My cd drive is dead, I think.

A couple years back, my cd drive died. I would now like to install OS X from OS 9 but have no way of using the disk drive. I have an old iomega cd drive some one gave me but I can't boot from it. I would like to replace the drive probably with an external drive maybe even to a DVD but no one seems to be able to tell me which to buy. Apple doesn't support external drives, they are as little help. Any ideas out there?
Thanks!

DVDs and CSs operate at different wavelengths and all drives on the market use separate LED lasers for the DVD and CD functions. It's not uncommon for one LED to fail while the other still operates. Before replacing the drive, through, try running a CD lens cleaner through the drive for a few passes. DVD and CD LEDs in all cases I'm aware of run through different lenses, so it's possible your drive's CD lens has enough grime on it to prevent it from working while the DVD lens is still relatively clear.
If that doesn't fix the problem, then it's easy to attach an external optical drive and use that. Go with Firewire; while your 1.25 GHz eMac has USB 2.0, USB driver support is more problematic while Firewire support is pretty solid. A Firewire drive will also allow you to use the external drive as a boot device per Startup Manager: Select a Startup Volume.
OS X 10.3 and later will support disc burning to an external drive from the Finder, so you don't even need additional software such as Toast (although an optical drive bundled with Toast will give you more control over disc burning than what's built into the Finder).

Similar Messages

Hard Drive is dead - deciding what to do next

Hi all,
My computer is a 12 inch Powerbook G4. My hard drive is dead.
Here's what happened. Night before last my powerbook was freezing randomly. In retrospect the HDD was making some clicking noises but not consistently. Following morning it freezes one last time. On reboot, it won't finish starting up.
I run Tech Tool and all the HDD scans fail. I use Disk Utility on the Tiger OS CD and it also comes back saying that the HDD has failed. All the repair attempts by these tools fail. I read some articles here in the forum that led me to pay the $5 and download Data Rescue II boot cd file to try and see if I can recover anything. I'm burn the disk image to a cd, but am unable to boot off the disc.
I make an appointment at the Genius Bar at my local Apple Store to basically confirm what I think has happened. They hookup their firewire drive and see that basically there is nothing viewable on the HDD and that it is dead. Since I'm out of warranty, Apple's repair option is to pay around $300 to send it to their repair facility. I'm thinking I may do the replacement myself.
So, my understanding is that the drive that's in there is a 60GB 4200-rpm Ultra ATA/100 hard drive. My question is can I upgrade to faster, larger capacity drive? How do I know what drive will work?
Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

If you want size, definitely get the 250GB drive. It is the largest-to-date drive. I remember just "weeks" ago when I recommended this option to some folks, people thought I was fibbing since the previous option for largest drive was 160GB.
They also thought I might have been confusing it with the SATA drive for MacBook and MacBook Pro computers.
If you're looking at speed, then it's the 100GB drive at 7200RPMs. I'm sure eventually, they will come out with a higher capacity for the 7200RPMs, much like the 250GB story.
I debated over that myself, when I decided to tackle upgrading the drive on my other PowerBook, the 15-inch one. Those are easier. I don't think I will ever pop open the 12-inch PowerBook to do any work on it.
250GB gets space. I wanted it, but at the time, didn't have the money. I got a great deal on a Seagate 160GB 5400.3 RPM drive (the ".3" stand for the version drive you get). It was less than retail because of a price match, plus a store credit coupon I had.
So I went for it. Plus, this drive had Seagate's "perpendicular recording" technology that makes it just as fast--so reviews said--as the 100GB 7200RPM drives.
And 5400RPM vs. 7200RPM drives are really nominal in speed difference. It's not noticeable, according to my research. Where it is noticeable is video editing, and intense tasks. Then there's the factor of higher capacity drives with slower speeds, beating out lower capacity drives with higher speeds.
But I don't want to go in to that. I'll be talking all day!

CD/DVD drive is dead (+ some more)

My CD/DVD combo drive is dead, and I'm looking for a do-it-yourself fix.
Some important notes (maybe):
-It started with a CD getting stuck in the tray during one of my many logic board freezes. When I restarted the computer, the CD wouldn't come out, so I opened it by putting something sharp into that little hole. After that it won't respond.
-It doesn't work when rebooting into OS 9
-The open-button on the keyboard doesn't respond at all, and no icon comes up on the screen when I press it.
From what I've read elsewhere, apple-support claims that the last two points means that the drive is dead and gone, and I need to replace it.
BUT...it seems strange to me that the drive would suddenly stop working when I used that hole to open the tray. Can it really destroy the drive to use that way of opening it? And what about that logic board freeze that started it all? Can that potentially ruin the drive? Or could this be a software problem?
As for the logic board issues, Apple's answer has always been "replace the enitre board". Later it turns out that it's only a few connections gone bad, and you can actually fix it for much cheaper than what Apple suggests. Actually, you can fix it youself for free. So could it be the same way with the CD-drive? That Apple tells people to change the drive, while there might be an easier and cheaper fix?
So to sum up:
1) Could the CD/DVD issue be a software-issue, despite the fact that the button is unresponsive and that it also won't work in OS 9? If so, how can I fix it? Are there any drivers I can try to re-install?
2) If this is a hardware-problem, is it possible to fix it yourself? Like, opening up the computer and connect what needs to be connected? If anyone knows of a DIY-guide, please give me a link.
And last, just a suggestion:
I think the apple-support forum should start using 'stickies'. It would help alot of people, and also take some load of from the staff.
There are DIY-fixes (that really work) for the following:
- logic board freezes
- dead trackpad
- dead screen
- CD reading-issues
....and probably more.
Would be nice if you could gather all these DIY fixes as stickies on the top of each forum-list, cause right now it's kind of hard to find anything helpfull without having to ask. And I see that you keep refering to earlier posts over and over again, so why not just make stickies of them?
Thanks.

1) No. Since it won't work in OS 9, either, it is most likely a hardware issue. Apple says to use a straightened paperclip to open the drive manually. I'm not sure that "something sharp" wouldn't damage the drive mechanism, since a straightened paperclip is not sharp.
2) It's probably going to take a new (or used) drive. You can find one at PowerBook Tech. They also have instructions for replacing it, but it's not an easy thing to do. (You could also maybe find one on eBay.)
Another set of instructions for replacing the optical drive can be found at iFixit. iFixit also has the drive available for purchase, but it's more expensive there.
If you don't want the Combo drive, a CD-ROM or DVD drive can probably be had for less money. eBay may have some really good buys from people parting out their iBooks. Look for somebody with a good feedback profile.
Good luck.

How do you boot from an external drive when internal drive is dead?

The internal drive is dead, but I have a complete dupolicate on my fire-wire external drive. I think I remember reading that there is a combination of keys to press down when starting to allow one to choose which drive to use as a startup volume. As it is, the thing won't start up at all.
So I know it's supposed to run from the external drive, but how do you get it to boot from it without having designated it as the startup when it was last running?

Hold down the Option key when booting the computer.
When I asked the question I was working on my daughter's ibook.
Now I'm back home and I have a firewall external drive, so I tried pressing option when I started and icons for startup drive come up BUT there is only one icon -- that being for my internal drive. I know that the external drive, which has a duplicate of the internal, is capable of starting it up ok, because when I go ahead and , after starting it up on the internal drive, then pick the external drive to start and then restart it, it goes to the external drive ok. But again, if it has been preferrenced to start on the internal drive and I do the thing by pressing with option when I start, it doesn't give me the option to use the external drive. (The external drive is partioned, and the duplicate startup is in one of the volumes, but I don't think this should have anything to do with anything, since it can start up using the appropriate external hard drive volume when I have selected it in my preferences.)
G4 tower Mac OS X (10.3.9)
G4 tower Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Dead hard drive or Dead ata bus?

I think I just had my internal ata boot drive die, but I'm not sure if it's the drive or the bus. When I boot from the install disc and do System Profiler it doesn't even show the hard drive ATA Bus, it only shows the dvd drive ATA Bus. If I remove the hard drive and reboot to the install disc, it does show both ATA Buses. Could that be a short in the hard drive?
Now I'm looking at my backups, and to add insult to injury it looks like my main backup drive is dead, too! My most recent backup on a different drive is two months old. Aaagh! I just lost thanksgiving and christmas photos. I've had nothing but problems with my two western digital drives - not using them again.

Hi, Paul -
If I remove the hard drive and reboot to the install disc, it does show both ATA Buses. Could that be a short in the hard drive?
A failed hard drive can sometimes take down the ATA bus it is connected to, or even take down all ATA buses (the latter happened to me one time).
...it looks like my main backup drive is dead, too!
If it hasn't taken the bus down, the data on it may be salvageable at reasonable expense. There's a couple of utilities available designed to recover data from drives that are mechanically sound, but which refuse to mount for some reason; both have try-before-you-buy demo modes -
Data Rescue
Virtual Lab
If the backup drive was on the same bus as the boot drive discussed previously, you may need to change its jumpers in order for it to be recognized again. Western Digital drives often have a third jumper position, Single, which is to be used when the drive is the only device on the bus (on those drives, Master is used when there is also a Slave present).

I have 4 devices on an iTunes whose computer hard drive is dead. How do I get my devices on a new iTunes on a different computer and not wipe out my contents?

I have 4 devices (iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4s, iPad2, Mini iPad) on an iTunes whose computer hard drive is dead. How do I get my devices on a new iTunes on a different computer and not wipe out my contents?

This should be of great help to you.
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991
Or this one.
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141

My hard drive is DEAD.I have to reinstall all my Adobe programms and I need to know exactly the correct process to do ( Indesign CS6-Photoshop CS6 - Photoshop CS5 -Illustrator CS6 - Ligntroom 4 )....

My hard drive is DEAD.I have to reinstall all my Adobe programms and I need to know exactly the correct process to do ( Indesign CS6-Photoshop CS6 - Photoshop CS5 -Illustrator CS6 - Ligntroom 4 )....
is any friendly tutorial available ?
Thank you
Albert

If you didn't have the opportunity to deactivate the installations then you should contact Adobe Support thru chat and ask them to reset your activations for all the serial numbers involved.
Chat support - For the link below click the Still Need Help? option in the blue area at the bottom and choose the chat option...
Make sure you are logged in to the Adobe site, have cookies enabled, clear your cookie cache. If it continues to fail try using a different browser.
Serial number and activation chat support (non-CC)
http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/service1.html ( http://adobe.ly/1aYjbSC )
Then you just reinstall the programs and activate using the same serial numbers. If you need to download you can find download available thru the following links...
CS5 - http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/cs5-product-downloads.html
CS6 - http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/cs6-product-downloads.html
Lightroom - all versions
Windows
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=113&platform=Windows
Mac
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=113&platform=Macintosh
You might also find the following helpful...
Download and Installation Help -
https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install.html

Drive is dead

hi my drive is dead i try to insert a disc but it wont take it. has any one got any suggestions on what i can do to fix this before i take it in to the shop.
many thanks.

To all with this issue:
Does your Mac recognize its internal Combo Drive?
my fiancee has a year-old iBook G4 that all of a sudden stopped recognizing the combo drive. it doesn't show up in the system profiler at all, which means the "drutil eject" trick in terminal doesn't work, either (just get a message to the effect of no drive to eject).
so i had come on to the forums and had no luck with the suggestions (stopping short of taking it to an apple store), but then when we upgraded the OS to 10.3.9, the drive showed up again and we were able to eject the disk.
unfortunately, a few days later, the same thing happened. now, we can't just go waiting to eject the disk until apple updates the OS, of course. but at the same time this doesn't sound entirely like a hardware problem.
would resetting the PRAM work in this case, in anyone's opinion? i could try that the next time i'm near her computer (i'm travelling now). or should we just suck it up and take it to the apple store and have them take a look? she's to the point where she'd rather just not have the drive work (and never get her disk back) then spend any more money on the laptop.
thanks in advance for your help.
bryan
Powerbook (1.5 GHz PowerPC G4) Mac OS X (10.3.9)
Powerbook (1.5 GHz PowerPC G4)
Mac OS X (10.3.9)

HP pavilion laptop Dv6000's internal drive is dead

My HP pavilion laptop Dv6000's internal drive is dead, I need to replace it.
It is a WD Scorpio WD 1200B EVS - 60UST0 120GB.
This disk is not manufactured anymore. Do you know which disk I should buy?
Thank you.

Hi:
You can probably get by with any 2.5" notebook hard drive 250 - 500 GB on your model series.
Keep your old drive as you will need to transfer the caddy, connector and screws to the new one you get.
Some suggested replacements...
7,200 for best performance (slightly less battery time between charges over a 5,400 RPM drive).
250
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136279
500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136856
5,400:
250
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236238
You will also need a set of recovery disks which you may be able to order by reading the info at the link below:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=bph07143&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en
If your PC came with windows vista and you can still read the whole product key on the bottom of the PC, you can make your own Vista installation disk as follows:
If you're up to a slight but rewarding challenge you can make your own if you can read your 25 character Vista product key on the PC.
Just download the 3 files you need at the link below, and read all of the instructions to create a bootable DVD installation disk using imageburn.
Disregard the part of the text under the first screen shot about "extract the files to the Vista folder."
The files were already extracted to that folder when you ran the X14.exe file by reading the text on top of the first screen shot.
The other thing I noticed is on the 4th screen shot, where it shows Developer ID Microsoft Corporation. I had to type Microsoft Corporation in myself, and then the other codes automatically populated.
When I went to compile the ISO file, ImageBurn gave a message that about a WIM file and ISO, and if I wanted to burn it in a different format.
I selected No, make the ISO file.
It was not that hard to do. I burned both the 64 bit disk and the 32 bit disk in case I ever need them.
I tested both of them an my hp dc7100 CMT desktop PC, they worked perfectly.
When you enter the product key, it knows what version of Vista you have.
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/w/microsoft_os/3317.2-3-microsoft-windows-v....
After you successfully install Vista, you can then install the drivers from your PC's support and driver page.
Paul

Combo-drive is dead

Seems like out of nowhere, seeing it was working fine a few days ago, but my combo-drive looks dead. No type of media works. Once, iTunes was able to retrieve cd info online, but then couldn't read the disk. And when I insert the software DVDs that were included, a message pops up saying 'you have inserted a blank dvd, what would you like to do...' then immediately goes to a message saying the device is not recognized. On every other occasion, when media is put in, a message comes up saying the drive cannot read the disk.
On top of that, when I open 'About this Mac' from the apple drop menu and select the Disc burning tab, sometimes it details the drive, but other times says that nothing is installed.
The ibook is 3 weeks old and I was fairly impressed until now. Also, it's late, there are things I need off cd, and the only real support at this time is online chat, limited to imacs. Weak.

To all with this issue:
Does your Mac recognize its internal Combo Drive?
my fiancee has a year-old iBook G4 that all of a sudden stopped recognizing the combo drive. it doesn't show up in the system profiler at all, which means the "drutil eject" trick in terminal doesn't work, either (just get a message to the effect of no drive to eject).
so i had come on to the forums and had no luck with the suggestions (stopping short of taking it to an apple store), but then when we upgraded the OS to 10.3.9, the drive showed up again and we were able to eject the disk.
unfortunately, a few days later, the same thing happened. now, we can't just go waiting to eject the disk until apple updates the OS, of course. but at the same time this doesn't sound entirely like a hardware problem.
would resetting the PRAM work in this case, in anyone's opinion? i could try that the next time i'm near her computer (i'm travelling now). or should we just suck it up and take it to the apple store and have them take a look? she's to the point where she'd rather just not have the drive work (and never get her disk back) then spend any more money on the laptop.
thanks in advance for your help.
bryan
Powerbook (1.5 GHz PowerPC G4) Mac OS X (10.3.9)
Powerbook (1.5 GHz PowerPC G4)
Mac OS X (10.3.9)

I think my hard drive's dead; would like to know more about support

This is a couple questions, but namely, what's the most effective way to get your iMac turned in for repair? Should I just schedule a time to go to a Genius bar and bring it in, or do I need to go through the whole process of making a support phone call?
My iMac had a problem yesterday with a blinking question mark folder. I tried doing a disk repair, but it failed a couple times on me. I then formatted the drive (I have Time Machine, so I'm hoping I have that backed up at least), reinstalled OS X, but then it wouldn't boot afterwards.
After looking at the forums, I've seen a couple tips on getting some more verbose output from the monitor when booting (like holding Command + V for verbose output, Command + Option + P + R for resetting the PRAM (or VRAM?)), and after getting a more verbose output, I'm pretty sure this error clinched it for me:
/etc/rc: line 258: 27 Segmentation fault launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons /System/Library/LaunchDaemons /etc/mach_init.d
SystemStarter[29]: ipconfig waitall: Segmentation fault
So now I'm packing up my computer to take to support. I believe a seg. fault is about as bad as a hard drive can get when it dies, but I was wondering if anyone knows how good support is with these kinds of repairs, what kind of response I could expect from the Genius Bar, turnaround for a new hard drive (or will they just switch my whole computer out with another that works?), etc., etc.
I purchased the AppleCare, so I have coverage until 2010, so I should be covered.
Thanks in advance,
Nick
P.S. Is there any way to change my alias on these forums? I'm kind of past putting a handle down for my name, when I'm pretty sure a first name would be more useful for everybody.
null

Hello Nick:
You could schedule an appointment and then take the Mac in for repair. Alternatively, you could call Applecare and schedule a home repair. I know of a couple of people who have done this and were satisfied. If the drive does need to be repaired/replaced) be sure you get good instructions on retrieving your data (there are knowledge base articles that address that process (looks straightforward, but I have not done it myself).
As far as the name change, I think it would make sense just to set up an entirely new profile (as you only have six posts on this one). One of the things I did when I first signed on many moons ago is to decide that my name (not an alias) would be most useful. That has proved to be the case.
Barry

I think my CD drive is dead-can I hook up an external CD drive to my Emac?

when I insert a CD I hear a couple of clicking type sounds and then the disk ejects. DVD's are playing fine. I tried repairing the disk and booting from one of my install CD's and it didn't work.
Thanks

DVDs and CSs operate at different wavelengths and all drives on the market use separate LED lasers for the DVD and CD functions. It's not uncommon for one LED to fail while the other still operates. Before replacing the drive, through, try running a CD lens cleaner through the drive for a few passes. DVD and CD LEDs in all cases I'm aware of run through different lenses, so it's possible your drive's CD lens has enough grime on it to prevent it from working while the DVD lens is still relatively clear.
If that doesn't fix the problem, then it's easy to attach an external optical drive and use that. Go with Firewire; while your 1.25 GHz eMac has USB 2.0, USB driver support is more problematic while Firewire support is pretty solid. A Firewire drive will also allow you to use the external drive as a boot device per Startup Manager: Select a Startup Volume.
OS X 10.3 and later will support disc burning to an external drive from the Finder, so you don't even need additional software such as Toast (although an optical drive bundled with Toast will give you more control over disc burning than what's built into the Finder).

I think my iPod's hard drive is dead.

Today I plugged in my disk-use enabled iPod to retrieve some game-saves i had backed up to it. Through copying them, it said: "Cannot copy [filename]. Parameter is incorrect.". I tried it repeatedly and with different files, resetting, rebooting and reinstalling along the way. After this happens, trying to open any of the folders in the iPod result in an error message: "Please insert a disk into I:".
I think its safe to say, my iPod is a brick. My question is twofold: Is there any way to retrieve the data or resuscitate it and will my warantee cover this.

hmmm try to open iTunes before You sync Ipod on your computer ( like you want to play some music before you connect your iPod ). After it iTunes is fully open connect ipod.
Is your iPod showing " do not disconnect " stuff? If it is it would take a while before it sync ( installing his own software on iPod, which might be damaged or something ). If it's taking too long ( do no half an hour ) try to install iTunes you got with your iPod.
Hope this help.
Intel Pentium 4 Windows XP Pro 1024GB DDR SDRAM BOX, 3.0GHz Intel pentium 4 processor

How to get data from hard drive in dead iMac?

I have an old slot-loading iMac (350Mhz G3 blueberry) that just died, probably a dead power supply or something. Won't turn on at all. I don't care about restoring it, I just want to take the hard drive out and grab data from it. I've found instructions for removing the HD ... but any tips on the best/cheapest way to hook it up to get data from it? It's EIDE I believe from what I've read so far. Thanks for any help.

Hey Richard.....Thanks for the reply to my question about my wife's dead iMac.....
Her iMac had been acting up lately, mostly to do with her Outlook Express freezing up in OS9. I dunno if OS9 was freezing or if the application was failing. Regardless, I would have to quit OS9, restart Outlook which at the same time restarted OS9. All would be fine for a while, a day or two and then the scene would repeat itself. But I think that issue is separate from the iMac being "dead". Often we have power outages in the area, more than we should. I had the iMac plugged into a battery backup, some APS product I think it is. I believe it is only good for less than an hour as we have other devices drawing on it too. Most of our power outages are of short duration, just enough to be aggravating, sometimes having to reset clocks, etc...And a couple times, I would have to reset the time and date on the iMac so this told me that the PRAM battery was below minimum voltage. But the iMac would ALWAYS restart, even with the low battery. But the most recent outage, about one hour duration, did in the iMac, somehow or other. I do believe the battery backup basically fully discharged. So I removed the battery, could not find a new battery locally so I drove to the big city and paid the local Apple service dealer a visit. I got ripped big time price wise, embarrassed to say. So I get home, put the battery in the holder, depressed the CMU reset, the powerbutton illuminated as did a green LED by the memory modules for less than three seconds and then quit. I also heard the HD trying to spin up and a high voltage THUMP which I assume is the CRT trying to ignite. If I unplugged the iMac, removed the battery, plug in the power again and hit the power button, the iMac would repeat the same short on period and then quit. So it did not seem to make any difference if there was a battery in place. I read somewhere to pull the battery, pull the AC cord, hold down the power button to dump any current (?) and let the unit sit for 24hrs. After that length of time, I was supposed to replace the battery, depress the CMU reset, wait ten seconds and then feed it AC. Well, when I pressed the power button, I heard life for maybe five seconds, maybe a second longer, then a beep and then it shut down. I pulled the AC cord, pulled the battery, re-inserted the battery, depressed the CMU reset, waited a few seconds, plugged in the AC cord, depressed the power button and I am back at the under three seconds of "power-up" and then nothing, dead, no beep, nothing. I think maybe it is a waste of time trying to mess with this unit, looking for a newer iMac on eBay, the snowball series with the 17" LCD, might be time better spent. Hate throwing stuff away, that's why I am up to my ears in junk, maybe u know that scenario. The wife likes my 19" ACER LCD screen, hooked up to this old dual 800mhz, though she dislikes the noise and the tower. But we both agree the large LCD screen is much easier on our aging eyes than the old iMac CRT. Anyway, I appreciate your help, always GREAT to correspond with an Apple fan.....John Bauer

I need to reload system software on G5 tower but DVD drive is dead ...

My G5 tower won't boot. It hangs up just as the blue progress bar reaches all the way to the right. I'm sure I need to reload the system software, but the DVD drive is also on the fritz and I can't use it. I put an old G4 TiBook into target disc mode, hooked it up to the G5, held the option key down at startup and I was able to get the G5 to boot – so I'm sure the hard drive is not dead.
Any suggestions? How can I use an apple system DVD disc and reload the software? Is there another way? I looked at some old G4s I have lying around, thinking I would pull a drive out of there and use it, but it just looked too hard to do. Is there a way to use Carbon Copy Cloner? I have free firewire drive space. Can I just copy the system file from the G4 TiBook onto the G5?
Sorry, I can't tell you the OS, I think it's 10.4.?, but I forget!

reboot the G5 from the Ti target disk, slip the DVD in when you hit the desktop, tell it to reboot from the DVD - open the install OS X icon from the disc, enter pw & click restart.
another thing you might try is imaging the dvd to a firewire drive or partition on the Ti book... backup the tibook first if you resort to that.

My cd drive is dead, I think.

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