Issues with macbook pro

[Patchy]

Hi guys, long time since I've been on here but having some major trouble with my macbook and I know someone should be able to help me out on here.

So earlier on I managed to drop it about 3ft from a table onto solid tiles whilst switched on (d'oh!). I was currently in bootcamp running windows 7 at the time and seemed to be working perfectly. But when I restarted to go back into OSX it froze on the startup screen (grey screen with apple logo and cog spinning).

So I started googling from my phone and it says most likely it was a hard drive issue.

BUT

It's letting me load into bootcamp perfectly and runs windows fine. I tried erasing the Mac OSX partition and its not reinstalling the system (just freezes up). I checked on disc utility and when trying to verify/repair it comes up saying invalid nodes and says to repair it (Which doesnt work)

As you can imagine its pretty annoying! My gut instinct says that the hard drive is fucked and needs replaced, however what confuses me is the partition for bootcamp appears to be working normally.

I'm avoiding apple store as I can't really afford to pay for them to service it!

Does anyone have any suggestions on what bit of hardware would be broken that would cause a partition to stop working - in my opinion if it was the hard drive it would work fine or totally not work at all!

Thanks for reading guys!

[dubstep13]

It is more than likely going to be the hard drive, considering it was running at the time and you dropped it. Back your stuff up and get a new drive. Maybe a Solid State Drive as they don't break as easy when dropped as there aren't any moving parts. Also your system will load faster, but it is more expensive.

[StoppingTime]

In regard to the above, SSDs aren't really interchangeable with SATA hard drives, so I wouldn't try to do that (plus it's extremely expensive).

More likely than not, I'd guess something is wrong with the hard drive. Did you try completely formatting the OSX Partition (after recovering any data from it through BootCamp), and then reinstalling it through the recovery partition, OSX install disk, or Internet Recovery? (Side note, internet recovery is only available on the newer Macs running OSX 10.7 or 10.8 to my knowledge, and is accessed by clicking Command+R at startup).

[ForeverTwelve]

I've thrown my MacBook. Now when I do something that puts a load on the hard drive, it crashes. I need to have the hard drive replaced. You can get one for 50 to 100 dollars. Not sure how that translates to pounds. They're easy to swap out. I'm sure there are tutorials online.

[Cooper197]

So, what you've done here is corrupted data sectors on the hard drive. You haven't completely fried the drive, which is why you can get into Windows, but the drive is toast. You can save a lot of cash by doing it yourself, I think I paid $79 for my 1tb, but you always risk damaging something. Hard drives on these are pretty simple, but then again if it is in warranty, take it in. Do NOT mention you dropped it or anything like that. Do not give them any reason to think it is your fault and see what they say. I've done this with one out of warranty and they've replaced it for me before too. Sometimes you just get lucky.

I've done this exact thing before. Chances are if you leave it for hours, maybe even days it will load into the OS X partition, but it sounds like you erased it...All the same though even if you get into it things will be very slow and stupid. Replace the drive. Good guide here
www.powerbookmedic.com
Also a good source for the screw drivers you would need, and I recommend buying here, it can really save you some trouble later should you choose DIY. Also you can ask me questions if you want, I run a business doing computer repair so I can be of help...

[CharlieHorse]

hard drive is fucked. get a new one. do you have a backup drive with all your stuff?

[Joseph69]

I had a similar problem with my iMac (don't ask how I managed that) - anyway, I formatted the entire disk, so all partitions at once including the recovery partition which Lion/Snow Lion creates. Then I used the CD which came with the computer to reinstall OSX.

Obviously this means you lose everything stored on it, but you can always back it up first.

If that doesn't work, you will probably need a hard drive replacement.