IMac Internal Hard Drive Issues

Here's the story thus far:
I've experienced random system freezes/lock-ups infrequently over the past month or so. I would have to do a hard reset and everything would be back to normal. I didn't really think any major issues were occurring.
Tuesday night my iMac booted to my SuperDuper bootable clone external HD. Upon loading of the desktop, I was greeted with an error message about the disk not loading, and I was presented with options to 'Initialize' 'Ignore' or 'Eject'. I was able to restart and everything was fine.
Yesterday, the same thing occurred again. When I restarted and disconnected my external HD that was being booted from, I was greeted with the ominous flashing question mark folder icon. I shut the computer down for the night, presuming the HD dead or on its way out.
This morning, I was able to boot up the computer normally, but it randomly froze/locked-up, forcing me to restart and the same issues would occur. I performed all of the normal housekeeping chores. I verified/repaired the disk through Disk Utility (when I could boot from it), also through booting into safe mode (which performed successfully), resetting the PRAM, disconnecting all peripherals, and running Disk Utility through the OS X install disk.
I spoke with AppleCare on and off throughout the day. 2 representatives I spoke with seemed to believe it was some sort of directory corruption. So we erased the HD through the OS X install disk and reinstalled Snow Leopard. I restored everything from the latest Time Machine backup, and everything appeared fine.
A few hours ago, upon waking up the computer from sleep, it froze up with the spinning beach ball, forcing me to hard reset. It then booted onto the external HD again. I immediately called AppleCare and the representative said it seems like it's on its way out. I agreed, and we scheduled an appointment at an Apple store. I wanted to know the procedure because, like most people, I absolutely cannot live without the computer for long. I'm a freelance web designer and I need it ASAP. She got me the numbers for a few Authorized Apple Service Providers in my area, and I will be contacting them in the morning because she said that is the quicker path.
Mainly, I'm looking for advice on the best, and quickest, way to ascertain the problem and remedy it. I also want to know if these are signs of a failing hard drive, or just corruption that leads to a need for replacement. Am I taking the correct path to get everything fixed?
Side note: I turned it on about an hour ago while holding the option key, and the main, internal HD did indeed show up. Is this stuff normal (the back and forth mounting/booting and then not)?
Sorry for the rant, and the ambiguous questions (or lack thereof). Let me know if you need more clarification.
Thanks in advance.

Start up from the clone and run Disk Utility.
First, select the internal drive in the sidebar and right (control) click on it. Select Information from the menu. Check the S.M.A.R.T status. It should say Verified.
If you don't mind erasing your internal drive again, you can run a sort of +stress test+ on it. Select the drive in the sidebar (select the drive and not the volume indented under the drive). Go to the Erase tab. Click on +Security Options+. Select to do a +Zero Out Data+ erase. This will write zeros to every sector of the hard drive, and doing so is a good way to test the drive for reliability. If it is having problems related to hardware, it is likely that this procedure will error or stall out. Even when working normally, it does take a long time to complete (even a few hours depending on the drive capacity), but you should see steady progress on the bar.
If it completes successfully, you should try starting up from the installation disc and running another standard installation in it. +Zero Out Data+ will also map out bad sectors, so if the numbers were manageable, it is possible that the drive will now work more reliably. But you may not want to trust it completely (do more backups).
Since it sounds like the iMac runs reliably off your clone, I think the problem is related to the internal drive.

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All of a sudden unaccessible imac internal hard drive, renamed "disk1s3"

Hello,
I am having a very serious problem and I hope someone can help.
Yesterday I turned on my imac G5 1.8ghz running Mac OS X (10.4.10) and I got this message:
*"the disk you have inserted is not readable by this computer"*. Not having inserted any disk I just clicked ignore and restarted the imac. After the restart it looked like the computer frose, I could see my desktop wallpaper but none of the files on my desktop and then when I restarted again the computer I had the case of grey screen with the blinking question mark/file icon.
Knowing that this means that the computer can't find a startup disk, I restarted the computer and inserted the CD with the OS X and opened utilities manager from the CD.There I saw that the internal hard drive has been renamed "disk0S3" and the only info the manager was giving me was that it was not mounted, it's size and that it is mac OS Extended (Journaled) formated. I tried to repair it but I got an error message each time I tried.
I tried to restart the computer several times during the day and each time I had the grey screen/globe followed by the grey screen/blinking question mark folder. At one point the computer went into a kernel screen and frose.
I then tried to restart in target mode and use the utilities manager from my intel 2Ghz Macbook. In target mode the fans of the imac go nuts, it sounds like the computer is going to take off and then I get on the MacBook the *"the disk you have inserted is not readable by this computer"* message. There the manager recognizes the internal hard drive of the imac as "disk1s3" and gives me the same info as the OS X CD manager.
If I click on the icon of the hard drive "above" on the utilities menu, the manager recognises the imac as AAPL FireWire Target Media, it's size, it's write status, apple partition map but says that the S.M.A.R.T. status is not supported.
I shuted down and restarted in target mode but now, when I try to open the imac in target mode it goes into target mode but the MacBook freezes.
Now I must say that this happened out of nowhere. I didn't do any software update, I didn't perform any different task on the imac from the ones I normally perform.
I have so many important files in that computer I cannot begin to describe how serious the situation will be if I lose them all. I know I should back-up my files and I usually do but now it's been a while and I am really learning the lesson the hard way.
Please if someone can help I would really appreciate it.
I apologize for the length of the post but I tried many things before posting here and I thought that it would be useful to give as many details as possible to someone that could help.
Thank you in advance

Welcome to Discussions - the fact that the S.M.A.R.T. status is not recognized and the flashing questions mark appear seem to indicate that your hard drive has failed. If you have access to TechToolPro or Disk Warrior, try to use them to check the drive status. This will likely not work, and I'm afraid your disk is toast.
You could try to remove the drive and put it in an external case and try to mount it on your MacBook, but I don't hold out much hope for that either. You can try using [Data Rescue|http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/211375] to retrieve your data.
You can also take it in to Apple and see what they say. Please let us know how things turn out,

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

Internal hard drive issue with Mac Pro

I work for two office that share information through a VPN. Each office has one Mac Pro being used as a server for data storage. The Pros have four internal hard drives (1TB each).
Hard drives in the Pro for OFFICE 1 were configured like so:
HD1 - OS/Boot drive
HD2 - Time Machine backup of HD1/DATA1/DATA2
DATA1 - Data storage
DATA2 - Data storage
Three weeks ago: Time Machine could not find HD2 and could not backup. I rebooted the machine and HD2 reappeared. However, after the reboot, DATA1 did not mount. I was unable to find DATA1 in Disk Utility. However, the drive could be accessed by all other Macs on the network. This machine was taken to the local Apple Store and we were told that HD2 was a bad drive and need to be replaced. We opted not to replaced the drive at this time and turned Time Machine backups off. We haven't had any problems with DATA1 since. (NOTE: During the weeks prior, the client machines intermittently lost connection with DATA1 and would have to reconnect)
Last week: OFFICE 2 - Mac Pro hard drives configured the same as OFFICE 1; however, HD2 was not used for TM backups. TM was turned on and set to backup HD1/DATA1/DATA2 to HD2 (exactly like OFFICE 1). The next day, TM could not find HD2 and backups stopped running. I rebooted the machine, HD2 reappeared, but we did not restart the TM backups.
Today: OFFICE 2 client machines have experienced intermittent disconnecting of DATA1.
I wasn't extremely concerned with the situation at OFFICE 1 as these Pros are almost five years old and in constant use. We plan on purchasing an external drive for the TM backups. HOWEVER, with a similar situation now being experienced in OFFICE 2, I am perplexed.
Could both machine be experiencing hard drive failures weeks apart? They were both purchased and installed at the same time.
Is there a known issue with TM and internal drives?
One difference between the two machines: OFFICE 1 is running OS X 10.8.5; OFFICE 2 runs 10.6.8
Any suggestions/help is appreciated. Thanks!

Relying on TimeMachine has some issues, along with only having one, I use at least two swapping TimeMachine so that they rotate AND I clone every drive (volume actually) so I can swap drives if need be, especially useful for t he system but good for any drive.
Power issues in t he buildings?
There are some programs that will scan for and report and./or attempt to reassign a failing sector ("fail" is qualitative, is 10 write failures a fail? then the 9th is not but it is a "weak sector.") Some run in the background.
Mirror can be 2 or 3 ( I prefer 3, that way if one fails I STILL have a mirror array in place) where any failure is not acceptable, AND where the array data is backed up usually - less important when using a three-drive configurations.
How old, when last initialized (zero), and is it showing spare blocks being used? that last is the most indicative of failed drive.
Rare but a bad SATA cable or power (seeing how the cables are tucked away) is only way generally for multiple failures in same drive bay or computer. Note: early on in 2006-7 there were reports of some customers having motherboard and trouble with a drive bay , and t he problems showed up early.
Often though it is NVRAM or SMC related issue trigged by something else, a USB cable or device that is faulty, even a PCIe controller that is the culprit. And replacing cable, keyboard, device, and resetting SMC and NVRAM (often NVRAM needed to be done multiple times, but never keep resetting SMC) - unplugged and when you connect back up, do not install anything other than system, keyboard and mouse and see if that helps.
With a drive, likely the drive in 85% or more, is fine, but the directory is not, or it needs to be erased to rebuild all the system partitions.
1TB is small for TimeMachine. 350% of the amount of data, and always have free space for a full backup set of all the data. T.M. will try and prefers to automatically backup any and everything plugged in and connected, rather than my preference which is ASK FIRST to add a drive to TM backup set, otherwise leave it out. 600GB of data and system would mean 2.5TB drive, maybe 2TB minimum.

Internal Hard Drive Issue

I'm having an issue that I can't quite understand.
After inserting the install disk and rebooting, I select the language, and I go to select the hard drive to install to. Unfortunately, the only drives that show up are the external drives. I don't have an issue with doing a clean install, I have enough room on the external drives to backup everything, but I don't understand why my current startup disk is not showing up so I can upgrade or do a clean install.
Would this be caused by one of the known software compatibility issues? I've already removed APE, is there anything else I should be looking for?
When I quit the installer, the only startup disks I can choose from are the 10.5 DVD or Network disk. I have to hold D during startup and change the startup disk back to my hard drive after it finally reboots.
Please help? (Also, if there's any other important info missing in this post, let me know and I'll post whatever info that'll help)

I had the same problem. Running Disk Utility did nothing -- the internal HD didn't show there, either.
Here's how I fixed it -- I left it alone for about 10 minutes -- and it magically showed up right next to the external HDs that were showing all along.
So, try it again but when you see the icons for your external drives -- go make a sandwich and then come back and see if it's there. =:)
Jay Jennings

Can the october 2012 27" iMac internal hard drive be user upgraded?

I'm looking at buying either a Apple factory refurbrished 2012 27" imac or perhaps a used machine and would like to install a new 1Tb SSD from Crucial. I'm not willing to pay Apple for their OEM SSDs. But I've heard that there may be issues with replacing non-oem hard drives. One concern was over heating issues. OWC recommended that I have a Apple store tech install the hard drive. But I doubt Apple will install a non-apple SSD. What are the facts here?
Thanks, Dennis
NEVER MIND. I found answers to this question elsewhere. The answer is NO - ****.

Yes, it can be upgraded, but it is not a user-replaceable part nor is adding an SSD. You will need to have this all done at an authorized Apple shop as an authorized repair. If you attempt to do the work on your own or have it done by a non-authorized technician, then your computer will be void of any further Apple service regardless of any warranty you may have.

My imac internal hard drive switch from hsf to fat 32 or ms-dos(fat)

apple please i need your help, look i heva an imac 21 inches and the hard drive switch from hsf to fat 32 and i cant accsess to the os, i'm trying to solve the problem with the disk drill to recove my data from ann external hard drive with os x, and it is supposed to recover everything, but my real thing is, when i preview a video that i recover the video doesn't preview what happens is that the quicktime logo appears,
my question is when that happens what does it means?

You are non addressing Apple on these forums, we are all end users like yourself. Take your machine into an Apple Store or AASP, they will help you clear up the mess you have created.

IMac internal hard drive won't mount/can't be repaired

hi there,
my 11yo son has been using my older imac. it's a 24" 2.4ghz imac with a 500gb drive from around 2007, i think. anyway, yesterday he said it was acting funny, he restarted it and it hung on the grey screen with the logo.
i looked at it more closely today and tried restarting in safe mode, tried the PRAM thing, and got no where. i then booted from the 10.6 dvd that i have. i ran disk utility and tried verifying and repairing it. it said there was a missing thread record (id = 92600) and an invalid sibling link. it tried to rebuild catalog b-tree.
then it said that disk utility can't repair the disk. i tried to re-install the system software, but disk utility couldn't mount it.
the system profiler can see the disk, but as i mentioned, i can't get it to mount and am sort of at a loss here. thought? ideas?
thanks in advance,
emily

Your HD seems to have crashed. I would recommend running Apple Hardware test 3x in Extended Mode, if you get error codes as I supsect this will confirm the problem. If you aren't familiar with AHT you will need the original install discs that shipped with the computer and you can find instructions at:
support.apple.com/kb/ht1509
If it errors your next step is taking it in for repair at your local Apple Store or AASP.

Installing internal hard drive on an old iMac

I am an absolute novice when it comes to taking apart a computer and know nothing about any technical terms or parts. I was able to install a new battery when the original died, so when the "genius" at the Apple Store said I could install an additional internal hard drive, I gave it a whirl. Before I try to return the hard drive, I thought I would give this a shot.
My iMac is a 400 MHz PowerPC G3, one of the early generations, if the not the first (see-through cobalt blue exterier). I am running with 256 MB of memory and the CPU type is PowerPC 750 (83.0). I have Mac OS X Tiger, version 10.4.6 and this machine had been working great until we recently purchased our first iPod. Now with all the music being loaded in iTunes, the iMac has slowed down and even frozen when trying to use a few applications at once.
I figured I needed more hard drive space and/or memory and the people at the Apple store suggested I purchase a Seagate 80 GB Barracuda and install it myself.
Well, I got the computer apart and found the old hard drive, but that is about as far as I can go. I read about making the new hard drive the "slave" hooking up the BLUE, BLACK and GRAY connectors on the new cable, but I don't know a motherboard from a jumpdrive and the new connectors do not match up with the old one (the Blue connector is not the same size as the old one that I think was going into the motherboard). There is also something about an unused power cable in the old computer for the new hard drive, (which I did not see) and a suggestion that I get a Y-shaped power cable from an electronics store, which even if I knew what it was, I would not know where to begin connecting it. Not only does the new connector not match up, it is about 10 times as long as the old one, which leads me to the final issue: if I could get this all hooked up and power-supplied, where in the world would I put the new, additional hard drive? There is no room I can see adjacent to the current hard drive. Do I have to take the thing further apart?
I realize this may provide a great laugh for anyone who knows how all this works. If trying to walk someone through this process using Apple Discussions does not make sense, I completely understand. I had nothing to lose (except possibly the cost of the Seagate drive if they won't take it back).
I was able to put everything back together after taking the old hard drive out, so I think I could do this if the parts were all there and matched up....but I would still need to know where to put the new drive!
Any suggestions are appreciated. I have already resigned myself to the fact I may just need a more expensive external drive...I just have few available ports.
Thanks,
Conrad Farner

"...when the "genius" at the Apple Store said I could install an additional internal hard drive, I gave it a whirl... if I could get this all hooked up and power-supplied, where in the world would I put the new, additional hard drive?"
Your iMac has room for one hard drive and the optical drive (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, etc.). Any ribbon cable supplied with the hard drive or a Y-splitter power cable is of no use in the iMac. The new drive must replace the original, because the two can't coexist internally. Additionally, you need to configure the new Seagate as "master," since the optical drive is "slave." Refer to Seagate's accompanying documentation, for instructions on setting the small jumper(s) to designate the drive as "master." The drive may have been factory-configured for "cable select," which isn't supported in your iMac. After you get that straightened out, you'll need to boot the computer from the Tiger installer CD and use "Disk Utility" to format the new drive as a Mac OS Extended (HFS+) volume. You may also want to partition it as well.
Incidentally, you should post any future questions about your iMac in the Forum dedicated to the CRT-style iMacs. You'll receive informative answers to any questions that you might have, from those who are thoroughly familiar with your model iMac.

New IMac 27"with dual internal hard drives

How do I manage Data on my new IMac 27"with dual internal hard drives? I have just migrated my data to my new computer. Since I've done it from a TM backup, it all went to the Analog HD. Ressearching online I've figured I could re-run Migrating assistant and replace different data between the SSD and the Analog. My problem now is: I want to keep my Music Library (iTunes), my Aperture Library and my documents on the analog, and use the SSD for System, Users and Apps. Aperture, is easy, because both Aperture and iPhoto can find their way, bt iTunes and My documents are a issue. Can Anyone help me?

Install OS X on the SSD:
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard 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.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your SSD volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the left side list. Click on
the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on the Security button and set the Zero
Data option to one-pass. Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button. Be sure to change the target disk to your SSD.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
After you boot from the SSD open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock and authenticate. CTRL- or RIGHT-click on the user account and select Advanced Options. You will see a Home Dir: field with a Browse button on the right. Click on the button. Navigate to the HDD's Users folder. Select your account folder then click on the Open/Choose button. You must restart immediately.
Upon the restart your SSD system will now be using your actual Home folder located on the HDD. You can then go about installing your applications or copying them from the HDD to the Applications folder on the SSD (and also from the Utilities folder on the HDD to the one on the SSD.) You will likely need to do some transfers of the Applications Support and Preferences folders found in the main Library folder.

How to save iPhoto library (currently on partition of external hard drive) on to iMac's internal hard drive

I have my photos stored on an external hard drive (Maxtor). The external hard drive has been split into two partitions, with the photos in one and the rest in another. This was because my (very) old Mac did not have space in its internal hard drive and I set it up so that the photos were only saved on to the external drive.
Now I have a new iMac (with OS x 10.8.2 Mountain Lion) with more space, I'd like to save the photos on the internal drive and back them up on the external drive.
I have tried various things such as saving the iphoto library on the desktop and then dragging and dropping it into the iPhoto icon, holding down the Option key. None of this has worked and I only have 'fingernail' copies of the photos - the 'volumes' only appear to be on the external hard drive. When the external drive is not connected it says that the volumes cannot be found.
I have tried saving a new version of the iphoto library with a different name and directing the computer to that but that did not work. Perhaps it is an issue with the volume, or the library the computer/iphoto is selecting?
Am not sure what to do next. Do I somehow need to set up my external hard drive differently as it still seems to be configured to only save photos on there, or save iphoto library in a different place? Any help would be much appreciated.

I have tried various things such as saving the iphoto library on the desktop and then dragging and dropping it into the iPhoto icon,
Never do this - this imports one iPhoto library into the new one which does not work and creates a massive mess
holding down the Option key.
If you depress the option key and launch iPhoto you get a select library window - you use this to select a different iPhoto library or if you have moved the existing iPhoto library to select its new location
When the external drive is not connected it says that the volumes cannot be found.
This is a symptom of a referenced library which is strongly not recommended - in the iPhoto preferences is the preference to "copy imported items to the iPhoto library" checked (default) or have you unchecked it?
I have tried saving a new version of the iphoto library with a different name and directing the computer to that but that did not work.
What does not work about this?
the way to move an iPhoto library is to simp;y drag it intact as a single entity to the new location and to depress the option key, launch iPhoto and select the new location
However if you have a referenced library then you need to post back for more information
LN

24" iMac not recognizing internal hard drive..

end of '07 iMac 24" 2.4GHz
I have been having problems with this iMac since day 1... I'm kind of fed up with it at this point BUT I would like to get it working at least.
PROBLEM: Yesterday I was working on the ol' iMac and I walked away, the computer fell asleep and when I got back to wake it up it seemed a little off. I restarted and thats when the magic happened. I got the question mark of death. Didn't think it was an issue since I've gotten it in the past. Usually I restart again, maybe reset PRAM, and its fine. Orrrr if that doesnt work I use the Snow Leopard disc or Disk Warrior and it'll work fine. Yesterdays problem was more unique.
Disc Utility, Disk Warrior, etc are not even recognizing the internal hard drive at all. Nothing. Like it doesn't even exist. When you try and set the start up disk, it's missing from the list. It doesn't make any noise, nothing. It worked fine 5 minutes before that.
Any ideas? or is it time for the ol' Apple repair shop? Could it be just the drive or something more serious? Luckily I have a time machine and everything should be backed up incase of the worst scenario.
Any help would be great. thanks.

It sounds like the drive has failed, you can try starting it with the install disc it came with and trying to repair the disk. The instructions for doing that are:
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install or Restore disc.
2. Restart the computer, then hold the C key during startup.
3. From the Apple menu, choose Disk Utility. Do this in the first screen of the Installer. Don't click 4. Continue. If you click Continue in a Mac OS X Installer version earlier than 10.2, you must restart from CD again.
5. Click the First Aid tab.
6. Click Repair Disk.
7. After repairing the disk, try to start from the Mac OS X hard disk.
If the drive still cannot be seen then make an appointment with an AASP.
Regards,
Roger

I have a late 2012 iMac running osx 10.8.5. I keep losing access to my internal hard drive. I can reboot and regain access and it will last for a few minutes or hours. Disk utility does not seems to help.

I have a late 2012 iMac with an I5 precessor running OSX 10.8.5 and a 1tb internal hard drive. I keep losing access to the internal hard drive/startup disk.
I can reboot and everything operates as normal for a few minutes or hours but then I lose all access again to anything on the hard drive. The computer is still up and running but no files can be accessed and certain websites cannot be acessed even though internet access appears to be normal. Disk utility can only find permission errors related to iTunes which can be repaired only to come back at the next scan (I would not think permission errors would have anything to do with the hard drive crashing). It does not seem to matter what program I am using at the time access is lost and it can lose access sometimes right after reboot when no program is running.

You will need to boot into the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during restart and select it) to run Disk Utility/Disk Repair.

IMac G5 Internal Hard Drive Not Recognized

I shut down my iMac G5 with the power button and not through the typical shutdown procedure once and then when it booted up it would not get past the gray screen. I eventually used the Leopard DVD to try to boot it and was able to get to disk utility to look at the drive. I tried to repair the drive but then the machine froze and I had to restart once more. Now the internal hard drive isn't recognized or seen at all. I actually switched out the SATA hard drive with another spare I had and that was not recognized either. I can get the mac to recognize the installation DVD still so I know my computer still functions properly but I just need it to recognize the drive now. Does anyone have any ideas how to resolve this?

Have you access to DiskWarrior or TechToolPro? Either of those might fix your problem otherwise, try booting from the Apple Hardware Test on your install disc and see what it says.

IMac Internal Hard Drive Issues

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