No hard drive for start up disc

Hi
This is the first time I've come across this problem since OS9, so was surprised to see it on Tiger, basically my brothers MacBook isn;t seeing the built in hard drive as the start up disc.
I tried the remedy from OS9 - to start up from the install disc but when we aborted the install and went to the start up screen it didnt show the hard drive, just network and disc.
I looked at the support site but found nothing so I came here.
can someone help, its urgent, hes working on his final project at college and needs his mac,
thanks

Happened to me last week - the screen froze and when I eventually managed to get the macbook to try and boot up again all I got was a flashing question mark. Attempts to run daignostics failed and trying to reinstall the operating system led to the same problem that you are experiencing. Returned to apple service centre who diagnosed a defective hard disc and they replaced it.
Hope you have a good back-up plan.

Similar Messages

Can anyone make a recommendation on the purchase of an external hard drive for my Macbook Pro? I am currently using OS 10.6.8 because I can't upgrade until I clean out my start up disc space. I have a ton of pictures to transfer. Thanks!

Can anyone make a recommendation on the purchase of an external hard drive for my Macbook Pro? I am currently using OS 10.6.8 because I can't upgrade until I clean out my start up disc space. I have a ton of pictures to transfer.Thanks!

best options for the price, and high quality HD:
Quality 1TB drives are $50 per TB on 3.5" or $65 per TB on 2.5"
Perfect 1TB for $68
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YA3W/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379452568&sr=8-1&keywords=1tb+toshiba
Nice 500gig for $50. ultraslim perfect for use with a notebook
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B009F1CXI2/ref=s r_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377642728&sr=1-1&keywords=toshiba+slim+500gb
2.5" USB portable High quality BEST FOR THE COST, Toshiba "tiny giant" 2TB drive (have several of them, LOT of storage in a SMALL package) $117
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Connect-Portable-HDTC720XK3C1/dp/B00CGUMS48 /ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1379182740&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+toshiba
*This one is the BEST portable external HD available that money can buy:
HGST Touro Mobile 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive $88
http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Mobile-Portable-External-0S03559/dp/B009GE6JI8/ref=sr _1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383238934&sr=8-1&keywords=HGST+Touro+Mobile+Pro+1TB+USB+3.0+7 2 00+RPM
Most storage experts agree on the Hitachi 2.5"
Hitachi is the winner in hard drive reliability survey:
Hitachi manufacturers the safest and most reliable hard drives, according to the Storelab study. Of the hundreds of Hitachi hard drives received, not a single one had failed due to manufacturing or design errors. Adding the highest average lifespans and the best relationship between failures and market share, Hitachi can be regarded as the winner.

Trying to use a new, larger external hard drive for my Time Machine backup. However, every time I start the backup, it gets started then fails. And, I can't delete the few files that did save on the external. Sort of a catch 22. Any ideas?

Trying to use a new, larger external hard drive for my Time Machine backup. However, every time I start the backup, it gets started then fails. And, I can't delete the few files that did save on the external. Sort of a catch 22. Any ideas?

Is it a USB hard drive? USB hard drives have the problem of not giving full speed if they are hooked up on the same bus as keyboards and mice. Double check your profiler to make sure that is not a problem. If it is Firewire, make sure there aren't other firewire devices in use at the same time. I recommend not only keeping a Time Machine backup, but also a clone, and if you do use Time Machine, to make sure the Time Machine drive or partition is at least twice the size of the original drive.

I need to erase my hard drive and start anew, will time Machine(external drive) and all the discs I got with my computer be enough to restart things

I need to erase my hard drive and start anew, will time Machine(external drive) and all the discs I got with my computer be enough to restart things. And secondly does RAM memory cards go bad. Here's the info on my IMac:
Model Name:          iMac
Model Identifier:          iMac6,1
Processor Name:          Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:          2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors:          1
Total Number Of Cores:          2
L2 Cache:          4 MB
Memory:          3 GB
Bus Speed:          667 MHz
Boot ROM Version:          IM61.0093.B07
SMC Version (system):          1.10f2

I need to erase my hard drive and start anew
Why do you feel you need to do this? That is such a 'Windows thing' to do!
And secondly does RAM memory cards go bad
Very rarely, but nothing in life is guaranteed (except death and taxes)! If you purchased RAM from a reputable source like Crucial or OWC it will carry a lifetime warranty.

Can I install Mac OS X 10.5 on a Powerbook G4 already running Mac OS X 10.6? I lost my disc of 10.6 and can only find my 10.5 disc as I'm selling my MacBook and wiping the hard drive for a complete reset.

Can I install Mac OS X 10.5 on a Powerbook G4 already running Mac OS X 10.6? I lost my disc of 10.6 and can only find my 10.5 disc as I'm selling my MacBook, and wiping the hard drive for a complete reset.

A PowerBook G4 can't run Snow Leopard OS 10.6, however, it can run Leopard OS 10.5. But you must use a retail (black) Leopard install DVD.
What does the selling of your MacBook have to do with installing Leopard on your PowerBook?
 Cheers, Tom

Hard drive replacement with recovery disc problems - Windows Troubleshooter Error 0x8E5E0247

I have a 2009 Satellite A505 laptop
64-bit Operating System with Windows 7 Home Premium, 4 gigs of RAM, and Intel Duo CPU, 2.20GHz
The original Toshiba 500 GB Hard drive finally gave up the ghost and I replaced it yesterday with a WD Scorpio Blue HD Model WDBABC500ANC-NRSN (SATA 8 MB :Mo Cache 5400 RPM)
Easy, straight forward replacement. No problems.
I got out my Recovery Discs which I created using the Toshiba recovery disc utility back in 2009. As I remember, at the time, the process of creating these discs was easy, and it was the first thing I did after registering my computer.
The process created 5 discs, which the last, number 5, is the Applications and Drivers. I have done this process before on other computers (Gateway and Toshiba) and it is usually pretty straight forward and problem free.
Not so this time, and have to wonder about the Toshiba Recovery Discs that were created! Why aren't these working correctly?
I followed the normal process to boot the new Hard Disc on the DVD Recovery Disc 1, and everything seemed to work normally. I followed every "next" prompt, and installed each new Disc 2, and 3 as prompted.
After Disc 3, it said it was finished, and then went throught the Toshiba unpacking and the Windows installation process with multiple re-starts and Window start ups. Again, everything seemed normal, except I wondered why I never received a prompt for Dsc 4 which was unused in the recovery process. Is that normal?
During the Toshiba automatic unpacking and installation process, where various drivers were being installed, Windows errors began returning that said something like this, "Windows requires a digitally Signed driver, and the driver is unavailalbe and could not be activated in Windows 7 . Programs relying on them may not work. "
The problem drivers included the Realtek RTL8191 SE Wireless Lan 802.11n PCWE, the Richo pcle memory stick, Realtek High Definition Audio, Video Controller, Richo PCLe SD/MMC Host Conroller. and a few others....
I did not touch the keybroad or intervere in anyway, and let the installation process proceed until everything was installed. I then went through the first Windows start up process where you set the region, time and create the USER ID, set the adminstrator rights and even got the Toshiba Registration prompt.
When finished, I noticed that the sound was not working, nor was the Wireless Network Connection, and when I attempted the usual Windows network Trouble Shooting process, it returned a Windows Error which said "A problem is preventing the troubleshooter from starting"
I then viewed the error details. They said...
Package ID: Unknown
Path: C:\windows\diagnostics\system\networking
Error Code: 0x8E5E0247
USER: mvh-PC\mvh
Context: Restricted
I then went to MS Windows 7 Troubleshooting forum on the internet using another computer.
I followed all the 'cmd' processes for "supposedly" solving these problems by running System File Checker [SFC] scan on the computer which was supposed to replace the missing or corrupt files.
Well, no joy. The issue presists.
After some problems accessing the CBS log, I was able to view it, and it provides no useful information as to why the errors where unable to be corrected.
I tried following everything on this MS How to Use File Checker document:
In my CBS file I got a lot of SQM "Failed to start" and "Failed to read" and "Failed to upload" and CSI "Repair results created"....
but did not get any "Cannot repair member file" type of messages to use the 'cmd'
takeown /f Path_And_File_Name function
I then started over. Rebooted the computer again, starting with Recovery Disc 1 and several hours later was back to the same problem. Geeze
I have checked all the various Device drivers that are shown as not working in the Device Manager. I have tried uninstalling them all, and then re-installing them both automatically during Windows 7 start up, and also from the Recovery Disc 5 which had the original drivers. Nothing works.
When I clicked on "Connect to the Internet" on the Windows Control Panel, I am returned a prompt that says "Windows did not detect any networking hardware" and so,even with a direct Ethernet connection to my cable modum, I was unable to download any Windows updates or new drivers to see if that fixes anything.
I am stumped.
Any suggestions out there? I don't want to waste a lot of money paying for more technical help for an aging laptob. If this is beyond a simple fix, then I think I will just go and buy a new cheap computer from Asus having wasted the ~$70 bucks for the hard drive for this one.
It shouldn't be this hard, should it?
I have considered buying new recovery discs directlly from Toshiba, but if the process that came with the computer can't create correct discs that work the first time, what promise do I have that another $29.95 won't just be a waste of money too?
Thanks for any helpful hints about what I may be missing or overlooking.
Regards
Marvin Van Horn
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Jerry...
I think we can close this one out as 95% solved. I did get the Intel (R) Rapid Storage Technology loaded after installing the Intel (R) Chipset Software Installation Utility. The instrustions were not the simpliest for the novice, and it took me a while to figure out if my system was running in RAID or ACHI mode. I decided that it was ACHI, so could proceed, even though I did NOT find this information in the Device Manager where they said I should have...
Also, it was a little confusing on the Intel site which file to download. I first did the zip file, (f6flpy-x64.zip) but could not figure how to execute it or put it on a disc, so downloaded the (iata_enu.exe) and hope it was the right one for a 64 bit system.
Anyway, I am now connected via Ethernet cable to my modem, and down loading 126 Windows Updates which should take a while.
My only other issue, that I am aware of is that I do not seem to have any Wireless Lan software, and even though I have added Lan drivers via the recovery Disc, they do not show up anywhere.. Will have to figure out what is going on here, and why it isn't working...
Maybe it is related to something in the Device Manager called
"Other Devices" Under that I have 4 items not working. They are listed like this...
Base System Drive,
Base System Drive (a duplicate?)
Network Controller
Video Controller.
I have tried uninstalling them, and allowing Windows to reinstall, but they still are not activated. Not sure what this is for, and how to update it, but will search some more on another forum thread for these issues. Maybe I will try again after all my Windows updates are done and see what happens.
Thanks again for your help. If you have any other insights on the Wireless issue, that would be great. It is turned on, but in the Windows tray, I only get the Ethenet Icon option, and it does not see or present wireless connection options like before. I am sure this is something simple.
cheers
mvh

I have an older macbook pro and the hard drive is starting to go (making loud noises). i tried to back up to an external hard drive (my passport essential se) using time machine and the computer keeps shutting down. suggestions to complete backup please?

I have an older macbook pro and the hard drive is starting to go (making loud noises). i tried to back up to an external hard drive (my passport essential se) using time machine and the computer keeps shutting down. the same thing happens when just trying to save my pictures from iphoto to a flash drive. suggestions to complete backup please?

Sounds like you'll need to access that drive while it is not booted. You need to replace it anyway, so do that, then one way or another (ext enclusure, et), access it and copy files.
If you keep trying to boot it, you might kill it for good and not get your files, so just swap it out first.

Choosing an external hard drive for back up

This is more for general advice than a specific question. Right now I have my hard drive partitioned and use the second as a backup with Time Machine. It will work for most situations but not all, such as a home fire or break-in (all my photos and music, lost forever!).
What I want to do is buy an external hard drive for backup and keep it at work. I would then bring it home every few weeks to update, but otherwise not store it in the same place as my computer. That way I would never lose more than a few weeks worth of stuff. So, a few questions, the nature of which will let you know how much of a novice I am at this.
1) Right now, Time Machine automatically updates once per hour. When I am using the external drive will I be able to set Time Machine up to only update my back up files when I connect the external drive. Is this difficult.
2) Any suggestions on what kind of external hard drive I should buy, or what features I should look for would be appreciated. I live in a remote area, so something I can get from futureshop.ca would be preferable.
3) My hard drive is about 280 GB. What size should I buy.
Advice on any of the above would be appreciated. Also feel free to toss in anything else you think I should know or consider.
Rgds
PF

Snowfog wrote:
This is more for general advice than a specific question. Right now I have my hard drive partitioned and use the second as a backup with Time Machine. It will work for most situations but not all, such as a home fire or break-in (all my photos and music, lost forever!).
What I want to do is buy an external hard drive for backup and keep it at work. I would then bring it home every few weeks to update, but otherwise not store it in the same place as my computer. That way I would never lose more than a few weeks worth of stuff. So, a few questions, the nature of which will let you know how much of a novice I am at this.
1) Right now, Time Machine automatically updates once per hour. When I am using the external drive will I be able to set Time Machine up to only update my back up files when I connect the external drive.
This is what I am currently doing among 3 different backup disks (1 Time Capsule, a WD500GB, and a Lacie 160GB). You won't have to "set" anything up other than attach the new drive and select it in the TM prefs. Then when your done, reselect your normal TM disk.
2) Any suggestions on what kind of external hard drive I should buy, or what features I should look for would be appreciated. I live in a remote area, so something I can get from futureshop.ca would be preferable.
Most any drive will do, as you partition it correctly to begin with.
*_How Should a Time Machine Hard Disk be Prepared?_*
For Time Machine to work properly, the hard disk must be formatted “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” and its’ Partition Scheme should be either GUID or Apple Partition Map.
Time Machine is incompatible with disks partitioned as Master Boot Record (MBR). Unfortunately, this describes nearly every hard drive you can buy because MBR is a Windows partition scheme. (Naturally, this DOES NOT apply to Apples’ Time Capsule.)
For some, Time Machine begins to perform as expected with a new external hard disk. But then the initial full backup or subsequent incremental backups fail. The user only later discovers the hard disk was still partitioned as Master Boot Record (MBR).
One article on Time Machine made this observation: “Virtually everybody will have to open Disk Utility and repartition the disk as APM or GUID. It doesn't really matter which one because the Time Machine disk will not be bootable anyway. APM allows a disk to boot a PowerPC, GUID allows the disk to boot an Intel processor but both are easily digestible by Time Machine on either kind of processor.” [http://www.girr.org/mac_stuff/backups.html]
It’s been recommended by many here that your reserve +at least+ double the size of your primary hard disk, that way Time Machine backups have room to grow as the size of your data grows. Additionally, the more space you give Time Machine the more history it can preserve. The less space you reserve for Time Machine the sooner older backups & deleted items will disappear.
One poster recommended this regarding multiple partitions: “If you do create multiple partitions (half and half would be a good place to start), make sure you use the first partition for Time Machine, and the second for your own stuff (the first one will be on top in the graphical representation shown in Disk Utility; you'll understand when you see the partition tab). This way, you can expand the Time Machine volume at any later time by deleting the second partition. Disk Utility allows this dynamic re-sizing of volumes, but volumes can only be expanded toward the end of the drive, when a volume that comes after is deleted to create the room.” [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1712437&tstart=0]
Procedure
Connect the hard disk you wish to use for Time Machine backups.
Launch Disk Utility.
It will appear twice in the pane on the left. (Make sure you recognize that it is different from the 2 icons that represent your Macs' internal drive.) The upper entry represent the device as a whole, including the controller inside. The lower entry represents the hard disk contained within the device.
Click on the upper icon of the external hard disk.
Select the "Partition" tab.
For "Volume Scheme" choose "1 partition". (Choose 2 partitions if you intend on storing other data on the disk besides your Time Machine backups. Ensure that the two partitions have different names.)
Name the disk.
Format should be "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
Click "Options".
Select either GUID or Apple Partition Map. (See above for significance)
Click "OK".
Click "Apply". Then click “Partition”.
Once the external hard disk is repartitioned, select it again in Time Machine preferences and use it for your backups. If you chose to create 2 partitions, then select the first partition for Time Machine backups, and the second for additional files/folders.
3) My hard drive is about 280 GB. What size should I buy.
Any TM backup drive should be +at least+ twice as large as your Macs internal hard disk.
Let us know if this resolves your issue.
Cheers!

I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up. I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore. How do I do a new full backup?

I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up.
I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore. How do I do a new full backup?
When I bought the new (used) iMac, I also bought an external hard drive for backups. It worked fine, but my husband stole it.
Then I bought a new external hard drive (Seagate) and it worked fine for three weeks, then died.
So I just got a new external hard drive, which was put together from an internal hard drive and a hard drive enclosure.
Time machine did the first backup today, and it should have taken 9 hours like it did on the previous first time full back up. Instead, it took 30 minutes. That can't be right. I want to start over and do a full backup to make sure everything gets onto my new external hard drive, but I can't figure out how to do that. Please help.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
tmutil compare -E
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
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).
The command will take at least a few minutes to run. Eventually some lines of output will appear below what you entered.
Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
Added:
Removed:
Changed:
These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.

Time Machine seems to wake up my external hard drive for no reason?

I'm not sure why it does this. It doesn't sync all the time as far as I know, it's really annoying and it's wearing the hard drive for no reason. Is there some way to stop it and only wake up when I need something off of it, or when Time Machine is backing up? It randomly goes to sleep and then wakes up again.
I have already set "put hard drives to sleep" in the System Preferences.
Also, since I believe it is Time Machine causing this issue, could I simply eject the partition that I use for backups / Time Machine? It's still plugged in then and if TM needs it, it will maybe scan the computer again and eventually find it?

Anon M wrote:
Well, I don't save anything to the hard drive. So it's kind of weird that it starts spinning.
I think it happens even if you bring up a save dialog.
Can I disconnect it from Time Machine from time to time? Like, does it matter if I connect the drive only once a day or so to the Mac, or does it have to be permanently connected to be able to work with TM?
Sure. Time Machine will even remind you after 10 days of not backing up.
Some people have installed scripts to ping external drives to keep them spinning. It doesn't hurt the drive any.

Hi, I'm an eBay seller and save old eBay auction files to my hard drive for future refence. Firefox no longer opens these files correctly (see below).

Hi, I'm an eBay seller and save old eBay auction files to my hard drive for future refence. These files which all use the same name but are saved in a different folder for each eBay auction no longer open correctly -- much of the eBay auction text information shows up for a split second and then disappears -- the area at the top of the saved eBay auction file then collapses -- the original eBay auction photo of the product shows up as well during that split second but disappears when the other auction text disappears. These eBay auction files open correctly when opened using Internet Explorer. In Firefox, Firefox adds some strange information at the end of the file name when it is opened which is not a part of the actual file name itself (i.e. here is the original file name which is the same for whatever ended eBay auction I open: eBayISAPI.dll.htm -- here is the altered file name after Firefox opens it: eBayISAPI.dll_files/eBayISAPI_data/eBayISAPI_002.htm#ht_658wt_1349 -- yes, it is that long -- the last part is slightly different for each separate auction file that I open). None of this happened until recently. The files open this way whether using Firefox 4.0, Firefox 3.6.16, Firefox Safe Mode 3.6.16, and Firefox Safe Mode 4.0.

Here is what I did:
1) In Firefox 4.0, I opened the Bookmarks on the Menu Bar at the top of the screen. I clicked on the Import and Backup menu. I then exported all my bookmarks to the PC's desktop using the default file name BOOKMARKS.HTML.
2) In Firefox, I opened the Add-ons menu under Tools on the Menu Bar. I clicked on the Prnt Scrn key on the top right of the PC's keyboard in order to obtain a screen shot of all the Firefox add-ons. I then opened Microsoft Word and pasted the screen shot using the Control V command (Ctrl V). I then saved the Microsoft Word file on the PC's desktop for future reference.
3) I then opened the Control Panel in the Start menu (accessed from the little Windows world globe on the bottom left of the screen -- the operating system is Windows 7).
4) In the Control Panel, I opened Uninstall A Program in the Programs section.
5) I uninstalled Firefox 4.0 clicking on the box "Remove my Firefox personal data and customizations" in order to remove whatever bug in my Firefox customizations was causing the two errors above (this is the MOST IMPORTANT PART of this whole process which is why I saved all my bookmarks as an HTML file and saved a screen shot of all the Firefox add-ons).
6) I then reinstalled my old Firefox 3.6.16 version obtained from the following link: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html (I am not yet in favor of using Firefox 4.0 -- you suppose you can reinstall Firefox 4.0 on your system if you want).
7) After Firefox 3.6.16 was reinstalled, I had to import all my old bookmarks. Under Bookmarks on the Firefox Menu Bar at the top of the screen, I clicked on Organize Bookmarks. I then clicked on the Import and Backup menu and then the Import HTML command in order the BOOKMARKS.HTML file saved on the PC's desktop.
8) I then re-added all my favorite Firefox add-ons by clicking on Add-ons under the Firefox Tools menu and then clicking on the Get Add-ons command. I then searched for all the old add-ons I wanted to re-add to Firefox using the Microsoft Word document on the PC's desktop saved with the screen shot of all the old Firefox add-ons on my system by I uninstalled Firefox 4.0.
9) I then opened one of the old eBay auction page files saved on my hard drive under the eBay default file name "eBayISAPI.dll.htm". The file opened perfectly with NO missing sections and no missing original eBay auction listing photo! the file looked exactly like it did as if I was logged into eBay and looking at the original ended auction.
10) I then opened Hotmail in Firefox and received NO "update your browser" message! I was able to open all my old emails and write and send new emails (with all my Contacts being automatically detected when I went to type in the email address of the person I was sending the new email to)!
In summary, you need to uninstall Firefox 4.0 being sure to click on the "Remove my Firefox personal data and customizations" box during the uninstall process. Be sure to save/export all your old bookmarks before the uninstall process and make a note of all your old add-ons. Then reinstall whatever version of Firefox you are comfortable with. Apparently, my Firefox customizations had become corrupted at some point; removing the Firefox customizations during the uninstall process allowed any future Firefox version installed on my PC to start over with a clean slate (these corrupted settings would show up in whatever version of Firefox I had installed on my PC so removing them during the uninstall process was the key to solving all my Firefox bugs). I hope my suggestions help to solve your problem and good luck!

Need a new hard drive for T43...

I need help finding a new hard drive for my T43. It appears that my hard drive is starting to fail. It just seems to not power up all the time during boot up or it just dies after it's in used for a little while. The T43 seems to only be compatible with certain types of hard drives though and I can't find any place that still sells them. Does anyone know of a place that still sells hard drive compatible with the T43?

Welcome to the forum!
Any PATA laptop drive will work as long as it's 9.5mm high, but most of today's drives will throw a "2010 error" on boot, which is really not a big deal IMHO.
The biggest hard drive that won't throw this error is Fujitsu MHV2120AH (120GB/5400rpm) that has been discontinued a while ago. Expect to pay a hefty premium for a sealed one.
A lot of good info here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11059
Good luck.
Cheers,
George
In daily use: R60F, R500F, T61, T410
Collecting dust: T60
Enjoying retirement: A31p, T42p,
Non-ThinkPads: Panasonic CF-31 & CF-52, HP 8760W
Starting Thursday, 08/14/2014 I'll be away from the forums until further notice. Please do NOT send private messages since I won't be able to read them. Thank you.

In need of a new hard drive for my old G5 computer

Hello there, I'm not as savvy as you are with computers but I am in need of a new hard drive for my old G5 computer that my husband uses. His crashed. If you did it all over again would you buy the same new hard drive? If so, where did you buy it? I don't even know where to start and was SO happy to find this recent post on installing new drives into the G5. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!
<Title Edited by Host>

I actually just ran across this hard drive oddity for the first time myself just yesterday. It seems that some older Macs may not be able to use the newest SATA interfaces on some hard drives.
I an attempt to not get overly technical, SATA is the current interface type on computer hard drives. You can get some additional information from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA. There are currently three revisions, SATA-1 (the oldest), SATA-2 (the current version), & SATA-3 (the latest and greatest).
So what happened was that my G5 could not use the SATA-3 drive I purchased because the computer could not support the SATA-3 standard. It was possible to "slow down" one of the other test SATA-3 drives to make it work like a SATA-2 and so it may be possible to do the same to other hard drives.
To answer your question, I would NOT purchase the saem hard drive for my Mac as it does not work for this older Mac.
My suggestion, if you can find one purchase the same hard drive that was in the computer. That way you know it is compatible. If you would like to upgrade, you will have to do some looking. Although I cannot recommend a specific drive, my two favorite companies are Seagate, www.seagate.com and Western Digitial, www.wdc.com. You most likely have a 3.5" drive, if you have a desktop, 2.5" for a laptop. WD has the Cavier line and Seagate has either Barrcuda or Momentus. What you are looking for is capacity.
So, both Seagate and Western Digital are good. You need a 3.5" drive for a desktop or 2.5" drive for a laptop. Stick with a SATA-2 drive also known as a SATA 3Gb/s drive for compatibility. Get a drive that is 7200 RPM or higher. Finally purchase the largest capacity at you can afford. Amazon is a good general place to been looking.
KWCitizen_Apple

FORMAT HARD DRIVE FOR USE ON MAC AND WINDOWS

I'm going to start working on scanning a lot of old family photos and getting them put on an external hard drive for my parents. I'd also like to eventually put old VHS family home movies on the hard drive as well. However, I'm not sure what to do about the hard drive. I know if I format it to be compatible with my Mac it probably won't be compatible with their PC. I read about the FAT32 option but I saw something about a file not working if it's over 4 GB in size. I'm thinking maybe some of those home movies will be larger than 4GB. I also saw an exFAT option. If I go with that will I be able to scan the photos on my Mac, get the home videos converted and put it all on the hard drive will all of it be visible and usable on their Windows PC?
Thanks for your help!

matahari_1946,
if you’re not yet backing up your Mac’s internal hard disk, I’d recommend first that you purchase an external hard drive for yourself for exclusive use as a Time Machine backup destination; that way, in case of a disk problem, you won’t permanently lose all of your scanned photos and imported movies.
A 4 GB file limit does apply to FAT32 filesystems. If their version of Windows allows, the external disk which will hold those photos and videos should be formatted as NTFS from their PC, so that they can watch video files over 4 GB. (It’s unlikely that an individual photo file would be over 4 GB.) However, OS X doesn’t come out of the box with NTFS support. The exFAT filesystem is able to hold files over 4 GB, and it is supported by Mac OS X 10.6.5 and newer, but it’s optimized for flash drives; it’s more “fragile” on hard disks than other filesystems are. As a workaround, you could format a flash drive to have exFAT, copy videos over 4 GB onto the flash drive, and then use your parents’ PC to copy the videos from the flash drive to their NTFS external disk. Other alternatives would be to look for third-party software for OS X which supports reading from and writing to NTFS disks, or third-party software for Windows which supports reading from and writing to journaled HFS+ (the default OS X filesystem) disks.

One Format External Hard Drive for Your Mac and PC...

I have Formatted my External HD Passport 500GB = (465.8) and split it in two partition Mac OS Extended (Journal = 232GB) and FAT32 (Ms-Dos-FAT = 232GB) and reformat to NTFS using Windows...
How to use one External HUD for your Mac and PC you have a PC and how to have two Partition in Mac OS Extended (Journal) and FAT (Ms-Dos-FAT)as you desire the size of your partition under application, Utilities and Disk Utility and covert the (FAT32) to (NTFS)using Windows Control Panel or just search by Start, search Computer Management or just right my Computer and format the second partition to (NTFS)
Tips for Mac OS Extended (Journaled) FAT32 vs NTFS, what works and don't work...
(1)Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Partition can't be use in Windows to transfer files but NTFS Partition can be use in Mac by transferring file from Windows to Mac and NTFS support for files over 4G in size...
(2)FAT32 can be use in Mac and Windows but with a limitation that a file cannot be transferred to a FAT32 partition if the file is larger than 4GB such as a video file and FAT32 file system performs more slowly than NTFS...
(2)Mac OS Extended (Journaled) can be use in Windows when you Reformat your HD to HFS+ by third-party app such as http://www.macdrive.com/ MacDrive for $50.or http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/ NTFS For Mac 6.0 for $30...
Reference link 1 External Hard Drive for Your Mac and PC...
http://www.myfirstmac.com/index.php/mac/articles/1-external-hard-drive-for-your- mac-and-pc
Best regards...
JamesUFOs...
http://www.youtube.com/user/JamesEBEs

I have many external drives I use between my MacBook Pro and my Windows PC's. I use a free NTFS driver for Mac OS-X to give me full read/write access to any NTFS formatted partitions when running Mac OS. I also use MediaFour's MacDrive v8 on some of my Windows PC's to access any HFS+ formatted partitions.
Most of my drives are formatted NTFS because I have more Windows machines than I have MacDrive licenses, and with the driver for Mac OS, they are fully accessible. I have a few drives I do keep formatted as HFS+ because I have encountered an app or two that don't work quite right when they don't get to write to files on an HFS+ partition (one of my backup programs is picky about this).
As said before, FAT32 is fully accessible between the two OS'es but it also has it's own limitations.

No hard drive for start up disc

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for