New mac vs. replace hard drive?

My iMac hard drive totally died, crashed, stopped working. : (
Do you suggest getting a totally new computer or just replacing the hard drive? What are the advantages/disadvantages of either choice (cost, difficulty, etc.)

Well I would do this first, Try using Disk Utility to do a Disk Repair, as shown in this link, while booted up on your install disk.
You could have some directory corruption. Let us know what errors Disk Utility reports and if DU was able to repair them. Disk Utility's Disk Repair is not perfect and may not find or repair all directory issues. A stronger utility may be required to finish the job.
After that Repair Permissions.
No need to report Permissions errors....we all get them.
Post back if this didn't help!
 DALE

Similar Messages

How do I transfer imovie projects and events to new mac from external hard drive

bought a macbook pro retina. backed up 3yr old macbook pro to external hard drive. how do I transfer imovie projects and events to new mac? thanks!

Hi dalbatross,
Welcome to the Support Communities!
Did you set up your new computer by creating a Time Machine backup and restoring from it?
If so, the Events and Projects that were on your internal Macintosh HD would copied to your new computer.
Here is another way to copy the events & projects to the new computer from the external drive:
iMovie Help: Work with multiple libraries
http://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.0/#mov3fa25bae7
Copy or move projects, events, or clips between libraries or hard disks
Connect a hard disk that contains the target library to your computer, or copy the target library to your computer.
Choose File > Open Library, and choose an option from the submenu.You can choose from recently opened libraries at the top of the submenu, locate an existing library on your computer, or create a new library.
The selected library is opened in the Libraries list, with the first event selected and its contents displayed in the browser.
In the Libraries list, select the event that contains the item you want to move or copy.
In the browser, select the item you want to move or copy.Note: To select multiple items, hold down the Command key as you click the items you want to select, or drag a selection rectangle around the items.
Do one of the following:
To move items between events or libraries: Drag the clip or project to another event or library.
To copy items between events or libraries: Option-drag the clip or project to another event or library by first starting to drag and then holding down the Option key as you drag.
Cheers,
- Judy

New Mac user-External Hard Drive question...

Just purchased my 1st Mac/the new Mac mini. Arrived today & am very impressed.
Set-up, right out of the box, was incredibly SIMPLE and I cant believe what a little dynamo this thing is! I've thought about 'switching' to a Mac from PC for quite a while, but was always a little nervous, so I've patiently watched & waited from the sidelines- until now - and it was well worth the wait.
My 'question' is, can anyone recommend a good external hard drive I can use interchangeably between my PC & my new Mini? Still using the PC until I get completely acclimated with Mac platform/etc - I'd like something with at least
1TB storage. Thanks!

derosky wrote:
I'm a new Mac user. My question is: Do I need a external hard drive to create a back up? Can I create abackup on a DVD or Hard Drive in MB. Please explain this to me. When I want to configure Time Machine it displays me no Drives to create a back up.
Time Machine requires an external hard drive
You can back up by other means to CDs or DVDs
If you are a .MAC customer you get a decent backup program that backs up to your iDisk and/or to CD-DVD
You would NOT want to back up to your internal drive since that would accomplish nothing - a dead or messed up HD is no good for either the beginning part of the other part where the backup is
LN

Logic Express 8 Disc, updated to new mac with no hard drive? Can i download anywhere?

I have updated to a MacBook Pro retinad display, can i find a download for logic express 8 as there is obviously no hard drive on my new mac?

Hi,
thank you for the reply.
I spoke to an apple genius the other day and he mentioned that i could use the old mac wirelessly to load logic express on my new mac, without the need for transferring and using up memory on the new drive?
any idea how this is done?
Luke

Mac Mini replacement hard drive - will any 2.5" SATA drive fit?

I want to upgrade the hard drive in my Early 2009 Mac Mini. I see lots of good info online about how to disassemble and reassemble the Mini. But I can't find any info about hard drive compatibility.
Will any 2.5" laptop SATA drive fit the Mini? I want to make sure that all the connectors and mounting holes will line up correctly. I am thinking about Western Digital Scorpio Black.
Anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks for the help!
Dave

I want to upgrade the hard drive in my Early 2009 Mac Mini. I see lots of good info online about how to disassemble and reassemble the Mini. But I can't find any info about hard drive compatibility.
Will any 2.5" laptop SATA drive fit the Mini? I want to make sure that all the connectors and mounting holes will line up correctly. I am thinking about Western Digital Scorpio Black.
Anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks for the help!
Dave

Can I associate an existing TM backup with a new replacement hard drive?

Hi all. I have a Mac Pro and just added a new, larger and faster hard drive as my primary system drive. I used Super Duper to clone the original over to the new. All is working fine on that front.
My question is as follows. I was using a Time Capsule to back up the original hard drive. Time Machine sees my new hard drive as an entirely new backup set (for which there is not sufficient space on the TC), rather than a continuation/clone of my existing backup set. Is there a way to tell Time Machine that it should use the existing sparsebundle as the base from which to make further incremental backups, rather than starting from scratch? I would strongly prefer this over deleting the existing sparsebundle and losing the month or two of existing incremental backups, should I need to pluck some file from the past.
I found a tip on the Mac OS X Hints web site that involved using Terminal to force Time Machine to use my new drive's UUID, but I simply couldn't get it to work. Any suggestions out there? It seems like it shouldn't be as rare a need as my extensive searches seem to suggest.
Thanks!!!

Hello Barty,
is your library referenced or managed?
If your Aperture Library is managed, then you can simply copy it to your new external drive using the Finder. Make a backup of your old library and convince yourself that the backup is working.
If your library is referenced, then use Aperture to relocate your master image files to the external drive (select all images, then File -> Relocate Master), then copy your Library to the external drive using the Finder.
To point Aperture to the new library location, double click the new Aperture Library to open Aperture with it. Test it thoroughly, before you delete the original library.
You might consider only to relocate the master images to your external drive and to leave the then much smaller Aperure Library on your system drive. That way Aperture will work faster, and you will be able to browse and share your images, even when our external drive is not connected.
Regards
Léonie

The first time I connected my new My Passport portable hard drive to my Mac, the message asking if I want to use the drive to back up with Time Machine did not appear. What is the next step?

The first time I connected my new My Passport portable hard drive to my MacBook Pro, the message asking if I want to use the drive to back up with Time Machine did not appear. I would like to set it up to do this. What would my next step be?

Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
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 Security 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.
Open Time Machine preferences to select this drive for use as the backup drive. Turn on Time Machine.

I went to Mac Store and had replaced hard drive because I encountered 4HDD ERROR(hard drive failure). I had backed up my old hard drive by TIME MACHINE regularly. Now how can I restore everything I had?

I went to Mac Store and had replaced hard drive because I encountered 4HDD ERROR(hard drive failure). I had backed up my old hard drive by TIME MACHINE regularly. Now how can I restore everything I had?

Thanks for your response.
I had tried COMMAND+ALT+R which led me to directly to INTERNET RECOVERY via wifi. After 1 hour or so it dropped me at the same point.
I've tried MIGRANT ASSISTANCE as well, it kept on LOOKING FOR OTHER COMPUTERS even though I clicked on TIME MACHINE BACK UP USING EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE
so what to do now?
P.S. Guys at MacStore were so careless to even listen to me when I asked them about retrieving back up :(
Please help

HT1338 I was backing up my MacBook with Time Machine on my new (correctly formatted) external hard drive. It was going fine when my 2 yo knocked the hard drive. Now TM said "failed" and the Mac refuses to recognize the external hard drive. Help please?

I was backing up my MacBook with Time Machine and using my new (correctly formatted) external hard drive. All was going well when my 2 yo knocked the disk leading to a "failure" by time machine (Latest Backup: Failed). Now the MacBook will not even recognize the hard drive. I have rebooted, tried all I can think of, but no acknowledgement of the drive. The drive itself makes noise and vibrates as if working, but nothing from the Mac. Please help or $100 down the drain... Thank you.

You may have already done these resets in the "tried all I can think of " portion of your post.....if not then here they are.....
PRAM
support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
SMC
support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
.....hopefully that is all that is required.....

How do I create a new folder in my hard drive - free agent go flex drive - on the mac book air?

I have just starting using a macbook air 13" and trying to sort out my folders, therefore trying to create a new folder within my hard drive, but the option is not coming up when I right click.

FORMAT TYPES
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
Maximum file size: 4GB.
Maximum volume size: 2TB
You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
Maximum file size: 16 TB
Maximum volume size: 256TB
You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
HFS+ ((((MAC FORMAT)))) (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac internal hard drive.
To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
Maximum file size: 8EiB
Maximum volume size: 8EiB
You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)
EXFAT (FAT64)
Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
Not all Windows versions support exFAT.
exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
Maximum file size: 16 EiB
Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.

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

What is the easiest way to tell if your time capsule has backed up your hard drive, as my mac has been recalled for a replacement hard drive

Your views would be appreciatted, my imac has recently been recalled for a replacement hard drive, would it be easier just to purchase a external hard drive to be on the safe side for backing up my photos etc?
I have a 1GB time capsule but to be honest not sure how it operates it states it oldest back up is the 11th October
201GB of 998 available or would it best to buy a external hard drive and back up using this.
thanks
Benjoe08

You are very wise.. !!
It can be awfully hard restoring the Mac from TM.. as many posters here have discovered.
IMHO.. for certainty.. get an external drive.. they are not expensive.. do a full backup to it.
I would even download superduper and make a clone of the existing drive and boot from it.. this means when the Mac is returned if all else fails.. you can use the external clone as a boot and have exact OS as you have right now.

IPod 4th Gen Click Wheel replaced hard drive; problems

Ok, So I replaced the 20gb hard drive with a new EXACT replacement hard drive, no other problems with iPod. But iTunes will not recognize it because the hard drive is not formatted. I tried formating it with Disk Utility but keep getting error messages. Im not sure what format to use. When the 4th gen came out Intel processors werent here so Im sure I need to simply format as Mac OS Extended. There is no HFS= format in Disk Utility. Im lost as to what to do. Please help??!

hmm - curiouser and curiouser
I've now managed to get it to manually update (after iTunes took 100% of system resources and I had to force quit it...) but that still doesn't really help me with the auto-sync feature which still won't work
aaaaaaggggggghhhhh

New iMac 750 GB Hard Drive Fail Smart Drive Test - Glitch or Problem

Greetings!
I have a new 24" imac with 750 GB hard drive which has had problems out of the box (system crashing several times a day/unable to re-start/application crashes/general sluggishness).
Five re-installs of Leopard (upgrade/clean install/install and erase)in five weeks when I finally used the latest version of Drive Genius and TechTool Pro (4.6.1). Both claimed hard drive problems. Specifically, TechTool Pro reported smart drive failure (see report below, please).
This seemed to confirm my suspicions that something was flawed with my iMac from the start.
I have returned the computer for a new hard drive.
The Apple-approved repair shop says they've installed a new 750 GB had drive sent by Apple and when they run TechTool Pro, they get the same smart drive failure report. The techie claims this is either a glitch with TechTool Pro, or with the hard drive, but that I have nothing to worry about.
What's your opinion?
Many thanks for taking the time to read this.
SMART
Saturday, December 29, 2007 1:18:12 AM US/Pacific
S.M.A.R.T. Self-Checks <Failing!>
Model: ST3750640AS Q
Mount Point: /dev/disk0
Capacity: 698.64 GB
Writable: Yes
Ejectable: No
Removable: No
Bus: Serial ATA
Bus Location: Internal
Revision: 3.BTH
Serial Number: 5QD2JVNE
disk0s2: Ma
disk0s3: Pa
disk0s4: Peppi
S.M.A.R.T. stands for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. This test checks and reports on the status of the S.M.A.R.T. routines built into your drive. These routines monitor important drive parameters as your drive is operating. An examination and analysis of these parameters can aid in the prediction of drive failure. This will allow you to back up your data before your drive fails and the data becomes inaccessible.
S.M.A.R.T. Self-Checks
Attribute Normal Worst Threshold Status
1 Read Raw Error Rate
100 253 6 Okay
3 Spin Up Time
95 92 0 Okay
4 Start/Stop Count
100 100 20 Okay
5 Reallocated Sectors
100 100 36 Okay
7 Seek Error Rate
78 60 30 Okay
9 Power On Hours
100 100 0 Okay
10 Spin Retry Count
100 100 97 Okay
12 Power Cycle Count
100 100 20 Okay
187 Unknown
100 100 0 Okay
189 Unknown
100 100 0 Okay
190 Unknown
41 37 45 Failing!
194 Temperature
59 63 0 Okay
195 HW ECC Recovered
63 61 0 Okay
197 Current Pending Sector Count
100 100 0 Okay
198 Off-Line Scan Uncorrectable Sector Count
100 100 0 Okay
199 Ultra DMA CRC Error Count (Rate)
200 200 0 Okay
200 Write Error Count
100 253 0 Okay
202 DAM Error Count
100 253 0 Okay
S.M.A.R.T. Self-Checks <Failing!>
Tests Completed
Threshold levels are exceeded occasionally. You should consider backing up your data from the hard drive. You should continue to check the hard drive for failures.
S.M.A.R.T. Self-Checks <Failing!>
-end-

Greetings, all!
This has been my first posting, despite having owned 5 Macs over twelve years - which goes to show you how reliable they are, most of the time.
I am very impressed with the thoughtful responses, and I really, really appreciate you taking the time to respond.
Here's an update since my last posting. I picked up my repaired(?) iMac from the Apple-approved repair shop. The technician's report said (referring to the original hard drive Seagate ST3750640AS Q) "The drive has passed and boots into the OS without issue. Confirmed the smart status of the hard drive shows failed, but this is for an unknown attribute. This may not really indicate the drive is failing, but could be a possibility. Since all of the other tests have passed, I feel it is best to replace the drive under warranty for the customer.
About the new hard drive, the technician wrote: I have run a third-party smart utility on the (new, replaced) hard drive again and I have found that it is failing with the same error. The Apple test shows the smart status as OK.
I have researched this error and I have found that this attribute appears to be for temperature. Since both drives showed the exact same error, this attribute can be safely ignored for smart status. I was not able to replicate any issues with this machine other than the smart status failure so I do not think there is any other hardware failing in this machine.
If the customer continues to have issues, I would recommend reinstalling the OS one more time. If the issue still persists after this, then the customer should bring in the computer when issues are still happening so we can try to determine the cause of the problem better.
At first, my iMac was performing much better, but as I began to migrate data from back-up, I was not able to connect/re-establish my iphoto library, or re-establish my Apple mail accounts( both of which I have done countless times in the past without hassle).
I decided to run Apple's Disk utility which reports it cannot repair the new drive.
Just prior to my original posting, I had sent a copy of my posting to Micromat (TechTool Pro) asking for their opinion/advice.
Their response was: The SMART routines are built into the hard drive by the drive manufacturer. They are proprietary and different for each drive manufacturer. TechTool Pro just reads the status of the built-in SMART parameters and reports their status. Basically, a threshold exceeded indicates that the drive has exceeded what the manufacturer thinks are proper operating parameters for it and it may be getting close to failing. For an interpretation of the seriousness of a specific attribute failure you would need to contact the drive manufacturer. A failure is a warning to be sure to keep good backups and consider replacing the drive. If you get a SMART failure on a drive that is under warranty, the drive manufacturer will typically replace the drive.
Following are two links that might be of interest:
http://www.ariolic.com/activesmart/docs/glossary.html
http://www.ariolic.com/activesmart/docs/smart-attribute-meaning.html
I also took your (Looby) advice and called Seagate. (I also visited their web site, which recommends replacement of their hard drive under these circumstances!)
Within a couple of minutes, the tech person agreed that this is a serious concern and I should replace the drive.
Regarding Wiil's post, Apple's Disk utility says: smart status verified.
The SmartReporter utility reports the smart status is OK.
The SmartUtility application says:smart status failed. ID: #190 Unknown attribute.
For all other posters, this was not a New Egg purchase, which was not relevant to my post. Thank you just the same.
I've left a message for the Apple-approved store and will ask for another drive, and that, if possible, it be tested before I bring my iMac in to reduce the inconvenience.
I'm also wondering if I should switch to a 500 GB hard drive, although that would defeat the purpose of buying the larger drive for all the video I work with ( I have another 2 Terabytes storage with external drives).
Any further comments welcome - and thank you all again for taking the time!

My mac air says hard drive full and 90% is full of 'other' which I cant work out what 'other' is as i Have transferred most to my external hard drive

My mac air says hard drive full and 90% is full of 'other' which I cant work out what 'other' is as i Have transferred most to my external hard drive.
Do you know how I can tell how large each file is taking up and what my 'other' category could be?
thanks

Initial easy steps to gain disk space:
- Delete all files in the Downloads folder.
Empty the Trash.
- Start iPhoto.
Empty its trash.
Restart.
Backup:
Run a Time Machine (or other) backup since you are about to delete and move files and you may need to recover from any inadvertent mistakes or decisions. You will need one external hard drive for your Time Machine (or other) backup and a second if you plan to offload some files. (See suggestions for where to purchase hard drives at the end of this message.)
For more about backups:
Time Machine Basics: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
Most commonly used backup methods:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3045
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6031
Deleting files:
Then use the free application OmniDiskSweeper http://www.omnigroup.com/more to explore your volume in descending order by size so you can attack the problem from the top down, deleting the largest unwanted files first. Delete with caution and do not delete any system files. Remember to empty the trash after trashing the files.
Additional reference on freeing disk space:
http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html
Offloading files:
Consider moving some of the no-often-used large files or directories to an external disk. Use ODS again to find them. This will be at least your second hard drive. Your first one(s) is/are for your Time Machine (or other) backup(s). Do not offload files onto a Time Machine disk.
Format the second drive as Mac OS Extended (journaled). Using OWS to find large files/folders and copy them from the system drive to the external hard drive and delete them from your internal drive.
Then  > System Preferences > Time Machine > Options… > Remove the offload HD name from the exclusions list.
Now both your system disk and your external offload disk will be backed up onto your Time Machine disk.
From: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html
To move your iTunes Music folder to another disk or partition:
To change the location of your iTunes Music folder, carefully follow the instructions in the AppleCare® Knowledge Base document "iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder."Additional information can be found in iTunes Help.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.thexlab.com/105/ 00000849.html
Laptop users may want to consider having two iTunes libraries: a small library of current favorites on their computer, while their complete library resides on an external hard drive. Utilities like iTunes Library Manager enable you to easily have multiple iTunes libraries you can use with your account. https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7689/itunes-library-manager
To move your iPhoto Library folder to another disk or partition:
To move the iPhoto Library folder to a new location, employ the instructions in the AppleCare Knowledge Base document from http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2506 corresponding to the version of iPhoto you are using. Additional information can be found in iPhoto Help.
Laptop users may want to consider having two iPhoto libraries: a small library of current, favorite photographs on their computer, while their complete library, or archives of older photos are saved on an external hard drive. Utilities such as iPhoto Buddy and iPhoto Library Manager enable you to have multiple iPhoto libraries that you can use with your account.
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/12175/iphoto-buddy
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7158/iphoto-library-manager
Hardware — Bigger disk/SSD:
OWC sells 120, 240 and 480 GB SSD upgrades for MacBook Airs. A 240 GB upgrade costs $265. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/ . If your Mac is under warranty or AppleCare replacing the SSD will void the warranty.

New mac vs. replace hard drive?

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