Dead Drive Bay?

I've got a PBG3/FW 500MHz with a dead drive bay: neither the Apple DVD-ROM module nor my VST Zip100 module are recognized by my 'Book. I don't know what could have caused this failure; both modules worked this weekend, and the 'Book's been sitting on my desk on charge and powered up since then. I've only run the security update that Apple released today, that's the only software change!
Anyone else have this problem or ideas to fix?
Thanks
PowerBook G3/500 FW Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Michael,
Welcome to the Discussions.
I have seen this behavior a few times in earlier versions of OSX and generally one or both of these procedures will solve the issue:
- Run the Repair Disk Permissions in Disk Utility from the HD.
- Flush the caches using a third-party utility like 'Yasu' (freeware) or 'Tiger Cache Cleaner' or 'Onyx', all available from VersionTracker.

Similar Messages

Is It a Dead Drive?

Hi.
I've made a lot of research about this problem before I post this. I found a lot of posts having a similar issue, but all the posts didn't have a resolving answer. I'm hoping that this one will.
I have a mac pro (10.8.2) with 3 SATA drives in it. All drives are the same type, all came originally with the mac. Today, I turned on the computer, and the first thing I got is a message saying "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" with three options saying "initialize", "ignore" and "eject." I clicked "initialize" and it opened the Disk Utility for me and I noticed different things:
The first thing I noticed is a drive named "Media" on top of the list. It doesn't have any information. Total Capacity is 0. Its Connection ID is Bay 3 (The dead drive apparently). I don't know why it is named Media. It cannot be erased, verified nor repaired. All options are grayed out.
The second thing I noticed is that the 3rd drive is missing from the list. It used to have the name Macintosh HD 3, but now it's not there.
I opened the Finder to check things out. Macintosh HD 3 is not there. Even this drive Media is not visible also.
I rebooted the Mac using the recovery mode. I went to the Disk Utility. Same thing. Media is on top. Disk 3 is missing.
What happened before that? Last night. I tried to create an encrypted blank disk image inside Macintosh HD 3, but the process was stopped for some reason. I don't remember what was the error message exactly. The image file was there on the drive although the process stopped. I couldn't delete it. I suspect that this could be related to the disk failure somehow. Is it dead?

Rotating drives are really quite complex. They contain a micro-controller, a little private RAM, a buffer at least as big as a Track, and a Sea of Magnetic media. All that stuff has to be working correctly for the drive to be useable.
Data are written to the drive using a semi-redundant code that can accommodate bursts of errors. Each read is passed through error-correction logic in an attempt to launder out any bursts of errors that may have occurred.
The Sea of magnetic media is so vast that there will inevitably be defects in the magnetic regions. Drives have always had the ability to have a few spare blocks, and the micro-controller can make semi-permanent substitutions for any blocks found to be bad at the factory. There are also spare blocks that can be substituted for blocks that go bad in the field (they may or may not be from the same pool of spares as the factory spares.)
In some drives, important drive information, such as the spares substitution table, is stored on a private track on the drive. If that information becomes unusable, the drive cannot report a sensible size/capacity. At that point, the drive is unusable.
There is also certain analog calibration and track location information encoded on the drive. If that gets messed up, the drive is unusable.
It can also develop so many Bad Blocks that there are not enough spares to fix it up. At that point it may continue to respond to requests to initialize, but initialization will fail. Then the drive is not reliable enough for you to trust it with your data, and should be retired.
And lastly, some drives encountering internal errors will simply "disappear". They drop out and no longer show in System Profiler when they encounter a serious internal error. Only a power-off cycle brings them back for a little while, then they drop out again.
I think what you are fishing for is, ¿Did I do something wrong to make this drive die?
The answer is, you did not. Stuff happens. Drives die.
"Any drive can fail at any time." That's why we need backups.

Drive bay stuck

My drive bay is stuck. I think there is a screw come loose and jamming it up. It will only protrude a cmetre or so then stops dead. The push button is making a scratching noise when pushed.
Any alternative ways to remove the bay/ I removed the keyboard but couldnt find the screw or another way to push it out.
This happened before and eventually it just came out after i fiddled with it but this time it just isnt going anywhere...
I need to remove the drive as i have a new ssd and it wont be as fast as i need it through usb 3 run in an external enclosure. I cant use my main C ssd for this work as i requires more spance than I have.
Help!! Thanks!
Solved!
Go to Solution.

w520
its ok i got my dad to fix it. needed to unscrew the main bottom part of the laptop to get a bit more clearance and it came out eventually.
thanks ayway,

About PM G5 drive bay sensor

Hi everyone,
After following many threads on troubleshooting random reboot on a PowerMac G5, I've just used a pair of temperature monitoring apps.
Surprisingly, neither of them get any info for the Drive Bay Sensor. ASD 2.5.8 didn't pass the test for this sensor.
Two questions:
• Do I assume that the sensor is dead, as long as there's no report of it on apps?
(haven't checked out the wires yet)
• If the sensor is dead, would it be risky running the machine after taking it out?
(Here in Spain is not that easy finding spare parts)
Please, forgive my rusted english :-)
Many thanks in advance.
Javier

Hi japamac,
Changed PRAM battery. I couldn't check out the PSU, my allen key isn't long enough to reach the proccessor screws.
I took my time to clean and reseat everything (fans, DIMMs, Graphics Card...)
Before changing the battery I unplugged mains and left the computer untouched for an hour to let it drain any voltage inside. Turned it on an reset PRAM in Open Firmware. Then it booted normally, stayed on for 12 hours and turned off (auto restart disabled, it's not a reboot but a power failure). Again, no log entry.
Next step, buying a longer allen key and taking out the PSU to clean it and check it out.
Sadly, it sounds to me as a damaged capacitor discharging itself from time to time.
Some posts say that it could be an overheating issue due to the accumulation of dust inside the narrow PSU compartment. Maybe I'm lucky enough.
Thanks for keeping this thread alive, it's so useful for me as I can log in every step I take.
I'll keep posting my progress

How do I move Macintosh HD drive from drive bay 4 to another drive bay

I have a drive in each bay. One of the drives is being removed. I'll have an open drive bay. I Can't remember how Macintosh HD got in drive bay 4, but it's there. If I move Macintosh HD from drive bay 4 to drive bay 1, will the Mac recognize it when I restart the computer?

Why move it to begin with? yes it will immediately boot from it. yes you can insure it will. there is no difference in where - maybe good idea to clone the system, have a bootable clone copy, maybe the time is right for a $100 120GB SSD now.

I have just installed a 2 tera drive in additional drive bay I would like to use it as my starup or primary drive. Help... I need to transfer data...

I have installed a 2 tera bit drive in second drive bay. The starup drive is small. How do I transfer data and make new drive the startup or primary drive.. Thanks. In addition I will be pulling the small drive and installing a new larger drive a s back up. Also I need to initalize the new drive.. Wow.. O.K. I know that you are out there and can guide me. Merry Christmas to you all.. Many Thanks Dennis

I suggest you download either CCC or SuperDuper.
Then clone the current system disk to the new system disk.
Reboot from the new disk after the clone is complete.
If everything is running correctly, you can then erase the old system disk.
Allan

Dead Drive: Data Recovery?

The hard drive on my MacBook died--my last back up was about 2 months ago (I know, not wise on my part.) I took the machine to the apple store today where they confirmed the drive was dead. I'm under apple care still so they will replace the drive. However, they said that they could not give me back my original drive to take to a data recovery specialist.
They said that if I wanted to do that, I would need to take the drive for data recovery before getting the hard drive replaced by apple or replace the hard drive at my own cost. I need a working machine quickly as it is my sole computer for work/persnal use (right now I am borrowing a super old PC laptop that is not adequate for work) so I can't wait to get my machine fixed until after I try to recovery my data. But, since I'm under apple care, I don't want to have to buy a drive myself just ot keep my old one, which I may or may not even be able to recover data from.
Given these options, I left my computer at the store this afternoon for them to replace the drive. But, now I am having second thoughts and wondering whether I should try to get my data back. They said it would be 3-5 days before they can replace the drive (which they will do on-site), so I think I could likely get the machine back before they replace the drive tomorrow.
My questions are: (1) does anyone know of a way to get the apple store to give me my original drive back after they replace the old one (e.g., talking to a manager, etc.)? I'm a life-long Mac user, but am honeslty a little surprised and annoyed that they have this policy, which puts people with dead drives in the position of either postponing repair or having to pay fo their own repair even when they are under apple care. It's especially annoying as I don't see the benefit to them of keeping a drive if it is truly dead and only potentially useful for the chance of recovering data.
(2) What would be my options for data recovery if I kept the drive? The data I will lose if I lose the drive (or if it can't be recovered) is moderately important (ie, would be very frustrating to lose but not devistating.) Given this, I don't know if I would even pay the $300 plus it would cost to go to a data recovery place. Is there software out there that is known to be good at data recovery that I could get for less (say $100 or less.) I'm hesitant to go back to the store and ask for my machine back if the only result is that I have to put off getting my drive replaced by a week only to spend $300 plus and possilbly not even get any of my data back.
Any thoughs, advice, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I apologize for the long post, but am stumped about what to do (and still pretty upset that Apple is making this situation more difficult by iisting on keeping my original dead drive after a repair.)

adk97 wrote:
Thanks so much for the reply. I guess I can see why apple would want to keep the drive maybe to refurbish it, but still it seems odd they don't have an option to pay some fee to keep the old drive. Requiring people to do all data recovery efforts before getting a drive replaced through apple care, with no option to get the original drive back, seems to make already difficult data loss situations even tougher IMO.
If the drive has crashed, it's way beyond any economic sense to try and refurbish it. I would guess that Apple's bulk purchase price on a 5400RPM 160GB drive is probably somewhere in the $50 range. Besides that, I can find several places that sell 160GB for $75-90. When I said that it might cost upwards of $1000+ to recover data if the head has detached, that's because it would have to be taken apart and a new head attached in a "clean room" similar to wafer processing facilities. This wouldn't be the heavily automated procedure (i.e lower cost) used for most production units.
It's just standard operating procedure for the manufacturer/seller to keep warranty replaced parts in exchange for the repair. In many cases, they'll want it to perform failure analysis, especially if it's a warranty replacement from the drive manufacturer.
Even though data recovery costs a lot (and I may not ultimately do it), I am going to get the machine back and replace the dead drive on my own with a new larger one. My original drive was small (160 gigs) and it has been in the back of my mind to upgrade to a larger drive anyway, so after thinking about it, this seems like the best solution. (On that note, if anyone has suggestions for good/affordable internal drives for the MacBook in the 250-320 gig range, please don't hesitate to pass them along.)
Best Buy seems to have a 250GB 5400 RPM Hitachi Travelstar drive on sale this week. I don't know if it would be in stock in a store near you, but you could check.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8699492&type=product&id=1199494484 147
Good luck with the data recovery efforts. Let us know how it turns out.

HT1661 My mid-2009 MacBook Pro has just died via a painful (for me) hard drive failure. I backed up a good percentage of files recently but not enough to keep me happy. I need to access the dead drive on the MBP via a 2008 iMac. Best options?

My mid-2009 MacBook Pro has just died via a painful (for me) hard drive failure. I backed up a good percentage of files recently but not enough to keep me happy. I need to access the dead drive on the MBP via a 2008 iMac. Best options?
I have ordered a 800 firewire to 800 firewire cable and am hoping to use the target mode option to copy files from the MBP.
Is this possible?
Hope so!
Any advice and or help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks,
Neil

Thanks Ogelthorpe.
Just bought an enclosure to try that also.
Hoping the MBP isn't really dead but just feigning death
Fingers crossed.

Hard Drive Bay 2 Doesn't Show Up, RAID degraded.

I'm getting ready to do a major application upgrade to an existing Xserve (Early 2009). I've noticed that the Bay 2 Hard Drive wasn't showing up in the RAID Utility. I got a spare drive and tonight I powered down the server, swapped that drive out and brought it back up. The system is running fine, but it doesn't seem to recognize the drive in the bay. Either in the System Profiler or in the RAID Utility. I've tried both the old drive and a brand new drive that's meant to be an Apple Xserve replacement SATA drive. I'm concerned that this bay has failed, and if so, I need to sort out what part that is to be replaced. We bought a repair kit when we both he server, so I have a number of parts for it, including a system board.
The Xserve (Early 2009) is running Server 10.6.8, serves up files from an attached Promise VTrack E-Class drive array. I'm getting ready to upgrade from Server 10.6.8 to 10.9.5, which I guess is a 2-step process, (upgrading from Server 10.6.8 to Desktop 10.9.5 then putting Server 3.x on top of that.)
If there's some insight into this issue or if the HD Bays are connected to the system board or something else, that would be wonderful to hear.
Thanks in advance!
--Michael

You could try the xserve in target disk mode connect it to another mac and try swapping the drives, drive bays around to try and pin point where the problem is

Moving iPhoto library to a second drive bay on a MacPro

My iPhoto library is 190 GB and I need to move it to an alternate drive bay on my MacPro. I copied (not moved) the library over to the new drive. When I launch iPhoto, it still uses the original iPhoto library on the home drive (even if I launch with Alt iPhoto). I was expecting to be asked in a dialog which library I wanted to point to, but I didn't get a dialog. Is that because it's on a different drive, not just a different folder? Before I delete the original library I want to make sure I have done this properly and iPhoto is pointing to the new drive bay.
Thank you.

When you depress the option (alt) key and launch iPhoto you should get a window showing all of your iPhoto libraries so you can select one - are you not getting this window or does it contain only one library?
TO verify where the library you are using is launch iPhoto and open an event - select a photo and right click (control click) on it and select the show file (or shoe original file) option and see the path to it (I like the column view to do this)
if you find that you do not have a valid iPhoto library on the second drive just quit iPhoto and trash the one you copied to the second drive and drag the iPhoto library as a single entity (just one drag operation) from the pictures folder on the first drive to the second drive and launch iPhoto while depressing the option (alt) key - you should see both libraries not - select the one on the second drive, test it and then you can quit iPhoto and delete the one on the first drive ( I suggest launching iPhoto one more time and verifying that things are good before emptying the trash)
LN

Can I use the 2nd Optical Drive Bay on my Mac Pro for an SSD?

Since I have no plans to add a second Optical Drive to my Mac Pro in the Second Optical Drive bay, I was wondering if I could put an SSD in that bay using a 2.5' to 3.5" drive carriage. Is this possible? Would it work? Would I be able to use it as my boot drive? Never tried this, so not sure if it would work.
Thanks in advance.

Your 2010 model has SATA wiring in that bay, so the SSD plugs right in.
Macs can boot from the drive specified in System preferences > Startup Disk.
You would need an adapter from 2.5 size of the drive to the 5.25 (CD drive) size expected, but since there are no moving parts, most folks just dump the drive in there without a bracket.
The biggest payback comes from establishing a Boot Drive with only System, Library, Applications, and the hidden Unix files including Paging/Swap. Putting the boot drive on an SSD is frosting -- it provides an incremental improvement over a spinning Boot drive.
A caution when establishing your drive -- some users have killed brand new SSD drives by cloning onto them. The manufacturers have not been helpful in telling us why this happens, but a clean Install may be a better way to proceed.

Thinkpad Serial ATA Hard Drive Bay Adapter

I would like to install a second hard drive in my T61. I saw a thread that advised I can do this by purchasing a "Thinkpad Serial ATA Hard Drive Bay Adapter". The thread also had a link where one can be purchased. However, the page displayed by the link said that the product was unavailable. Do I have any other options for installing a second hard drive? Will this adapter become available for purchase in the future? I want to install solaris or Linux on the second drive and boot from it, I assume this is possible. Thanks.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-61161.html
according to the Lenovo website, yes it is the right model for the T61.
Regards,
Jin Li
May this year, be the year of 'DO'!
I am a volunteer, and not a paid staff of Lenovo or Microsoft

Adding a new Hard Drive in the Zip Drive Bay

Today, I was looking inside my power mac 466 Digital Audio, and I realized that it appeared that a third hard drive could fit into the Zip Drive bay. I has a spare HD and Zip drive lying around, and I realized that they are the same height and width. I know that they use the same connectors (on some dells, the zip drive is plugged in with the HD 2 connector), so is it possible to connect a third hard drive in the Zip bay. In the powermac manual, apple doesn't say that you can, but is it possible, and if it is possible, is it harmful to the computer?

Those particular PowerMacs have two IDE controllers with master/slave setups. One IDE controller is for the optical and Zip drives and the other is for hard drives. You can have two IDE hard drives on the double sled in the back of the PowerMac. You can have a single hard drive each on the middle and front sleds also, but you'll need a separate PCI controller for those drives. That would give you four hard drives without doing anything contrary to Apple's original design. You can put a pair of 120GB IDE hard drives on the double sled and built in IDE controller in the back and then put a pair of 1.5TB SATA drives on the middle and front sleds hooked to a PCI SATA controller. If you need more than that you've still got FireWire and Gigabit Ethernet external storage... What are you doing that needs that much storage anyway? Can't you just burn stuff to CD or DVD and get it off your hard drive(s)? I do video encoding for a TV network and I really don't use much hard drive space. I burn my finished work onto CD or DVD and then delete it off my hard drives.

HP Pocket Media Drive Bay replaced with 3.5" Floppy Drive. Need Bracket

I'd probably never find a use for the Pocket Media Drive Bay, because I don't know what one is. So I took it out, and I found out it was just another way to plug in USB. Oh my gosh. And also, it has a very strong spring. It catapulted some batteries across the room. The only good use for it is to make an internal flash drive. BUT LET'S NOT GET INTO THAT TOO MUCH. I was curious to know if my 3.5" Floppy Drive from another computer would fit in there, and it did. I was even able to make it work. But, since it's shorter than any other 5.25" drive (in height), I don't know if just any 5.25" to 3.5" bracket would work for the 3rd drive. So I tried dremeling the old frame to the old bay, and it didn't work. So where do you suggest I get a bracket made for it? PC: HP Pavilion a6200n

Hey HughZ,
I'm sorry you're running into this BIOS issue.
If I understand correctly, you've currently got a previous BIOS version loaded by the computer shop. Is that correct?
If so,
1. Download and install BIOS version 5.23. You may already know but, it will restart on its own during the installation. Allow it to restart and get back to the Windows login screen or desktop.
2. Then go to Start and Shutdown. Boot into the BIOS by tapping F10 repeatedly at power on.
3. Once you're in BIOS press F5 to Set the BIOS to Default Settings. You won't get a message or any feedback but just press F9 once and then press F10 to Save and Exit. Yes to confirm and Windows should load normally.
4. Once Windows has loaded, Shutdown again and test the power on sequence to see if your issue remains.
If it does, you can also go into BIOS and arrow over to Boot. Change Boot-time Diagnostic Screen to Enabled if it is Disabled. Also, let me know what the other tabs' (Advanced, Power and other settings in Boot) settings are set to. You can take pictures and post them with your reply, if you'd like. Let me know the results when you get a chance

Number of drive bays for HP ENVY Notebook - 17t-k200 CTO

I am receiving conflicting reports on the new HP Envy model. Does it have one or two drive bays?
This question was solved.
View Solution.

It has a single 2.5 inch bay and then an M.2 mSATA port.
Manual
Pages 63 and 70.
It is also one of the ones where access to the hard drive(s) or memory is major surgery.
If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it.

Dead Drive Bay?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for