MacBook shows only folder with ?. Replaced hard drive with same results.

In the midst of some work the machine simply clicked and showed a folder with a ?. Would not restart. Replaced the drive with a new 7200 Seagate momemtum, 320GB, installed the software, and have the same problem with startup. A folder with a ? Connect another machine via firewire and looked at the MacBook drive and it showed the appropriate system folders. Then started the other computer from the MacBooks hard drive and that worked. So the drive appears healthy but we cannot get it started on its own. In Disk Utility the new drive is indicated as not owner enabled, whatever that means. It appears most Macs that work are, in fact, owner enabled. Anybody have a clue what might be going on here? We're thinking maybe the first drive had not failed and the problem lies elsewhere.

As an FYI, here is the apparent solution. The original drive did fail. Because the disks were in Seattle and we were attempting to fix it in Dallas we connected via Firewire to a PowerPC machine and formatted the drive. That was the crucial error. the G4 did not give the appropriate Intel-based Mac formatting options. So we could look at the drive from the G4 and see everything was there, but the MacBook could not boot itself because it could not read the disk which was improperly formatted. The Genius bar in Seattle figured this out and reformatted the disk at no cost.
All's well that ends well, but have Macs really become that complicated?

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G62-234DX replaced hard drive with new Samsung 250 GB. Same size as installed.

G62-234DX Hard drive dead. I replaced hard drive with new Samsung 250 GB. SATA II hard drive and used the recovery Windows 7 Home edition DVD. Error message appeared after windows loads files and starts windows from the recovery DVD. An error dialog box opens after completing and indicates, This computer is not supported by the recovery discs. You will not be able to continue to recover this system with these discs. error: 0100-1425 -3627-3628-3623-3624. Hit OK and system powers down.

Hi:
If you purchased the recovery disks from HP, please see if making and running this first helps.
"CyberLink Recovery Discs utility resolves an issue where Recovery Discs sent from HP do not work on a new hard drive."
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=pv-80183-1&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en

Need help with replacement hard drive

My hard drive has stopped working on this computer and since i only purchased it on 10/2012 I really don't want to replace it just yet. I am trying to buy a new hard drive but I would like a Seagate. I want to upgrade from 1 TB to 2TB. I was wondering if there is a Seagate product out there that would be compatable with the original hard drive but in 2 TB.The original hard drive is a HDD GNRC 1 TB SATA 3 ECO 7200 rpm 3.5". I was looking at a Seagate 2TB SATA 6.0 but I do not know is the SATA 6 will work with the original SATA 3. Can you please help me or guide me in the right direction for a replacement. I also have the HP recovery CD's coming to me in the mail.Thanks,GinaCee

Hi Big_Dave,Thank you for your help. I found this hard drive at Newegg and I was hoping you could tell me if it would be compatable.Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive. Or is there any Seagate product you could reccomend? I have a Seagate external hard drive and I like thier product, so I was hoping that they made something compatable for my HP. I will be installing this drive myself. I have all the instructions from the HP website and it doesn't look that difficult. Just waiting for my restore CD's and a replacement hard drive so I can start this project. Thanks again!Gina

Problem with replaced hard drive on macbook (late 2008, 13" aluminum)

i replaced my macbook (late 2008, 13" aluminum) hard drive and get a blinking folder upon reboot. I can't seem to reboot from the original disc that came with my macbook. What do I do next? I tried holding "c" down but still get the blinking folder

With the disc inserted try starting up while holding the option key. That should take you to the boot panel where you can select the dvd.

Best way to replace hard drive with Time Machine

Hello, I searched dozens of threads before posting but I didn't find my specific topic.
I have a G5 (single CPU) with two internal hard drives plus one external drive. The original hard drive is only 80gb and it has been quite full for several years now. I purchased a second internal drive (150gb) about 3 or 4 years ago and have been storing all my files video and data files on the second drive. This created some additional space on the primary drive, but not much. I started off with OX 10.1 back in 2003 and have purchased the upgrades all the way to OX 10.5.4. I also have about 14000 photos in iPhoto that are stored on the primary drive because I can't figure out how to move my library to the second drive (where there is more space).
About a year ago, I purchased an iomega 500gb external drive (USB 2.0) that runs Time Machine.
I have not had any issues with any of the drives except for running out of space on the main drive. I accidentally deleted some of my wife's files once and used Time Machine as advertised.
My main drive has 4.7gb free
My second drive has 87gb free
My Time Machine drive has 205gb free.
I purchased a new 500gb internal drive.
I think my G5 will only take 2 internal drives total, so the original 80gb drive needs to go. How do I accomplish this? Should I make my 150gb the main drive, since it will be the smallest and therefore maybe the fastest for running the OS? If size of the drive doesn't matter, then should I just remove the 80gb drive, install the new 500gb in it's place and then boot using the OS X10.5 disk?
I suppose I could just let Time Machine restore the system, but do I really want OS X10.1 with a bunch of upgrades? It looks like my OS X 10.5 disk is a full version (it doesn't say 'upgrade only') on the box... Wouldn't my computer run better with a fresh OS X install and if so, is there a way to let Time Machine re-install my apps and user settings? I think I am running iLife 06 (which ever one has iMovieHD...) I also have Final Cut Express HD, CorelDraw suite and NeoOffice. Everything else is how the computer came back in 2003. I've never had any issues, so I am more than a little concerned that I am going to mess something up. You know that saying...."If it ain't broke....'
Any advice?
Regards

You do indeed have only two internal drive slots in your G5. To avoid having to try restoring everything from your TM backup what you could do is to be sure you force a final TM backup of the 80 GB drive before removing it. Install the new drive. Prepare the new drive - I suggest the following:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Upon completion of formatting quit DU and return to the installer. Now complete your installation of OS X. During this process you will be asked if you want to do a full restore from a TM backup. Skip this option. Once the installation has completed the computer will restart. After restarting you will see the Setup Assistant. When you've completed the Setup Assistant you will be given the option to migrate from a connected TM backup drive. Select this option. You can then migrate your Home folder, applications, and preferences. There is only one important caveat to this. When completing the setup you are asked to provide a username and password for the startup admin account. Do not use the same username as the Home folder you will migrate. Select a different username (short name is what it is also called.)
Once the migration has completed you can log out of the startup admin account and log into the migrated account. You can then delete the startup account unless you choose to keep it around for test purposes.
This process will not restore anything else from your backup except the Home folder, applications, and preferences. If there are items in your Home folder you would prefer not to migrate, then move them to the other hard drive.

Replaced hard drive with no iPhoto or iMovie

the people at my apple store had to replace my hard drive on my macbook air because it crashed. i just recently noticed that i don't have iMovie or iPhoto. I was doing research on this and it said to go to my purchases in the app store and download it again but nothing shows up? please help because i don't have 30$ to spend to replace them

Apps are locked to the account that purchased them. Either get the password or purhases with your account.
Also not the 90 day window discussed here:
iTunes Store: Associating a device or computer to your Apple ID

Replaced Hard drive with unsupported brand

Hello and thanks in advance for any one's input. I haves done some searching and found topics related to my question, but not exactly. I replaced the 40GB hard drive in my ThinkPad T43 and replaced it with a 250GB Western Digital Scorpio. I imaged the old drive to the new one and I am able to boot successfully and I am encountering no problems so far. (It has only been several hours) All I experience is the error at boot pertaining to my hard drive "may not be compatible" with the system.
I tried the hard drive firmware boot cd, but no firmware updates were available. (This is also when I realized that ThinkPads have "certain" types of supported hard drives.)
Basically I want to know what kind of problems I can expect to run into (if any) by using an unsupported hard drive. Could my drive be compatible and the system thinks it isn't?
Any advice would be helpful. Thanks. =]
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Deedlbug wrote:
Hello and thanks in advance for any one's input. I haves done some searching and found topics related to my question, but not exactly. I replaced the 40GB hard drive in my ThinkPad T43 and replaced it with a 250GB Western Digital Scorpio. I imaged the old drive to the new one and I am able to boot successfully and I am encountering no problems so far. (It has only been several hours) All I experience is the error at boot pertaining to my hard drive "may not be compatible" with the system.
I tried the hard drive firmware boot cd, but no firmware updates were available. (This is also when I realized that ThinkPads have "certain" types of supported hard drives.)
Basically I want to know what kind of problems I can expect to run into (if any) by using an unsupported hard drive. Could my drive be compatible and the system thinks it isn't?
Any advice would be helpful. Thanks. =]
Hi Deedlbug,
what specific 250GB Western Digital Scorpio hard drive did you get? I just did a search and I see several of them.
Is it the WD2500BEVS?
I recently bought a refurbished T43 (1871-FU1) for my little daughter, that came with 40GB. I'd like to upgrade the hard drive.
Thanks very much

Can I replace hard drive with Time Machine backup?

I couldn't phrase this right to see if some already asked. I have MacBook with a 250gb HDD and I have a new 500gb HDD. I bought a USB Hard Drive enclosure and have been backing up with Time Machine. So my question is, can I take out my 250gb HDD and put in my Time Machine Backed Up 500gb, and boot up like normal? Or are there some steps I need to do?

No, you cannot do what you've asked.
What you can do is this.
1) using your install DVDs or an install USB, install OSX on the external 500GB drive. When setup assistant starts, point it to your 250GB drive so all your settings and files get migrated over.
2) now you can swap drives and it should work. Have your install USB handy incase something goes wrong. Put the 250GB drive in your external enclosure so you can access it if needed for a reinstall.
good luck

What does Apple do with replaced hard drives?

My PowerBook G4 hard drive crashed just over a year ago, taking with it all of my Master's essays and assignments. They replaced it under Apple Care in Mexico City (I was living in Mexico at the time), but would not let me keep my old hard drive to recover the data. I still have the hard drive number and serial number. Is there any way to get it back after all this time? Where does Apple send old hard drives?

vaneska:
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
I am sorry that you lost all of your very valuable data. It is very unlikely that the HDD is recoverable anymore. It would have been better to try to recover the data before sending it in, but, of course, it is too late for that now. Indeed, it would have been even better if you had a reliable backup of your computer, and although it is too late for the information already lost, it is still a good idea to do regular backups of everything you can't afford to lose, preferably on an external Firewire Hard Disk Drive.
Good luck.
cornelius
Message was edited by: cornelius

Need help with replacing hard drive please

Can I upgrade to a hard drive that has SATA 3 interface with my Macbook Pro mid 2009 model?

It may well work and be backward compatible as jk said, however your machine was spec'd for one type of drive. For me, even if the older technology for the same capacity was slightly more in cost, I'd want to put that in my machine rather than something that may not be fully compatible. Just my opinion.

Replaced hard drive/ with new install, bad modification dates

Does anyone know how to get rid of bad modification dates that appeared when system (10.3.9) was re-installed after replacement of hard drive on powerbook?
Tech Tools Pro didn't fix it.
The dates for Sherlock, Text Edit, DVD player, ical,isync (even explorer) all say April 1, 1976. That's April Fool's Day and I was 30 years younger, but .... Any ideas?
Sharon

Sharon Chard-Yaron...
Something is odd here as a few weeks ago I was forced into a reformat and a reinstall of my Mac OS.
I reformatted / partitioned / installed Mac OS 10.3.5(+) first, as it is where my Panther CD set starts from. However it prompted me to confirm that my dates was corrected before continuing with the install. It seemed rather serious that unpredictable results could happen if those dates was wrong.
(+)(Later of course, I did update to 10.3.9 from my backup of download goodies and Software Update panel.)
Anyway, my time and dates was messed up and I reset them from within that install.
Now- did you get any time/date prompt during the install like I did?
Mac OS 10 installs so many files that I feel it could be a disaster waiting for a time/date to happen on. Unless there is some gifted fix utility that I am not aware of, nothing short to re-doing everything would clear my conscience to a bug free install.
...Ron

How do I unlock My Documents folder in the hard-drive with another PC?

I have a 3000 series j100 desktop, 3 days ago restarted on its own and can't boot anymore, no keyboard, no mouse and no monitor signal sent from the pc.
I took the drive out and use it as an external drive to my laptop, but it asks for a password before I can access My Documents folder.
I believe it's the windows xp login password that's needed, but there's no field on that pop-up box to enter any password it asks.
I know my windows login password, but I don't know if that's what really needed and how to use it to unlock the folder.
Is there another way to access the folder, or do I need to get the computer working again to access the folder in the drive?
I also do have some encrypted files inside My Documents folder that I created with windows when the pc was working.
The encryption comes along with windows xp. When you right-click a file, you choose properties and advance option then apply the encryption, then the file name turns color to green.
Could it be the reason I can't access My Documents folder in the drive with another pc?
Please help, I need to know if I need to do a recovery job or is there an easy way to access My Documents folder in the drive with another computer.

Hello jmeo, welcome to Lenovo forum.
You will need to remember that password, because this subject is not allowed to be discussed here as stated in the forum rules.
"No posts shall include instructions or directions intended to subvert security measures, including passwords, locking mechanisms, fingerprint scans, etc, nor shall any posts provide descriptions to the location of, nor direct links to content related to these topics."
I'm very sorry, but I have to lock this thread.
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Macbook telling me that my external hard drive with a usb is pulling too much power and has been dialed what do I do

I have been using my Seagate Free Agent 500g external hard drive for years without even a hint of a glitch but this morning I trying plugging in the usb and got an error message that stated that the hard drive was pulling too much power and was being diabled. So now I cannot get the hard drive to connect period. What do I do - could it be a power cord issue?

Hi cactus flower,
If you are getting a message that a USB device such as your external hard drive is drawing too much power, there are a number of things you can do. I would suggest the steps in this article -
Apple Computers and Displays: Powering peripherals through USB
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4049
Specifically this section -
Troubleshooting
If you have a peripheral (such as a hard drive, audio device, or camera) that is acting unexpectedly—such as not turning on or not being recognized by the computer—the peripheral may require more power than is available. If you have a USB peripheral or a chain of devices, such as a joystick plugged into a keyboard, which requires more than the available power try one of these options:
Use a USB hub that comes with a power adapter.
Check that the peripheral offers the ability to connect to more than one USB port at once.
Find out if the peripheral comes with a power adapter.
If you cannot confirm your device's use with a hub, connect the device directly to the Apple computer.
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Brett L

Airport Express with printer & hard drive with Time Machine

I have a MacBook that I'd like to backup its data. Concerned about the following (in level of concern from highest to lowest): theft, crash, fire.
I currently have an Airport Express with a Brother printer attached to it that my PC and MacBook print to.
I am really in a dilemma as to what to do. I was looking into Carbonite to get an offsite backup location of my data. (I figured offsite would cover all concerns of losing data due to theft, fire, or just a crash) However, Carbonite does not hold onto data you delete (ie, my photos and videos will fill up my hard drive eventually and I'd like to just archive them in one central spot when I am done accessing them on a regular basis-- ie delete them off my MacBook hard drive). That is like $55/year to do Carbonite... but, the only thing that will help me with over a hard drive in my house is a fire (and theft if a burglar were to find where my backup drive was in the house).-- Of course, I'd probably want a different location for my hard drive for that reason -- so, I'd have to buy another airport or just a time machine that has the wifi built in.
I've read lots of issues with the Western Digital trying to download programs onto your computer... I have one for my PC that I backed up photos manually and it did try to install programs when I attached it to my PC... not so much my Mac when I took some photos off it. I looked into getting another portable hard drive at Costco for my Mac, but realized that it would require reformatting to use on my Mac (as it was built for a PC).... something I wasn't sure if I was computer-savvy enough to do or if I did do it, would I end up with issues later on?
Anyhow... in the end, what do you all do to backup your data, especially photos and videos? Do you have smaller hard drives that you back up to and then when full move them to an offsite location? Can you have more than one "hard drive" backing up..... I was thinking it would be nice to have one larger hard drive that would potentially hold all my photos and videos so I can access anytime, but then have smaller drives of the same data that I can take to a safe deposit box and use as my super secure backup (no fire, no theft, no crash).
btw, When doing time machine, does it keep all the metadata with each photo?
Burning CD's is time consuming.... and, I have heard there are different qualities of disks out there... archival v. not... how long do the archival last v. the non-archival... or is that more of an issue for future generations not being able to access our photos?

You need to remember that the Time Capsule is both a wireless router and a hard drive all in one enclosure. If you don't need a wireless router, around $150 of the $300 for a Time Capsule is going to be in the router portion of the device.
The nice thing about the Time Capsule is that it is a network drive. All Macs running Leopard or Snow Leopard will be able to back up automatically to a single device. The first generation of Time Capsules about two years ago had some power supply problems that affected some users. Apple announced a program for these users to replace their Time Capsules.
So, it depends on your requirements. If you are looking for a new, dual band wireless router and want to backup your Macs running Leopard or Snow Leopard automatically using ethernet or wireless, the Time Capsule is a logical choice.
If you don't need a new router, then you'll need to look at a separate hard drive that will be attached directly to the computer using the USB or FireWire port. If you have two Macs, you'll have to get two hard drives if you want to do Time Machine backups correctly.
Most hard drives can be reformatted to work with Mac if you don't mind a few extra steps and Disk Utility (Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility) does not look too complicated for you.
Message was edited by: Bob Timmons

Replaced hard drive and iTunes does not recognize my laptop

My 2011 MacBook Pro froze up and when I rebooted the folder error came up. Replaced hard drive with a SSD drive and my new OS has a new name. When I logged into ITunes I had to delete an account due to my limit being reached. My old Mac ID was showing and it was signed up for the cloud at a fee of $24.00. The same MacBook but with a new hard drive had a new ID and I can not restore any of my pics or ITunes music. Am I missing a step or can I rename my Mac so it will match my old ID? If I rename it can I download my old info off of ITunes?? Thanks

I'm not following much of the question and for me it would help to get some terms straight. You only "log into" the iTunes Store (online). What account was this and what limit??
Old Mac ID? Your AppleID is what you use to log into the store. It does not change with computers. You always use the same one, perhaps updating the email address from time to time.
By the cloud do you mean iTunes Match?
Sure, your computer hard drive has a new name (you can rename it -- my series of drives have kept the same name for 23 years now). That doesn't affect logging into the Store. Start up iTunes, log into the Store using your same Apple ID, download available past purchases, and if you have the Match service download your other music too. You may have to authorize the computer again. I don't know which part of the computer is used for authentication and if that got lost with the old drive.

MacBook shows only folder with ?. Replaced hard drive with same results.

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