Failed hard drive, no OS disk, no boot dvd

HI All,
My hard drive failed.  I tried disk utility and it says that something is wrong with the boot sector.  I was able to get some files off of it before Full failure, but now it just spins and does nothing.
I bought a new SSD to use, but I cannot for the life of me get it started!
I have no OS on a cd, dvd, boot drive or anything.
Here is what I did. I am hoping someone can help me
1) Using another macbook pro, I formatted my SSD to Mac OS X extended
2) Using my failed MBP, I put the new SSD into the hard drive bay.  This was not recognized by the system.
3) I put the failed hard drive back into the drive bay, hooked up both my time machine backup drive and my new SSD to the USB ports.
4) I was able to restore the time machine backup to the SSD (hooked up via USB. PErfect! I see all my files!
5) I then removed the SSD from the USB and  installed the SSD into the hard drive bay of the laptop and booted up. Nothing. Flashing folder again.
Can someone please tell me what I did wrong?  Why isnt the SSD being recognized when I put it in the hard drive bay!??

No one? 

Similar Messages

  • I reinstalled osx 10.8.2 from recovery disk, now verify disk says my hard drive is there but wont boot into it regardless which partition i select to boot into , everytime it boots me into the recovery, i need help!

    Mb pro running like garbage with 10.8.2 tried a reinstall of osx from recovery utility now the utility says my hard drive is ok but wont boot into it keeps booting me back into recovery tried restart option to select disk tried using the select startup disk from recovery, gives a message asking if i really want to boot to it and in that message is the only rime it shows a question mark on the drive dont know what to do cant find similar issue

    Your rushing and not making much sense.
    Your machine was running like garbage, so you tried to reinstall 10.8---did you do this or not?
    Disk Utility says your drive is ok, that's good.
    But when you boot it keeps booting Recovery HD, so perhaps the firmware has made a mistake, it can forget.
    You held the option key down to boot into Startup Manager, why didn't you select OS X for the boot volume?
    When you get into OS X you change the Startup Disk in System Preferences, that should take care of the Flashing Question mark issue.
    attemtping to ireinstall osx from recovery partition bar is full on install screen, but im now at -6hours remaining
    So now your reinstalling OS X like you set out to do before, it does take some time as it has to download from Apple's servers.
    If your Internet connection is slow and/or Wifi is slow then it will take awhile.
    So you should have the Flashing Question Mark and Reinstall Only OS X covered.
    You should be able to boot the machine, but your performance issues may be something else and still remain.
    Why is my computer slow?
    Step by Step to fix your Mac
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents#/?p er_page=50

  • Replacing a failed hard drive on a mid-2007 white macbook

    Replacing a SECOND failed hard drive on a mid-2007 white macbook (Intel core duo 2.16GHz), this time on my own
    Need to purchase a serial ATA drive, but I keep reading that trying to format and/or partition the drive for use with the original Tiger install disk is unsuccessful and that I would have to update to a newer OS before I can do that.
    I have Leopard as the current OS, and that is in my backup files from Time Machine, but I do not have a disk with Leopard.
    Wondering the best course of action and/or if someone had success wit ha particular Serial ATA using the Tiger disks
    Thanks!

    All Intel Macs have always use SATA drives, so all Intel versions of OS X support them including Tiger. I don't know what you've been reading. However, since you have Leopard I don't see what the problem would be because you don't need to install Tiger unless your Leopard disk is strictly an updater disc.
    How to replace or upgrade a drive in a laptop
    Step One: Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
    Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
    If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
    Step Two: Remove the old drive and install the new drive.  Place the old drive in an external USB enclosure.  You can buy one at OWC who is also a good vendor for drives.
    Step Three: Boot from the external drive.  Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears.  Select the icon for the external drive then click on the downward pointing arrow button.
    Step Four: New Hard Drive Preparation
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your new hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area.  If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing.  Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID  then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
    5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
    6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
    Step Five: Clone the old drive to the new drive
    1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
    2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
    3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
    4. Check the box labeled Erase destination.
    5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
    6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
    7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
    Destination means the new internal drive. Source means the old external drive.
    Step Six: Open the Startup Disk preferences and select the new internal volume.  Click on the Restart button.  You should boot from the new drive.  Eject the external drive and disconnect it from the computer.

  • Could this be a failed hard drive?

    My daughter bought a new 20 GB gen 3 iPod in August of 2004. Now, when she turns it on, she gets the sad face along with a triangle and exclamation point. She has followed the steps in the Apple KB article for this scenario here and I have tried to help her - but all is to no avail.
    A reset does not fix the problem. We have tried to restore it. But when the iPod is put into disk mode and attached to her computer, the iPod does not show up anywhere. It is not recognized by iTunes or iPod Updater. When the iPod is removed from the computer, the computer gives a message saying that the device was not recognized and asks if we want to re-initialize. (Curiously, it does not ask that while the iPod is attached.)
    After the last attempt at this, we could hear the hard drive of the iPod trying to repetitively spin up, about every 3 or 4 seconds. It wouild spin up and stop, spin up and stop, etc. At least, it sure sounded like the hard drive to me.
    If anybody can shed some wisdom on this, I would appreciate it. My opinion is that there has probably been a hard drive failure. Has anyone experienced similar symptoms? And if so, what was the solution? If this is a hard drive problem, I am disappointed that it did not last more than 16 months. Are there any statistics anywhere about the lifetime of these devices?
    Thanks,
    Rich
    EMAC G4 1.0 GHz   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

    You might try a PRAM reset and see if this does any good.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379?viewlocale=en_US
    It sounds like the hard drive itself is toast based on how it looks in an enclosure. So you won't be able to boot from it. Possibly after a PRAM reset you could option boot to a disc or to your external drive.
    I had the experience of a failed hard drive totally messing up my PowerMacG4, and it took some doing to get it going again. I finally got it going again, and it has been working ever since without issue.
    The MBP is a different machine, but having experienced first hand what a dying hard drive could do, I think it's well worth doing any resets you can.
    If no joy, make an appointment at the genius bar and ask them if they can run a hardware test from their store feed. If you do have other issues, they should show up then.
    If you end up being able to boot to the optical drive, you could try running the extended version of the Apple Hardware test yourself.
    Good luck!

  • Replacing a failing hard drive with a new Hard

    Hey Apple Community,
    So I have a failing hard drive in my mid-2009 Macbook Pro. I can't boot it up in regular mode any longer, and only can boot it in Recovery HD. I cannot repair the disk, so I guess my only option is to replace the hard drive.
    I decided against paying our local experts upwards of $300 to run diagnostics and install a cheap, new HD.  I did find a new 1TB SSHD, which I ordered and plan on installing myself.
    My question is, with a NEW hard drive in the computer, can I still boot it in Recovery HD mode to do an installation of OS Yosemite? Or do I have to figure out how to obtain an external copy (on a USB drive for example) of OSY and install that somehow when I install the new HD?
    Thanks in advance for your help! -MJ

    mjwindett wrote:
    ...My question is, with a NEW hard drive in the computer, can I still boot it in Recovery HD mode to do an installation of OS Yosemite? Or do I have to figure out how to obtain an external copy (on a USB drive for example) of OSY and install that somehow when I install the new HD?...
    On recent Macs, Recovery comes in two flavors with one being Internet Recovery which doesn't require a bootable drive to start with. Yours doesn't have that, so the other flavor is the Recovery partition on the failing HD you currently have.
    What you can do is get an external enclosure, such as this one, install your new SSHD in it, connect it to your MBP, boot into Recovery and run Reinstall OS but with the external drive as the target. Once that's done, and you've tried booting from it, you can install the SSHD in the MBP, install the current HD in the external enclosure, and see if you can use Setup or Migration Assistant to move your files over to the SSHD.

  • Recover data from failed hard drive?

    Hi,
    My hard drive failed recently and wouldn't boot up anymore.
    Since then, I replaced the drive and bought an IDE to USB adapter to try and recover some of the data on the drive.
    But when I plug in the adapter to my computer, a message comes up saying "Disk you inserted is not readable by this computer." It gives me the option of "Initialize" "Ignore" or "Eject." When I hit initialize, it goes to disk utility. The disk shows up, but is still not mounted to the computer. The option to repair the disk is grayed out.
    Does this mean that the data is gone and the drive is toasted? Or is there a solution to get this data back?
    Would making an image of the failed hard drive in disk utility and saving it to my new drive solve the problem?
    Any suggestions, in a real bind here?
    Thanks!

    Hi,
    My hard drive failed recently and wouldn't boot up anymore.
    Since then, I replaced the drive and bought an IDE to USB adapter to try and recover some of the data on the drive.
    But when I plug in the adapter to my computer, a message comes up saying "Disk you inserted is not readable by this computer." It gives me the option of "Initialize" "Ignore" or "Eject." When I hit initialize, it goes to disk utility. The disk shows up, but is still not mounted to the computer. The option to repair the disk is grayed out.
    Does this mean that the data is gone and the drive is toasted? Or is there a solution to get this data back?
    Would making an image of the failed hard drive in disk utility and saving it to my new drive solve the problem?
    Any suggestions, in a real bind here?
    Thanks!

  • Can I save my files from a failing hard drive?

    Sorry if this is kind of long. I booted up the system off the Mac OS X disc after getting startup errors. I ran the Disk Utility and it could not verify or repair the hard disk. S.M.A.R.T. status reads "failing" in red. My best guess it that the hard drive is on it's way out. Tried to save my files by making and image file of the hard disk and putting it on an external drive, but I got an error and it wouldn't save. Put the system in Target Disk mode and tried to access the files from another Mac connected via FireWire, but it wouldn't mount on the second Mac's desktop. I checked Disk Utility and it was creating multiple images of the first Mac's hard disk and failed to mount. Is there any other way to retrieve the files from the failing hard drive? I'd appreciate any assistance on this.

    Maybe, but at this stage, I'd boot from a data recovery tool, such as those listed on my FAQ*:
    http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html#RECOVER
    If none of those work, you may want to consider a data recovery service, depending on the value of the said files.
    Moral of the story, always backup your data*:
    http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
    It is not a question of if data will be lost, but when.

  • Failing hard drive, unable to start, trying to back up data

    My apologies in advance, I'm not terribly computer saavy.
    I purchased an HP Pavilion dv6-1350 us Notebook PC in May 2010 from Newegg.com as my home computer. 
    About 2 weeks ago I fell asleep with the computer on (internet connected via dial up) and when I woke up, I was getting hard drive failure imminent warnings and warnings to back up my data.  I ran several tests as per what directions the computer could give me and got the following results:
    Start up test failed
    Hard disk smart 301
    Hard disk 1 QUick 303
    100% system memory OK
    4,156,358,656 bytes OK
    Hard disk 1 QUick (303)
    I purchased some larger USB memory sticks to recover my data on, but unfortunately, the computer cannot start up and I cannot back up my data before I send the computer for service.  (I'm assuming the hard drive needs replacing). 
    However, I am slightly suspicious because the error message has an odd grammatical error, something to the effect of "hard drive failure imminent, to avoid not data loss, back up files immediately'. 
    Unfortunately I cannot offer any further details at this time as I am at work and the computer is at home.
    So my questions are:
    is this a hard drive failure or a nasty viral/computer takeover?
    is there anything I can do start the computer enough to back up my data before getting the computer serviced?
    does anyone have suggestions as to where I should get an HP serviced?
    Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

    Hi,
    Well 301 and 303 are genuine error codes relating to the Hard Drive ( so it will need replacing ) - I presume the tests you ran were from the Bios menu, if that is correct, it's unlikely to be Malware as bios viruses are extremely rare so it probably is just a grammatical error in the message, nothing more.
    One possible way to try and retrieve your files from a non-booting drive is to follow the process detailed in the link below.  The Ubuntu operating system CD you create can run from the CD alone ( ie it doesn't have to install on the Hard Drive ) and I've often found it to be successful in retrieving data even from a failing Hard Drive.  When you've created the CD, follow the instructions and see if you can back up your existing files to the USB drives you've purchased. 
    http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windo...
    Regards,
    DP-K
    ****Click the White thumb to say thanks****
    ****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
    ****I don't work for HP****
    Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience

  • After replacing a failed hard drive with new one I inadvertently created a different account name(home/user) than the one in the Time Machine backup. Now I cannot restore the photos in iPhoto. What are my options?

    After replacing a failed hard drive with new one I inadvertently created a different account name(home/user) than the one in the Time Machine backup. Now I cannot restore the photos in iPhoto. What are my options?

    The best thing to do would be to start over. Use Setup Assistant this time.
    Boot into Recovery, launch Disk Utility, and erase the startup volume. This operation will destroy all data on the volume. Quit Disk Utility and install OS X. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade, so make a note of those before you begin.
    When you reboot, you'll be prompted to go through the initial setup process. That’s when you transfer the data from one of your backups. For a walkthrough, see here:
    Using Setup Assistant
    Don't transfer the Guest account, if it was enabled on the old system.
    Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with proxy servers, or with networks that require a certificate for authentication.

  • I am attempting to replace a failed hard drive on a F500 Vista laptop. I have a home premium recover

    I am attempting to replace a failed hard drive on a F500 Vista laptop. I have a home premium recovery DVD (1 of 1) and It runs the recovery after a while of loading, and it creates a 24GB partion and loads about 2.6Gb of information on it. the it ejects the disc and asks if I have any suplimental disks, which I don't have. Then it reboots it's self and cycles through reboots for 5 hours, yes I let it do this for 5 hours as the HP site says it could take several hours.
     After this I finally shut down the computer and loaded the hard drive in an ext case and retrieved the above information. I also note that the 250GB drive is shown as a 24GB drive, so I guess it hasn't completed the partions?
    I never get to a Vista window.
    This hard drive does pass the laptop's Bios hard drive check (the former 80GB drive did NOT) and was used to store Old Time Radio shows, until I went to a larger drive.
    The Laptop has a dual core Athlon TK-53 processor and the recovery disc is for 32 bit Vista (and the label in front and license on back don't state Vista 64, just Vista)
    So, Do I need a Vista 64 recovery disc? Should I download the available driver on the HP site and slap in that disc when the Recovery disc finishes and asks for supplimental discs? Might thngs indicate other issues with the laptop?
    I've loaded from scratch XP several times, but this is my 1st Vista experience. Thank you for any help!

    Okay. So I was able to install, and format the new internal HD. Was able to install Lion then Mavericks.  Next, is to try to retrieve my data from my failing old HD.  I bought an enclosure (sled), and have my HD hooked up to my laptop, and it finally showed up in Finder.  So.  Now.  What is next?  I am seeing a screen that shows these folders:  Applications (translate for the PC me = Programs), Library (I am assuming?? these are my various files such as docs, photos, music, etc.) System, opt, and Users.  Should I just try to drag and drop some/all of the folders onto my desktop, then open up the folders and do something with the contents?  Sorry to sound so vague and frankly, rather dumb-sounding, but the nomenclature with a Mac is a bit different than with a PC, and Finder is a little different looking to me than Windows Explorer.  I am relieved to see that I was even able to get this failing drive to show up in the first place, so I feel a little like I could be on borrowed time with it.  I think it may just be bad sectors, since I don't hear any clicking or other mechanical issues with the drive as it spins.  But, any further help with retrieving the data would be VERY much appreciated!!

  • Can Time Machine back up a failed hard drive, and how long will it take to prepare?

    1. The hard drive in my 2009 MBP has failed. My Time Machine external drive failed about three weeks ago, and I don't know if I'll be able to restore from it. Is it ever possible to backup a failed hard drive with Time Machine? The machine boots, it just comes up beach balls if I use any applications for very long.
    2. I'm trying to back it up right now. I have Time Machine running to a new external drive. It has been stuck on "preparing backup" for about 20 minutes. Everyone says that preparing a first backup takes some time, but no one says if "some time" is 15 minutes or one hour or more. What is a typical length of time for preparing first backup? At what point should I walk away?
    If it's not worth trying to back this drive up myself anymore, I'd love to just drop the thing off and get the hard drive replaced -- but if it's worth doing, I'll take the extra day to back up what I can.

    You might have better luck using a clone.
    Clone  - Carbon Copy Cloner          (Often recommended as it has more features than some others)
    Clone – Data Backup
    Clone – Deja Vu
    Clone  - SuperDuper
    Clone - Synk
    Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested
    Commonly Used Backup Methods

  • How do I copy the entire contents of my laptops failing hard drive to copy back onto a new computer.

    How do I copy the entire contents of my laptops failing hard drive to copy back onto a new computer.

    If the drive has failed the only way to get any data off it is to send it to a Data Recovery company. Which is very expensive and no guaranty they will be able to retrieve any data.
    That is why Apple has included a system to backup your Mac on a regular basis, Time Machine. Also there are other Apps to do basically the same thing by Cloning your internal drive to an external drive. Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper. Along with using Disk Utility to Image the internal drive to an external drive.
    Sorry to tell you but if the drive has really failed your Data is gone unless you pay a large sum of money to one of the Data recovery companies.

  • New Hard Drive, Mac partition cloned and boots fine, but I can't seem to get my BOOTCAMP (windows) partition to boot!  Any ideas?

    Hello all!
    I got a new hard drive for my Mac Book Pro and an enclosure so I could clone the old partitions on to the new drive.
    So I...
    Put the new hard drive in the enclosure.
    Booted up off an install disk and ran disk utility.
    Copied the Mac and Bootcamp partitions over to the new drive that was connected VIA USB.
    Turned off the computer, took the old hard drive out and put it in the enclosure.
    Put the new hard drive in the Mac Book Pro.
    Booted into Mac OSX with no problem.
    When I rebooted held down the option key to boot into the windows side, it didn't show up as an option.
    When I went back into the Mac side, I loaded Disk Utility and saw that I had the Mac partition, the BOOTCAMP partition, and a bunch of unallocated space.  When I went into the System Preferences and set the target boot drive to the BOOTCAMP partition and restarted, I got some crazy error about there not being any bootable info on it.
    That's where I am at.  I have found other posts with people who are having the same problem, but I have yet to find a solution that doesn't involve me buying some 3rd party software.  I know it has something to do with (what is called in Microsoft world) the Master Boot Record, but I don't know how to modify that to reflect that the BOOTCAMP partition is a bootable logical drive.  I remember in MS DOS land there was some command line FDSK /something command that you would run (I think it was /MBR) to reset the MBR.  To me though, all of these terms are shadowy figures in the Ether.
    What do I do???
    -Ricardo
    p.s.  I read somewhere to boot off the windows 7 disk and run the system repair tools. I tried that and no change.

    I got it. It CAN be done. At least on 10.6
    How I made it happen (for free) on Snow Leopard:
    1) partition, dupe etc all that jazz that you know. Make the mac side work, which it seems we've all been able to do no issues. I used SuperDuper! It worked just fine. (Had it on a disk. I assume you could use any other free way of doing this.)
    2) New hard drive running, I used bootcamp assistant to partition the new drive for a new Bootcamp. I don't know if it's necessary to make the new partition this way for some reason, but it's what the process ultimately included, so maybe try without, but it worked with.
    3) Natively running original drive on the windows side. Used DirveImage XML to clone windows partition onto new drive connected externally.
    4) Back on new hard drive running natively. (Sorry for all the switching.) You'll note that the new Bootcamp partition is NOT bootable at this point. It won't come up in the usual 'alt on startup' boot menu.
    Download rEFInd and install on mac side. Technically this is freeware or w/e, but for the love of god, throw money at this man. He totally deserves it.
    5) Restarting the computer, rEFInd's boot manager finally recognizes windows. But you'll find windows is a little messed up and still won't quite boot. Get out your Windows CD and pop it in. Do the 'alt boot' thing. Your boot menu options are now "EFI Manager," "Bootcamp," and "Windows Disk." Or some such. Holy Crap! It recognizes Windows!
    6) Boot to the CD and tell it to repair the windows volume. It will. My computer also had to do a disk check next time I booted to Windows, which took for-stupid-ever, but eventually worked. (I went to bed in between.)
    7) Everything is running smoothly. Plus, you get the rEFInd boot manager, which is also great.
    Deets: I have a late 2010 MBP 13". Snow leopard/Windows 7 32-bit (long story) Moved from original 320GB seagate momentus to new 750GB Seagate Momentus XT.
    Feel free to share/copy&paste this solution as you see useful. Cheers!

  • Older iMac hard drive in enclosure won't boot long to new iMac?

    I have just received my new iMac i7 with the THIN case.....it is pretty awesome! I removed the hard drive from my previous iMac (2006 Intel core 2 duo) and put it into an enclosure hoping to retreive my old files. Here is the problem.....the old hard drive (250GB) will not stay booted long enough to transfer my files. The enclosure is a Sabrent 3.5" SATA hard drive USB 3.0 enclosure. It will appear for approx. 20-30 seconds, and then the message:
    "The disk was not ejected properly. If possible, always eject a disk before unplugging it or turning it off. To eject a disk, select it in the Finder and choose File > Eject. The next time you connect the disk, Mac OS X will attempt to repair any damage to the information on the disk."
    It will disappear from the desktop and I am unable to access it any longer. I am able to open the older hard drive and can open older folders, etc. while it is mounted on the desktop.
    A little background on the older iMac.....it quit working completely, would not turn on, no fan noise, no hard drive spinning, NOTHING. I ordered a replacement power supply and installed it......but still nothing. I can only assume the logic board is dead. Since it was what the genious at the Apple store called "vintage", we deicided to upgrade, hence the new iMac. (And it was 7 years old after all!!)
    What can I do to get the info I need from the older hard drive? Like I said, it's 7 years old and has a LOT of info. I WAS able to backup pictures, music, and some misc. work to an external hard drive before it died....but I need the "little" things like my address book, calendar, old emails, bookmarks, etc.
    Thanks in advance for any help in this matter!

    If this is an enclosure that is USB powered that may be the problem. Mac are notorious for not putting out enough power from the USB port to properly power these USB powered drives. I suggest you get a SATA to USB Adapter that has it own AC power supply to power the drive.

  • Can I move cache to external hard drive to save disk space for photoshop and bridge?

    Can I move cache to external hard drive to save disk space for photoshop and bridge?

    So could I take everything off my external hard drive, save it to my Mac, then re-format it for my Mac and move everything back to the external hard drive?
    Yes. Keep in mind that you need to back up all data, including the data on an external drive. So if you're going to use the external drive to store original data, as opposed to backups, then you really need another one to back up the first one. You also need to back up the data on your internal drive, of course. This isn't optional. You must do it, or you'll lose everything sooner or later. All disk drives fail eventually, often with no warning.
    If I do that how do I format the external hard drive for my Mac?
    Launch the Disk Utility application and search the built-in help for "erase."
    Would it be easier to just buy a external hard drive that is for a Mac?
    All external hard drives work with Macs. Some might come pre-formatted for use with Macs, but it only takes a few minutes to do that yourself.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Manually submit a form without using javascript?

    i'm trying to automate registration of a site by using java (no gui). However there is no direct submit button or form.submit() present in its registration url. Checked the javascript codes and it opens a window, and checks if the window opener is pr

  • Can't install audio content any idea?

    Hi I don't understand this. I installed first audio content in final cut but it is asking put second cd. I did that. But there is only one way to get through is can't eject cd 1 . is i drag n drop this. cd 1 is out but when i put cd 2 in it is cancel

  • Macbook Pro startup is very slow

    Hello everyone, My macbook pro (august 2010) with Mountain Lion is starting up very slow (about 2 minutes or more) since a couple of weeks. When started up, the applications take also about a minute or 3 to start up. So the time it takes to get my Ma

  • Time Machine Backup after clean install?

    Hi, I just took the plunge and made a clean install of Mavericks on an SSD called "A". On this volume I only have the system and the applications. My User Account is on a separate volume "B" and my third volume is a 4TB volume "C" with my Time Machin

  • WebLogic Monitoring tools

    Are there any monitoring tools (say monitoring weblogic server is up or not , finding no of JMS queues and active connections, finding how much java heap is being used etc) available for WebLogic Server? Are there any documents available from Bea det