Hard drive crashed after mac security update

Question

My hard drive crashed right after downloading and installing the mac security and safari updates last night? Other than doing a complete re-install from my installation dvd and back-up, is there another way to fix this problem?

Answer 1

Nope. You may have to replace the drive that crashed if you cannot reformat it.
Clean Install of Snow Leopard
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc.  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, set the format type to Mac
         OS Extended (Journaled) 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. When you finish Setup Assistant will complete the installation, after which
         you will be running a fresh install of OS X. Now you can begin the update process
         by opening Software Update and installing all recommended updates to make your
         installation current.