Is iMac Drive dead?

I think my 2007 24" iMac HD is dead, want to confirm.
Cannot open in recovery HD, get folder with question mark on start up. Startup from ext HD, it appears in disk utility with name of "media". I cannot use repair or verify disk since the are greyed out, and DU will not let me erase or refomat (greyed out).
On startup to external drive I get dialog box informing me there is a problem with the disk and offering button to initialize. I check that box but nothing happens.
Am I right, is it dead?
PS: It doesn't show up in target disk mode either

If you don't have the original OS X DVD, an alternative would be TechTool Deluxe if you had AppleCare on the system, or TechTool Pro which can be bought. They both do similar testing to the AHT.
If I were replacing the hard drive and needed someone else to do it, I wouldn't take it to an Apple store. Rather, I'd buy the drive and take it to an Apple Authorized Service Provider, and ask them to install it (confirm with them first before buying the drive). Apple can use refurbished drives, and as I recall the Apple work carries a 90 day warranty. If you buy your own drive, you can get one with a 5 year warranty. Also, the Apple store usually keeps the drive they take out, for recycling and trade-in. Some people are uncomfortable with that, due to private data on the drive. You can find the closest AASP at http://www.apple.com/buy/locator/service/
If a new drive costs around $100, depending on size of course, figure double that for labor and drive. Might be on the high side, but that's a ballpark number.
In the 3.5" serial ata (SATA) drives, there are lots of choices. I tend to look at Western Digital Black drives, as they come with a 5 year warranty. I don't even look at those with a 2 year warranty, as that's not competitive with 3 and 5 year warranty's. I like http://www.newegg.com as a source, as they have good prices, quick shipping, and many user comments on the drives.

Similar Messages

Is Hard Drive Dead???

Hello,
Thanks for anyone that posts and helps me out here. These forums help alot.
I have iMac G5 Isight (model before intel) 200GB HD 2.5GB Ram.
Stopped working and saw blue screen with question mark the other day. uh oh.
Attempted restart -> not solved
attempted safe mode -> didnt work just shut down
attempted single user mode (fsck) -> did not work (catalog file I/O error invalid node structure)
attempted Disk Utilities off startup disk -> not work (failure on exit error keys out of order)
sighed.
bought Disk Warrior (as this helped others w similar issues)
Attempted DW (fingers crossed) -> message said error "speed reduced by disk malfunction" also could not replace original directory b/c of disk malfunction. Comparison could not be performed and recommended backup and to look at preview.
everything critical is backed up. no problem.
everything non critical I dont care about.
So now, the question is...
Is my hard drive dead?
If so, should I reformat it or is it "permanently wounded" and will have PTSD and cause further problems down the road.
Or, should I bite the bullet and get a brand new Hard Drive??
thanks so much !!!!
mike

Ok.
now that I have some time going to do erase and install.
I suppose info is on the apple support website for the exact steps.
I remember reading somewhere to do settings all to zero?
I was running Tiger latest version.
I have a brand new Leopard disks here that I was going to upgrade to before all this happened.
Should I just boot off the new Leopard disks?
Or
Should I boot off Tiger and then upgrade everything afterwards?
thanks again

Is My iMac G5 Dead?

I have an iMac G5 2.0 GHz with built in iSite. Standard 512 RAM 160 GB hard drive.
Tonight, while I was in another part of our home, my wife told me to come look at the iMac since there was a message to Restart the computer, and it was making an awfully loud fan noise as it was running at a pretty high speed.
Well I could not restart as the machine had locked up, and so the message said to hold down the power button, and restart that way.
I tried, and the machine chimes like it's trying to come to life, and the light on the bottom comes on. But after a few moments of inactivity, the fan comes on real loud, but it won't boot up.
Well being stupid, I unplugged, and then plugged back in, and again same sequence. Being more stupid, I found the software boot up disc and was able to insert it.
I then tried to boot up, and again I get the chime like it's trying to come on, the light comes on, and now it sounds like it's trying to read the disc, but after a few moments, the fan comes on real loud and powerful. And nothing happens.
First, is the hard drive dead? Second, how can I get the disc out.
I have apple care, and assume I'll be making a trip to the local Apple Store. (Good thing one just opened five minutes from my house (although if I didn't purchase it from Apple but from CompUSA will that make a difference)). However, I wanted to know if there is something that I could do before then.
Is this a lost cause.
I am really concerned because I bought a G5 prior to the transition since I figured the new intel machines would not support classic, and I have a number of programs that only work on classic.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Russell

Next, I would start the machine in safe mode...this may also fix some of the problems:
What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X)
Safe Boot is a special way to start Mac OS X 10.2 or later when troubleshooting. Safe Mode is the state Mac OS X is in after a Safe Boot.
Starting up into Safe Mode does three things to simplify the startup and operation of your computer:
It forces a directory check of the startup volume.
It loads only required kernel extensions (some of the items in /System/Library/Extensions).
In Mac OS X 10.3.9 or earlier, it runs only Apple-installed startup items (some of the items in /Library/StartupItems and /System/Library/StartupItems - and different than login items).
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger only: It disables all fonts other than those in /System/Library/Fonts .
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger only: It moves to the Trash all font caches normally stored in /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/(uid)/ , where (uid) is a user ID number such as 501.
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger only: It disables all startup items and any Login Items.
Taken together, these changes can work around issues caused by software or directory damage on the startup volume.
Some features don't work in Safe Mode
Safe Mode can be useful for troubleshooting. However, certain Mac OS X features do not work when you are started up in Safe Mode. For example, you can't use DVD Player, capture video in iMovie, use an AirPort card, use audio input or output devices, or use an internal or external USB modem.
Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode
Learn how to start up Mac OS X 10.2 or later in Safe Mode.
To start up into Safe Mode (to "Safe Boot"), do this:
Be sure the computer is shut down.
Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, press and hold the Shift key.
Tip: The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone but not before.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple and progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
During the startup in Mac OS X 10.2 through 10.3.9, you will see "Safe Boot" on the Mac OS X startup screen.
During the startup in Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you will see "Safe Boot" on the login window, which appears even if you normally log in automatically.
To leave Safe Mode in any version of Mac OS X, restart the computer normally, without holding any keys during startup.
If your computer won't start up in Mac OS X at all, see "Your Mac won't start up in Mac OS X".

Time Machine for Partitioned iMac Drive - Wireless Backup w/o TIme Capsule

Hi all, does anyone think it is possible to set up a Time Capsule type backup on a large iMac hard drive. my household has one iMac and two mac books. I would like to partition a portion of my 1TB imac drive and wirelessly back up the mac books on this drive via time machine just like it would for Time Capsule. The home network is fully functional so it seems like this should be possible since I can already move files around on the macs. I guess I could just get a time capsule but this seemed possible and way cheaper. anyone have any ideas?

Jack Barry wrote:
Hi all, does anyone think it is possible to set up a Time Capsule type backup on a large iMac hard drive. my household has one iMac and two mac books. I would like to partition a portion of my 1TB imac drive and wirelessly back up the mac books on this drive via time machine just like it would for Time Capsule. The home network is fully functional so it seems like this should be possible since I can already move files around on the macs. I guess I could just get a time capsule but this seemed possible and way cheaper. anyone have any ideas?
That should work. See #22 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

How do I get finder to recognize my hard drive after pulling my hard drive out without eject...? Is my hard drive dead? I see it in disk utility... Can I get my info back?

I have a seagte back up plus. I pulled my hard drive out without ejecting it and now finder dosn't find it but I see it in disk utility (although I cant repair permissions) How do I get finder to recognize my hard drive after pulling my hard drive out without eject...? Is my hard drive dead? I see it in disk utility... Can I get my info back?
Thank you so much for any help

In Disk Utility you need to see a volume or partition in addition to the drive.
If all you see is the drive, then when you ejected it you proably corrupted the volume or partition on the drive.
If that is true then your chances of getting anything back are slim at best.
About the only thing I know that might work not is to send the disk out to a service for recovery. This is going to cost like $$$$.
Is the data worth that much?
Allan

How do I install Bootcamp on 2nd internal iMac drive?

Have a new iMac with a 1TB internal HD in addition to the SSD startup drive.
Can I, and if so how do I, install Bootcamp on the 1TB internal HD? Will the Bootcamp Assistant point out the 2nd internal drive and proper location during the install process?
I purchased this iMac w/wireless keyboard, mouse, and trackpad...is that going to be a problem during the Windows install?
Thanks,
David

Bootcamp actually gave me an option to install on the 2nd internal iMac drive and it's working like a champ!
Thinking I was relegated to a Bootcamp partition on my SSD startup drive, I went ahead and delved into the Bootcamp install, only to find an option to install on either my SSD startup drive or my 2nd internal iMac drive. I simply chose the 2nd drive and lo, and behold, as I hold the Option button down on startup, both of my operating systems (OS X and Windows) available for selection.
Thanks for all the help, but it looks as though the latest edition of Bootcamp has addressed this issue, I am quite pleased.
David

How can I store iPhoto files on an external hard drive rather than on the iMac drive

How can I store my iPhoto library on an external hard drive rather than the iMac drive to make my computer faster?

Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Regards
TD

My 24" iMac is dead!! Who do I call here in Singapore?

My 24" iMac is dead!! Who do I call if I have AppleCare and I am staying here in Singapore?
Dead as in I can't even switch it on from it's sleep.
Tried everything, unplugged everything, waited for 10 mins, tried to switch it on again but no response!
Call apple hotline but was told the help call centre is currently closed.
8001861087
HELP!!

Here you go! http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57 You have the correct phone number, just relax and wait until they are open.
Roger

Cloned iMac drive onto a new macbook???

hey all,
I am converting our family pc from an intel 20" iMac to a new 2.4ghz macbook. I have a current copy of my iMac drive made by CCC onto a firewire drive. I was going to just boot off that drive on my new macbook then clone the drive onto the macbook drive. I was already running the latest verizon of 10.5 and iLife. And reasons this would be a bad idea??
Thanks!
Tony

Don't know what to tell you, if I choose about this mac, and click where it says version, I get Build 9C7010.. I did what you said, ran it off the firewire drive for a while everything seemed fine, so I went ahead and cloned the drive. So far so good..

Hard Drive Dead? Help!

Hi, so I recently bought an enclosure for my old HD that died out on me, I suppose? My mac was asleep, then I pressed any button on the computer to wake it up, then I clicked on Mail right away, and it froze for a while.. so I held the power down to restart it. When it restarted, it gave me a white screen with a folder with a question mark on it. I was told my HD was bad. So I changed it, now my mac is up and running. BUT... i need my old files from my old HD. I bought an enclosure, plugged and played.. nothing comes up. How can I get my old files? Please help!!!!

This one has an outside chance of working. But if it doesn't work, _be warned_, might make the data completely unrecoverable through a professional data rescue service. I've only heard about this and never done it myself. You put it in the freezer. Not sure why this is supposed to work, but it might.
_Much safer to try Data Rescue first. I would try this only as a last resort._
For others, try googling hard drive dead freezer and see what you think.
http://hacknmod.com/hack/how-to-recover-dead-hard-drive-data/
I can tell you from experience that it in fact DOES work…most of the time. I have managed to recover data 3 times from dead drives, and have also not managed to recover data about the same amount of time. So, it is fair to say that for me, it worked 50% of the time.
I placed the drive in two zip lock bags expelling as much as air as possible before zip locking both bags. I left it in the freezer for approx. 12 hours with no luck, but after freezing it for extended periods of time, it worked like a charm. It is also important to note that this is generally a one shot deal, if it works, you’re in luck, but you must get as much data as possible from the drive because once it dies, it is rare that you will gain access a second time.
The 3 times I did manage to get the data back, I exhumed only the data that I absolutely required. In other words, only the data I created or files that I placed on the drive.
I too, found it hard to believe when I first heard it, but after losing 3 years of tax returns I HAD to try it. Fortunately for me, it worked like a charm.

How do I save my iTunes library and iPhoto to an external drive and not to the iMac drive?

how do I save my iphoto library and itunes library to an external drive and not to the imac drive?

For iPhoto, see > iPhoto: How to move the Library folder to a new location
For iTunes, see > iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder

Folder with ? at startup - is my hard drive dead?

At startup I got a folder with a question mark.
I started up from MacOS 10.5 DVD, opened disk utility and my hard drive was not shown in the available volumes.
In System Profiler, under serial-ATA, it says "There was an error while scanning for Serial-ATA devices.
Tried to reset the PRAM, it did't help.
Is my hard drive dead, or is there something else for me to try?

sorry to say but yes your hard drive died....it has just happened to me last week....18mth white macbook. I hope you have everything back up....(I had just got a external hard drive and was going to back up the day it died...sods law!)
Took it to the Apple store and they replaced the drive....fantastic service...got it back in a day.
so lesson to all...back up.

I created a partition on my iMac drive. I have trashed the files that were in the partition but I can not trash the icon. I tried with Disk Utility. Any ideas?

I created a partition on my iMac drive. I have trashed the files that were in the partition but I can not trash the icon. I tried with Disk Utility. Any ideas?

If I understand correctly, the partition will still be on the disk and therefore mounted on the desktop. You would need to remove that partition to remove the icon.
Be careful if you try this, don't upset the main Macintosh HD partition or you may lose the OS and your files.
And always have a full tested backup of your system before modifing disk partitions.

Moving contents of FCE scratch disc to external Drive from an iMac Drive

Is there a way of moving the captured HDV video in the Scratch Disc for a project from an iMac hard drive to an external drive if the initial capture placed it in the iMac drive.
FCE captured my original HDV on my iMac in the FCE Document folder. I thought I had specified my external Glyph drive for the captured video but discovered after editing and saving the project to the external GLYPH that the original capture was in the FCE document folder on the iMac --where I did not want it. The project is saved on the external GLYPH. Is there a way of moving the Scratch Disc (original captured video) for this project from the iMac Hard drive to the Glyph drive (in other words, after the initial capture) without screwing up the editing I have already done.
I had created a "Media" folder on the external drive for all media to be used in this project before capturing the video but the Easy set up did not give me a scratch option and placed it in the default (iMac) drive.
This is my first time trying out FCE. Help would be appreciated.
macrobob

Is there a way of moving the captured HDV video in the Scratch Disc for a project from an iMac hard drive to an external drive if the initial capture placed it in the iMac drive.
Yes, just copy the files to the folder(s) you want them to be in.
I normally capture to my internal drive (Final Cut Express Documents > Capture Scratch folder.) After capturing, I copy the clips to a folder on one of my external drives; usually give the folder the name of the shoot. That's my simple way of organizing clips on my hard drives; and it makes backing up easier too.
After you copy the clips, you should delete the clips from their original location (I assume that is your Capture Scratch folder on your system HD). Be sure to Empty the Trash. Very important - make sure you have successfully copied all your clips to the external drive; once you empty trash, the originals are gone.
When you open your project file the next time, all your clips will be offline and you will have to go through the Reconnect Media process to re-associate your clips with your project. After successfully reconnecting media, Save your project and all should be fine.
I highly recommend reading the sections of the manual (online help) about scratch disk locations; and reconnecting media.
but the Easy set up did not give me a scratch option and placed it in the default (iMac) drive.
Scratch locations are not part of Easy Setups. You set your scratch disk location in FCE > System Settings.

Gray folder with question mark-- is my hard drive dead?

I have a white 13 inch MacBook that is about 3 years old and runs on Mac OS X 10.4 (I believe). In the past year, it has been running more and more slowly and programs keep freezing. I was going to ask for more RAM for Christmas, but decided to try a few maintenance steps first. I ran a VirusScan this morning (using McAfee), and when I came back into the room, my computer had frozen past all help. I powered it off with the power button, and now, when I try to start it, a gray screen appears with a question mark. I have tried some of the support steps listed to get it working again such as trying a safe boot (didn't work) and resetting my PRAM (didn't work). Is my hard drive dead? Is there any way I can get my files off the computer? I haven't backed up in about 3 months, and I am very upset because I have a lot of important papers and photos on my HD.
Thank you..

Hi corimazz and welcome to Apple Discussions!
It is possible that your hard drive has kicked the bucket, but the folder with the question mark just shows that the computer cannot find a valid system when it starts up. There are a number of possible reasons for this.
Do you have the 10.4 install disk? If so, insert it into the optical disk drive, restart the computer and hold down the C key during startup. Once the computer is booted to the install DVD, select your primary language, then look for the utilities menu and from it select "Disk Utility".
In the Disk Utility, you should see a list of available disks, which we hope will include your hard drive. If the hard drive does not appear in the list, it is dead. If it does show up, select it and click the "Repair Disk" button to see if the problem is being caused by directory damage that can be repaired.
If the drive is truly dead, you are going to have to decide how much the data from the last three months is worth to you. There are companies that have quite good records of recovering data from even very badly damaged hard drives (sunk in rivers, burned in fires, etc) but they are not cheap.
In the USA some data recovery options include:
DriveSavers.com - 800-440-1904
www.ontrack.com - 800-872-2599
www.lazarus.com - 800-341-3282
Once you have the drive out (it's a simple process to remove) it can be replaced with a new one.
I hate to say it, but keeping backups of important files is vital to safe computing. Both the Leopard and Snow Leopard operating systems make this a much easier process using the "Time Machine" application.
Best of luck.

Is iMac Drive dead?

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