Broken hard drive HELP!

My hard drive has broken and it was unable to fix so i bought a new one and put it into my laptop. Most of my music is from cd's and i can only get the ones i bought from itunes back (which isn't that many). I have never backed up my music on an external hard drive which i know is really stupid and i can't work out how to get it back. PLEASE HELP!

if the hard drive is broken, the data is gone for good man. sorry about your loss

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I have a 27" iMac with a broken hard drive. Is there a way to convert the existing hardware into a display monitor without too much technical work?

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You don't state what iMac it is or what you want to use it for an external display with so we cannot answer the question. But without a bootable drive, no you cannot. However you can get the internal HD replaced or you can connect an external HD and boot from it. Without some basics about the computer it's impossible question to answer. However you may find what need in Apple's Target Display Mode: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Disk utility tells me to start my computer with my osx disk, then repair the hard drive , help???

disk utility tells me to start my computer with my osx disk, then repair the hard drive , help???

Hi prkrgrp,
I'm sorry, I'm a bit unclear on the exact nature of your question. If you are having issues starting up from your original Install Disk and running Disk Utility to repair your hard drive, you may find the information and steps outlined in the following articles helpful:
Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks - Apple Support
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Laptop won't load | Broken Hard Drive? | Need Expert!!!

Hi. I'm new at the forum.
I don't speak English very good so please do not tell me that I wrote something wrong
I've got problem with my 2 years old laptop. 2 days ago I wanted to save two screenshots in Paint via print screen. First screenshot saved, but I can't save second. Paint sayed that he don't have access to hard drive or something (I really don't remember now). 0,5h later I wanted to install Win 10 so I needed to make other partition ( E: ) but I still can't. diskmgmt.msc sayed that drive can may be broken and it can't change memory of C:
Now I can't launch my laptop. I have access to BIOS and Recovery but that's it. I see only HP logo and "Starting Automatic Repair" text.
Now I need help. Does somebody had this same issue and know answer for my question?
Cheers,
Kuba

Hi Kubeg,
Welcome to the HP Community. I saw your post regarding the problem with your hard drive. In the BIOS can you see the hard drive listed? Try seeing if you can access the UEFI by pressing F2 as mentioned in this HP document Testing for Hardware Failures. Under components test there is a test for the hard drive. That will let you know if the hard drive has indeed failed.
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue.
Click the “Kudos Thumbs Up" on the right to say “Thanks” for helping!
Thank you,
BHK6
I work on behalf of HP

How to properly recover data from "broken" hard drive?

Hello Mac users,
I have a mid 2012 Mountain Lion MacBook Pro. My hard drive recently failed. As I have been working in Thailand, I decided to bring my laptop an Authorized Service Provider (Macintosh Center Co., Ltd.) in Bangkok. Their diagnostic was that my hard drive wasnt working anymore, and I had to change it. The problem is, since I had no backup, I asked them to recover my data and transfer to the new hard drive. But, this Apple Authorized Service Provider told me I had to go somewherelse because they have no software to recover my data! So, I went to the local Joe's repair computer store who retrieved my data from the problematic hard drive to the new one. Now, the problem is that all my "old" data is located in "orphan folders". In other words, counteless files were retrieved without folders and settings.
So, I would like to know if it is possible to recover my data with all the settings I had and then transfer it to my new hard drive. If it's possible, what software should I use to properly recover my data? If it's not possible, how should I deal with the "orphan folders" and my current settings?
Thanks in advance for your help.

First stop using your system, then get a copy of a program that will recover files like Data Rescue 3. If you have a time machine backup you may be able to restore them.

Restoring using an external hard drive help

Ok so.. ive recnelty received my mac back from apple, after javing the hd replaced. To prevent the loss of all of my stuff i bought an external hd and used this as my time machine backup, so now its all on my external hard drive. The problem ive got is that ive got no idea how to restore my mac using the extermal hard drive so its like it was before it was sent off. ive been told one option is to launch my mac in recovery mode and choose to restore using. my external hard drive there. however i cant access recovery mode because i have a wireless keyboard, and the only wired keyboard i have is a windows one. also, to make matters worse, i cant use any discs because my optical drive is broken, so until i receive my extermal one, discs are also out. of the option.
any other ways to do it?
thanks!

RomeoVersace wrote:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4889?viewlocale=en_US
Try this, your going to be using a program called Migration Assistant to restore data from a different computer's Time Machine. Your computer is a different computer now because of the new Hard Drive, so instead of entirely recovering the Operating System, this will save time and data by allowing you to choose individually what you want to restore and what you don't want to.
Do not use Migration Assistant, instead you will use Setup Assistant (which starts automatically when you first start your Mac) if you already started you Mac and added a user then you will have to use MA, but you will need to remove a user afterwards.

External Hard drive help: use with mac and pc? how to backup everything etc

Hello! I need some help regarding a new external hard drive I got from OWC. It is a 500 gb firewire 400 + usb 2.0 7200 rpm hard drive. I am running it from firewire. The software suggests the first thing you do is make a clone of your macbooks internal hard drive, that way if it fails later you can use the external to back everything up. If I do this ...
1. do I have to make the drive "Bootable" ? I have software called Data Backup 3 by Pro soft I think. It came with my external.
2. Can I still back up other stuff like my audio recordings and record onto that drive to a seperate folder?
3. If I make a bootable copy will it try and boot from the drive everytime I turn it on or something?
My other question is... how can I use this drive with a pc? I have a pc as well and I heard that the only way it will work is to format it in ms-dos mode (fat32?)
If I write it to fat32 will it slow down my drive or make it worse? I heard that you should format external drives specifically for mac if you have a mac; so it will only work with macs...
(sorry this is going on and on; it's like a chain reaction of questions)
so If its formatted to mac drive format then can I do this with my current situation:
1. I have wireless internet, the router is on a pc downstairs
2. Can I send files over a network somehow from the pc to my mac
3. then store it on my external?
If so can someone point me in that direction with a link?
Thank you for reading, sorry for making this so long.

1. No, you don't have to make a bootable clone.
2. If you use the drive for a bootable backup, then you cannot use the drive for other types of storage unless you partition the drive and make more than one volume.
3. No, it will not try to boot the computer. You must designate the startup volume using Startup Disk preferences.
If you wish to use the drive on both a Mac and a PC, then either you make two partitions - one for Mac and the other for the PC or you must format the entire drive using FAT32 so the drive can be used for read//write by both operating systems. If you do this then you cannot use the drive for a bootable backup nor can you use it with Time Machine.
FAT32 is slower for read/write on the Mac than using Mac formatting.
Optimally, I would suggest you partition the drive into two volumes. One volume formatted for the Mac and the other formatted FAT32.
You can send files from a PC to a Mac and vice-versa using File Sharing. Select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "file sharing" or "sharing" to find help articles. Also see,
Mac OS X 10.5 Help- Setting up a Mac computer to share files with Windows users
Mac OS X 10.5 Help- Setting up a Windows computer to share files with Mac users
Mac OS X 10.5 Help- Sharing with Windows computers

How do I restore time machine alias files cloned from broken hard drive

My external hard drive broke (a tiny transistor broke off after the drive fell two feet to the floor) so I purchased a new one and had the Geek Squad clone what was on my old hard drive onto my new one. I was using Time Machine to backup my files. My external hard drive had a much larger capacity than my macbook pro, so I deleted a number of the files saved on my Macbook Pro, knowing that I could access my files whenever I plugged my ext. hard drive in.
After plugging my new external hard drive into my computer, however, I am finding only alias files and I do not know how to restore my data so I can access all of the files again.
Does anyone know how to restore my time machine data from the cloned data I had transferred from my broken external hard drive to my new external hard drive?
Thanks!

morrisck wrote:
An update - I finally took both of my HDs in to an Apple store and they confirmed my fear: only alias files had been transferred from my old drive, meaning Geek Squad charged me $100 for 850 MB of unusable files.
That has been clear since early in this thread.
Geek Squad has agreed to retry the process
Why pay them to do what you don't need done??? Get a refund and buy an enclosure, which you should have anyway for backups.
but I'm now wishing that I had received more sound advice when I brought the drives into them in the first place.
Don't know who gave you that advice, but I sure wouldn't trust them with my data!
The Apple rep. informed me that my HD works perfectly fine and that it just needs a new enclosure (which I can buy for $20 online, as opposed to paying $100 for a data transfer).
Ummm, the action to take seems very clear to me . . . .

Weird problem involving my external hard drive - help please!

I recently got a formac mini 120 gb firewire hard drive, which had been working fine with my g4 quicksliver.
i then went to a friends (g5 machine) with my drive and he put some data on it - bought it back to mine and managed to re connect the drive and take the data - no problem - very happy.
I recently gave my drive to another friend using a g5 and when it came back, nothing - i don't get the drive symbol appearing. turned the comp on and off many times and tried re-connecting etc still no drive appearing.
Then i took the drive to my friend with a mac lap top power book. connected there - working fine. Baffling. was happy that my data can still be accessed.
I know it's not the firewire cable because i can get power to the drive - i can see the red light at the fron on.
Can anyone help with this weird problem?
Thanks

Thought you could use this info about getting FireWire to work!
First, you should always Repair Permissions in Disk Utility before and after any update; I would do that now. If you installed your update with FireWire plugged in, your Mac may not recognize it anymore.
Try resetting your FireWire ports by disconnecting all FW devices, shut down your Mac and unplug it from AC power (wall socket) for 30 minutes. plug it back in and try FW.
If that did'nt work, download the combo update from this site (yours may be corrupt), not Software Update, disconnect all firewire + USB devices except keyboard + mouse, Repair Permissions, re-install update, Repair Permissions again + try. Yours might be the 10.4.10 Combo update. I have no idea since you did not fill out your specs. fully when you signed in to this site. Others reading, download the Combo that applies to your system. This link is for PPC Macs not Intel Macs.
If that still did'nt get it Zap the PRAM. While restarting Mac hold down the following key combo Command-Option-P-R. Keep holding those keys down till you hear the second start-up chime, then release.
For those of you with Macs that are not PowerBooks or iBooks, a bad internal battery can cause FireWire to not be recognized, so make sure it's good! Also, here is Apple doc.#88338 on getting FireWire to work.
Good Luck!
Cheers!
DALE

Not able to reinstall OSX Snow Leopard - broken hard drive?

Hi!
So I have the following problem, that I would like to have some help with.
Until recently my iMac (early 2008, 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 gb ram, 24") has been running with OSX and Windows 7 in bootcamp. All of the sudden, I was not able to boot OSX; when trying to do this the computer stalls on a grey screen with a loading bar in the bottom (like this http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10387698-263.html). I decided to reinstall OSX, but it was not possible. Everytime I tried to select the hard drive during installation the computer instantly goes into grey screen.
Being pretty stuck here, I then continued to formatting and reinstalling Windows 7. I have now been running RAM test and there are not visible problems. Also I am still not able to reinstall OSX even after a format. It leads me to think that the hard drive may be close to dying.
Does anyone have some similar experiences? Opinions?
Best regards, Mikkel

So, I decided to run some diagnostics:
I am not sure that I decipher the numbers correctly, but the four pre-failures on top seems threatening. Am I right?

Saving and reopening an iDVD project from a hard drive - HELP!

Hello! I am a moderately experienced user of iLife and am starting to use it for a business(memorial videos, sports highlight videos, etc) My problem is this: After I finish a project and export it to iDVD I want to save it to my external hard drive and store it there(like a file cabinet for all my finished projects, so that I can come back to them later, if needed) and I am having difficulty when I do this and then go back to open it - iDVD can't find my files for the pictures and sometimes the audio and video. This said, this is my process: Create project in iMovie, export to Garage Band to create chapters, export to iDVD.(this is 08 BTW) At every step I save to the desktop. Then when I am finished burning my DVD, I create a folder(eg., Bob and Kate's Wedding) on my hard drive and put all the media from the desktop in that folder(eg, the iMovie file, the Garage Band file, the iDVD file and a folder of the pictures I used also.
If anyone can shed some light on a better process, or maybe a reason why I cannot just go into my hard drive and double click the iDVD project and burn extra copies, that would be fantastic!
I appreciate any insight. I love doing this work, but with 3 kids, I rarely get time to research the answers to my questions outside of this board!!!
TIA - Lis

Hi Mamalisa
iDVD can't find my files for the pictures and sometimes the audio and video.
And welcome to apple discussions. If you plan to do further modifications to your iDvd project then follow these steps. (btw, iDvd doesn't like it when you change the actual location of video / audio assets once encoded / burned to DVD-R unless it's saved or rather archived beforehand).
On the other hand if you plan no further changes then you may wish to follow this instead of the above.
By sdmacuser at 2009-09-03
Hope this helps but if not just come on back.

Mac OSX is telling me to reformat my external hard drive - HELP!

I have Fantom Drives external hard drive which I use to backup my Mac (via Time Machine) as well as for general storage. Recently, when I turned on my external hard drive I was given the following message:
"The disk "Time Machine Backups" was not repairable by this computer. It is being made available to you with limited functionality. You must back up your data and reformat the disk as soon as possible."
Basically, I can use anything on the external hard drive as well as copy files FROM the drive, but I cannot add anything new to it. I went to Disk Utility to try and repair the disk, but the button is not available so I clicked Verify Disk. The results in red were the following:
"Incorrect number of thread records
Invalid sibling link
Volume Check failed
Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed"
I wondered if erasing the external hard drive would possibly fix the situation. Is it even worth it to try? I was able to copy the most important files to my iPod, but I don't have nearly enough room to copy everything I need (otherwise I would just do it).
My other option is to by a new hard drive and move everything over, but I am hoping I don't have to do that.
Does anyone have any other ideas?

if the drive can not be repaired you should try reformatting.
you can try the following link first that sometimes helps with invalid sibling link errors
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070204093925888
also, try unmounting (not ejecting) the drive and see if you can use "repair disk" then.
Message was edited by: V.K.

ITunes can't find music on external hard drive Help!

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Thanks for any help you can offer.

Somehow the location of the music got changed back to her C drive.
Because iTunes was started with the external drive not plugged in or not online and ready.
I redid the location but now every song has the exclamation mark
Select all the songs in iTunes, right click - Get info.

Trying to Recover Data from broken Hard Drive - Device Wont Show in Finder

I just had the hard drive replaced in my intel iMac (the old one isn't working properly). The apple store folks told me they would not do any data recovery off the old drive, but suggested I might be able to get a SATA to USB adapter and plug the old drive in the computer.
The first time I plugged the old hard drive it showed up in the finder and I began transferring the old file. 6 GB into it the transfer stopped and the the old hard drive disappeared from the finder. Now the drive wont appear in the finder HOWEVER when I unplug it I get the "Device Removal" error.
A little about my broken drive:
Its a Western Digital 320 GB. Its not making any clicking sounds or anything, which makes me think it might just be the circuit board which is replaceable. But I don't want to waste $50 on a new circuit board if thats not the problem.
Any suggestions?

Basics of File Recovery
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive. Two free alternatives are Disk Drill and TestDisk. Look for them and demos at MacUpdate or CNET Downloads.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.

Install new hard drive HELP !!!

Hello, I just install a new 500gb hard drive into my uni mb replacing my 160gb. I have nothing really important to save from my previous hard drive. I am starting from scratch. After installing the new hard drive and inserting the disc 1 and press 'c'. Follow the screen instruction but only get to step 3 where screen ask ' SELECT A DESTINATION'. I have waited for 30 mins and all i see was the same screen. I am unable to click on options and continue cos they were greyed out. The only button that is nor grey is the 'go back'.
I am eagerly trying to get this new hard drive installed. What should i do next. Have tried the restart and all i am able to continue is until the Select a destination page.
Hope to get a good advice from here and .......
Thanking you in advance for all help and assistance.

Finally get the new hard drive installed from sratched. Once again many thanks to ypw. Once i clear the 'select a destination' step, the rest comes easy even for a novice like me.
Just for those who are curious to know the model of the hard drive that I installed. It is Hitachi 5K500 B-500. Choose this over the more popular WD Scorpion blue that most people are using.

Broken hard drive HELP!

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