HT1349 i turn my machine on and we get a folder that has a question mark we think the hard drive failed ccan it be saved

we would be grateful for any help

Hello howard420,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
For more information on this, take a look at:
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1440
Best of luck,
Mario

Similar Messages

My macair won't turn on. when I try to turn it on, the white screen appears. But instead of the apple logo, there is a flashing folder that has a question mark on it. how do i fix this?

my macair won't turn on. when I try to turn it on, the white screen appears. But instead of the apple logo, there is a flashing folder that has a question mark on it. how do i fix this?

Try this.
Erase and Reinstall OS X
Note: This will delete all data on the disk. Back up important files before continuing.
Erasing and then reinstalling OS X can give you a fresh start, making your computer exactly as it was whenever you received it from Apple. This can solve various problems such as corrupt system files.
Shut down the computer by going to Apple () > Shut Down…
Select Shut Down or allow the computer to shut down automatically.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter into a power source and then connect it to your Mac if you have not already done so.
Press the Power Button to turn on the computer.
Press and hold both the R and Command (⌘) keys on the keyboard until the Recovery partition loads.
Select Disk Utility and then choose Continue.
Select your startup disk (Macintosh HD by default) from the left.
Select the Erase tab.
Choose the Format pop-up menu and choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled), enter a name for your disk, and then click Erase.
After the disk is erased, choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility.
Select Reinstall OS X and then choose Continue.
Follow the instructions.
I hope I solved your question.
Austin

PC hard drive died and I have replaced it. Need to import the music on my iPod, but get a message that it's synced with another library (old hard drive). How do I import the music onto new hard drive? Senuti's just for macs.No old hard drive to copy.

My PC hard drive died and I have replaced it. Need to import the music on my classic iPod, but get a message that it's synced with another library (old hard drive). How do I import the music onto the new hard drive? Senuti (one respondent's suggestion) is just for macs. I have no old hard drive to copy to the new hard drive (another respondent's suggestion.)

See this older thread from another forum member Zevoneer on different ways to copy music from your iPod back to your PC.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2417169?start=0&tstart=0
B-rock

My old computer has broken and I had not backed up my Itunes. I now have the hard drive from my old computer but cannot transfer the music. How can I transfer the music from my old hard drive to the new laptop?

My old computer has broken and I had not backed up my Itunes. I now have the hard drive from my old computer (windows 7) but cannot transfer the music. How can I transfer the music from my old hard drive to the new laptop (windows 8)?

Copy the entire iTunes folder from \Users\<User>\Music on the old drive into your music folder on the new computer.
Or see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

Hi, i'm paying every mont for photoshop and lightroom, I had to bring my Mac to apple to change the hard drive, and now i want reinstall my programs, anyone can help me?

Hi, i'm paying every mont for photoshop and lightroom, I had to bring my Mac to apple to change the hard drive, and now i want reinstall my programs, anyone can help me?

Download and install the trial version(s) from https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/catalog/desktop.html and activate them with your Adobe ID.

Hi guys i have an macbook 13 late 2007 and does not work when i start it up all u can see is blank white screen and after that its keep bepping high peech tone 3 times i was thinking the hard drive but im not too sure please guys help.

Hi guys i have an macbook 13 late 2007 and does not work when i start it up all u can see is blank white screen and after that its keep bepping high peech tone 3 times i was thinking the hard drive but im not too sure please guys help.

Try to reset the PRAM first then go from there.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

My 5 year old iMac's hard drive is at the point of failing. I'm trying to save al files on it, but it wont allow backup via Time Machine to an external hard drive. How can I keep from losing all the files and programs if the hard drive fails?

I'm concerned that my iMac, purchased 5 years ago, is about the crash and I can't back up my files and programs to an external hard drive via Time Machine because the computer freezes after only a couple hundred MB and gets nowhere near the required amount.
How can I save these files and programs if the computer hard drive fails or has to be replaced without the backup being able to be done? I need to do something quickly, but I'm not sure what I can or should be doing.

Get an external hard drive, some good ones that I like are the OWC, http://www.macsales.com Mercury Elite Pro drives...they are very good and reasonably priced.
Get the drive, connect via USB or FireWire, then use Disk Utility to format the new drive as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), and then use Disk Utility to Restore the current drive to the new drive. Restore actually clones the drive so you will have a bootable backup on the external drive.
After you have formatted and named the external drive, click Restore in the main Disk Utility window, drag the name of the old hard drive to the Source box, and drag the name of the new external drive to the Destination box. DU will make an exact clone of the internal drive on the external drive.
That clone will be a complete backup of the operating system and all of your data.
You can test it by restarting the iMac and hold the Option key. That will give you a grey screen showing all bootable drives. Just click the external drive, then click the upward pointing arrow under it and the iMac will boot from that drive.

Can i delete my photos and videos from my mac if they have been exported to an external hard drive will they still be saved if I delete them off the computer but are backed on time machine? Can u explain time machine plz?

I am doing this because I have run out of space on my internal hard drive as I have over 100 GB of memory in pics.
I think I am misunderstanding how time machine works/how it backs things up. Can someone please explain it to me? Thanks and I appreciate it! :)

Rick,
For everything you should know about Time Machine, see http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html.
If your photos were on your internal drive then, yes, they are likely to have been backed up by Time Machine.
However, if Time Machine starts running out of space, it will delete old back ups and thus your photos aren't really 'safe' just on a Time Machine back up. What you really need to do is either:
Buy another external hard drive for storing your photos and other files, or;
Back up your photos to DVD's: there are a number of cataloging apps that you can use to catalog your files or, if you have named them something specific, use something like DiskTracker.
Either way, don't rely on your Time Machine back-up to store your photos.
Good luck - call back if you need more information,
Clinton

Apple is replacing my 27" iMac Hard Drive and when I get it back, I want to know how do I restore from Time Machine to before the hard drive failed

My hard drive (1TB) failed this week on my Late 2009 27" iMac and I took it into the Apple Store. They confirmed the problem was the hard drive after a couple tests and offered to replace it for $260. I have everything backed up on my Time Capsule within Time Machine and am wondering how I can restore my entire PC (all my files, settings, etc) from my last back up a couple days ago. I am assuming it is a simple fix, but I want to have a good plan when it comes back...if there are articles or other threads you can point me to, I would apprecite it. I am looking forward to getting a refreshed computer back but it would be great to have it fully restore from my last backup.
Thanks!

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

On my older I-MAC (2005) the computer turns on, but all I see is a grey screen with a small file that has a question mark and smiling FINDER face on it. Then the fan comes on and becomes very loud. Please help...

My older I-MAC gives me a grey screen and flashes a question mark and smiling FINDER face inside a FILE icon. Then the fan begins to run and becomes very loud...and thats as far as it will let me go.

See KB Articles: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106805 Mac OS X: "Broken folder" icon, prohibitory sign, or kernel panic when computer starts
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=31355 Mac OS: Flashing Globe When Computer Turns On or A folder that has an alternating flashing question mark
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301733 iMac G5: How to Reset the SMU (iMac G5, the iMac G5 (Ambient Light Sensor), and the iMac G5 (iSight)).

My desktop computer crashed and I purchased a new laptop. I was able to salvage the hard drive and files. Can I pull my bookmarks and cookies from the old hard drive and install them on the new computer with FireFox installed?

I have saved the entire contents of the failing hard drive on an external hard drive. I need to know where the bookmarks and cookie files are loacated and where they need to go on the new system.
Thank You

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile
Your old Profile is located here in Vista & Win7: <br />
''drive'':\Users\''Windows login user name''\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\''profile_name''

My macpro keeps sending me the same email...a .emix format, and stores in a folder called recoverable mail...slowly fills up hard drive???

My macpro "mail" keeps sending me the same 387Mb email...about every 2 to 3 minutes...slowly filling up my hard drive...storing the data in a file from my username/library/mail/recoverable mail....
Very odd. Don't know if it is malware...or something I have done by attempting to send a .mov that was too big to send via the server?
I also cannot receive any new mail. It is not AOL, because from my desktop Mac there is no issue. It is my MacPro only.
Andy

Also, I keep trying to find a way to e-mail Apple about addressing this issue and about the information I am now finding on MacBook HD failures, but I keep getting led in circles in the support section of the website. Anyone know which email I'd use to contact them about this?

I have a 13in MacBook Pro from mid 2010, the hard drive failed or s i thought, I put a new one in and it didn't work, so I put those 2 hard drives in a friends Mac and they worked just fine. The Mac still turns on but won't discover the drive

The Mac turns on, says it can't see the drive. Any ideas as to what is causing this, I'm thinking its the cable, are these easy to come buy? And would this even be the answer?

Yes it is the Cable. Replace it and you will be Good To Go.
jacobfrommarshall wrote:
The Mac turns on, says it can't see the drive. Any ideas as to what is causing this, I'm thinking its the cable, are these easy to come buy? And would this even be the answer?

I am trying to format my macbook pro hard drive and every time I get a window that says "Cannot instal Mac OSX on this Hard Drive." What do I do?

The only options it gives me is to restart or restore from back up which isn't what I want to do... HELP?!

Provide information relative to the issue like which MBP model, what OS is running on it, what OS are you trying to install on it and where did you get the OS installer disk from then perhaps someone could help.

My laptop hard drive died and I have replaced it. I want to import the music on my iPod, but I get a message that it is synced with another library (old hard drive). How do I import the music onto the new hard drive? I don't want to lose it.

Can anyone help me with this problem?

Try
http://www.fadingred.com/senuti/
Senuti is an app that allows you to move stuff from an iPod to your mac.

HT1349 i turn my machine on and we get a folder that has a question mark we think the hard drive failed ccan it be saved

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for