G4 Mini Hard Drive dead?

Hi All,
I've been unable to start my Mini and using Disk Warrior to try to fix the hard drive yielded the message ""Directory cannot be rebuilt due to a disk access error (0, 1613)""
Does this mean the hard drive is dead? or would I still be able to use the hard drive with a fresh reinstall?
Thanks

Hi all,
I'm experiencing the same problem as krs24rbn, it looks that my hard disk is dead, but would like to be sure of it before buying a new HD.
Is there any way to be suere of this? I started seeing wrong behaviour before installing last Apple update to 10.4.8. I first experienced some problems with mail going slow, then accessing internet with Safari and FireFox hangups, specially with java intensive webs. Other weird things occur like iTunes radio volume going down and up depending on internet traffic, (or at least it looked taht way).
Then found some problems to start up, I begun backing up and got most of my files on a safe externl HD. When I was almost done some files appear unable to copy correctly. Finally my mini got dead.
I erased the disc and instaled a fresh copy of Tiger, booted normally and start to reinstall.
After one or two days problems began again, so format, reinstall....
Sometimes Disk Utility command Repair Disk worked fine others stopped reparing with message "invalid node structure" and
"Error:la tarea subyacete ha registrado un fallo a la salida".
Rigth now I can start from my CD and intall the
mac OS but my mini can't boot. It shows the apple logo on a grey screen, that's it!
Shoud I change my disk? is there any tool to repair/eliminate phisical bad sectors on the disc?

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My mac mini hard drive is failing. I am no longer under warranty. Do you know how much it cost to have Apple replace the hard drive? or How I can replace it myself?

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You can do it yourself. I did on my 2009 Mini
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/Mac_Mini
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How do I get finder to recognize my hard drive after pulling my hard drive out without eject...? Is my hard drive dead? I see it in disk utility... Can I get my info back?

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In Disk Utility you need to see a volume or partition in addition to the drive.
If all you see is the drive, then when you ejected it you proably corrupted the volume or partition on the drive.
If that is true then your chances of getting anything back are slim at best.
About the only thing I know that might work not is to send the disk out to a service for recovery. This is going to cost like $$$$.
Is the data worth that much?
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I want to erase my mini hard drive. Where do I get a new operating software to reinstall on the wiped hard drive?

If you have Lion or later boot to the Recovery partition and reinstall the OS
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Apple themselves don't specify hard drive RPM because they buy a number of different drives, some apparently 4200 some apparently 5400.
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Hi, so I recently bought an enclosure for my old HD that died out on me, I suppose? My mac was asleep, then I pressed any button on the computer to wake it up, then I clicked on Mail right away, and it froze for a while.. so I held the power down to restart it. When it restarted, it gave me a white screen with a folder with a question mark on it. I was told my HD was bad. So I changed it, now my mac is up and running. BUT... i need my old files from my old HD. I bought an enclosure, plugged and played.. nothing comes up. How can I get my old files? Please help!!!!

This one has an outside chance of working. But if it doesn't work, _be warned_, might make the data completely unrecoverable through a professional data rescue service. I've only heard about this and never done it myself. You put it in the freezer. Not sure why this is supposed to work, but it might.
_Much safer to try Data Rescue first. I would try this only as a last resort._
For others, try googling hard drive dead freezer and see what you think.
http://hacknmod.com/hack/how-to-recover-dead-hard-drive-data/
I can tell you from experience that it in fact DOES work…most of the time. I have managed to recover data 3 times from dead drives, and have also not managed to recover data about the same amount of time. So, it is fair to say that for me, it worked 50% of the time.
I placed the drive in two zip lock bags expelling as much as air as possible before zip locking both bags. I left it in the freezer for approx. 12 hours with no luck, but after freezing it for extended periods of time, it worked like a charm. It is also important to note that this is generally a one shot deal, if it works, you’re in luck, but you must get as much data as possible from the drive because once it dies, it is rare that you will gain access a second time.
The 3 times I did manage to get the data back, I exhumed only the data that I absolutely required. In other words, only the data I created or files that I placed on the drive.
I too, found it hard to believe when I first heard it, but after losing 3 years of tax returns I HAD to try it. Fortunately for me, it worked like a charm.

Is Hard Drive Dead???

Hello,
Thanks for anyone that posts and helps me out here. These forums help alot.
I have iMac G5 Isight (model before intel) 200GB HD 2.5GB Ram.
Stopped working and saw blue screen with question mark the other day. uh oh.
Attempted restart -> not solved
attempted safe mode -> didnt work just shut down
attempted single user mode (fsck) -> did not work (catalog file I/O error invalid node structure)
attempted Disk Utilities off startup disk -> not work (failure on exit error keys out of order)
sighed.
bought Disk Warrior (as this helped others w similar issues)
Attempted DW (fingers crossed) -> message said error "speed reduced by disk malfunction" also could not replace original directory b/c of disk malfunction. Comparison could not be performed and recommended backup and to look at preview.
everything critical is backed up. no problem.
everything non critical I dont care about.
So now, the question is...
Is my hard drive dead?
If so, should I reformat it or is it "permanently wounded" and will have PTSD and cause further problems down the road.
Or, should I bite the bullet and get a brand new Hard Drive??
thanks so much !!!!
mike

Ok.
now that I have some time going to do erase and install.
I suppose info is on the apple support website for the exact steps.
I remember reading somewhere to do settings all to zero?
I was running Tiger latest version.
I have a brand new Leopard disks here that I was going to upgrade to before all this happened.
Should I just boot off the new Leopard disks?
Or
Should I boot off Tiger and then upgrade everything afterwards?
thanks again

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cheers

Hi Joseph,
Welcome to Apple discussions.
I presume you are trying to format an external drive.
Open Disk Utility, select the Mitsubishi drive, select Erase, and where it says Volume Format open the selection and choose MS-DOS File System.
*If you do not see MS-DOS listed in that window then that is because the disk is already formatted as MS-DOS.*
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I have a white 13 inch MacBook that is about 3 years old and runs on Mac OS X 10.4 (I believe). In the past year, it has been running more and more slowly and programs keep freezing. I was going to ask for more RAM for Christmas, but decided to try a few maintenance steps first. I ran a VirusScan this morning (using McAfee), and when I came back into the room, my computer had frozen past all help. I powered it off with the power button, and now, when I try to start it, a gray screen appears with a question mark. I have tried some of the support steps listed to get it working again such as trying a safe boot (didn't work) and resetting my PRAM (didn't work). Is my hard drive dead? Is there any way I can get my files off the computer? I haven't backed up in about 3 months, and I am very upset because I have a lot of important papers and photos on my HD.
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Hi corimazz and welcome to Apple Discussions!
It is possible that your hard drive has kicked the bucket, but the folder with the question mark just shows that the computer cannot find a valid system when it starts up. There are a number of possible reasons for this.
Do you have the 10.4 install disk? If so, insert it into the optical disk drive, restart the computer and hold down the C key during startup. Once the computer is booted to the install DVD, select your primary language, then look for the utilities menu and from it select "Disk Utility".
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If the drive is truly dead, you are going to have to decide how much the data from the last three months is worth to you. There are companies that have quite good records of recovering data from even very badly damaged hard drives (sunk in rivers, burned in fires, etc) but they are not cheap.
In the USA some data recovery options include:
DriveSavers.com - 800-440-1904
www.ontrack.com - 800-872-2599
www.lazarus.com - 800-341-3282
Once you have the drive out (it's a simple process to remove) it can be replaced with a new one.
I hate to say it, but keeping backups of important files is vital to safe computing. Both the Leopard and Snow Leopard operating systems make this a much easier process using the "Time Machine" application.
Best of luck.

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As far as I know, it's not possible to use Boot Camp to boot to a Windows partition on an external drive - for that you'd have to have the partition on the internal. I think you could run Windows from an external if you used Parallels Desktop or VMFusion virtualization solutions though, which allow you to run Windows and MacOS simultaneously, where Boot Camp of course does not.
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My question is this--is it going to be possible to transfer the music from my iPod to my new computer? Many of the songs on my iPod are from other sources, during the years that I was not using iTunes, and from what I have read I will only be able to transfer my purchased music. I know there is a way to make my iPod into a hard drive in order to transfer the music to my new computer, but as I said, I cannot even boot up my old machine, and thus cannot access my iTunes library on my HD.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions and advice you may have.

I've had to do this in the past (4 years ago). Try this page for a list of programs that can help you:
http://www.metaphoriclabs.com/articles/5-ways-to-copy-music-off-your-ipod-window s-mac-os-x/
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Is my ipod hard drive dead?

since yesterday i have been having problem restoring my ipod.
when i restore my ipod through itune the restore goes somewhat fine ipod reboots, apple with progress bar then the plain apple logo and it stays there for 5-10 min and goes to do not disconnect and does not appear in itunes.
at this point i use windows to safely remove the ipod after which it takes about another min for the ipod to pull up the language selection screen.
then when i plug it back in it takes around another 5 min to show up in itunes (does'nt matter is itunes is open or closed) or itune may not open at all but the ipod still appears in My Computer.
when he ipod does finally appear in itunes i get the name screen like normal and i go though setting what music to sync like always but during the sync i get a -69 error.
to note my mp3s are all good and it doesn't fail at any consistent point. fails to sync at random intervals.
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my guess is the hard drive is dead/dying.
i have done every re-install, file removal, and reset trick i could find including putting the ipod into disk mode. nothing works
NOTES:
iPod is 5th gen with video 30GB 2006 ver. (also when i got it)
no warranty anymore.
what i want to know is if my ipod needs repair and how much it will cost

well i am pretty sure the hard drive is dead.
my disk checks indicate alot of bad sectors.
so does anyone know how much a repair will cost?
i really like this 30GB the new classic models start at 80GB and cost $250 which is too expensive and i have no need for such space. my entire collection only spans between 7-8GB and i don't even keep a third of that on my ipod right now its only 271 songs. however 30GB offered plenty of future expansion room so thats why i got it.
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NOTE: i am also curious about the SDRAM test output in my last post. could there be another problem with me ipod too?

Is my hard drive dead?

I have a PB G4 1.0 Ghz FW800 (and my applecare is long gone). Recently it froze, and then after that I tried to restart, and it wouldn't ever get past the grey screen. I used the OSX disc and used disk utility and "repaired" my hard drive. Still, it didn't work. Then I tried to repair the installation of OSX but that didn't work either. And sometimes disk utility will see the hard drive and sometimes it doesn't. No matter what, I can't get past grey screen.
I tried using the PB in Target disk mode on my roomates pb. I got it to work once, but then it froze while trying to transfer files to back up, and now I can't get it to mount again. If there is a cd in my pb's drive, it will show up on his pb but my pb's hard drive will not.
My guess is my hard drive died. Is there some way to confirm this? Preferably without buying anything. If that is the case, I'll buy a new drive and install it myself but I don't want to go through all that to find out it is a problem with the logic board, or hard drive cable. If the problem is with the logic board, how much $ would that cost to be repaired?
thanks in advance

1. You can try using Disk Utility to check the S.M.A.R.T. status of your drive. This is found at the bottom of the DU window, once you have selected the drive in the left hand pane. If a drive is working fine then the S.M.A.R.T. status will say "Verified". Anything else and the drive is in trouble.
2. Then there is the Apple Hardware Test.
3. If you have access to a fully bootable installation of OS X on an external FireWire drive (ie. like a cloned backup) then you can use that to restart the PowerBook. If the PB runs fine using this method, then the problem is unlikely to be the logic board.
4. DiskWarrior will help only if the hard drive is suffering from a software issue (usually directory related). If the drive is suffering from hardware failure then the only option is to replace the drive.
5. If you need to retireve any data, then your best options are either Data Rescue, GNU ddrescue or dd. If those cannot help then it is likely that only an expensive professional data recovery service can help. Bear in mind that those options will require a spare external hard drive.
2.0GHz MacBook, 15" 1.25GHz/12" 1GHz PBs, 2xPPC Mac minis, 12" iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.8) Cube, 2xTAMs, iPod 4G & nano 2G, 1G & 2G iPs, AEBS, AX

EMac hard drive dead?

My eMac was running slow ... reeeeeeeally slow. Spent ages pondering every mouse click. Just opening folders was agony. I tried the usual round of fixes, some of which helped a little, but after a few hours' use, things would slow down again. Permissions repair got hung up 1/3 of the way through every time. Decided to try Disk Utility from the install disk; it reported an error (2STF/8/3: MAC-10 ata-4 - Master); research suggested that meant hard drive trouble. I tried reinstalling system software and now my Mac can ONLY restart from the Tiger disk --- it can't even mount the hard drive.
Four questions:
1. Does this mean what it looks like --- that the hard drive is dead?
2. Is there any way to access the hard drive at this point?
3. If the drive is dead, is it better to replace the internal drive or just get an external?
4. Any recommendations as to brands/spex on replacement drive?
Thanks in advance.

Drives do die! I gather you don't have an external drive nor another Mac. Hope you don't have any important files to recover either.
I had my iBook drive die a couple of years ago while visiting in Namibia on Christmas eve. It hadn't died completely. The local Apple dealer happened to be in his shop on the 26th. We were able to copy most things onto his computer and I bought an external drive and an OX 10.4 DVD. I set up the external drive with a new system and copied all my files to it. It took over 2 months before Apple were able to supply the correct parts but I was able to continue using the Mac during the wait. The iBook was still within the Applecare warranty period so there was no cost to me for the repairs. This procedure will work provided other components in the eMac are in good order.
Access to the drive depends on how dead it really is. If the drive is not dead you should be able to reformat it from the Instal disc. If this fails then repair is an option.
You will need to check whether any other parts need replacing. With my iBook one of the hardware control modules had to be replaced too. Once you know likely cost you should consider whether a new Mac is a more practical option - if you can afford one. You will get a better machine with better specifications for an effective price of new less repair costs.
In terms of recommendations - an external Firewire drive with more than enough capacity for your needs. The advantage of this is that you can use it with any new computer you choose to buy later.

G4 Mini Hard Drive dead?

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