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Today my MacBook showed up some wheel of death and I waited and waited and then after a long time (10 minutes) decide to force shutdown.

Ok, I know its not a good idea but I've done this before and then put in the installation disk and with Disk Utility I could easily repair the boot, if it's crashed. But this time Disk Utility could not find my hard drive.

I believe its not a physical issue, once started from a forced shutdown and no noises with the hard drive. But how can I repair my hard drive if even the software cannot find it?

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Ps.: I have already opened my MacBook, disconnected the hard drive, and plugged it again. You know, just in case, but no effects.

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Have you tried zapping the PRAM with Command, Option, "P" and "R" ? Sometimes that can get a hard disk recognized. Hold the keys down after restarting and don't let go until the machine restarts again. Then let go and see if it boots. – Richard Aug 14 '12 at 21:11
I have tried, but unfortunately didn't work – Luccas Aug 14 '12 at 21:12

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I'd say this is almost certainly a hardware issue. Likely something internal to the drive (if it sounds like it spins up normally, probably some part of the onboard electronics), the hard drive cable or the SATA controller on the logic board.

I'd advise taking it in to an Apple store if you can (especially if it's under warranty), but if you want to try it yourself, the first thing to do is try a different drive, and see if that gets recognized. If it does, your drive is dead, if not, it's a problem with the logic board or the cable. You can get replacement parts from iFixit, but if it's the logic board, then you're better off getting a quote from Apple for a replacement.

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Yes, it's almost certainly a hardware issue. I'm an Apple Certified Macintosh Technician. – Wheat Williams Aug 14 '12 at 22:26
Thanks CanuckSkier and @WheatWilliams for all the answers! Well, here is what's going on now. I removed my hd and connected it to my brother's same macbook and it boot up. And his hd in my macbook got the same freeze screen. Possible solution: switch the hd flat cable? I've didn't test yet, but should I? – Luccas Aug 15 '12 at 2:00
The cable is definitely a possible culprit. It could also be something on the logic board. If you're comfortable switching the cable, you could try that, but I haven't done it - no idea how difficult a procedure it is. – robmathers Aug 15 '12 at 2:12
The logic board you mean the motherboard? – Luccas Aug 15 '12 at 2:41
I can't imagine a cable problem or sata controller problem with the fact of a forced shutdown... or just coincidence – Luccas Aug 15 '12 at 3:15
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