Hard drive crash? Folder with question mark

Hi everyone! I had problems with my macbook pro (early 2013). Last week, it slowed down suddenly and the laptop heats up during sleep. Then the hard drive recently crashed, at least I thought it crashed after it showed the folder with question mark during startup and did not show my old hard disk drive. Now I bought a 1TB WD mainstream hard drive disk, unfortunately it does not detect it in the internet recovery (disk utility). Now my question is, Do I have to do something with the hard drive first for my laptop to detect it? Like formatting it? The box said that it is compatible with mac OSx Lion, but my internet recovery lets me install Mountain Lion only. Is that the problem? or is the problem internal like the cable that connects the hard drive to the logic board?

That depends on the type of drive you have. If it is a standard external drive (in an enclosure) you can connect the drive with a USB cable.
If it is a bare drive like this:
You will have to put it an enclosure and get a usb cable. External drive enclosure are < $10. They come in two sizes, 2.5" and 3.5". Buy one that's correct for your drive. http://www.amazon.ca/MOGOI-Enclosure-External--Silver-Accessory/dp/B00HC107R6/re f=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1404755872&sr=8-5&keywords=disk+enclosure

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Not solved with Blinking Folder with Question Mark after Erasing Hard Drive

Before asking, I found someone had asked exact the same question, but that was actually an unsolved thread.
Re: Blinking Folder with Question Mark after Erasing Hard Drive to try to restore to Factory Settings
Level 1(0 points)sdc3gJul 5, 2013 6:24 PM Re: Blinking Folder with Question Mark after Erasing Hard Drive to try to restore to Factory Settings
Re: Blinking Folder with Question Mark after Erasing Hard Drive to try to restore to Factory Settings
in response to Niel
Thanks for the reply, held command+R again and it is trying to pick up WiFi, but it's not picking up my network and won't accept the password even when I try to put it in manually. Any thoughts on that?
Me too had tried the command+R and failed to manually connect to my network. Can anyone help?

Well, it was solved. I shifted to other place and tried other WIFis. One of the WiFi had the 2002f problem and another was fine, so the reinstall worked smoothly eventually.
On the apple support page it says that Supported network configurations and protocols includs both WPA/WPA2, not matter what they are, but it might not be true.

Switched on my imac 24inch intel based and all I get on screen is a folder with question mark flashing,I had backup on external hard drive but when I try to reinstall it can not find my mac hard drive

Hi when I started my intel based imac this morning all I am getting is a folder with question mark in the middle flashing,I have external hard drive with backup,but when run disc utilities it does not show my mac hard drive.hope someone can help.(it's running mountain lion, well it was)

Try starting up your Mac while holding down the Option key. That should prompt the Startup Manager window where you can select the startup disk then click Restart.
The question mark folder indicates your Mac cannot find a system folder to boot from.
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac

Installed new hard drive in imac and i get folder with question mark, put in OS install disk and it does nothing? All I have is wireless key board and mouse, is this a factor?

Installed new hard drive in imac and i get folder with question mark, put in OS install disk and it does nothing? All I have is wireless key board and mouse, is this an issue?

Other than put disc in you don't give much info about what you've done. With the install disc inserted restart your Mac while holding the C key, that should start it up from the install disc. Should also work fine with a wireless Apple keyboard.

Blinking folder with question mark! Recovery mode not recognising hard drive!

So today on my MacBook Pro 13" mid 2010, for some reason a CD that I inserted inside the DVD/CD drive didn't come out, and was stuck inside. So I looked up on how to force eject it out, and I saw someone wrote that you can force eject the CD by putting a paper clip inside the hole next to the CD/DVD drive. I did this, and it did not work. After I turned on my MacBook Pro and on the startup I found the blinking folder with question mark! I went through Internet recovery mode, and I found out that it did not recognise my hard drive!
-Do I have to replace my hard drive?
Please help! I'm fairly new with computers :(

Kazmunai wrote:
I saw someone wrote that you can force eject the CD by putting a paper clip inside the hole next to the CD/DVD drive. I did this, and it did not work.
That was for very old Mac's and PC's, it's been a long time since any modern Mac had that ability.
CD that I inserted inside the DVD/CD drive didn't come out, and was stuck inside.
Press and hold the power button down to force a hardware shutdown.
Hold the trackbutton down and the option/alt key at the same time, now boot the machine.
The disk should spit out and you should eventually see a row of icons appear on the screen, this is Startup Manager and you can pres the eject key here also to get the cd to spit out.
If you see MacintoshHD (or your OS X boot volume) click it and the arrow underneath and when you get into OS X, head to System Preferences > Startup Disk and set it again. Your problem should be resolved at this point.
If you don't see your OS X boot volume and it shows RecoveryHD only, or holding the option/alt goes to Internet Recovery, then your boot drive is dead or there is some sort of other issue/power /Mac related.
Try a #1 SMC Reset and a #2 PRAM reset and see if that fixes things.
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
If not, I then suspect because you couldn't eject the cd that something electrical bad happened to the Superdrive and as a result it also effected the power or something going to the boot hard drive.
The hard drive might still work just fine if it's removed from the machine and a SATA to USB adpater to another Mac.
My advice is to take the machine to Apple for a free hardware evaluation, then decide what you want to do from there.
My computer is not working, is my personal data lost?

I have macbook mid 2009, with os leopard and I updated it till yosemite now while deleting partition I erased the main hitachi drive , now I have no backups and while switching on it shows folder with question mark,inserting the grey dvd it keep spin

Have macbook mid 2009, with leopard, updated to yosemite, while erasing partition erased hd, dot have backups, powerup shows folder with question mark, inserting grey dvd shows apple and spinning wheel, please help

Clean Install of Snow Leopard
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
         button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
         After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1. From here you can upgrade to Yosemite by re-downloading it from the Purchases page in the App Store.

Hard disc dead??? flickering folder with question mark on start up

I get a flickering folder with question mark on start up, and i cant get into mac osx.
I tried the hardware test and it detected no problems. Ive tried to do an install with the disc but no harddisc was detected to install it on.
I cant believe my harddisc is broken all my work is gone (backing doesnt help with configurations etc)

I know many of you don't understand english. Basicly what the articel tells us is that there is a problem with the harddrive due to a contruction caused error.
I would say please do something about it. Start a program to solve this problem
Thank you very much (my seagate still works, lets see for how long!!!
Der Festplatten- und Datenrettungsspezialist Retrodata aus der englischen Grafschaft Hampshire gibt eine beunruhigende Warnung an MacBook-Besitzer heraus. Apple-Notebooks, in denen ab Werk Seagate-Festplatten arbeiten, sind nach seinen Untersuchungen mit einem Fabrikationsfehler konfrontiert, der zum Totalausfall der Festplatte mit einhergehendem Datenverlust führen kann.
Nach eigenen Angaben erhält der Spezialist eine Vielzahl dieser ausgefallenen Platten zur Wiederherstellung von Daten. Die Untersuchungen von Retrodata zeigen, dass der Schreib-Lesekopf der Festplatte mechanisch ausfällt. Dies führt dem Spezialisten nach zu tiefen Kratzern auf der Oberfläche der magnetischen Scheiben mit entsprechenden Datenverlusten.
Anwender können schnell selbst feststellen, ob ihr MacBook gefährdet ist. Die betroffenen Segate-Platten sind ausgestattet mit der Firmware in Version 7.01. Zeigt der System-Profiler, zugänglich über den Befehl “Über diesen Mac… / Weitere Informationen” im Apfel-Menü, in der Kategorie Serial-ATA ein Laufwerk mit der Hersteller-Kennung ST und der Versionsnummer 7.01, dann besteht nach diesem Bericht ein hohes Ausfall-Risiko. Die Firma rät allen betroffenen Anwendern ein Backup der Daten anzulegen und umgehend ihren Händler zu kontaktieren.

MacBook Pro flashes file folder with question mark and startup manager will not run

My son's MacBook Pro won't boot (gets the flashing file folder with question mark). When I try to open startup manager (holding "option" key during boot does not do it). Other posts suggest inserting the install disk, but I am pretty sure that for Lion, there was no disk, it was just off the website through the App Store. Any further suggestions?

Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing the Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. 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 main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Folder with question mark + wont boot from disk

Hi
I am trying to reinstall a powermac g5 from the disk, using a old hard drive that works.. (formatted in NTFS) (hoping that when selected to boot from disk, mac will then erase and reformat it)this image is presented when i hold down the option key and the disk ejects this other image is presented when i hold down C (folder with question mark blinking) and the disk ejects... also presented if i boot normally.... Could some help be offered please??????
Powermac G5
Thank you in advance

Yes, you must Format it HFS+ first...
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
How to format your disks...
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/partitioning_tiger.html
(To Install OSX on an IntelMac the Drive it needs the GUID Partitioning scheme mentioned at the bottom.)
Thanks to Pondini, Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks...
http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/DU.html

Flashing folder with question mark at Startup

Here is what I know so far.
- The computer was powered off by pushing the power button without shutting down.
- The computer was then restarted and it was coming into the white screen with the Apple logo in the middle, but i noticed that it was skewed slightly (like someone took a 4:3 ratio screen and stretched it to a 16:9) and then it would show a circle slash icon and then the flashing folder with a question mark on it.
- It would not come up in single user mode (Command + S) and it said that there was an error loading kernel 'mach_kernel'
- It would not come up in safe mode (Shift)(The flashing folder came up again)
- I reset the PRAM (Command + Option + p + r) and it seemed to fix the problem with the stretched screen but did not help the boot situation (still got flashing folder)
- I did the start up where you can select the hard drive to boot with, it owed the HD and i selected it, but then i got the flashing folder with question mark.
- It would not come up in Verbose Mode (Command V) Error loading Kernel again.
- I bought a FireWire cable and hooked it to another MacBook Pro, and booted the faulty Mac into Target Disk Mode, the FireWire logo came up on the screen and bounced around like all forums said that it would, but the drive would not show up on my host. I checked the System Profiler on the host and it did acknowledge the Target Disk Mode was there, but the drive of the target would not show up on the host. I restarted the host, nothing. I checked all of the connections, nothing. I replugged all of the connections, nothing. I even reversed the FireWire cable, nothing.
- I have DiskWarrior 4 if i can get the drive to show up in TDM, but nothing so far.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for your help guys. I managed to get the computer started by holding down C at the Start Up with the Install Disc 1 in the computer. The disc was really kindof unnecessary, as the newest version of Mac OS X (10.4.10) became available via the hard drive.
I then found out that the battery was not installed, so I reset the management system by removing the A/C power, the battery and pushing the power button for 5 seconds, and then reconnecting everything. It did not help, the battery is bad i guess, so I am going to call AppleCare and get a new battery.
Thanks for your help.

Boot up shows folder with question mark...

So my imac from 2006 (i think...20 inch plastic intel) booted up today to the blinking folder with a question mark on it. I rebooted into the osx disc to set the hdd as the startup disk, but it didn't show up in the list. Then I tried to see if I needed to repair the hdd using disk utility but the hdd wasn't showing up. So, do I have to replace the hdd? Not looking forward to it if I do.
Message was edited by: gescamil

Hi,
I have had similar issues, you will have to restart it and press and hold the eject disk on the keyboard right away and it will force it out.
Also to answer you question on way you are not seeing the Hard Drive and way you have the folder with question mark on the start up: is because your Hard Drive is dead.
You will need to buy another Hard Drive install it and then fresh install the OS X.
I have seen this issue too many times and every time is resulting with bad Hard Disk Drive...
Look at the bright side, Hard Drives are cheep now and you have iFix it to assist you on step by step installation. (this is unless you have Apple Care).

Blinking folder with question mark

Ok so I had this macbook air for couple of months now long story short I was outside US when my issue started. While using the computer either completely freezes or becomes almost inoperable and the only course of action is to force restart it by holding the power button. Once you start it back on you get a follder with a question mark. this happens once every few days. I first took it to apple store in France they said something is wrong but since it was purchased in US they cannot do anything about it. when I came back to US took it to apple store that is about 10+ restores after. The store people test it and determine everything works as it should. Couple of days later happened again took it in the same store as is with the folder with question mark. They did a fresh install and told me should work fine. but it didn't I took it to another store they order a hard drive for it came in few days later and was quickly replace that evening computer was running very slow and eventually the same thing happen got the same wiped hard drive just the next day. I called apple few times now they keep on talking about test and what not and it is software related but i have tried it without any of my files and no timemachine restore with the same result. So what should I do I paid almost $2000 for the macbook air and another 200+ for apple care. Who should I talk to to get my issue result? This is the first time I have issue with a mac but so far I have waisted 40+ hours dealing with this macbook. My mac is mid 2013 13" i7 8GB 512gb and its under apple care until october 2016

I have been in apple store 4 times already but I will not get a replacement. Today I got a call from Bob who is part of the executive corporate relations team. He told me, he is sure my issue is fixable and they can not replace my mint condition mac eventhough I have had that issue almost since day 1. He didn't even for a moment stopped and truly appologize that even after paying $2300+ out the door I have to go through all this BS I guess I am just another pain in the behind customer, who should man up and learn to deal with his files disappearing every other day and I should make the time to restore my macbook air every other day. Mr Bob also said they didn't have time to diagnose the computer and I demanded hard drive replacement. How does a customer demand technician to replace a specific part is beyond my comprehension. The only reason I asked apple to replace my macbook air is because I have a long trip coming up and at this point I have to walk in the store and buy a new notebook and leave this one at home. He also said there is no reason to complain to BBB because those complains are handled by their department and they will offer me nothing different.

Cant bypass Firmware password , Folder with Question mark!

I have a MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)
I had the folder with question mark show up. I took out my hard drive and put it in an enclosure and it is working fine. Could it be the hard drive flex cable that is damaged and that is why the system can't find the hard drive?
Anyway the big problem i'm having is that i can't remember the firmware password and i tried every combination (command+S, command+R) . memory pull out and nothing worked. I'm stuck please let me know what i can do to get this fixed

Hi caliabe,
Unfortunately, the only way to remove the password would be to visit an Apple Store or Authorized Service Provider, as I understand you can't even access the Mac in recovery mode without the Firmware Password. If you lost or forgot your firmware password - Apple Support
Good luck.

When I start my iMac 2008, appear something like folder with question mark inside

When I start my iMac 2008, appear something like folder with question mark inside

Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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 Utilities menu. 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.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
If you are running Lion or later:
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks without erasing drive
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. 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 then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Mountain Lion or Mavericks
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Flashing folder with question mark on start up + many other issues

About 6 months ago I first encountered the flashing folder with question mark on startup. I fixed the issue myself by unplugging the mouse and keyboard and rebooting. I also did the cmd S fsck -fy before that and all was well.
The other day I had the flashing folder again...I got it going a couple of times but it happened again. Right now I seem to be in deep trouble. Please read the following:
1. I booted up from the leopard dvd and no hard drive was there to run a disk utility on
2. Booted up again from the dvd and hard drive was there. Ran the disk utility and everything was fine...for about 5 minutes. Then the computer froze and I had to hard power down. Rebooted to the flashing folder.
3. Did command s and fsck but at the end I get the message failed to issue comm reset after 3 attempts.....failing....
4. I powered down, vacuumed out the vents, sprayed compressed air to make sure it wasn't over heating from dust buildup as I read somewhere.
5. Booted up...worked for about 5 minutes again.
6. Now I can't get to the hard drive from the install dvd at all...I tried 100 times. Cmd s won't work at all!! So it looks like I am out of options. Does anyone have ny radical solutions that i can try to fix this. There are some very important things on my hard drive that I would be very upset about loosing.
Please reply

Sorry to bear bad news, but most likely the drive is already dead or dying. I hope you backed up everything when the first symptoms appeared.
There are data recovery services, but might be very expensive.
EDIT: Some (a few) people have had success putting the drive (sealed very well in a plastic baggy) in the freezer overnight and then quickly putting it in an external enclosure and getting the data off it that way.
Message was edited by: WZZZ

Hard drive crash? Folder with question mark

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