Help, hard drive issues!

I can't boot from my start up disk, is there anything I can do? I've tried booting from the install disks, booting from my external drive, I tried Disk Warrior, and now I'm running Prosoft Data Rescue II to try to recover my data. Is there anything else worth trying? I'm desperate, I have all my school work on there. Thank you so much.

Hi Graham
Sorry to hear of your woes. I assume you don't have a backup?
The only other things left that you haven't tried are FireWire Target Disk Mode (but you need access to another Mac for that) and, perhaps, Drive Genius.
Also bear in mind that if you are going to use Data rescue, you need a spare drive with plenty of free space on it.
15 1.25G/12 1G PBs, Mac minis, iBooks G3/G4, Mac OS X (10.4.3) Cube, TAMs, iPods 2G/4G, iPs, AEBS, AX

Similar Messages

Incredibly slow MacBook, Internal Hard Drive issues...

Good morning everybody! I'm apologize if this post is extremely wordy...
I am extremely baffled by a particular issue with a MacBook 2.0GHz C2D which belongs to a friend of mine. The warranty is expired.
_Brief history:_
Several months ago, this MacBook could not find a bootable volume. The drive would not mount when booting from an external FireWire hard drive. It would not mount when the MacBook was put in Target Disk Mode and connected to another Mac. When booting from an external USB hard drive or with my MacBook Pro connected to the MacBook via Target Disk Mode, the MacBook booted up quickly. I came to the conclusion that the internal hard drive must have failed and needed to be replaced. Ultimately, the data was not recoverable from this drive.
I then proceeded to swap out the defective Apple OEM Seagate hard drive with a known working Apple OEM Fujitsu hard drive. When booting from the Leopard Install DVD, the MacBook would boot incredibly slow, but would finally reach the Installer Language screen. When proceeding to install Leopard, the drive would take a very long time to have data written to it, and ultimately the install failed. I removed the new hard drive from the MacBook and placed it in an external USB enclosure, attached it to the MacBook and booted from the Leopard Install DVD. Leopard would install successfully. I removed the hard drive from the enclosure and reinstalled it the MacBook. When booting from the freshly installed OS, the MacBook would take a very long time to boot. The MacBook is extremely slow!!!
I checked the Activity Monitor to ensure CPU & System Memory Usage was not going crazy. All Processes where normal with adequate CPU & Memory headroom.
I took the MacBook apart thinking that the SATA Controller Cable might be loose. No, it was firmly in place. I reassembled the MacBook and booted it up again. Still incredibly slow!
Finally, after several reboot attempts, the MacBook would book up quickly and operation was perfect. I applied all updates and continued testing the MacBook with great success. Gave my friend his MacBook back and he was grateful.
_Now for the kicker..._
My friend brought me his MacBook a week ago complaining that the MacBook was operating extremely slow (much like when I was initially testing it before). I verified the MacBook was slow when I tried using it. I tried several reboots and then it would get stuck on the gray Apple with spinning gear.
I tried booting into Single User Mode, but it gets stuck on "Waiting for root device"
I put the MacBook in Target Disk Mode and connected it to my G5 2.0GHz Dual Core. The hard drive would mount quickly on the G5 and I used Disk Utility to create a Restore Image. The disk operation would perform normally and the image would be created successfully.
I then partitioned the MacBook's hard drive when connected to the G5, ejected and proceeded to attempt OS reinstall. No dice! The hard drive is not even detected by the Disk Utility on the Leopard Install DVD.
Finally after several reattempts, the hard drive is recognized, but is extremely slow when trying to reinstall...and again, ultimately install fails. Using Disk Utility from Leopard Install DVD, the hard drive fails to unmount when I try formatting.
I don't have Apple Hardware Test disc for the MacBook or Apple Service Diagnostics disc for this model. Running TechTool Pro shows hardware to be okay, disk controller onboard the Fujitsu drive is okay, but running SMART & Surface Scan takes a long, long time (which I'm certain will ultimately error out). Running Drive Genius takes a long, long time as well.
Conclusion:
I think the SATA Controller Cable is defective. I can't think of anything else that would cause disk errors or performance issues like this. Your input is truly appreciated!

Even though no one responded to my post, I thought I'd share the resolution with the entire Apple community. I hope this information will be helpful to some of you with MacBooks or MacBook Pros that may be running painfully slow or may be exhibiting hard drive issues because your machine won't recognize the boot drive or fails to properly boot on a perfectly healthy S.M.A.R.T. verified hard drive. It just might be the hard drive connector/cable. Here it goes...
I visited my local Apple Retail Store and asked a "Genius" at the Genius Bar about this issue and told him my thoughts about a possible failed hard drive connector/cable. First, he didn't even know what a hard drive connector was! Then, he arrogantly stated that he never heard of such a thing and that these cables never fail. Finally, he blatantly dispelled this as a possibility.
On the contrary with my experience, I have had many failed PATA controller cables that required replacement when supporting the desktop PC's at work. I have personally owned and supported many Apple manufactured laptops and desktops and have never encountered this issue on a Mac...until this MacBook!
So, after looking at the Service Manual for the MacBook, I went over to my local Apple Authorized Service Provider and purchased the Hard Drive Connector Apple Part #922-7579. I replaced the original cable, reassembled and proceeded to boot the MacBook with the Leopard DVD installer. The Fujitsu drive was immediately recognized and was able to be formatted and Leopard installed without incident. The MacBook boots off the internal hard drive as normal again and works nice and fast again.
Thank you all for your time!
:D

Permissions Issue, Colour Wheel, Hard Drive Issue??

Hi!
I have had issues with my mid 2009 MBP recently and I'm wondering what the best way to fix them would be.
First off, I have some major permissions issues with my accounts. I am using 3 different users regualrly on the same machine and needed to access files from the home folder so I changed them a long time ago, and am not sure how to fix that. I have repaired the permissions countless times in the disk utility and it seems like there's always loads more to do each time. When I varify the disk, it says its all okay.
Secondly, I have had the machine freeze on me several times while doing very little on it. This happened awhile ago, and thought that it was just the permisions thing and so I did that again, and it started working better, for awhile. It would go a few days or weeks before doing the same thing, sometimes not even getting past the apple logo on startup before freezing. This makes me think it may be a hard drive issue???????
This morning, I tried dozens of times to boot, with no success at all..... until about the 25th time when it miraculasly booted. I have run permissions repair a few more times and it seems to be working okay at the moment, but the problem seems to be happening more often over time.
To complicate matters, I am traveling at the moment and will not be home for several months. I purchased an external harddrive last night and was able to successfully back up my data.
Question 1: Is it the permissions that are causing these problems, or is it related to something else. The computer seems to work fine when its working, and then once in awhile, decides its not going to do anything.
Question 2: Would upgrading to Lion (currently running 10.6.8) fix the permissions issues or just carry them forward? I would like to consolidate the 3 users into one, if that would solve it. Does the migration utility preserve permissions or does it give you a brand new start?
Question 3: If neither solving the permissions or the OS upgrade would fix the problem and it does need a new harddrive, is it possible to buy one and install it myself? I do not have apple care left on this machine and am on a very tight budget. I am used to taking things apart and all that as part of my job and it seems simple enough. Where can you buy a replacement??
Hopefully someone out there will be able to help me out on this one.
Cheers!!!!
Brian

bgroot422 wrote:
First off, I have some major permissions issues with my accounts. I am using 3 different users regularly on the same machine and needed to access files from the home folder so I changed them a long time ago, and am not sure how to fix that. I have repaired the permissions countless times in the disk utility and it seems like there's always loads more to do each time. When I verify the disk, it says its all okay.
Disk Utility permissions are separate from User account permissions.
This link is how to fix them
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2181549?start=0&tstart=0
Disk Utility will always show something to be needing repair, but that's ok
Apple supoort doc.
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS1448?locale=da_DK
Verify Disk is good, that's a good thing.
To complicate matters, I am traveling at the moment and will not be home for several months. I purchased an external hard drive last night and was able to successfully back up my data.
Your data is backed up, hopefully not with TimeMachine alone, but if you did, then get another drive and backup data manually to that as well. If the TM drive gets messed up, it's a pain to get your data off of it.
Question 1: Is it the permissions that are causing these problems, or is it related to something else. The computer seems to work fine when its working, and then once in awhile, decides its not going to do anything.
Well you could call Apple for replacement 10.6.x disks, and just reinstall 10.6 and bundled programs, but this can kick out kext files out of the /System/Library/Extensions folder installed by some third party software.
This method fixes OS X, but doesn't touch your files or most programs.
Nor will this method fix your Users accounts if the issue is in there.
A creation of a new user, then deletion of the others, return files from backup (set permissions) will fix User folder issues if the above user permissions fix doesn't work.
(Of course you could wipe the drive from the 10.6 disk, but you have to install all software again)
Would upgrading to Lion (currently running 10.6.8) fix the permissions issues or just carry them forward?
No, you don't want to install Lion, it won't fix those issues in User folders, not only that Lion has it's own issues and doesn't work with a lot of older software etc. No use clusterfscking a already bad situtation when it's seems it's only localized to the User accounts.
I would like to consolidate the 3 users into one, if that would solve it.
Yes that could very nicely and tidy up things in the process.
What you do is transfer all files to one regular powered storage hard drive.
(Don't use/disconnect the TimeMachine drive for this as it preserves the users seperated and you don't want all those users back restoring with Migration Assistant)
Create the New User on the machine as Admin, log into it and delete all the other Users, transfer all your files back from the regular storage drive, changing all the permissions to yourself before placing them into their respective folders as they will have three different permissions.
Notes:
If you have a extensive iTunes playlists on one User (say #1), then create the new user with that same name (will require some work, create User 4, delete Users 1-3, reboot, create User 1, delete User 4) then transfer your iTunes folder to Music of that User 1 (same name as before). This will preserve the pathnames of your song locations and your playlists will be preserved.
(before you ask, no you can't combine playlists)
Also if you have photo's in iPhoto Library, you have to right click on it and "show package contents" inside is a folder called Originals, copy them out and import into the iPhoto of the User #1.
Does the migration utility preserve permissions or does it give you a brand new start?
Yes it preserves user permissions, no it doesn't give you a brand new start. Only a fresh install, creation of new users and then just transferring of files does that.
Nothing about TimeMachine or Migration Assistant gives one a "fresh start", it's if hosed, so is your restore.
If you want that sort of pristine protection, you need to clone your ideal boot partition/drive using Carbon Copy Cloner (free/donationware) occasionally as a hold the option key bootable drive, then you can erase and reverse clone the pristine saved clone.
One can also update the clone on occasion, this way keeping the clone pristine.
I maintain 3 clones time dated, even have my boot drive partitioned 50/50 and auto-cloned, this way I have two boot partitions on the road and two externals at home.
I never use TimeMachine, it's not bootable (well it is on 10.7.2 only to restore though)

All of my computers have had hard drive issues and I can't authorize the new hard drive. What can I do?

I have itunes on 5 of by 8 computers and 6 of the 8 had hard drive issues.
I was unable to deauthorize any of the computers and now I can't watch or listen to any of the tings I've purchased from the iTunes store.
Help
Tsuki56

Can you not deauthorize all?

Sometimes my computer takes too long to connect to new website. I am running a pretty powerful work program at same time, what is the best solution? Upgrading speed from cable network, is it a hard drive issue? do I need to "clean out" the computer?

Many times my computer takes too long to connect to new website. I have wireless internet (time capsule) and I am running a pretty powerful real time financial work program at same time, what is the best solution? Upgrading speed from cable network? is it a hard drive issue? do I only need to "clean out" the computer? Or all of the above...not to computer saavy. It is a Macbook Pro osx 10.6.8 (late 2010).

Almost certainly none of the above! Try each of the following in this order:
Select 'Reset Safari' from the Safari menu.
Close down Safari; move <home>/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Cache.db to the trash; restart Safari.
Change the DNS servers in your network settings to use the OpenDNS servers: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220
Turn off DNS pre-fetching by entering the following command in Terminal and restarting Safari:
defaults write com.apple.safari WebKitDNSPrefetchingEnabled -boolean false

Hard drive issues after update 10.10.3

Question also posted here:Hard Drive Issues (Both new and old)
I'm trapped in a HDD nightmare with my MacBook Pro mid-2012.
I updated to Yosemite 10.10.3 (with the Photos app). A couple of days after the update, I was watching a movie on my TV screen via HDMI. In the middle of the movie I removed the HDMI cable from the MacBook Pro and everything freezes. I forced shut down (Note: My HDD was encrypted). After I forced shut down, I tried to turn on and the loading screen would never stop loading - like, 14 hours stuck with the progress bar. Since I have backups, I decided to access DU and format my HDD. I tried everything. For real. Every command line I could type on Terminal to format, repair, erase and/or partition. I read almost every issue-related questions on the forums and stack exchange groups for a week (even posted my issue here: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/181090/erasing-and-partitioning-hard-dr ive-from-internet-recovery?noredirect=1#comment215695_181090).
So, I decided that it was a HDD failure and bought a new one.
I bought the Seagate 1TB SSHD Hybrid - ST1000LM014. Installed the new fresh disk and guess what? All those same problems again. I´m not able to restore from Time Machine because it doesn't recognize the disk in the restore page. But the disk is recognized in the DU. When I try to erase or partition the new SSHD, the same old errors: File system formatter failed. Yes, I tired GUID Partition Table, all of the security options, etc.
Please. Any light that you can throw at this issue, I'll be very grateful for. BTW, the new SSHD is recognized and the SMART Status says: Verified.
Any ideas on *** is going on?
Thanks in advance!
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), i7, 8GB RAM

After I erase the hard drive (I assume one pass of writing zeros is good enough, 7 passes not needed?) do I turn off the laptop, then turn on and insert the Install Disk? Will there be a prompt telling me when to put in the disk? Or do I put in the disc right after erasing?
One pass is fine. If you've previously backed up your hard drive to an external hard drive using SuperDuper!, which is what I use and recommend, or another program, if it created a bootable drive, you want to boot off of it, bring up SuperDuper! and copy the drive back to the internal hard drive. SuperDuper also makes the drive bootable. When done, reboot, and you should be all set. If you're using Time Machine, you'll want to install the operating system, then restore the Time Machine backup. SuperDuper! is available from http://www.shirt-pocket.com/superduper/superduperdescription.html
Finally- should I update the OS? Is there a problem with the newest update that caused this crash, or was it just a spurious glitch/bad luck?
I've been running 10.5.8 for awhile with no issues, and would recommend moving to it.

How do I find my tab history? I had hard drive issues and when I launched my browser after getting it back their was no "restore session" option. I know a tab history is kept, just don't remember where or how to exercise it. Thanks

Question
How do I find my tab history? I had hard drive issues and when I launched my browser after getting it back their was no "restore session" option. I know a tab history is kept, just don't remember where or how to exercise it. Thanks

Firefox 4 saves the previous session automatically, so there is no longer need for the dialog asking if you want to save the current session. 
Use "File > Exit" or "Firefox > Exit" if you want to restore multiple windows. 
You can use "Firefox > History > Restore Previous Session" to get the previous session at any time. 
There is also a "Restore Previous Session" button on the default about:home Home page.
Another possibility is to use:
* [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Menu_differences Firefox (Tools) > Options] > General > Startup: "When Firefox Starts": "Show my windows and tabs from last time"

Toshiba Satellite a505-6005 hard drive issue and questions regarding options I may have

Issue: start up computer and windows does not start. It eventually goes to a startup repair screen and eventually says "resolving disk errors...", and that's if it even gets to that screen. Unfortunately I never made a recovery disk or system image discs (I know that was not smart). I did however kept my files backed up so that was good.
Steps I took: Took it to Best Buy and the tech advised me that the Black Tie 2 year protection had expired on Jan 30th 2012, and so it could not be repaired for free. I asked the tech there how much it would cost to fix and they had advised me that it was most likely a hard drive issue and that it would cost nearly $400 to replace/fix it. So I decided to buy a new Asus K53E-BBR14 laptop since it was not much more. When I got home and loaded everything up and got the computer to how I want, I went ahead and made a recovery disc and system image disc's. I tried using the recovery disc that I had made with my Asus in the Toshiba laptop and boot it from the dvd drive and it did not get anywhere. So I ASSUME that it really is a hard drive error because the RAM worked just fine in my new laptop and "repairing disk errors.." means something is wrong with the hard drive:
Now that you know the background of what has happened my questions are as followed:
1. Can I buy a new hard drive for the Toshiba and use the recovery and system image disc's i created on the new hard drive that i install in the toshiba? and just removed the bloatware from Asus (or does that not even get added to the disc's I created)?
2. If so, will it prompt me to enter the Windows 7 product key? and therefore using the product key located on the bottom of the toshiba?
3. What other steps could I take to make this toshiba laptop salvageable? This way i can turn around and sell it.
Thanks,
Russell States

Also,
I noticed that i can purchase (well pay the shipping anyways) recovery media from Toshiba. Can I use that on a new hard drive installed in the toshiba?
BTW ran the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool and no problems were found with the memory. and i do not care about the old hard drive as I have MY files backed up. I just want to try to get this toshiba laptop back to being "like new".
Thanks,
Russell

Switching iTunes (older version) from an old latptop with mechanical issues to iTunes on a new computer. The hard drive, issue free, was placed in external drive enclosure. How do I recover iTunes?

I'm trying to moves iTunes (older version) from an old latptop with mechanical issues (non working screen, keyboard, and battery) to iTunes on a new computer. The hard drive, issue free, was placed in external drive enclosure. This was a cost effective way instead of dumping lots of money in an outdated old laptop while I can invest it into a new laptop. How do I recover iTunes?
I'm switching from a 3G phone to a blank 4GS in the process. I would like to have everything that was on my 3G phone and iTunes on my new phone and computer.
Thanks

iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the new location of the library.
Windows users see tip at: https://discussions.apple.com/message/18879381

Has anyone else been having hard drive issues with 13" MacBook Pro barely a year old?

Has anyone else been having hard drive issues with 13" MacBook Pro barely a year old?

Yes, BUT...
... there are many problems that are really easy to eliminate by replacing the Hard drive, including ones that have nothing to do with actual Drive Hardware failure. These include corrupted install of Mac OS X, its EFI partition, clobbered partition tables, or the appearance of Bad Blocks in a critical area.
Any of these problems can sometimes be eliminated by re-initializing the entire drive and writing Zeroes, and re-installing from scratch. The trouble is, this process takes hours to complete, and is not guaranteed to be successful -- you may still need a new drive after all that effort.
I learned from my Plumber that consumers have no appetite for solutions that might work, and detest return visits for any related problems whatsoever. You or your friend may have had your drive replaced, not because it actually failed, but because the situation was troublesome, and the provider thought you would not tolerate anything less than a crisp, complete fix on the first attempt. And based on the cost of technician time, it may have even been cheaper that way.

Do i need to shut down my macbook pro before carrying it around? Considering hard drive issues

I am a uni student. I have a MacBook Pro early 2011. been using it for 3 years now.
i have a couple questions just out of curiosity.
do we really have to shut down our mbpro before carrying it around?
couldnt we just leave it sleep mode?
i mean, is it harmful to our hard drives if we put our mbpro in sleep mode and move it around?
does apple have a mechanism that kinda "stops" the hard drives from spinning in sleep mode?
I wanna know for sure, since some told me that it's okay to move my mbpro around in sleep mode, and some told me that it's not okay and i have to shut it down first.
i did occasionally transport my mbpro in sleep mode.... and i think.... i'm having some hard drive issues.
Thanks before for your kind answers.
Best Regards,
Moses

Moses,
your MacBook Pro has a sudden movement sensor which will park your disk’s heads in case it senses a sudden G-force change. By default, this sensor will be active. Carrying around your MacBook Pro while it’s sleeping (and applying some common sense while doing so) should not be harmful to its hard drive.

Logic Board or Hard Drive Issue?

Recently my PowerBook G4 failed to boot from the internal hard drive. Gray Apple screen, spinning wheel and after a couple of minutes restart is all I get. What happened initially was the computer froze not allowing Safari to quit for restart. I had to manually shut down after all other means did not work (Force Quit, etc.). I have been able to get it to boot from an external Firewire drive running 10.4, but it will not recognize a USB drive, though the USB ports work for a printer and scanner. I was also able to get it to boot from a 10.5 Install DVD that came with my wife's MacBook. Since I bought this PowerBook used, it had no disks included, but did have 10.5 installed. The other thing is the lower RAM slot has not worked from the day I got it. When I run Disk Utility the drive checks out, though there were some Permission repairs. SMART checks verified. I seem to be able to access the internal disk when booted from the external. Reset PMU & PRAM, no difference. Should I try replacing the hard drive or do I have another issue here?

First up, PowerPC-based Macs can't boot up from a USB external drive (per se... there is a workaround and "hack"). Only Intel-based Macs can do that.
Second, since you say it works and boots up when connected to a FireWire external drive, I believe it is a hard drive issue. S.M.A.R.T. status is not ("not") always a reliable indicator from what I've heard. It may say it's verified, but really it's failing. By the same token, it may say failed, but really it's fine.
That is not always the case however. 95% of the time, S.M.A.R.T. status is highly accurate.
If you are so inclined, you can open up your PowerBook, take out the hard drive, and place a new one in there and see what happens. If it works, you're in business. And you only spent a $100 or less on a new drive (which you might end up needing anyway if your current drive is indeed broken).
(If your drive isn't broken, then you have a backup drive ).
If the new drive installed doesn't work, then it is a logic board issue or something else. But since you say it works fine and boots up from a Leopard install DVD, I think it may just be the hard drive. And a new logic board usually starts at $300 so think about that as well. (You could get a new used one for a bit more and sell that one for parts).

New hard drive issues - need help please!

So I just installed a new hard drive on my Ideapad S10 and having the following issues. I get a PXE-E61 : Media test failure check cable & PXE-M0F : Exiting Broadcom PXE rom message. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the drive to check the connection and still get the error, it's a brand new drive. Also I noticed in the BIOS that the hard drive is showing up under ssd disk and SATA hdd shows - none. If I restore the BIOS settings to original then the drive will show up under ssd but the SATA controller mode will show the AHCI setting instead of the Compatible setting it should use.
I'm really stuck here and don't know what else to check. My orginal drive is dead so I'm trying to get this working so I can install windows. If anyone could help out it would be greatly appreciated - Thanks!

Full Disclosure: I don't know your machine.
That PXE error probably doesn't indicate a problem - or not the problem, anyway. Your machine boots, doesn't see an operating system on the hard drive (or doesn't see a hard drive at all) and tries to boot over the network and fails. That's what the PXE error is about.
As to the SATA problems, what happens when you boot your Windows install media? Does that see a hard drive?
Z.
The large print: please read the Community Participation Rules before posting. Include as much information as possible: model, machine type, operating system, and a descriptive subject line. Do not include personal information: serial number, telephone number, email address, etc. The fine print: I do not work for, nor do I speak for Lenovo. Unsolicited private messages will be ignored. ... GeezBlog
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Hard drive issues with early 2011 13" please help!

Hello everyone,
I'm new here but I need immediate help! I'll try to make the story somewhat short:
I have a macbook pro early 2011 13".
- Closed my lid one day (I did not make any changes or installed anything new recently) and upon reopening many hours later, the system was frozen.
- Did a hard shut off and upon turning it on, I get the crossed out circle.
- Recovery HD also gave me the same crossed out circle.
- Used internet recovery and formatted/partitioned the drive.
(Note that the drive in the bay at the moment is a Kingston HyperX SSD, not the OEM Samsung HD as I am actually using that as my secondary hard drive in my CD drive bay, which has been working fine the entire time before and during everything)
- Tried to reinstall Lion from internet recovery but it wouldn't detect the SSD.
- Strange, so I decided to install Lion onto an external hard drive and installed Mavericks onto the internal drive from there, successfully too.
- Same results (crossed out circle) upon booting into the internal drive (likewise for the recovery HD).
- I pulled out the drive and popped it into an enclosure and it could boot up from there.
- Took it a step further and purchased an additional SSD, partitioned it and installed Mavericks on it via the external hard drive (not the SSD in the enclosure)
- I can boot up from the new SSD, however it is extremely sluggish and freezes every few seconds with the spinning beach ball.
I am about to reinstall a newly downloaded copy of Mavericks onto the new SSD to see if it will fix the issue (which I doubt)
Could it be a problem with the drives or is it the SATA cable that is malfunctioning?
I'm not sure whether or not it is worth spending so much time repairing it because I've already spent a good three or four days getting this far.
Are the parts, repairs, hard drive replacements worth it or should I just replace it?

Did you format the external drive for use with OS X?
Open Disk Utility. Does Disk utility see the connected drive?
Format it to "Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Impossible 300-1020 Hard Drive Issue! Please Help!

Being a systems administrator for 6 years and having over 15 years experience in computers...this has to be the most frustrating issue I've ever encountered!
I'll start off by saying that this is my friends touchsmart 300 and it appears to have suffered from the seagate HD firmware issue. He went out and bought a WD 1TB Caviar Black SATA HD to replace it but the BIOS will NOT detect it and the diagnostic always comes up with the: BIOHD-2 error!
I thought maybe it was bad out the box but when I hook it up to my HD adapter, it comes up fine on other pc's. I even partitioned it in disk management and it still does not show up. I ran WD's diagnostic utility on the drive and it passes all tests.
What's strange is that when I hook up other hard drives to it, it recognizes it right away in the BIOS and during W7 install! For some reason it does NOT like WD hard drives. I tried a 120GB Seagate HD, a 120GB Fujitsu HD and they both work and show up. But when I put in a 80GB WD hard drive, I get the same results as mentioned above with the same error. BTW - the 120GB HD's are 2.5" and the WD 80GB is 3.5". Not that it should matter except the speed.
- I have tried all the jumper settings on the WD 1TB HD just to be sure.
- I have tried all the different BIOS settings. (IDE & AHCI)
- I have pulled out the CMOS battery and reset all the BIOS settings back to default.
- I have reseated the SATA cables.
I have even setup Windows 7 on the 120GB HD that worked just to install the latest firmware, SATA controller updates, and BIOS updates from HP thinking it would fix the issue but it did NOT help. I even tried running the seagate firmware updates\utilities that were stickied in this forum.
As you can see, I've put in a lot of time and effort into this **bleep** thing! The HD size or name brand shouldn't matter! **bleep**?! I'm about to give up and just buy another HD for it.
If anyone has any other ideas or needs to know any more info, please let me know! I beg of you! lol

Hi,
I would contact Western Digital technical support and ask about a firmware patch.
You did try strapping the hard drive to 3.0 Gb/s, right?
BTW, I tried two WD sata III 64mb cache hard drives in my DYI system (see signature) and couldn't get them to run. One wasn't recognized and the other had lots of issues when I tried to install Windows. I returned both hard drives and switched to Samsung.
HP DV9700, t9300, Nvidia 8600, 4GB, Crucial C300 128GB SSD
HP Photosmart Premium C309G, HP Photosmart 6520
HP Touchpad, HP Chromebook 11
Custom i7-4770k,Z-87, 8GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650,GTX 760
Custom i7-4790k,Z-97, 16GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Plextor M.2 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650, GTX 660TI
Windows 7/8 UEFI/Legacy mode, MBR/GPT

Help, hard drive issues!

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