.

Laptop batteries can be charged over and over without losing their capacity, but they are still a consumable part. Once it reaches more than 400 charging cycles, the battery can start to fail. It may lose charge, or carry no charge at all. In some more serious cases, these lithium-ion batteries can become extremely volatile and leak hazardous liquid or catch on fire.

So you might want to check the Mac’s battery status to see whether it needs a replacement. You can check this by going to System information, and clicking the battery tab. There you can find the battery charging cycle count. If your Mac’s battery needs replacing, it should show you a warning saying “service battery”, “replace soon”, or “replace now”. Either way, getting a battery replacement for your old MacBook can add to its lifespan substantially.

Recycling or trading in your old MacBook

If you don’t really need the Mac anymore and want to get rid of the clutter in your house, you could consider recycling the laptop as e-waste. Alternatively, you could also trade in at a computer repair shop.

In Australia, e-waste can be recycled for free. Check with your local council to see when the next e-waste drop off days are. Or you can also book a free pick-up service for any of your unwanted electronics. This includes laptops, desktops, and household appliances.

Trading in a laptop at a store could also be an option if you don’t want to go through the trouble of having to list your laptop online yourself. Computer repair shops like us are able to take in old computers for refurbishment or for its spare parts. If you just want to get rid of the Mac quickly and possibly get some cash out of it, then trading in at a computer repair shop is your best bet.

Before you recycle or trade in your old MacBook, make sure you take out the hard drive, or destroy it. That way there’s no chance that others can access your data. Simply take out the hard drive and give it a few whacks with a hammer. Then you can make sure that it’s completely safe to say goodbye to the Mac.

Professional repairs at Safemode Computer Service

Got an old MacBook laptop that you still don’t know what to do with yet? You can take it right down to us. At Safemode Computer Service in Inner West Sydney, we can offer the right advice for your old devices. We can help you access the laptop and see what we can do to suit your needs. If you’d like to trade in the laptop, we also offer tech recycling services. Even if the laptop is beyond repair, certain spare parts might still be viable.

As a trusted computer repair service in Sydney, our friendly technicians are always happy to help with any computer problem that you have, from desktop PCs to MacBook laptops. Come by our Enmore store or call us today!

10 tips and tricks for a better Apple macOS experience

Did you know that your Mac has built-in tools for better productivity and performance? Apple Macs are popular for their smooth user experience and high quality hardware. In this guide, we’ll be looking at the various tips and tricks for every Mac user to take on.

1. How to clean up storage space

Perhaps you’re looking for more space to fit more files on your Mac, or you’ve got an alert that says “Startup disk full” or “You disk is almost full”. Either way, clearing your hard drive of unused files not only gives you more room to work with, it could also improve the performance of software and apps.

To do this, we’ll have to check out how much storage you have on your Mac’s hard disk. Go to About this Mac from the Apple menu, then click on “Storage”. There you’ll see a brief overview of how much storage you have, and what kind of files take up the most space. To look at how you can optimise your Mac’s storage, click “Manage”.

From the Recommendations tab, you should be able to find four options to manage and optimise your storage. These include, Store in iCloud, Optimize Storage, Empty Trash Automatically, and Reduce Clutter. All four of these methods could help with cleaning up some files and documents that hog up your hard disk.

Along with getting rid of files on your hard drive, you could also look into uninstalling apps that you don’t use anymore. Under the Applications window, go through the apps that you don’t need anymore and uninstall them. These apps take up space, and will rarely be of use anyway. Another thing is, because applications are installed on your OS, uninstalling them could make things easier for your Mac.

2. How to use Time Machine to back up your data

For personal data backups, most people are used to just dragging and dropping to their USB drives or external hard drives. Apple’s Time Machine is a more convenient and quick solution to creating regular backups to an external storage space. All you need is an external storage device, something like a USB or Thunderbolt drive should work. You could also use dedicated devices like AirPort Time Capsules.

To set up a Time Machine, connect the external storage and then you can choose whether you want to encrypt the backups. After you’ve selected a backup disk, Time Machine will begin to make regular backups automatically from time to time. You should be able to continue using your Mac as usual while these backups are underway. If you want to start a backup manually, you can click “Back Up Now” from the Time Machine menu. From this menu. You can also check on the status of a backup or skip an automatic backup.

3. How to check your Mac’s battery health

Unlike Windows devices, Apple Macs provide information on its battery health. This gives the user a better idea of when they should be replacing their MacBook laptop’s battery.

Laptop batteries are consumable parts that have an approximate lifespan of 2-4 years. Battery failures can also go awry pretty quickly, as the lithium-ion parts are quite volatile when malfunctioning. They can catch on fire, or explode. So with that said, it’s a good idea to catch these problems before they get dangerous.

To check your MacBook’s battery health, click on the battery icon on the menu bar. The status should read either: Normal, Service battery, Replace soon, or Replace now. You can also find a more detailed report from your MacBook’s System Report, under the Power tab. Information about the battery’s power capacity and charging cycles.

4. How to reinstall macOS

Sometimes you Mac might need a little refresher, or you want to reset it back to factory settings before selling it. You can do this by reinstalling macOS. Be sure to back up your data before doing this though, as reinstalling macOS will wipe out everything on the Mac.

To reinstall macOS, restart your Mac and hold Command + R at startup. You’ll reach macOS Utilities. Select “reinstall macOS”, then choose a language. The process will begin and your Mac will download and install the right version of macOS for you.

5. How to screenshot individual elements

The traditional way of screenshotting screen images on an Apple Mac is by holding these three keys: command, shift, 3. What if you want to screenshot individual elements without having to go through image editing and cropping what you need?

There is a way to do this, so you can screenshot elements like the menu bar, dock, or any open windows. Hold down command + shift + 4, then press and release the spacebar. Then you can click on the thing that you want.

6. How to use Apple Diagnostics

Apple Diagnostics is a handy tool that can help you find possible faults with your hardware. It’s helpful to run this maybe every few months, even if your Mac seems to be running normally. This way you might be able to catch problems earlier, before it starts to create bigger problems for you. Apple Diagnostics can test hardware like the hard drive, RAM, or battery.

Simply restart your Mac and press the D key when it turns on. Apple Diagnostics should run immediately after. If it finds any issues, it will report them along with an error reference code and support solutions.

Help with Apple Mac repair solutions

If you require any help with your Mac, you’d generally make an appointment at the Apple genius bar. But there are certain situations where you might not be able to get help. Your warranty might be expired, or that the problem is out of their reach.

That would bring you to a repair shop like us. At Safemode Computer Service, we are dedicated to providing the best Mac repair service in Sydney. Our experienced repair technicians can help you with any Mac issue, from logic board repairs to iMac screen replacements. Call us today to make an appointment at our Enmore store.

3 steps to test, troubleshoot common Apple Mac computer problems yourself

With Macbook laptops and desktop Macs, there are a few common problems that users may come across. While they can be quite frustrating to face, there are a few tricks and tools that you can use to figure it all out. Here are some common Mac issues and how you can fix them yourself.

Common Mac issues

Start up issues

When you’ve had your Mac for a while, parts may start to fail. These hardware failures can cause some pretty bad issues, where you may experience some trouble while starting up your Mac. These start up issues may include: the question mark folder error, infinite loading bar, or in some situations, your Mac may not turn on at all.

These issues usually can be traced back to hardware issues related to the parts that are essential to the macOS start up process. The hard drive, logic board, RAM, and video card should be thoroughly checked out to solve this problem. You can also try resolving possible software issues as well.

Spinning beach ball

The spinning beach ball as a “loading” indicator is considered an iconic Apple symbol. But it can also be pretty frustrating to get it all the time while you’re working.

This could be a sign that your Mac’s processor is overworked and cannot manage all the processes that you’re working on. Or you might not have enough RAM space to handle the many tasks you have open.

It shouldn’t be a problem if it goes away after you close some programs from the Activity Monitor. By closing background apps that you’re not using, you can smooth things out and reduce your system’s workload. But if the problem persists, you might have to figure out what’s really wrong with your Mac by running diagnostics.

Slow performance

Similar to the constant spinning beach ball problem, slow macOS performance is also a common issue that Mac users come across. Most of the time, this can be identified as a hard drive issue. Hard drives can start to lose functionality over its 3-5 year lifespan, and cause all sorts of issues. Some of these issues may be apparent from when you start your Mac, or you’ll notice that some files are lost or you’re unable to open them. A slow Mac could also be a sign of hard drive failure. It might not be completely failed, but could be getting there. It’s a good idea to catch these issues early before you’re met with the tragedy of complete hard drive failure. Backing up your data regularly is also something you should be doing.

Known hardware issues across different Mac models

Certain models of Mac computers have some widely-known hardware issues that Apple offers recall programs for. Some publicly acknowledged hardware issues include the butterfly keyboard, video cards, and screens on Macbook laptops. Apple offered free replacements for these parts in various limited recall programs.

However, some Mac users may not experience problems with the part until after the program has ended, or just simply missed it. This just means they can’t get a free fix from Apple. It’s helpful to be aware of these issues, so when something comes up, you will definitely know what it is.

How to fix Mac issues

When you find that your Mac isn’t working properly, you can try out some software fixes first. Even if you solve the problem with these fixes, it’s still a good idea to run checks on your hardware. That way you can make sure that everything is in tip top shape.

1. Restart and reset

A small but mighty fix for a lot of computer issues is a quick restart. Don’t underestimate the power of the simple computer restart, it can actually solve a lot of software and driver issues. We recommend restarting your Mac as a first step to fix your Mac issues.

If your Mac has frozen up and you can’t restart it from the power options, you can turn it off manually. Press down the power button for about 6 seconds until it powers down. Just remember, only do this when you absolutely have to.

Some more soft fixes include resetting the SMC and PRAM / NVRAM. These two resets are specific to Mac laptops and desktop computers. They can solve a range of issues related to startup, power and the battery.

SMC resets

The System Management Controller (SMC) is where your Mac stores information related to things like startup, fan and temperature control, the keyboard, and more. If the SMC is not working properly, you might notice problems with power, performance, or battery.

By resetting the SMC back to default settings, you might be able to resolve software related issues. To do so, you’ll have to refer to the kind of Mac you have:

Desktop Mac: Disconnect the power adaptor and reconnect it after 15 seconds. Then wait another 5 seconds before turning the Mac on again.

Macbook laptop with T2 security chip: Shutdown the Mac and hold down Control + Option + Shift. This process may turn on the Mac. Hold these three keys for 7 seconds, then press and hold the power button as well. Your Mac will turn off after these 7 seconds. Wait for a few seconds before turning on the Mac again.

Macbook laptop without T2 security chip: Shutdown and unplug the Mac, then hold down Control + Shift + Option + Power button for 10 seconds. Then you can plug the power cord back and turn on the Macbook again.

NVRAM / PRAM resets

While they seem to be different things by name, the parameter RAM (PRAM) and non-volatile RAM are essentially the same thing. It’s only that newer Macs use NVRAM rather than PRAM.

The main difference is that the NVRAM stores less information. It is a slimmed down version with just the essentials like the time zone, screen resolution, and the selected startup disk.

When your Mac is taking forever to boot, you could try resetting the NVRAM. This resolves startup disk issues by reverting the NVRAM back to default settings.

To reset the NVRAM or PRAM, restart your Mac and hold down Command + Option + P + R for 20 seconds (your Mac may restart). Release the keys and start the Mac up normally. For older Macs that chime at boot, hold the four keys until you hear a second chime.

2. Reinstall macOS

Sometimes you just need a clean slate to get things going again. You can do this by reinstalling macOS from macOS Utilities. This is another way to resolve software issues by refreshing your OS. Just make sure you have a Time Machine backup, or a backup on an external hard drive before you do so. This is because the process can wipe your drive.

To reinstall macOS, restart your Mac and hold down Command + R when you boot it up again. This gets you to macOS Utilities where you can pick “Reinstall macOS”. Then, as long as you have an internet connection, you Mac should download and install the right version of macOS for you.

3. Run diagnostics

Testing your hardware is always useful when you want to thoroughly find out what’s wrong with your Mac. Even if your problem does seem to go away after fixing software issues, underlying hardware issues might cause more problems down the line. So you might want to take some time to run checks on your Mac’s hardware.

Apple diagnostics

One easy way to check on almost everything on your Mac is by running Apple Diagnostics. Apple Diagnostics, or Apple Hardware Test, can help you test hardware on your Mac, including the hard drive, battery, fan, and more.

To run Apple Diagnostics, restart your Mac and hold down the “D” key until you reach a language selection page. After picking the language, a loading bar should appear to indicate that the test has started. If Apple Diagnostics finds any problems, it will report them with reference codes and suggest solutions as well.

Other specific apps and software

Apple diagnostics is only a base-level type of hardware test that can only do so much. Say you’ve narrowed the problem down to the hard drive. You can run First Aid from Disk Utility to check and possibly repair your hard drive.

You may also try some other branded hardware analysis software to test your hard drive, RAM, or video card. These apps can help you run extensive tests with thorough results.

Expert Mac repairs at Safemode Computer Service

Maybe you end up with a problem with solutions that are out of your reach. That’s where we can help. At Safemode Computer Service, we deliver the most trusted and reliable computer repair services in Sydney. Our experienced technicians can help you test and offer the right advice for any computer issue you have, from desktop Macs to Macbook laptops. Come on down to our Inner West store today, or call to make an appointment.

What to do if your Mac won’t boot up: fixing Apple startup issues

A lot of things could cause a Macbook to stop booting up properly, or not even start up at all. It could be a software or hardware problem. Either way, you’re probably looking to boot it up normally again.

Here’s a few things you could run through to fix the problem and get your Mac working again. This includes some simple checks and software resets as a first step. Then we can move on to checking on your hardware and repairing any possible faults.

Having said that, Apple computers have sophisticated designs. Fixing Apple computers is a challenge even for a computer technician who is only specialized in Windows PC. DIY repair for a novice user is often not possible. After you’ve gone through the tips below and your computer still doesn’t work, it’s most likely that you need professional computer repair services.

5 steps that will help you repair an Apple hard drive

Considered one of the Big Four technology companies, Apple is a widely known tech developer and manufacturer. They are most known for their wide range of consumer electronics, software, and online services. These include Macs, iPods, and macOS, among many others.

For most Apple laptop and desktop computer users, a failing hard disk drive (HDD) is one of the most common and annoying issues to come across. It can cause the device’s performance to slow down, or even crashes that lead to data loss.

Top 8 hard drive issues and how to fix them yourself

The hard drive is undeniably a very important part of your computer. As the main storage device, it contains your files, installed software, and your operating system. It plays a large part in managing processes within your computing experience. Running into problems with hard drives also happens to be the most common issue for laptop users. Understandably, these problems can be frustrating to diagnose and repair.

To get an idea of what issues we’re dealing with hard drive failures, recognising and understanding the common errors that concern them can help you be prepared, should they happen to your hard drive. In the guide below, we’ll look at the common errors that occur when a hard drive is failing, and explain why hard drives fail.

What is a Hard Disk Drive (HDD)?

A hard disk drive (HDD), or hard drive, is the main storage device on laptops and desktop computers. It has been the mainstay for computer storage for many years. It reads and writes data using magnetic read and write heads on an actuator that floats on a spinning disk.

As a form of non-volatile storage, digital information stored on a hard drive stays there at all times. Data stays there even when the device is not in use or when it is turned off. This differs hard drives from Random Access Memory (RAM). As volatile storage, data stored on RAM is reset once the computer is turned off.

What is the expected life-span of a hard drive?

The life-span of your hard drive can depends on different factors, such as interface type and use. In general, consumer-graded hard drives tends to last anywhere from 2-5 years on average.

It is expected that hard drives will eventually wear out with age and lose its original spark. This can come from all kinds of reasons, from general wear and tear to accidental damage. Hard drive failures are quite inevitable, and will need to be fixed or replaced.

How are hard drives manufactured?

The delicate machinery that makes up a hard drive is manufactured in several processes. Parts are made and assembled together under a controlled and clean environment, where the chances of air and dust contamination is extremely low. Different parts of the drive are often produced in separate sites, then shipped to the final assembly plant.

Even with such tightly controlled conditions during the process, nothing is perfect, and defects can happen to almost all hard drives. These are known as bad sectors.

What are bad sectors?

A bad sector is a defective part (among millions or billions) of a hard drive that is unusable for writing and reading digital information. Once damage is taken to a part of the hard drive, the information that was stored on this bad sector can become corrupted or lost.

Bad sectors can be divided into two types — “physical” or “hard” bad sectors, or “logical” or “soft” bad sectors:

Physical bad sectors

Hard bad sectors are physically damaged parts of the hard drive that are impossible to repair. This type of bad sector can be detected and mapped out by disk repair utilities. Then your computer will be able to skip over the hard bad sector and stop reading or writing on it. Still, hard drives can fray over time, and eventually fail. A hard drive replacement may be something to think about down the line.

What causes hard bad sectors?

Hard bad sectors are caused by physical damage, and this can be from a range of circumstances. As we’ve learnt before, hard drive manufacturing isn’t perfect, even with its rigorously controlled environment, and can come with small defects like bad sectors. Other things like dropping the computer and damaging the platter with the drive head, or environmental factors like dust and air can also cause significant damage to over time.

There are surely many possible causes to hard bad sectors. So keeping in mind that your hard drive will ultimately start failing, it could still be a good idea to treat your computer with care.

Logical bad sectors

A logical bad sector, or a soft bad sector is a part of the hard drive that isn’t working normally. Your system may come across these when trying to read or write information on it, and the information is inaccessible or it takes too long to complete the process.

In contrast to hard bad sectors, soft bad sectors can be detected and repaired with disk repair software. Reading and writing processes can resume as normal if a repair is successful.

Another thing that your system does with bad sectors is replacing them with sectors within the spare sector pool on the hard drive. This allows the drive to work properly again by making use of the working sectors. Even so, this isn’t a permanent fix, as space within the spare sector pool is limited.

What causes soft bad sectors?

In general, software issues cause soft bad sectors. Situations like the computer being abruptly shut down while the hard drive is writing information or virus infections can cause software issues that escalate to soft bad sectors. Maintaining safe shutdown practices is always a good idea, not only for the good of your hard drive, but for the health of your computer as well.

So now that we understand what causes most hard drive issues and failures, we can look at the few common errors that users come across that concerns a failing hard drive. You’ll also be able to use diagnostics tools to find out out the right repair solution to common HDD issues.

1. “SMART failure predicted on hard disk”

SMART, short for “Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology”, is a built-in tool on a storage device, such as hard drives and solid-state drives. It works to detect and report any issues or signs to anticipate any drive failures. “SMART failure” is a very common hard drive error for users of Windows 10/8/7, as hard drive failure will happen along the lifespan of the drive. Typically, this is caused by factors such as the accumulation of too many bad sectors, or improper use.

When you get the error message “failure predicted on hard disk” or “a failure may be imminent”, it means that your hard drive has not yet failed, but is getting close. Your system sets out an alert for you to make precautions, such as backing up your data and getting a repair for your hard drive.

2. “No bootable device” / “No boot device found”

“No bootable device” means that your computer can’t properly recognise the hard drive, which is where your operating system is stored. Most of the time, this is due to a failed hard drive or an OS issue.

3. “Inaccessible boot device”

The “inaccessible boot device” error shows up on what is known as a “blue screen of death” (BSOD), where the system crashes and restarts. This occurs when the system recognises the HDD, but can’t access or read data on the drive properly.

4. “Operating system not found”

Another error similar to the ones listed above, “operating system not found” means that the system is unable to properly read and boot from the operating system on the hard drive.

5. Folder icon with question mark on Apple computer start up

This error occurs during startup in an Apple laptop or desktop computer, showing a folder icon with a question mark. This means the computer is having trouble finding its system folder within the hard drive, and is unable to boot from the Mac OS.

6. Windows stuck at logo screen at startup

The chances of getting stuck on the logo screen at startup are higher with the build up of bad sectors on the hard drive. This causes longer read processes and the system will experience difficulty when booting up.

7. Laptop stuck in Windows startup repair, or showing “Diagnosing your PC” but cannot boot Windows

If Windows is not booting up properly, users will often be prompted to use the advanced boot options menu. This brings us to startup repair. This error occurs when the user is stuck in the startup repair task and is still unable to boot up. System files are unable to load from the OS, causing the boot up process to be stuck.

8. Slow computer, often getting spinning colour wheel

This one is pretty self-explanatory, right? Finding that your Apple laptop or desktop computer is running a lot slower than usual can be pretty frustrating when you’re used to a certain standard of things. A ridiculously slow computer can mean issues with reading and writing processes on the hard drive. Or it may even be mechanical issues with the drive. It might be time for a replacement or an upgrade.

How do I diagnose HDD issues?

Here are three methods you could use to diagnose issues on your hard drive:

Built-in disk repair utilities

Both Windows and Apple computers have built-in disk repair utilities, namely “chkdsk” and “Disk Utility”. You can use these basic tools to detect and attempt repairs on any issues you may find on your hard drive.

Pre-boot diagnostics

With pre-boot diagnostics, you’ll be able to run tests on your computer’s hardware to find out whether everything is working properly. This way you can spot hard drive failures and other hardware issues before they become a huge problem.

To run boot diagnostics, press the corresponding key while your computer is booting up. Each brand of computer has their own specific key to run the diagnostic tests, such as “F12” for Dell laptops, “ESC” key for HP, “Enter” key for Lenovo laptops, and “D” key for Apple Mac. Be sure to look up the right key for your brand of device.

Dedicated hard disk analysis software

Using dedicated software to diagnose your hard drive issues can also be a helpful option to understand hard drive failures. Free hard drive analysis software like SeaTools (Seagate, Windows), Drive Utilities for Mac (Western Digital, Apple), or Data Lifeguard (Western Digital, Windows) can be used for such tests.

With this option, you’ll need to test your hard drive with software on a different desktop computer. This involves taking out the hard drive in question and using an enclosure box to connect it to the desktop computer that you are performing tests on.

If your hard drive needs replacing

As we’ve learnt, hard drives do fail and an easy and effective fix might as well be a replacement. You can choose to do it yourself by following the many guides out there, from sites such as ifixit. With a few tools and careful moves, your computing experience can be enjoyed as normal.

Rescuing data from your computer

Your data is saved on the computer hard drive. When the drive fails, your data is at risk. Keeping regular backup of your data will give your best chance of rescuing data from your computer.

If you don’t have a backup, you’ll certainly need external tools or help from a professional computer technician to assist you with data recovery.

Things to consider when buying a new hard drive

To find out the right drive for your desired computing experience, here are some things to look out for when shopping for a new drive:

Storage capacity

Different types of hard drives offer different storage capacities. For most users of personal laptops, storage capacities from 250-500GB may be enough. 250GB can roughly mean 30,000 photos or songs. Storing and using larger files such as movies or media projects would usually call for a capacity of up to 1TB or more.

The physical size of hard drives also differ for laptops and desktop computers. If you own a laptop, you will need a 2.5-inch HDD, or 3.5-inch for desktop computers. 2.5-inch HDDs offer up to 5TB of storage, while the largest capacity of 3.5 HDDs is 14TB.

Speeds

When considering hard drive performance, you may want to look into the speeds of different types of hard drives. This is mainly reflected from the RPM, the revolutions per minute. RPM measures the rotational speed of the platters that are used to store information of the hard drive. The higher the RPM, the faster the read and write speeds of the drive. So, a high RPM would be able to get you a faster drive.

These days, a consumer-grade hard drives mainly operate at 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM. By comparing the two types, 7200 RPM drives approximately runs five times faster than 5400 RPM drives. Having a think about the right performance for your computing experience may be able to help you decide.

Consider a solid-state drive

Solid-state drives are becoming more and more popular as a better computer storage solution. Its use of non-volatile memory that does not require any machinery to read and write information provides a faster and safer option for computer storage.

While you can just replace your hard drive, but upgrading to an SSD may get you a smoother experience in the long run. Need more information about SSDs? Learn more here. We cover the basics of solid-state drives, and how you can benefit from an SSD upgrade.

Getting an in-store repair

As another option, you may decide to just take your computer to an authorized service centre or a repair shop. Professional services may be an option for you if you’d like to get your computer checked out thoroughly and get a good fix.

If you live in Inner West Sydney, why not consider seeking professional advice from our technicians at Safemode Computer Service? Rated among the top three computer repair services for three years in a row by ThreeBestRate, we can definitely offer the right solution for you :)

Upgrading to Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite: Fix For High CPU and RAM Usage, Slow Shutdown Problems

Upgrading to Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite

Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite was released on the 16th October 2014. The new OS by Apple comes with a number of new features and a complete redesign of the operating system layout.

Being a computer enthusiast, I use both Windows and Mac. I like both. Even though I’m not a big fan of the flat design of Yosemite, my Mac laptop is only for personal use with just a few documents and photos, there is actually no important need for an upgrade to 10.10, still I could not resist upgrading my MacBook Pro Retina Display laptop just to try it out.

Opened App Store and did the free upgrade to Mac OS X Yosemite. The process took about 2 hours to finish without any trouble. I was excited to explore Yosemite OS.

Problem with high CPU and RAM usage

Everything seems normal but I did notice a tiny lag when moving the mouse, opening Word document. And I really mean just a “tiny” lag. The problem is, I’m a computer technician and enthusiast, this really annoyed me, the computer must be perfect, a little lag is not right. So I opened Activity under Utility, checked CPU usage and Memory usage. CPU usage is normal with over 80% idle (which later I found out that many Mac users reported high usage after upgrading to Yosemite). However, Memory usage was high, varied from 6.98GB to 7.99GB out of 8GB RAM.

I could tell immediately that this is not normal. 8GB is plenty for having Activity and one Google Chrome window opened. There is just no way that Mac OS system itself would need that much of RAM just to function. This might be a bug in the new Yosemite OS. If it is, it would be too obvious for Apple to realise. So I did some research and found that many Mac users have similar issues with high CPU and RAM usage. These users reported over 90% of CPU usage and RAM usage maxed out on their computers. I didn’t take note of RAM usage on my MacBook Pro 13″ Retina laptop before the upgrade. Fortunately I have another MacBook Pro 15″ Retina with OS X 10.9 Mavericks, I checked RAM usage in this laptop and found it around 4GB-4.5GB of Memory used (with multiple Google Chrome windows opened). Now it’s obvious that RAM usage is way too high. How to fix this problem then? Well, read below.

Solution for fixing high CPU and RAM usage

Repair Disk Permissions in Safe Boot: Shutdown your Mac computer and boot it to Safe Boot. To boot to Safe Boot, hold down Shift button immediately after pressing the power button.

Once in Safe Boot, click on Go at the top menu, select Utilities. Double click on Disk Utility, select your Macintosh HD partition, then click on Repair Disk Permissions.

Let Repair Disk Permissions finish then shutdown your Mac computer.

Reset SMC: this instruction applies to MacBook laptop that you should not remove on your own only, if you have a different Mac computer (i.e. iMac), please look up SMC Reset from Apple website.

To reset SMC, connect MagSafe power adaptor to your Apple MacBook laptop, hold down (left) Shit-Control-Option buttons and press the power button at the same time. Release all buttons. The MagSafe LED light indicator will change within a few seconds. Press the power button again to turn on your MacBook laptop. Turn off your Mac again and proceed to next step.

Reset PRAM: while your computer is off, hold down Command-Option-P-R buttons immediately after pressing the power button on your Mac. You must do this before the Apple logo shows up. During the PRAM reset, you’ll see your Mac laptop turn on, then turn off, and turn back on with the Apple chime. At this point, release all buttons and let your Mac start up as normal.

Once you’ve done all of the above, open Activity and check your CPU and RAM usage again. You should find it back to normal as mine:

I didn’t have issue with high CPU usage, check yours if you had this problem after upgrading to Yosemite.

Problem with slow shutdown

My MacBook Pro Retina laptop has always start up fast and shutdown in seconds. After upgrading to Yosemite, shutting down took over a minute. The spinning circle got stuck at some stage as if the computer froze, then it spins again and stuck again. Eventually after a minute or more, the laptop finally turned off. If this is a Windows laptop, it could be normal, but not for a Mac, at least not my MacBook Pro Retina. This problem is another thing that really annoyed me.

Solution for fixing slow shutdown

Open Macintosh HD (if you cannot find Macintosh HD on your desktop, click on Finder at the top, Preferences, tick the box Hard Disks). Open Library. Open LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons folders.

Inside these 2 folders, you may find several files relating to “parallel”, delete these files by moving them to Trash. I deleted the following files on my Macbook Pro Retina laptop:

com.parallels.vm.prl_pcproxy.plist
com.parallels.desktop.launch.plist
com.parallels.DesktopControlAgent.plist
com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon.plist

I also deleted some other files on my Mac laptop, but you may not have these files:

com.barebones.authd.plist
com.baidu.netdiskmac.BDYunFinderInstaller.plist
com.sonos.smbbump.plist

After deleting these files, restart your Mac. The first restart might still be slow at shutdown, don’t panic, let your Mac restart and try shutting it down again, it should shutdown fast as it used to.

Other notes

This article assumes that your Mac has no hardware problem such as hard drive failure. If your Mac becomes ridiculously slow after the upgrade, and you have followed the above instructions with no luck, you should have your Mac checked by a computer IT professional for any hard drive issue. Hard drive failure is common for computers that are 3-5 years old. Using Disk Utility to test your Mac hard drive might not be enough. Disk Utility is insufficient sometimes, there are tools out there that computer technicians use for testing hard drives more thoroughly. Your Mac computer hard drive might already has bad sectors and was on its way out before the upgrade. Upgrading to Yosemite OS is a major upgrade and it will write a large amount of data onto your Mac computer hard drive. Thus, if the drive was already on its way out, the upgrade might kill off your Mac computer hard drive and slowed down your Mac significantly. This is of course not Yosemite bug but your computer hardware problem instead. If you think that your Apple Mac computer has hardware issue, check our Apple MacBook Repair services for more details.

Reported Problems:

One of the biggest challenges we have ever done! An Apple MacBook Pro 13 inch A1278 year 2011 laptop was booked in for repairs. The laptop was soaked with water (lots of water, inside a bag) and was no longer booting up.

The Repairs:

This laptop may have suffered multiple water damages. The mission of rescuing this laptop won’t be an easy ride. More than one part will need to be replaced. For this laptop, after extensive testings, we have determined that its logic board, heatsink and screen need to be replaced.

We first have a look inside this laptop.

Now let’s remove the logic board from the computer. Make sure to disconnect other parts first.

Now we can have a look at the logic board.

Testing has confirmed that this logic board is damaged and will need to be replaced. We can now take out a replacement logic board and replace it.

Here we encounter an unexpected problem. This logic board, for some reason, is different from common MacBook Pro A1278 logic boards, it’s nowhere to be found in the market.

Unable to use the common A1278 logic board, we talked to our suppliers to source for an alternative Apple logic board with the same specs.

Now we have the replacement board, installing it brought up another issue. The board’s heatsink was not compatible and had to be replaced too.

Now we have replaced both logic board and heatsink for this MacBook Pro laptop, next is to replace the screen.

Replacing screen for Apple MacBook Pro unibody laptops is never an easy job. The screen is behind a glass cover, replacing the screen means we need to remove the glass cover first. The glass cover is fragile and may break when you attempt to take it out.

Heat up the glass cover with a heat gun and remove it with a suction cup.

Carefully remove the glass cover and make sure not to damage or burn anything underneath.

Have a replacement glass cover in case you broke the original one. Always wear gloves and safety glasses to avoid injuries.

Now we should have access to the screen.

Let’s replace it with a new screen.

With new screen, new logic board, new heatsink installed, the rest of this job is simpler. Reassemble the laptop and test it out.

The laptop turns on fine and booted into Mac OS X normally. Try out other functions such as wireless, keyboard, touchpad to make sure it’s working properly.

All are working perfectly as they should be. Mission accomplished.

Looking for Apple Mac Repairs?

Does your Apple Mac have the same problem? Check our Apple Mac Repair services and Contact us now for a Free Quote. Pickup and Delivery is available for your convenience.

Reported Problems:

An Apple MacBook Air laptop was booked in with keyboard problem.

     

Owner of the laptop spilled water onto the keyboard of the Mac, since then the keyboard didn’t work properly. Random letters came up when typing. The laptop booted up straight into Safe Boot as if Shift key was engaged.

     

On this Apple MacBook Air, its keyboard unit is integrated into its aluminium casing. The keyboard is connected to touchpad unit, and touchpad unit is, via a ribbon cable, connected to logic board. Thus the problem may lie within any of these units. Replacing the keyboard unit does NOT guarantee to fix the problem. We have come across a different job (same Apple MacBook Air that had water spilt on) that had the same problem but due to both damaged keyboard and touchpad (demonstrated in another post).

The Repairs:

Using available spare parts and a number of tests, we have determined that the laptop keyboard needs to be replaced.

Let’s first have a look at its bottom cover.

     

Battery need to be disconnected to stop power going in to the laptop, so let’s take the battery out from the laptop.

There we’ll see logic board, fan and other parts. All these parts need to be removed before keyboard can be taken out.

Take extra precaution here because these electronic parts are sensitive, any “minor” accidental damages can cause great damages to the computer.

     

Once fan, logic board, wireless adaptor etc are removed from the laptop, we should have the below (speakers not yet removed).

Now let’s take out a same keyboard (integrated in aluminum case).

Different MacBook Air has different keyboard, make sure the part is compatible otherwise it will not fit and will not work.

Now we need to remove the keyboard and bottom casing from the laptop’s display panel. The job is simpler from here. Let’s put in the new keyboard, connect it to the display panel, reassemble the laptop and test it out.

The laptop starts up fine, open TextEdit and check every key.

All the keys are now working as they should. Another Apple MacBook Air laptop fixed successfully.

Looking for Apple Mac Repairs?

Does your Apple Mac have the same problem? Check our Apple Mac Repair services and Contact us now for a Free Quote. Pickup and Delivery is available for your convenience.