Prices have been falling since the bitminers stopped buying everything.
Graphics cards are finally coming back to earth, too.
About a month ago I bought a couple of mid 2012 MBPs and RAM and SSDs to upgrade them:
860 EVO 1TB SSD $163 ea
Crucial 2x8GB 204 pin SODIMM $124
from Big River.
Getting back to your original question and Peter's and Sven's comments, it does sound like the hard drive has issues and could use being replaced. Maybe chkdsk would fix it up, but unless it's filled with spyware and trojans and the like, then one has to assume that the hardware will just eat itself again reasonably soon. As you know, swapping out a HD for a SSD isn't hard, but the time involved reinstalling everything can make simply punting for a newer machine much more appealing.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
About a month ago I bought a couple of mid 2012 MBPs and RAM and SSDs to upgrade them:
860 EVO 1TB SSD $163 ea
Crucial 2x8GB 204 pin SODIMM $124
from Big River.
Getting back to your original question and Peter's and Sven's comments, it does sound like the hard drive has issues and could use being replaced. Maybe chkdsk would fix it up, but unless it's filled with spyware and trojans and the like, then one has to assume that the hardware will just eat itself again reasonably soon. As you know, swapping out a HD for a SSD isn't hard, but the time involved reinstalling everything can make simply punting for a newer machine much more appealing.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.