Issues with MacBook hard drive - next steps to take?

Hello,
I have a 15-inch MacBook Pro that I purchased in early 2010 which came with Snow Leopard, later upgraded to Mountain Lion. The other day my machine completely froze up during run-of-the-mill web browsing. When I tried to manually restart, I got stuck on the gray Apple screen with the rotating circle for over an hour. I haven't been able to boot regularly since. I tried resetting the PRAM - nothing.
I tried booting to the Recovery drive, which worked at first, but when I would run Disk Utility, the Macintosh HD drive would suddenly randomly disappear from the Disk Utility sidebar during Verify or Repair operations, and then the system would just hang/freeze. Now I can't boot into Recovery at all - it just hangs on the gray Apple screen. I tried booting from a Snow Leopard install DVD and Disk Utility does the same thing - recognizes Mac HD at first, but it disappears from Disk Utility when I try to do anything.
I tried using a Diskwarrior DVD, and Diskwarrior does not recognize the hard drive at all - it only sees the Diskwarrior DVD.
When I boot into single user mode and run fsck -yf it says everything is OK. If I press Option while booting both Mac HD and Recovery show up, but I can't get into either anymore.
I opened up my laptop to make sure everything looked okay, and aside from a little dust, the HD cable seemed secure and connected.
I have some stuff on my HD that isn't backed up that I would like to be able to recover. So what would the next step be? I'm not sure if this is a failed HD issue or a failed cable issue. Should I buy an enclosure for my HD and see if I can get it going externally? Would that be the best way to see if it is the drive and not the cable? An enclosure is cheaper than buying a new SATA cable, so I'm hoping that's where I can start.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

nodel9999 wrote:
Should I buy an enclosure for my HD and see if I can get it going externally? Would that be the best way to see if it is the drive and not the cable? An enclosure is cheaper than buying a new SATA cable, so I'm hoping that's where I can start.
Yes. See if the HDD will boot the MBP via a USB connection. You should probably have an external HDD for backups or a possible replacement of your boot drive.
Ciao.

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Issues with External Hard Drives

I hope this is the right forum for this one - please give me a steer if not! I've also posted it in 'Dock and Finder', but this forum seems equally appropriate, if not more so.
I'm getting repeated issues with External Hard Drives, including ones that I have been using successfully for months/years, suddenly failing to mount and then becoming 'unknown device' through the firewire branch of 'About This Mac'.
I've just bought a new hard drive on the grounds that the others had somehow failed, and the same problems are emerging. I decided to Repair Permissions on my iMac's internal drive, and am copying the results below, from repair runs conducted yesterday and today:
YESTERDAY'S REPAIR PERMISSIONS RESULTS
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Performing live verification.
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK.
Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Reading permissions database.
Reading the permissions database can take several minutes.
Permissions differ on "private/var/log/secure.log", should be -rw------- , they are -rw-r----- .
Permissions differ on "Library/Preferences", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxrwxrwx .
Permissions differ on "Applications/Utilities/AirPort Utility.app/Contents/Resources/lanArrow.png", should be -rwxrwxr-x , they are -rw-rw-r-- .
Permissions differ on "Applications/Utilities/AirPort Utility.app/Contents/Resources/lanCheck.png", should be -rwxrwxr-x , they are -rw-rw-r-- .
Permissions differ on "Applications/Utilities/AirPort Utility.app/Contents/Resources/lanDisabled.png", should be -rwxrwxr-x , they are -rw-rw-r-- .
Permissions differ on "Applications/Utilities/AirPort Utility.app/Contents/Resources/wanArrow.png", should be -rwxrwxr-x , they are -rw-rw-r-- .
Permissions differ on "Applications/Utilities/AirPort Utility.app/Contents/Resources/wanCheck.png", should be -rwxrwxr-x , they are -rw-rw-r-- .
Permissions differ on "Applications/Utilities/AirPort Utility.app/Contents/Resources/wanDisabled.png", should be -rwxrwxr-x , they are -rw-rw-r-- .
Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls/ALRHelperJobs", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x .
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Sites".
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/DVD.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/FRSettings.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/FRSources.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/Movies.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/Music.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/Photos.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/Podcasts.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/TV.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BackRow.framework/Versions/A/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Desktop".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Application Support".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Assistants".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/MIDI Drivers".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Digidesign".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Sounds/Alerts".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Sounds/Banks".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Sounds".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/ColorPickers".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Compositions".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Favorites".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/FontCollections".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Fonts".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/iMovie/Plug-ins".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/iMovie/Sound Effects".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/iMovie".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Input Methods".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Internet Plug-Ins".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Keyboard Layouts".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Printers".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Screen Savers".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Sounds".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Voices".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Movies".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Music".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Pictures".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Public".
Permissions differ on "Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Frameworks/InternetUtilities.bundle/Contents/ CodeResources", should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Resources/iTunesHelper.app/Contents/CodeResou rces", should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.usbmuxd.plist", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x .
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/Filesystems/AppleShare/afpLoad" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/A/Resources /DiskManagementTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "sbin/umount" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "bin/rcp" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls/ContentFiltering", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iLifeMediaBrowser.framework/Versions/A/CodeRe sources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/CodeResourc es", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/BlackAndWhiteEffect.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/CubeTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/DissolveTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/DropletTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/FadeThroughBlackTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/FlipTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/MosaicFlipTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/MosaicFlipTransitionSmall.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/PageFlipTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/PushTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/RevealTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/SepiaEffect.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/TwirlTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/WipeTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/quota" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/rlogin" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/rsh" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Permissions repair complete
TODAY'S PERMISSIONS REPAIR RESULTS
Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Reading permissions database.
Reading the permissions database can take several minutes.
Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls/ALRHelperJobs", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x .
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Sites".
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/DVD.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/FRSettings.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/FRSources.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/Movies.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/Music.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/Photos.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/Podcasts.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/PlugIns/TV.frappliance/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BackRow.framework/Versions/A/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Desktop".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Application Support".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Assistants".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/MIDI Drivers".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Digidesign".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Sounds/Alerts".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Sounds/Banks".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Sounds".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/ColorPickers".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Compositions".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Favorites".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/FontCollections".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Fonts".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/iMovie/Plug-ins".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/iMovie/Sound Effects".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/iMovie".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Input Methods".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Internet Plug-Ins".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Keyboard Layouts".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Printers".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Screen Savers".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Sounds".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Voices".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Movies".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Music".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Pictures".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Public".
Permissions differ on "Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are lrw-rw-r-- .
Permissions differ on "Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Frameworks/InternetUtilities.bundle/Contents/ CodeResources", should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are lrw-rw-r-- .
Permissions differ on "Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Resources/iTunesHelper.app/Contents/CodeResou rces", should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are lrw-rw-r-- .
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/Filesystems/AppleShare/afpLoad" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/A/Resources /DiskManagementTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "sbin/umount" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "bin/rcp" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls/ContentFiltering", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iLifeMediaBrowser.framework/Versions/A/CodeRe sources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/CodeResourc es", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/BlackAndWhiteEffect.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/CubeTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/DissolveTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/DropletTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/FadeThroughBlackTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/FlipTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/MosaicFlipTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/MosaicFlipTransitionSmall.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/PageFlipTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/PushTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/RevealTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/SepiaEffect.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/TwirlTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Permissions differ on "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/A/Resources/P lugins/WipeTransition.IAPlugin/Contents/CodeResources", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/quota" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/rlogin" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/rsh" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Permissions repair complete
My concerns are:
* Some of the permissions repaired yesterday appear to have needed to be repaired again today
* There are several files which carry a warning that they won't be repaired as they have been 'modified', and some of these clearly relate to disk management.
Does anyone have any ideas what is going on???
Thanks!!

Many problems with the 10.5.7 update have been fixed by a Restart.
If that doesn't help, something may have gone wrong with the update. Download and install the "combo" update, from: http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacOS_X_10_5_7_ComboUpdate
If that doesn't help, try running the Apple Hardware Test, on the disc that came with your computer.
1. Disconnect all external devices (including the Ethernet cable) except the keyboard and mouse.
2. Insert the "Additional Software & Apple Hardware Test" disc that came with your computer.
3. Restart while holding down the "C" key. When the list of available startup volumes appears, click Apple Hardware Test and the right arrow.
4. When the Apple Hardware Test main screen comes up (after a moment), follow the on screen instructions.
5. If it detects a problem, an error code will be displayed. Make a note of it.

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Hi!
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Permission issues with new hard drive

Apple installed a new hard drive on my fairly new (june2012) MBP. The only backup I had was the time machine backup from the old MBP that I originally migrated from. Apple said no worries - I can restore from that so I did.
Today I bought an iphone. (I was a hold out, I'm all things mac since the 80s except the phone). I went in to clean up my Contacts before syncing the new phone to my MBP and I couldn't delete and contacts or groups. So I did a "get info" on my contacts ap and it didn't even have (user/me) on the list as a user. I added myself, gave me the read and write" capability and still can't make the needed changes, deletions or anything in Contacts, so I decided to check permissions using Disk Utility. I repaired permissions, and just to be sure verified permissions again. What a lllloooonnnggg list of issues and nothing has changed. Hit "repair permisions again and it is taking f o r e v e r. Now I am Verifying Disk to see what it says. No problem. Verify Permissions again - did it faster, but still a bunch of problems found. Repaired permissions again - same old thing - says its repairing, but I seriously doubt it. Am I supposed to do this over and over again?
Suggestions???

Back up all data. Don't continue unless you're sure you can restore from a backup, even if you're unable to log in.
This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership and access-control lists to the default. If you've set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it.
Step 1
If you have more than one user account, and the one in question is not an administrator account, then temporarily promote it to administrator status in the Users & Groups preference pane. To do that, unlock the preference pane using the credentials of an administrator, check the box marked Allow user to administer this computer, then reboot. You can demote the problem account back to standard status when this step has been completed.
Triple-click the following line to select it. Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):
{ sudo chflags -R nouchg,nouappnd ~ $TMPDIR.. ; sudo chown -R $UID:staff ~ $_ ; sudo chmod -R u+rwX ~ $_ ; chmod -R -N ~ $_ ; } 2> /dev/null
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The command will take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear, then quit Terminal.
Step 2 (optional)
Take this step only if you have trouble with Step 1 or if it doesn't solve the problem.
Boot into Recovery. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select
Utilities ▹ Terminal
from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open.
In the Terminal window, type this:
res
Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:
resetpassword
Press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.
Select your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select
 ▹ Restart
from the menu bar.

Issues with external hard drive

hello, i recently purchased a seagate external hard drive 2TB. i am trying to copy videos onto the external hard drive from my macbook( mac osx version 10.6.3 but the files wont copy. i checked the details of the external hard drive, formatted for windows nt file system (NTFS). also, when i click info on the external hard drive and click on sharing and permissions it says "You can only read". What do i need to do to use the external hard drive with my mac. I should note that i want to interchange the external hard drive both with my mac and windows if possible. can anyone point me in the right direction... thanks

Macs can't write to NTFS, only read. Here's a post with some background information on your problem if you really need to use this with Windows: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11547287 As you can see there's a few potential solutions. How big are these files? If under 4GB you could use FAT32. Note that sometimes file copying to and from FAT, especially large files, seems to be an issue I see not infrequently on these fora.
If you don't need to use it with Windows, or can install software on the PC to allow it to read Mac drives, then format the drive to Mac Extended.
[Kappy's extensive hard drive formatting post|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8340551] - note that instructions at end are for zeroing data.
Message was edited by: Limnos

Set up issues with new Hard drive

Hi all,
I bought a new hard rive for my late 2008 aluminium macbook. I've got it booted and had issues restroing from time machine back up using the REcovery partition. Such research showed this is an issue and said I should just use migration assistant or via the usual set up when rebooting my macbook with the new hard drive in.
Unfortunately the keyboard does not seem to be responding well of at all and I get stuck part way through the set up process and cant even get to my desktop now.
Any ideas about what is happening and how to solve this???!!
Many thanks,
Greg

time machine backups are specific to the mac that creates them, since you had the HD replaced the time machine thinks it's a different mac therefore it won't let you "restore" the data to the mac. that is why you have to "migrate" from the time machine backup to restore it.
this is done either using migration assistant or during the setup assistant (whichever applies in this case)
if the wireless keyboard is not connecting properly, i would suggest using a USB keyboard and mouse to get the data restored and then go into settings and figure out why it's not connecting correctly.
following article tells how to migrate from time machine backup:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4500
hope all goes well for you!

Windows Easy Transfer (WET) Issues with External Hard Drive - "Can't read from the source file or disk"

I work for Office Depot, in the tech department. Basically, one of our associates was supposed to do a data backup, and re-install Windows 7, then transfer the files back. He used Windows Easy Transfer and compacted everything into a 163 GB file.
Now comes the hard part. When we try to put it back on his computer ((drag-and-drop to the desktop) which has been wiped back to factory settings using the recovery partition), it stops at 79.5 GB remaining (you know how it doesn't give you a % of completion,
it just shows how many GB are remaining) and then says "Can't read from the source file or disk" and gives you an option to try again, or cancel. It gets hung up on the same point each time.
Normally, this wouldn't be a huge issue, but the contents on the drive are his wife's architect blueprints and interior design stuff, along with wedding photos, etc, which are the only copies they have. On top of those, they have court documents and other
important files that we are unable to access now.
I wasn't involved with this transfer, so I'm trying to clean up the mess as best I can. I remembered that the customer's wife was Russian, and had some files typed with a Russian keyboard, so on and so forth. I wonder if that's the issue? If not, I really
have no idea how to manually extract things from a ".mig" file, or how to diagnose what area is potentially corrupted.
In light of this situation, we tried using "Recuva" to recover the files post-wipe, but everything was corrupted or unable to be opened, and it also extracted and recovered all of the "useless" photos, such as the skype logos, up and
down arrows for browsers, etc (it was 160,000+ photos).
Trying to avoid a potential lawsuit, unhappy customer, and costing the company lots of money to see if professionals can get into this external hard drive.
Other relevant information:
We used a Toshiba 500 GB (465 GB) external hard drive.
Customer's computer is an HP Pavilion P6000 Series (Model No. p6520y) running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1.
Any other information that is needed can be provided, thanks in advance, and hopefully we can find a solution to this issue quickly!
-John

I think there's a lack of understanding somewhere.
"If you even can't start the process, please unplug it from your new PC. Then head back to your new computer and plug
the external drive back in to your new computer. "
Unplug from new, head back to new, plug it back in? That doesn't make much sense! Haha.
I knew what you meant though, somewhat. When I search through the drives after clicking yes (Has windows easy transfer
already saved your files blah blah blah) I click on the transfer file and it says "Windows Easy Transfer could not open the file".
Rather than drag-and-drop the file to the desktop, I now tried to double-click on the file itself while it was plugged
into the computer. It opened, and it started transferring until it was about 70% completed, and then an error popped up saying "WET can't open the easy transfer file, make sure your USB device is plugged in or check your internet connection".
I checked, and the USB hard drive's light wasn't on. Now, I unplug it and plug it back in, and the light comes back on,
so I click Retry, and it resets the bar back to nothing and says "Transfer time: 1 minute".
Rather than continue trying, I clicked "Cancel" instead of Retry, and it says "Your transfer did not complete successfully."
It says to click "view report" for more information, but there's no "view report button".
At the moment, I am scanning the External Drive for bad sectors using the check disk tool in properties. It's frozen
at "0 USN bytes processed".

About to upgrade my Macbook hard drive - what steps to ensure TM works?

I'm about to upgrade my 100Gb hard drive in my Macbook to a 320Gb drive and I was planning to use either Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to clone my existing drive to my new drive.
Couple of questions:-
Will TM continue to work seamlessly or are there some tweaks I will need to do to get it to continue to work.
With the increase in size of my Macbook drive I probably need to increase the size of my TM drive for backup as well - can I just clone my current TM drive to a larger capacity drive or will there be tweaks required.
Many thanks
Mike

Mike,
If you have a good Time Machine backup, you can just use that. You would install the new drive, boot to the Leopard install disk, then use the "Restore From a Time Machine Backup" utility. This restores your entire installation from the Time Machine backup of your choosing. Time Machine would then continue with the same backup where it left off.
Kappy will not agree with this, because he has not had the same success as I with Time Machine. For me, it has worked flawlessly, and I have used the above method several times to go from one machine to another, or to a new drive on the same machine.
I do recommend that you take a few precautions prior to trusting your Time Machine backup, however. First, I would verify the Time Machine volume with Disk Utility, to make sure there are no disk errors. Then, I would make a final backup and monitor it carefully. Open /Applications/Utilities/Console. In the Sidebar, under "Log Database Queries," select "All Messages." Then type "backupd" into the search field. Finally, choose "Backup Now" from the Time Machine menu.
Watch the progress of the backup in the Console window, and look for the presence of any potential errors. If nothing seems out of the ordinary, your backup should be safe to use.
Scott

Permission issue with external hard drive

Hi,
I have an external hard drive that has a bunch of video and audio files on it. Any time I try to open any file from the drive, regardless of file type, the application it's supposed to open it says it can open. Most of the people I have talked to have said that it's a permission issue and have not had a solution for this. Looking for any suggestions on how to repair these permissions. Disk utility has been no help and when running recovery software like Data Rescue the files come out in the end with the same issues.
Thanks.

Drive was shot and could not rescue the information

HELP: Sync Issues with External Hard Drive

Since I have moved all my music to an external hard drive I am having issues syncing. My Next Gen Ipod syncs, but never gets rid of the syncing notification. I have to disconnect it and restart it. Also, when it syncs it leaves two copies of the songs on my library, one copy has the explanation mark on it. Can anyone help me stop this?

R00KIE wrote:
I'd say bad power supply (if it has an external power supply).
Two external enclosures have done that to me already (but one is almost certain to do it while the other just started to do it recently), if the HD I have in the enclosure is a bit older (and noisier) I can even hear the HD spin down a little and spin up again, of course that whatever I was doing explodes in the process.
Mind you that the HD is confirmed to be working properly by connecting it inside a desktop pc.
I have couple other power adapters I can try. I got the same enclosure for my dad. I have a brick for a LaCie drive too. (I bought the lacie drive a year ago, but the power supply buzzed loudly. I put in a support request, but ended up returning the drive, and they sent me a new power after that)

Issues with external hard drive enclosure

I've been having these issues with my external hard drive since I got it, it seems to be the enclosure
These issues sometimes occur if the hard drive is off but plugged in
-boot will stall after post, before grub
-usb mouse won't work unless I unplug it and plug it back in
-dmesg gives errors about failure to enumerate device
-stalling at other points during boot (continues as soon as I unplug enclosure)
And today, both windows and linux stopped detecting it properly
dmesg said something about a read error.
Then it started working again as suddenly as it started, when I unplugged it and plugged it back in.
Does this sound like a deffective enclosure?

R00KIE wrote:
I'd say bad power supply (if it has an external power supply).
Two external enclosures have done that to me already (but one is almost certain to do it while the other just started to do it recently), if the HD I have in the enclosure is a bit older (and noisier) I can even hear the HD spin down a little and spin up again, of course that whatever I was doing explodes in the process.
Mind you that the HD is confirmed to be working properly by connecting it inside a desktop pc.
I have couple other power adapters I can try. I got the same enclosure for my dad. I have a brick for a LaCie drive too. (I bought the lacie drive a year ago, but the power supply buzzed loudly. I put in a support request, but ended up returning the drive, and they sent me a new power after that)

Issue with new hard drive

Hard drive completely stopped working in my laptop. so i decided to use another from an old laptop and it works fine but my issue is my laptop had a pre installed version of windows 7 Home Edition and since the hard drive i re used has vista on it im currently
stuck with vista with no way to download windows 7 as i don't have the disc. I also have no way to connect to the internet on the laptop since the drivers for the network adapter are on the old Hard drive. I have tried to download windows 7 from the Microsoft
website but my product key says its for pre installed software and that i should contact the manufacturer. Since Dell customer support takes forever i thought maybe someone else could come up with a simple solution

The solution is to go to the Dell support website and download the Vista drivers for your current hardware platform. The drivers you need are published and maintained by Dell. Microsoft does not provide the drivers for Dell hardware.
And your product key is most likely the OEM key from Dell, so you need to contact Dell about a Windows 7 Recovery Disk for your system.
That's about as simple as you can get!
Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. ”

Multiple (related?) issues with external hard drive connectivity

Apologies if this has been discussed but I have been unable to find a solution or explanation after searching here and on other forums.
I recently purchased an external hard drive (1TB Iomega Select Portable, bus powered, 2.5", USB 2.0). After formatting with two HFS+ partitions the device began disconnecting unexpectedly and afterwards was often not recognisable by my mac until I rebooted. I returned the product and had it replaced by another of the same model.
The replacement external hard drive worked fine at first but hours later began showing the same symptoms. _It now connects briefly then a few seconds later disconnects._ Occasionally it seems to mount and work fine, but the problem always comes back. In the times when it is working, _Time Machine recognises the drive but only backs up at a rate of about 1KB/s!_
_I don't know if this is a problem with the external hard drive, my USB ports, or settings on my mac._ Any advise you could offer would be greatly appreciated as I've run out of troubleshooting options with my limited knowledge of computers.
_**Some tests I've done:_
1) When it's not being recognised in Finder, it's also not recognised in either Disk Utility or System Profiler
2) At one stage after repeatedly disconnecting, two other external hard drives and two thumb drives that I know work fine normally also failed to mount, but strangely two wireless mouse USB receivers worked fine. Both thumb drives were formatted as FAT32, one of the external hard drives had one HFS+ and one NTFS partition, and the other was entirely NTFS. When they weren't recognised in OS X, the two FAT32 drives and the NTFS partitions of the external hard drives were all recognised in Windows 7 via VMWare Fusion. After restarting the computer all of them now work on both Windows 7 and Mac OS X.
3) I tried the external hard drive on another computer (a PC) and it was recognised in Vista's 'Disk Management' with both partitions marked as 'healthy', but it just called it 'Disk 1' rather than showing the names I'd given each partition.
4) When I first started transferring files onto the drive I often got 'error code -36', but found a solution that seemed to fix that by deleting the '._' files from the source folder through Terminal.
5) I've tried different USB cables, both USB ports on my mac, and also connecting with and without the secondary part of the 'y' cable that was supplied with it.
Thanks very much,
Andrew
Message was edited by: andrewcarter

I have the same problem with some 2.5 drives. My iMac on 10.5.8 sees the drive fine but my older 2007 Mac Book Pro 10.6.6 would not see it and now my new Mac Book Pro had problems seeing the drive from my old Mac Book Pro in that box. I had to use migration utility over the network that took 18 hours to copy my user over. I bought a new drive box and now the drive seems to work fine. I have ejected it a couple times and all seems well. I hope it continues to function properly.

Issues with external hard drive/airport utility with Windows PC

Okay, here's my situation:
I'm using the Airport Extreme and my network is currently laid out like this:
1.) Macbook connected wirelessly
2.) Windows XP SP2 PC w/ wired connection (ethernet)
My problem is this:
Just plugged in a brand new Western Digital hd to the usb port on the back of the Airport Extreme. My Macbook recognized it (had to use the shared disk password) and it works fine.
But my Windows PC won't let me connect to the external hd or recognize it. Even when it asks me for the shared disk password, it tells me failed login or whatever. I installed the software (Bonjour/Airport Utility), but I'm confused on how to let my Windows PC find the hard drive or connect to it...
I setup/configured my Airport Extreme on my Mac... am I suppose to configure my external hd's sharing abilities on my Windows PC using the Airport Utility, also?
And when I open up the Base Station utility on my Windows PC, it continually keeps asking for my Base Station password as it tries to scan its configuration. Is that normal?
Thanks
PS: if you need more info regarding my problem, I'll be happy to supply it.
MacBook 13 inch Mac OS X (10.4.8)

R00KIE wrote:
I'd say bad power supply (if it has an external power supply).
Two external enclosures have done that to me already (but one is almost certain to do it while the other just started to do it recently), if the HD I have in the enclosure is a bit older (and noisier) I can even hear the HD spin down a little and spin up again, of course that whatever I was doing explodes in the process.
Mind you that the HD is confirmed to be working properly by connecting it inside a desktop pc.
I have couple other power adapters I can try. I got the same enclosure for my dad. I have a brick for a LaCie drive too. (I bought the lacie drive a year ago, but the power supply buzzed loudly. I put in a support request, but ended up returning the drive, and they sent me a new power after that)

Issues with 3TB Hard Drives

Hi,
For a video project we bought several 3TB files to archive video files.
We are using a MacPro 2008 and a new Macbook Pro 17'' to handle the files.
But today we found something weird.
The External 3TB hard drives - Freecom Quadro - work just fine.
The Internal 3TB WD Green Hard Drives (to back ups) when connect to a HD Dock - we tried several models from several brands including also quadro model from Freecom - only work if the Dock is connect through eSata to the computers (both Mac Pro and Mac Book Pro). If it's connected through USB or Firewire it doesn't work, ie, it asks to format the hard drive and can only format for a 800gb partition.
Anybody nows why?
Any solution how to make the internal 3TB HD to be fully recognized by the Mac OS X system?
Nuno

First we thought that us the USB/Firewire ports but not. The External 3TB Freecom HD works perfectly. It's just the internal hard drives + HD Dock that don't work through USB/Firewire (but work through eSATA).

Issues with MacBook hard drive - next steps to take?

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