User profile for user: Paula P Johnson
Paula P Johnson Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

MacBook 5,1 (2009) (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) - it makes a scratching noise (like emptying the Trash) when it powers up.

I have MacBook 5,1 (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo). Lately , it makes a scratching noise (like emptying the Trash) when it powers up.


Is the hard drive about to fail? and how can I prolong its life? I use this MacBook for Quicken 2007 files, so I power it up 3 - 4 times a week. It is never connected to the internet, but occasionally, it is connected to my LAN for lprinting a document.


Also, I keep the power cord attached at all times because the battery will not hold a charge.


iMac 24″, macOS 14.6

Posted on Nov 10, 2025 5:30 PM

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User profile for user: D.I. Johnson
D.I. Johnson
User level: Level 7
32,159 points

Posted on Nov 11, 2025 8:24 AM

Your MacBooks is 16 (!) years old. It's lived a long life and is apparently considering retirement. There's no telling when it will sign the paperwork and leave.


First things first: make sure you have a backup up of whatever data on that drive is important to you.

The longer you wait to do that the more likely you are to lose everything.


If you intend to keep this machine running, also plan to install a copy of whatever Mac OS it is running onto an external drive so when the internal drive fails you'll have an ability to boot from that external and continue on. You can't do that after the drive fails.


If you make a full Time Machine backup of the computer on an external drive, you'll kill two birds with one stone as that data backup will also be bootable. That feature of TM backups no longer holds for newer versions of macOS, unfortunately.

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User profile for user: D.I. Johnson
D.I. Johnson
User level: Level 7
32,159 points

Nov 11, 2025 8:24 AM in response to Paula P Johnson

Your MacBooks is 16 (!) years old. It's lived a long life and is apparently considering retirement. There's no telling when it will sign the paperwork and leave.


First things first: make sure you have a backup up of whatever data on that drive is important to you.

The longer you wait to do that the more likely you are to lose everything.


If you intend to keep this machine running, also plan to install a copy of whatever Mac OS it is running onto an external drive so when the internal drive fails you'll have an ability to boot from that external and continue on. You can't do that after the drive fails.


If you make a full Time Machine backup of the computer on an external drive, you'll kill two birds with one stone as that data backup will also be bootable. That feature of TM backups no longer holds for newer versions of macOS, unfortunately.

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MacBook 5,1 (2009) (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) - it makes a scratching noise (like emptying the Trash) when it powers up.

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