Formatting hard drive I scavenged a hard drive for my currently lifeless 2009 Macbook Pro 13. The scavenged drive (from a 2010 white Macbook) had been working because it was taken to an electronics store to have its data transferred to a new computer.

I installed the drive, turned on the machine and got the question folder. Maybe they just stripped the drive of all of its data or perhaps the drive has failed. Is there a way for me to find out without spending too much money?
The MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009) originally shipped with a Mac OS X 10.5.7 DVD and if you have the Mac OS X DVD that came with your system, or one that's compatible with your system, you can boot it from the Mac OS X DVD and see and test using Disk Utility and Terminal.