Hard drive failureâ¦ 3 1 TB drives dead?

I have had three 1 TB drives fail after very little use.
The first two drives were Western Digital Green 1 TB drives. Best Buy was overstocked and selling the Mac version of its USB Western Digital drives. I took the drives out of the cases and Installed them directly into an G4 MDD with a Sonnet's Tempo™ Serial ATA PCI adapter card)
When neither drive would operate, I learned that the sonnet card required me to install a jumper on the hard drives. I inserted the jumpers in the correct location, and both drives worked brilliantly… For about three weeks.
Now, both Western Digital drives are useless. One of the drives doesn't even spin up, the other is inconsistent and has a lot of read/write errors. Now, disk utilities cannot reformat the drive.
Suggestions? Could it be of the logic board on the drive? Would it be worth replacing that?
I purchased a Seagate barracuda one gig drive (Hard drive only) and put it into an external case which had 2 FireWire 800 and 1 SATA ports. The Seagate is a nice solid drive and never gave me any trouble… UNTIL… I accidentally plugged the wrong adapter into the external case. The power adapter was .5 A output and the correct power adapter was one amp output.
The drive worked at first and then suddenly stopped. With the correct power adapter, the case works fine with other hard drives… So it's not the case. But the drive is fried. It will not spin up. I tried installing it in the computer, but it was a no go. The circuit board must be fried.
AGAIN… There was a lot of critical information on the barracuda drive, and I wonder if I replace the circuit board would it do any good?
Thanks for anyone that can help!

What Mac are you using? Western Digital drives do not work with all of them.

Similar Messages

Does a secondary SATA drive failure affect the primary drive?

I have two internal drives, and the secondary drive failed. The system would not boot until I removed the secondary drive. Why would the secondary drive failure affect the primary drive?

A severely corrupt directory on any drive can prevent booting from hard drives and even DVD and CDs that otherwise should boot because the system still 'looks' to see if and where other system drives are located.
That can require pulling the drive in order to boot, put it in a Firewire or USB case, and only after the system is up - and maybe Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro launched - connect the drive.
Just one more reason to keep backups of your drives, and multiple boot drives (working backup, test system, emergency only, are good to have).
Why it is failing is another matter, need for a good solid UPS (I was doing an install that takes 45 minutes when we had an outage, probably due to severe weather and strain on the grid). Luckily I have extra runtime.

External Hard Drive Failures after iMac internal drive replaced

I was one of those lucky ppl who had to have my internal 1TB Seagate HDD replaced due to the recall. It was replaced on Friday.
After the drive was replaced (with another Seagate, ***?), I cloned my previous system back to the new drive (restoring from Time Machine required me to re-download Lion, which required me to re-download to a newer version of Snow Leopard, and just, Oi, vey, I used my clone).
I then had to create another bootcamp partition, and after that, I restored my previous bootcamp from an image backup with Winclone.
The next morning, my Time Machine external backup drive (a Maxtor OneTouch) makes horrible fluttering and crunching noises and cannot be found via disk utility, certainly doesn't mount to the desktop. I figure it just coincidentally failed and attached a new drive (a different OneTouch) for backup.
While Time Machine is performing an initial backup to this new drive (will take 10 hrs), I try to move a few media files to another external media drive (LaCie 1TB). I receive a couple of error -36s on a few particular files, so I figure I should wait for the Time Machine to backup and then diagnose the media drive.
The next morning (after 10 hr backup is finished), I have a stop-sign error that a disk was unmounted improperly (the LaCie media drive). The drive cannot be seen in disk utility or on a completely different MBP running Snow Leopard. It's spinning up, but it can't be read.
Only thing I can think to do is reinstall 10.8.2 over top the cloned system, make sure that the recovery partition was recreated and working.
This can't be a coinicidence, right? At this point, I'm afraid to keep my external storage drives and clone attached to the iMac, but I'm afraid to not have TM drive attached. Anyone know where to start diagnosing the problem?
1. Could a new internal drive be the problem, hardware wise?
2. Could the lack of an initial recovery partition or the setting up of a bootcamp partition have these sorts of consequences?
3. Could the problem be from restoring a clone?

Well, it is a LaCie-packaged adapter, some version of that model. The hub is on the mac mini inspired line of LaCie HDs (http://www.lacie.com/company/news/news.htm?id=10269). I've had it for 6 yrs, and the hub is still going. Other drives have been running from the hub without issue for all that time (and still are). There is no hissing, and the display light indicates the hub is getting power.
You think it's time for a new hub?
The internal switchout is just a coincidence?
(Basically, I'm not a hardware expert. Does anyone know if an internal drive or internal sensor/connection problem can cause externals to fail or blowout a controller? I'm waiting on a drive dock to arrive—I'll know more whether these are HD failures or chip failures after that. Both drives showed normal-seeming power use via their display lights.)

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.

Time Capsule hard drive failure

Hello, all
I have a 500 GB Time Capsule that is about four years old. I use it to back up my MacBook Air and I also use it for file storage. Recently the HD has become erratic, in that it appears on Finder under Shared sometimes but not always. The wireless router part is still working fine. I can usually get the HD to reappear but it disappears again eventually. I can get it back by unplugging and replugging the TC, but I tried a hard reset and that didn't bring it back. I have backed up all the files I had stored on there as advised by the Apple Store Genius (see next paragraph).
I took it to the Apple Store and the Genius said that he thinks it is failing. He was not able to see the TC/HD wirelessly but was able to access it by plugging in a cable. He expressed surprise that my TC has lasted four years!!! He said I should replace it.
I then went to the online Apple Store and read the TC reviews, which contained quite a few reviews that report HD failure (mostly power failure, if I'm not mistaken) after 18 months or so! Some suggested that a good solution would be to get an Airport Extreme plus a USB hard drive of some other brand, not Apple. Many of these report power failure, which is not my problem. I still have power; apparently hard drive failure.
This sounded like a good idea, so today I went to London Drugs in Vancouver (an Apple retailer) and the salesman there (should be fairly unbiased) thought I should get a new TC rather than the two-piece solution just because it was simpler. He also said that in fact there about three HD manufacturers who produce all hard drives and that any one would have about the same frequency of failure, Apple include because they don't manufacture their own.
So I'm ready to replace my old TC with the new one I bought, but I'd like to get any suggestions the community might have. I can see the advantage of the TC because it's an all-in-one. I haven't opened it yet, so I'll await your well-informed input.
Thanks so much!

I think the TC is a much better buy.. If only for this reason.. the USB hard disk on the AEBS is dog slow.. whereas the TC internal drive is at least same as standard single disk NAS.. overall for what you get the price of a 2TB TC vs the 2TB USB disk plus AEBS is about right.. the 3TB TC is much poorer value.
Read the review.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4577/airport-extreme-5th-gen-and-time-capsule-4th- gen-review-faster-wifi-/4
It is fairly well done, but not everything is correct.. the stuff about the fan turning on is wrong.. it has the same issue as the old one. That is overheating, no ventilation and the fan does not turn on, has no outside vent anyway.
But look at the internal vs usb speed of hdd.. that should convince you of the value of the TC.. if you are using anything but wireless.
BTW the issue with the Gen 1 is still more likely to be the power supply.. The original 500GB hard disk was a Seagate Server ES drive.. the only server standard drive in the whole TC series although it was always promoted as having server standard drives..
IMHO a repair of the power supply would get it up and running again. Very extermely unlikely that drive will die in such a manner.. even if it was to go bad they tend to stay bad.. not come on again when you power cycle.. but power supplies sure do.
I have repaired dozens of them.. haven't ever come across a dead 500GB drive yet.. seen a few 1TB, both WD and noisy hitachi.. but even so not that many..
Lots and zillions of dead power supplies though.
https://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modem s/apple-time-capsule-repair
At least you can pull open the TC and remove the hard disk and wipe it.
Interesting the Apple guys are surprised at the 4year life span.. obviously intended for you to buy a new one much sooner than that.

HT201262 how do you confirm a Macbook Pro hard drive failure?

I have an older Macbook Pro that I want to bring back to life.
All indications point to full hard drive failure.
How do I confirm that the drive needs to be replaced?

Welcome dadzpony,
The simplest way is to start it up with the original disks. Go to Disk Utility and try to repair the original drive. If Disk Utility can't repair it then it's probably dead.
If you had a drive in an external enclosure with an appropriate OS you could boot with that also. Hold "option" down while booting and select the drive you want to boot from.
The HD in this machine is easy to replace. Go here for instructions:
www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Pro

How do I detect a hard drive failure on MacBook Pro

My laptop boots up, the meter proceeds across the screen, after 3 minutes the device shuts off. Is this a hard drive failure?

Could be. Try:
Boot from the Recovery HD;
Boot from your Snow Leopard DVD if the computer did not come with Lion pre-installed.
Boot Using Command+R keys:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the
"COMMAND" and the "R" keys together.
3. Release the keys when the Utilities Menu appears.
Booting From An OS X Installer Disc
1. Insert OS X Installer Disc into the optical drive.
2. Restart the computer.
3. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.
4. Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple
logo appears.
5. Wait for installer to finish loading.
Once booted from one of the above you need to run Disk Utility. If the hard drive does not appear in the Disk Utility sidebar then the drive is dead.

Complete hard drive failure. Advice?

I was having hard drive issues last month that I thought were resolved, but now I'm pretty sure my internal hard drive in my iBook is totally dead.
My internal hard drive started making really bad grinding noises during start up, so I booted my iBook from an external hard drive to do a Disk Utility>Repair Hard Disk feature but the internal hard drive doesn't even up anymore. And after I boot up from my external, my internal will begin whizzing and making terrible grinding noises. Upon successful boot up from my external I get this message:
The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer.
It gives me three options: Initialize..., Ignore, and Eject.
Is my internal hard drive totally dead? Any advice?

Using Apple Hardware Test:
You can use Apple Hardware Test to help determine if there is a problem with your computer’s hardware.
To use Apple Hardware Test:
1. Disconnect all external devices from your computer except the power adapter.
If you have an Ethernet cable connected, disconnect it.
2. Insert the Mac OS X Install Disc 1 that came with your computer.
3. Restart your computer and hold down the Option key as it starts up. A list of available
startup volumes appears. Click Apple Hardware Test and click the right arrow.
4. When the Apple Hardware Test main screen appears after about 45 seconds, follow the
onscreen instructions.
5. If Apple Hardware Test detects a problem, it displays an error code. Make a note of the
error code before pursuing support options. If Apple Hardware Test does not detect a
hardware failure, the problem may be software related.
For more information about Apple Hardware Test, see the Apple Hardware Test Read
Me file on the Mac OS X Install Disc 1 that came with your computer.
Also, when you run the Hardware Test, make certain you run the "Extended Test"...
that will tell you if your RAM is bad. Considering the failure code "2rom...
that just might be the problem.
And, if you can, run Disk Utility from your system CD or DVD.. Run Disk First Aid
and make sure the drive is OK... (some of these ideas are echoed online.)
(To use the installer disc's version of Disk Utility, start from the disc1 or DVD while
holding down the C key, and the Installer language window appears. Look into the
upper menubar to find Disk Utility among other options; do not run Installer. This
can be used to attempt to 'repair disk' and also the Utility can be used to wipe the
drive in a number of ways, and reformat it, then attempt an all-new install over an
erased hard disk drive. You'd need to have anything on such a HDD backed up
since this would make such data unrecoverable in the conventional sense.)
Sometimes, a failed hard disk drive can have some data recovered if the Mac it
is in can be started up in the 'FireWire Target Disk Mode' and attached by FW
cable to another Mac; and then any data recoverable could be burned to a CD.
Good luck & happy computing!
edited.

Transferring IPod Librabry to new Computer & Hard Drive Failure

My main computer had a hard drive failure and after I got a new hard drive I can't find a way to transfer the music library from my IPod to the new computer. I can't de-authorize the old computer beacuse the hard drive is dead. Does anyone know how to do this with out losing all of the music on my Ipod or burning it all to CD's ?

Be very careful when connecting an iPod full of music to an empty iTunes library.There is very real risk of permanently losing all the music.
To prevent auto sync, before you connect the iPod go to the iTunes preferences and select "devices", then select "disable automatic syncing for iPhones and iPods".
An alternative method is to connect the iPod whilst holding down the 'control+shift' keys and do not let them go until your iPod appears in iTunes.
If you see a message that your iPod is associated with a different library and asks if you want to link to a new one, make sure you press "Cancel".
If you should click on "Erase and Sync" will erase all the content currently on your iPod and it will be replaced with the content of the iTunes library you just connected to.
When you've pressed cancel your iPod should appear in the iTunes source list under "devices" and allow you to change the update setting to manage the iPod content manually, and that will let you use your iPod for the time being without the risk of accidentally erasing the contents.
Then do any of the following to transfer your music from iPod back to the computer/iTunes.
For iTunes version 7 or later, then you can transfer purchased iTunes store music from the iPod to an authorized computer by using the "file/transfer purchases from iPod" menu. Note that the maximum of 5 authorized computers applies here.
Find out how to do that here.
How to copy iTunes purchases from an iPod or iPhone to a computer.
For all other non purchased content (your own CDs etc), check out the instructions/suggestions here.
Music from iPod to computer (using option 2). This a manual method using "hidden folders" and although it works, it is a little more involved than other methods.
Much easier ways are to use one of the many 3rd party programs that copy music from the iPod to the computer.
One of the most recommended is Yamipod. This is a free program that transfers music from iPod back to the computer. However, it does not transfer playcounts/ratings etc.
Other free programs are Pod Player, SharePod and Floola and iDump and iPodRobot.
If you want to recover just the structure of playlists from the iPod (and not the actual song files themselves), there's iRepo for Windows. which I understand has this feature along with all the standard features for these programs.
iPodRip also has the feature enabling you to reconstruct playlists.
There is also CopyTrans. This does preserve ratings/playcounts etc if those are important to you but this program is not free. It also supports video transfer.
More information is contained here.
Copying content from your iPod to your computer - The Definitive Guide.
Afterwards, take the advice of others and make a back up *_other than the iPod._*

Hard Drive Failure (Flashing folder with question mark!)

After reading some of the topics on the forum, I know that the flashing folder with the question mark that I get when I try to turn on my Macbook is hard drive failure. I know to fix it that I need to Boot with the Installer Disk in the Drive, holding down The C key. But, will doing this destroy all of my pictures and other content? My pictures are really important and I dont want to lose them and I never backed them up ( dumb move, I know!).
Thanks!!

There are two basic possibilities when you get the flashing ? : 1) the hard drive is physically damaged or dead and 2) the hard drive has data errors
When you attempt to boot up with the system disks and then switch to Disk Utilities, the first thing to look for is if the program sees your drive. If it doesn't the drive is almost certainly dead and getting data from it will be costly. If the program does see the drive you'll want to attempt to repair it - press the repair button. If the repair fails, another repair utility may be able to repair the damage, at least well enough to get your data off. That program is DiskWarrior. If the repair succeeds the computer probably will need to have the OS reinstalled - my experience is about 90% of the time the repair fixed the drive but left the OS damaged.
When you reinstall the OS select options on the first screen beyond the language selection screen. Here you can (hopefully) select Archive and Install. This option will install a new operating system but leave the programs and data unchanged.
<short lecture on>As you've learned, it isn't if your drive sill sometime fail, it is when. Hard drives are relatively inexpensive. Buy one and backup your drive at least weekly. At the very least purchase a flash drive large enough to copy your very very important data and burn a DVD every week or month.<short lecture off>

Imminent hard drive failure message

can i return my laptop to the store for a replacement.. it is less than 5 months old and i am getting an imminent hard drive failure message. totally unacceptable

HP will replace the hard drive under warranty. Not too many stores will permit a return after 5 mos. We can also assist with a hard drive replacement.

Data Recovery After Hard Drive Failure!

Ok, basically, I've got a 2 1/2 year old iBook G4 with a bombed hard drive, and unfortunately, the last time I backed up was around 3 months ago. Here's what happened right before the crash: some applications like Widgets and Safari were acting fluky, and it wouldn't let me open Word documents, so I restarted, because I thought it might have something to do with the fact that i had downloaded the new version of itunes not that long ago and hadn't restarted since. well, when i restarted, the gray screen with the wheel and the apple symbol went on for a really long time, and then the blue screen came up with the cursor, but nothing else happened, and the blue screen just stayed there. as far as i know, the hard drive wasn't making any unusual noises, just the usual occasional soft sounds that my hard drive has always made (there are usual sounds, right?) a piece of information that might be useful is that the hard drive was almost full (it only had about 5 GB left, which i understand is how much you should leave) could this have caused the failure maybe? anyway, i tried using the hard drive as a target and tried getting another computer to recognize it and pull the files off, but that didn't work. so, i brought it into the apple store, and they got it to boot up but using some external hard drive, i think. they tried disk utility, but that didn't see my hard drive. then the tried disk warrior, and that saw it and repaired it or something, but then it couldn't get the drive to mount. so, i'm assuming that because disk warrior didn't work and couldn't get it to mount, then other software like data rescue, etc... won't either. like all computer users, i've got some REALLY REALLY important data on there, and all the data recovery places i've gotten quotes from are pretty pricey. if the drive doesn't require physical data recovery, only non-physical, as i hope, the cheapest is still $350. even so, the person on the phone there didn't seem to know nearly as much as the people at the more pricier places. so, are there any other options besides expensive data recovery? i read something about using dd - a unix thing, but i don't know the first thing about it (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050302225659382) so i'm not sure i want to risk messing it up even more. and, if worse comes to worst, then i'll use a data recovery place... but can anyone tell me if they've used any of the data recovery companies below, and which ones are good?
(first three do evaluation for free, and then you decide if you want to continue based on more accurate price idea)
MacintoshDataRecovery.com
$500 non physical
$1100-1600 physical
Heroic Efforts
http://www.heroicdata.com/data_recovery
$350 non physical
ships to another (very expensive) place if physical
ACS Data Recovery
http://www.acsdata.com/index.htm
$600-700 non physical
DriveSavers.com
(recommended by Apple, probably the best, but the most steep, too)
could cost anywhere from $500-$2700 and $200 evaluation fee even if data is unrecoverable
Since this is our fourth hard drive failure in four different iBooks in 2 1/2 years, i am starting to become seriously disillusioned about the quality of the hardware Apple uses...not that i would ever get a dell or anything, but still....
THANK YOU in advance for any tips you might be able to offer, and also for reading this extremely long post!
katie
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I have read good reports concerning Data Rescue although I have not used it myself.
Once you get your data back, focus on a regular (even daily) backup routine, because as you know only so well, the question is not if a drive will fail, it's when.
My condolences, by the way.

HP G62-b23SA - Imminent Hard drive failure - SMART Error (301)

My HP G62-b23SA reports a imminent hard disk failure. Hard disk test reports SMART Error (301). Advised to back up the system and contact HP support to enquire if Hard disk needs to be replaced or just needs repair. I have since backed up the system, should it be replaced?
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hi,
The 301 Smart error would indicate that your Hard Drive is failing and will need to be replaced.
If your notebook is still under warranty, contact HP and arrange to have the drive replaced. You can check your warranty status Here.
If you live in the US, contact HP Here.
If you are in another part of the world, start Here.
If you are out of warranty and would like a guide on replacing the Hard Drive yourself, please let me know - include the size ( ie 500Gb ) of your current HDD.
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

Possible Imminent Hard Drive Failure?

First off I have an Early 2011 MacBook Pro running OSX Mountain Lion. Avast version 7.0 is running as my anti-virus software with current definitions. I'm a network administration student so I run 2 or 3 virtual machines simultaneously to replicate a domain environment for learning. With that I decided I need space for all these operating systems plus my music and pics, so 10 Days ago I purchased a new Seagate 750GB HD Microcenter and upgraded to 8GB from 4GB of ram while I had the case open. HD has worked like a champ and the computer has been faster for days until last night. I was on Facebook and suddenly I got the spinning beach ball of death. Giving it the mac 3 the mac version of the three-finger salute didn't help me so I went for the hard restart. After that I got the blank grey screen. I restarted with the option key and all I saw was my Windows Partition, but when I tried to boot to it I got a kernel panic. So I went and got the OSX Mountain Lion thumb drive I made (didn't expect to be needing that so soon) and used disk utility. Disk Utility could not verify the disk and told me to format the disk and reinstall OSX. Knowing that I have everything recently backed up with time machine and Winclone I went ahead and formatted and restored my time machine backup along with my Winclone backup. (My attitude was, what were my options)
During the restoration process of OSX I had zero problems, while doing the restoration of my Windows partition with Winclone I was watching the console log and saw this.....
9/19/12 7:20:44.653 AM Winclone[460]: 19.62 percent completed
9/19/12 7:20:57.674 AM Winclone[460]: 20.63 percent completed
9/19/12 7:21:10.989 AM Winclone[460]: 21.64 percent completed
9/19/12 7:21:13.000 AM kernel[0]: (default pager): [KERNEL]: ps_allocate_cluster - send HI_WAT_ALERT
9/19/12 7:21:13.000 AM kernel[0]: macx_swapon SUCCESS
9/19/12 7:21:25.018 AM Winclone[460]: 22.65 percent completed
9/19/12 7:21:26.489 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[368]: (com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication[479]) Exited: Killed: 9
9/19/12 7:21:26.000 AM kernel[0]: memorystatus_thread: idle exiting pid 479 [AppleIDAuthAgent]
9/19/12 7:21:30.768 AM Messages[379]: [Warning] Could not find transfer for guid: E1C93988-7FB6-46D9-949C-3D0F0A6A35FF
9/19/12 7:21:30.768 AM Messages[379]: [Warning] Could not find transfer for guid: 2E3B4C2A-007C-4877-A34E-9F2DDE148B18
9/19/12 7:21:30.768 AM Messages[379]: [Warning] Could not find transfer for guid: 3FDFED6A-9F52-4F19-ACAE-8802867CE8EB
9/19/12 7:21:30.768 AM Messages[379]: [Warning] Could not find transfer for guid: 21B6D0B5-DD7E-4442-A2FD-23C5572EB46F
9/19/12 7:21:31.848 AM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.iCloudHelper[468]) Exited: Killed: 9
9/19/12 7:21:31.000 AM kernel[0]: memorystatus_thread: idle exiting pid 468 [com.apple.iCloud]
9/19/12 7:21:33.241 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[368]: (com.apple.CalendarAgent[465]) Exited: Killed: 9
9/19/12 7:21:33.000 AM kernel[0]: memorystatus_thread: idle exiting pid 465 [CalendarAgent]
9/19/12 7:21:34.662 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[368]: (com.apple.pbs[444]) Exited: Killed: 9
9/19/12 7:21:34.000 AM kernel[0]: memorystatus_thread: idle exiting pid 444 [pbs]
9/19/12 7:21:35.822 AM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper[440]) Exited: Killed: 9
9/19/12 7:21:35.000 AM kernel[0]: memorystatus_thread: idle exiting pid 440 [com.apple.audio.]
9/19/12 7:21:37.244 AM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.xpcd.CA000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[439]) Exited: Killed: 9
9/19/12 7:21:37.000 AM kernel[0]: memorystatus_thread: idle exiting pid 439 [xpcd]
9/19/12 7:21:37.598 AM Winclone[460]: 23.66 percent completed
I'm not a beginner Mac user but I'm not an all-knowing genius of the Mac either, but I know the GUID has something to do with the file structure of the hard drive.... Either way after I performed the restoration everything seems to be back to normal. The same fast computer I had before with no glitches and disk utility has even verified my disk on several occasions now and hasn't reported any issues.
So here is my ultimate question? What would cause this random failure in the first place if not the HD? Is the forum's consensus that I should take the HD back anyways even though all checks are passing currently? And, if not the HD how can I prevent this from happening again? Let's face it, I'm a college student, I need my computer. Luckily it died when I was going to bed and I could let it restore overnight. Also, It's lucky for me that I didn't have class this morning and have no assignments pending that are immediately due so I can complete the windows restoration in the morning.
I'll be looking forward to everyone's insight.

Thanks for the info.
I just bought Techtool Pro last week when I my hard drive directories got chewed up the first time. The box has a "Tiger Compatible" sticker on it so I imagine it's at least v4.0.4 on the CD. (Although I will check now)
However, I think now the problem has progressed. Now the hard drive goes into a 1-2 minute cycling routine a couple times per day even if the computer is idle. Out of nowhere it starts up and it makes this repetitious reading/writing sound. It lasts 1-2 minutes and during this time the computer is hung-up (round-rainbow animated icon) and can't do anything, just have to wait it out.
At this point I'm thinking of calling it quits and I'm just going to take the machine in while there is still a warranty on it as I'm really starting to believe it's drive failure and not a problem with software.

Laptop hard drive failure message

I have an HP Pavillion dv6-6150us Entertainment PC. Windows 7
Yesterday a message appeared while downloading plot maps from the county:
"Windows detected a hard disk problem"
The following hard disks are reporting failure:
Hitachi HTS547575A9E384
VolumeC:\D:\F:
Message continues to appear; hard disk failure alert appears at startup.
Looking for suggestions for a compatible hard drive replacement..... one that will last more than 2 yrs.
Need to know what I can get...... and what to avoid.
Thanks
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hi:
I would get a WD Scorpio Black...5 yr warranty
The 7,200 rpm will offer better seek times than the stock 5,400 RPM drive yours came with.
There may be a slight decrease in battery time between charges over what you currently experience.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2W014M8026
If you can't live with that, then I would recommend this one...2 yr warranty.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236497

Hard drive failureâ¦ 3 1 TB drives dead?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for

Hard drive failureâ¦ 3 1 TB drives dead?