A Hard Drive's Gonna Fail

I just had a drive go south on me - it's one of the early 3TB drives, it must be about two years old (no longer under warranty, I am sure).
it started to get buggy.
I copied as much off of it as I could - thankfully nothing crucial was on it.
Then I tried erasing / repartioning with disk util - no luck.
Just for laughs (or whatever) I tried taking it out of the internal case, and putting it in an external eSATA case.
After several attempts, disk util WAS able to erase it.
But it's still very slow, copying something to this drive takes forever. It's obviously still buggy.
Is there anything else I can do? Any program or app or anything I can try?
I know all drives fail eventually, and we have to live with that , but I would like to try saving this baby if at all possible. I have drives that are much older (and in smaller capactiies) that are still functioning perfectly.
thanks for any feedback!
w

WillFriedwald2 wrote:
I just had a drive go south on me - it's one of the early 3TB drives, it must be about two years old (no longer under warranty, I am sure).
Check it out. Some Seagates have a 5 yr warranty: http://support.seagate.com/customer/en-us/warranty_validation.jsp
Is there anything else I can do? Any program or app or anything I can try?
I know all drives fail eventually, and we have to live with that , but I would like to try saving this baby if at all possible.
If not under warranty, it'll make a great paperweight or doorstop, other than that, it has no use.
You can get a new 3T drive for $150 or less.

Similar Messages

My hard drive's gone, I did repair it and now I'd like to get my 'photoshop Elements 7 back, but got a message saying that the serial number is incorrect and it's not. can you help me, please?

My hard drive's gone, I did repair it and now I'd like to get my 'photoshop Elements 7 back, but got a message saying that the serial number is incorrect and it's not. can you help me, please?

Mseixas you can try running the CC Cleaner Tool located at Use the CC Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems | CC, CS3-CS6 - http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/cs5-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html and then reinstalling.

Hard drive files gone - house burnt down, so now I'm having a kernal attack

I recently sent my 17" G4 in for repair through the Genius bar, my daughter took it in and they did not offer back up. Well the service center totally blew it away, it's just like your house burning down (such a desperate feeling - I think I cried for days) - but we won't go there and please do not lecture me about external drives, (I always backed up at the store), I bought one right away, sometimes it's quarky and now I really don't trust anything...
BUT - I think one of my biggest problems is when we tried to restore my hard drive - I seem to have 500 hundred copies of everything, it's like the hard drive icon and users goes on and on - I don't know what to throw out. I have tried a duplicates folder, a "?"'s folder, re naming the things, exporting my website, so things could be going everywhere, I have no idea how to clean this up. It is totally un believable.
What do you trust? If you throw out one folder ane you throwing out all of the same one?
Please oh Please someone help me. Oh it's also had 2 kernal Panic attacks. Our iBook is totally useless - unless in Safe Mode, because the same attacks are constant. I think it's an airport issue, but the Apple guy wouldn't accept that. So instead of having me do an archive reinstall, he had me do a clean reinstall, so that hard drive is gone now too, but hopefully safely on my external drive - if it's a software issue like he believes, doesn't it just make sense if you restore your files from your external, your just putting the problem back in?
17" PB G4, 12" iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

so 17" came back from repair with 10.4 clean install?
how exactly are you restoring your files, from the external drive?
how was it backed up, as a "clone" or just individual files were manually copied over?

I get the following error when formatting a external hard drive. Partition failed with the error: POSIX reports: The operation couldn't be completed. Cannot allocate memory

I get the following error when formatting a external hard drive.
Partition failed with the error:
POSIX reports: The operation couldn’t be completed. Cannot allocate memory
I have a Macbook pro 13" A1278. I purchased it around december 2010. I have a HHD 3.5" drive desktop select II 1.5TB. I purchased it around Febuary/March 2011 to use with my Macbook pro. I formatted it and moved all my files to there, I got it so my macbook's hard drive wouldn't brake and I lose everything on my macbook.
Is there any fixes?

First, try a system reset. It cures many ills and it's quick, easy and harmless...
Hold down the on/off switch and the Home button simultaneously until the screen blacks out or you see the Apple logo. Ignore the "Slide to power off" text if it appears. You will not lose any apps, data, music, movies, settings, etc.
If the Reset doesn't work, try a Restore. Note that it's nowhere near as quick as a Reset. From iTunes, select the iPad/iPod and then select the Summary tab. Follow directions for Restore and be sure to say "yes" to the backup. You will be warned that all data (apps, music, movies, etc.) will be erased but, as the Restore finishes, you will be asked if you wish the contents of the backup to be copied to the iPad/iPod. Again, say "yes."

Macbook pro crashed a week ago, now it's working fine, is it the hard drive that's failing?

First, it's a mid-2009 13 inch Macbook Pro, 160gb, right now 14 gb free, battery was replaced with new one 4 months ago so it's not that. A week ago, my macbook just stopped responding. It froze, and when I shut it down manually and then rebooted, it kept freezing as soon as I opened an app. Usually I woulld try to open either Chrome or MS Word. It just color-wheeled everything. Even Finder. I couldn't do anything at all, which was horrible cause I neeeded to turn in a homework final, and i couldn't even copy it to an external memory. I reset the pram, went in through safe mode, single-user mode, repaired the disk with fsck, etc. Nothing was working. Finally, by some miracle, I logged in through safe mode, it let me copy the file I needed (from MS Word if it matters) into the memory, and then I just shut it down. I figured it was the hard drive finally giving up on me, so I just left it. Now, a week later, decided to turn it on to see if it worked, and lo and behold, it does. I'm typing this on it as it is. Still, I'm scared it's gonna crash again, so I'm looking for a new hard drive (and back-up drive) to install it before that happens. Before though, I want to make sure its the hard drive that's the problem. Has anyone had anything similar happen? What was the problem?

160 gb is a small drive and yours is pretty full, I would get a external drive and back up ASAP, so if it does fail you still have your data. When a drive gets that full it has to do a lot off work searching. It could also be a logic board problem.
Get a back up dive, with drives it's not if it will, but rather when it will fail.
Bring it in and have it evaliuted, the diagnosis is free.

Error code -36 -- Is my hard drive about to fail?

Hello:
I am using SuperDuper to backup, and today, I got an error saying that backup failed because of an "input/output" error concerning an mp3 file.
Someone at SuperDuper suggested I try to duplicate that file using Finder and see what happened.
Sure enough, when I tried to duplicate the file using Finder, I got an "Error Code -36" message saying that the file cannot be read or written.
I then chose another file (also an mp3 within the same album) and it, too, failed. All others were OK.
But then, I went back and again tried to duplicate the original bad file, and this time I was successful.
Then, I deleted the one bad file, and tried to backup to my external hard drive using SuperDuper...and I was successful.
However, the person at Super Duper says my internal hard drive is about to fail.
Can that be true? On an 18-month old iMac?
I ran Disk Utility/Verify Disk, and it says the Hard Drive appears OK.
Any advice?
Thanks!

Run the free demo of SMART Utility to check your drive.
http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.php
Drives can fail at any time, even new ones.
Message was edited by: WZZZ

Macbook pro hard drive apple claimed 'failed', has changed it's tune. BUT....

This is a very looooong story, but here's the short version of it (I swear). I can add more details as needed. And there is definitely a question at the end.
And I should preface this by saying I am a novice computer user, and really don't understand how hard drives, or permissions, or any of that stuff works.
1. Two weeks ago my mid 2011 17" top-of-the-line macbook pro wouldn't wake from sleep upon opening from clamshell mode (familiar story to many)
2. Did a hard shut down using power button
3. Powered back up and got spinny rainbow no matter what I clicked. Took 10 minutes for any single action to respond, even opening text edit.
4. Could not force quit, could not restart, system eventually froze
5. Did another hard shut down
6. System would then NOT boot normally
7. Booting in safe mode showed invalid node errors
8. Was able to get the OS to work, was preparing to do a backup, and in a "smack my head later" move, I closed the lid not thinking, when I went to the other room to get something to drink (had I know what was to come, that drink would have been a double gin & tonic). MBP not wake up again. Again- hard shut down.
9. This time would not boot at all- even in safe mode, even running repair disk permissions on screen while booting. Would get to the end of booting and just die- not start, not finish, nothing.
10. Brought to apple genius bar. They confirmed the hard drive had failed. They replaced hard drive for free (with the exact same model and make of drive!! TOSHIBA MK7559GSFX. Thanks for instilling more confidence apple!!)
11. I brought my failed drive home and swapped it out with the drive in my 2008 15" macbook pro, which is where it has been living since then.
12. Fired it up in target disk mode with my iMac, and the drive never appeared as an external drive/device. Tried this multiple times after multiple restarts
13. Booted the 15" mbp to Lion's 'over the air' recovery, and was able to get disk utility open that way
14. Will NOT boot from the drive (get the apple logo, the spinny circle and the bar that never progresses, no matter how many hours/days I leave it for)
In the past week I have:
used DiskWarrior (says drive is damaged and can't be repaired)
used Data Rescue 3 (which I was getting error messages with too but now is telling me it can't do anything because the drive is the bootable drive, and not an external (presumably because it's in the machine?)
In Disk Utility I have verified permissions, repaired permissions, verified disk and repaired disk. They all report errors, including repair disk, which tells me the drive is damaged and can't be repaired. (I get it, I have a bad hardware problem)
booted from Lion-installed external travel drive, to try and have the drive be recognized
attempted to run Drive Genuis 3 with no success
attempted to create a new image using both disk utility and one of my software programs (don't remember which) with no success
attempted to restore disk image using disk utiltity with no success
am now running Stellar Phoenix 'recover lost volumes' with what appears to be success- it has found 5 lost volumes, but appears to be only 1/15th of the way done after about 24 hours. I'll let it run intil it's done- however long that may be. I have no idea what happens when it ends.
Now, here is where the story gets interesting.
For 5 days the drive would not only not boot, but it wouldn't mount either. It just didn't exist. There was no information on the drive in disk utility, and I couldn't access it no matter what mode I chose.
BUT THEN, sometime shortly after hitting 'repair disk' about 12 times (getting failure messages each time), it mounted. Wahoo!
Not only did it mount, but it has been mounting reliablibly each time after many restarts, using an external drive loaded with Lion as the boot drive.
AND, now the drive's S.M.A.R.T. status says it's verified- both on the main Toshiba drive and the volume that contains my user account. It also shows the correct GB of data on the volume: 316.73 GB.
I can also run verfiy permissions, which completed successfully.
AND, I was able to click on the volume name (Louise. My iMac's name is Thelma. They work great together, LOL), and see the contents on the drive!
First, when I opened the applications folder, it showed it as empty. But then I left it alone for about 5-10 minutes, and suddenly all of my apps appeared in the folder. Awesome!! There were a few in there I didn't have on my iMac, and didn't purchase through the app store, so I backed those up right away to another external hard drive I had plugged in.
This was surprising and encouraging until I got to my user folder- 'jamie'.
I opened it and it too shows as being empty. Zero kb. Left it alone for a long time, but sadly no files appeared. This was a few days ago- still no files appearing.
To make this clear- my main user folder- called 'jamie'- says 'zero kb', 0 items. This is the folder that houses all of my documents and image files.
BUT, disk utility, and Stellar Phoenix, and Drive Genuis 3 all are reading 'Louise' and telling me the data is there- 316.73 GB worth. I just can't see it.
So I realized this may be a problem with permissions because I am using a new- different- user account. I was also thinking that if I could show hidden files, I might be able to see something in the folder that might help. So I downloaded TinkerTool and selected 'show hidden and system files'. No dice, still empty. Then I right-clicked on my user folder to get info and under 'sharing and permissions', the users, and the settings at the bottom are greyed out and I can't change anything.
In system preferences, the user for the failed drive does not show at all, and when I try to add it by using the same name and password, it tells me the user already exists.
Now I'm stumped. I feel like I've made progress and am getting close to getting the contents, but not sure what to do next, or if I'm fighting a losing battle.
Here is what I am doing now:
I am going to let Stellar Phoenix finish finding lost volumes, because it's the only app that seems to be doing anything.
I purchased an external drive enclosure from amazon (this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00655YT9C/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00), which I will be receiving on Monday.
I'll pull the drive out of the 15" mbp and put it in the new external enclosure and will then try to run Data Recovery 3 on the drive
If that's unsuccessful, I'll try DiskWarrior again, and/or maybe one of the other software programs
And then if those don't work I guess I'm done.
Based on the information I provided, do I indeed have a failed hard drive, and will NOT be able to recover the contents of my drive, and am SOL and am just wasting my own time?
Or is there a way I can get the files in my user account to show?
I wanted to provide all of the backstory on this first, instead of just saying "user folder empty" in case the backstory helps someone know what's going on.
Anyone want a crack at this? I can upload screen grabs if that helps. Insight? Suggestions? Ideas? Thank you in advance!!
================================================================================ ================
BTW: about backing up. I am diligent about backing up and always have redundant backups of everything (I'm a professional photographer). I DID have my mbp fully backed up via Time Machine to an external drive, but due to my iMac ALSO failing recently and needing repair work, I had to wipe the drive clean and do a full backup of my iMac, which filled the last drive I had left, because I also recently purchased a Canon 5D Mark III, which produces insanely huge RAW files which helped completely fill a single drive I had used to back up both the iMac and mbp. Couple that with writing a book under deadline for a major publisher and not having time to research or purchase another drive, and a failing macbook pro drive a short time later and it was the perfect storm- a total cluster.
(Also, tried Data Rescue 3 on the external drive that DID have the mbp backup on it and was unsuccessful).
The good news is, since the hard drive was less than a year old when it failed (again, thanks Apple!), and it was all mirrored content to my iMac to begin with, (most of which I would pass over to the iMac whenever I had the chance), only about 15% of the data on this failed drive is data I don't have on my iMac. Unfortunately it's all documents- word docs, pages docs, text docs, excel docs, that can't be recreated, including, what I think is the funniest blog post I've ever written. Sigh...... No client work or images thank god, But still. I really want it back.

u can give try to using external enclosre and backup ur files. I hope u will get files back. or using external enclosre with ur hdd boot into Linux and try to mount ur harddisk.
there are multiple no of tutorial to mount apple partion in Linux.

Power Mac G4 hard drive a goner?

Hello,
My Power Mac G4 "died" last Sunday. Initially, the it wouldn't start up at all. So, after reading some suggestions on the net (I have a Mac Book pro), I changed the battery.
It booted but the question mark folder came on. I couldn't even open the CD tray. Further reading had me use the command-option-F-O during start up and I finally got the install CD in.
I booted via the CD but when I went to utilities, my hard drive was nowhere to be found! It just showed the DVD drive and a USB flash drive that I had.
I called the local Mac service shop and he said that it would take from $50-1000 to diagnose and perhaps fix the problem.
Can I salvage my hard disk? Or is it a goner?
Thanks guys.

To start with, anyone who would give you such a ridiculous ballpark figure of $50-$1,000 to diagnose/repair a G4 with an AWOL hard drive has lost touch with reality. Depending on which model G4 that you have, its market value may be substantially less than the upper figure quoted. The fact that the hard drive isn't detected on the bus, would likely indicate that it has an electronic and/or mechanical problem. If either is the case, none of the software solutions ("DiskWarrior" or "Data Rescue") will work, because they require a mechanically-functioning hard drive. You can check the data ribbon cable for abrasions in the insulation that may have caused a short, but that's probably a long shot. You should also check that the power connection is plugged securely into the back of the drive, even though it's typically such a tight fit, that it rarely comes loose. The possibility of unexpected hard drive failure is the primary reason for routinely backing up the data, so you only need to worry about buying/installing a replacement. Professional data recovery companies can retrieve data from the most severely damaged hard drives, but the cost is quite expensive for the home computer user. If you don't have files on the hard drive that you need to retrieve, I'd suggest replacing it with a new one. If you post back with the G4 model/processor speed that you have, a compatible replacement can be recommended.

Macbook pro hard drive woes (original failed, new one wont recognize)

So my hard drive recently messed up pretty hard a couple of months ago. I havea mac book pro that was purchased around fall... 20...10? 2011? I'm actually not sure. Anyway, I started it up from the boot disk to wipe it and reinstall everything. Turns out the disk utility said there were bad sectors and needed repair. So I attempted repair, and it said it worked but then I rescanned and it said it needed repair... anyway after about 5 hours of doing all this stuff I said screw it and busted out my external hard drive. I successfully got to install and boot from that. Anyway, I recently got my hands on a 320 gb hitachi hard drive that I plugged in but it wont recognize it in the disk utility, at all. I have no idea why it wont. I know the cable is fine because it shows my other original failing hard drive.
So what do I do? There are no close apple stores or anything and I have pretty much no more money to send it out or anything like that. I just need it to recognize my new hard drive in disk utility.

u can give try to using external enclosre and backup ur files. I hope u will get files back. or using external enclosre with ur hdd boot into Linux and try to mount ur harddisk.
there are multiple no of tutorial to mount apple partion in Linux.

Hard Drive Corrupt After Failed Software Update

Hi everyone,
I have an iBook that was recently down for about a month due to a failing DC in board. After replacing the board and restarting, I had a month worth of updates in software update. I installed the two that didn't require a restart -- I think they were the latest iTunes and Quicktime updates. Something went wrong in the middle of the install and after waiting with the OS locked and the hard drive spinning for a couple hours I finally did a hard restart.
Now upon startup I get to the grey Apple logo and the indicator spins while the hard drive goes back and forth between clicking and spinning. Apple Hardware Test says everything's fine, Disk First Aid gets to "Checking Catalog file" and then errors out:
Invalid key length
Volume check failed
I'm wondering what my best option is to restore the disk since I know my actual data is still there. Also, I haven't tried using target disk mode for anything -- is that worth a try? Thanks.

Matt:
"Invalid key length" is a directory error which cannot be repaired by Disk Utility. You will need to use a utility like Tech Tool Pro or Disk Warrior. Otherwise, you will need to reformat, erase and reinstall. If you do not have your data backed up you can try using Firewire Target Disk Mode with the assistance of a second firewire Mac.
cornelius

Apple Hardware Test (AHT) Hard Drive Full Read Fail But SMART Status OK

I have a Mac mini Server from Mid 2010 running Snow Leopard Server.
Ocassionally, it'll freeze up with the spinning beachball wheel for a few minutes. This usually happens when opening an app or performing an app function from the menu bar. It's a pretty clean system—there are not many apps installed.
I suspect it's a hadrware issue. I ran Disk Utility's Permission and Disk Repair. All good. SMART Status is verified. So I ran the Apple Hardware Test. Everything passes except for the Hard Drive's "Full Read"—it fails because "Reading took longer than the average time". The Hard Drive "Short .. test" and "Check SMART Status" pass.
Does anyone have an idea of what's going on here? Is the hard drive the issue? I don't understand how there can be a read issue (or hard drive issue), when the SMART Status is verfied.

S.M.A.R.T isn't perfect. Neither is AHT for that matter, but if it is reporting that reading is taking longer than it should then an impending failure is likely. The occasional "wait cursor" appearance supports that diagnosis.
Consider yourself fortunate in that you still have the ability to back up anything important, and you can plan a convenient time for its replacement.

Hard Drive dead? - Failed to Issue COM RESET successfully after 3 attempts.

Hello, i think my 13" 2.53Ghz Unibody (mid2009) MBP's hard drive has had it's last spin. I was using it normally in bootcamp, when windows7 froze, so I rebooted holding the power button....windows wouldnt start any more...ok, so i tried to boot into OSX...stuck at the loading screen with the apple.
Went into verbose mode and it stops at "Failed to issue COM RESET successfully after 3 attempts. Failing..." Google says this has to do with the hard drive.
Did a extensive hardware test (boot + D), all OK, booted from install disk and tried to run disk utility, but it crashed when trying to locate the drives (didn't even list the drive on the right pane). Single User mode wont load either, will give the same COM RESET message. I am literally out of options here.
Is there something i can do to either fix this or verify 100% that my hard disk is truly dead?
I have a backup in timemachine so the data is ok, but the timing couldnt be worse, i have no time to fix this now and needed a working laptop, highly frustrating.
thanks for any tips

nobrex wrote:
Hello, i think my 13" 2.53Ghz Unibody (mid2009) MBP's hard drive has had it's last spin. I was using it normally in bootcamp, when windows7 froze, so I rebooted holding the power button....windows wouldnt start any more...ok, so i tried to boot into OSX...stuck at the loading screen with the apple.
Went into verbose mode and it stops at "Failed to issue COM RESET successfully after 3 attempts. Failing..." Google says this has to do with the hard drive.
Did a extensive hardware test (boot + D), all OK, booted from install disk and tried to run disk utility, but it crashed when trying to locate the drives (didn't even list the drive on the right pane). Single User mode wont load either, will give the same COM RESET message. I am literally out of options here.
Is there something i can do to either fix this or verify 100% that my hard disk is truly dead?
I have a backup in timemachine so the data is ok, but the timing couldnt be worse, i have no time to fix this now and needed a working laptop, highly frustrating.
thanks for any tips
Welcome to the Apple Forums!
Your HDD is probably dead, since the error doesn't appear to indicate something wrong with the motherboard. Just buy a new 2.5" HDD. I don't know about prices in Brazil, but here in the US, a 1TB drive runs for around US$100. Also, check on eBay for people who upgraded their drive and are selling their Apple drive. Some will ship to Brazil, and you can score those for $50-100.
I hope you backed up your hard drive. If not, you'll have to do the whole reinstallation process.

Hard Drive icon gone to lines on Desktop

In the last hour my Macintosh Hard Drive icon on the desktop has gone to a series of lines under the picture of the HD. I've restarted a few times just to see if it was a small glitch but its still the same. Does anyone know how to bring the wrods "macintosh hard drive" back to life ? I've only had this a few days and already getting problems.
Paul.

You can go clean all of them, including font cache. Restart your computer about 3 or 4 times after it. The first reboot will take awhile, as the cache files are being rebuilt.
-Bmer
Mac Owners Support Group
Join Us @ MacOSG.com
ITMS: MacOSG Podcast
 An Apple User Group 

New hard drive upgrade has failed

I have a 2009 macbook pro and have upgraded the 5400 rpm Hatachi hard drive to a 7200 500 gig WD scorpio black. It's only been running for 4 months or so but has did on me last night. It will not boot up properly and appears be a failed spot on the drive. The macbook pro is only used for an hour a day, mostly stays at home and has never been dropped or abused in any way. Has anyone had trouble with these drives? I plan on grabbing another replacement drive but the WD drives are always in stock and are very popular.

Any drive of any make can die.
WD drives have been very reliable for me, and are always my first choice.
I'd chalk it up to the luck of the draw.....
A good thing to do with a new drive is to write zeros, one pass, and this will get bad sectors spared, keeping them from causing trouble right off the bat.
After writing zeros (use Disk Utility/Erase/Security Options), format and install the OS and your applications as usual.

Hard drive SMART check-failed

I was using my computer it was not giving me any problem at all, then all of a sudden it stops working. I turned off then back on got message stating I need to activate windows, but I can't get into system at all. I used f2 to do system check processor passed, but hard drive failed.What can I do?

CeeLo wrote:
I was using my computer it was not giving me any problem at all, then all of a sudden it stops working. I turned off then back on got message stating I need to activate windows, but I can't get into system at all. I used f2 to do system check processor passed, but hard drive failed.What can I do?
Nothing we can do here but say get a new hard drive and make sure you have the recovery media to recovery your laptop to factory settings. And use a USB adapter to hook your failed drive to your laptop again and then see if you can recover any data from it. Don't keep trying to fix it otherwise you will never be able to get your data back.
I am a Volunteer to help others on here-not a HP employee.
Replies aren't online 24/7 because of Time Zone differences.
Remember in this Day and Age of Computing the Internet is Knowledge at your fingertips if you choose understand it. -2015-

A Hard Drive's Gonna Fail

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for