Partition of hard drive fails permanently, "Input/output error" on format

Hello!
I have a serious problem on my flat-panel G4 15" 700 MHz (it’s a used machine, bought it on eBay): After the pre-installed system was running nicely for about a month, today I turned it on and got the infamous "broken folder"/prohibitory sign... Alright, I thought, I may have to repair permissions or fix my OS X installation using the system CDs (10.3). But I was wrong, it is impossible to repair the permissions, I couldn't even format the hard drive! Then I get the error "Input/output error", consecutively. I reset everything, PRAM, PMU, formatted the drives in Target Mode, tried to install Mac OS X on an external drive (Can’t be installed on my Firewire-connected drive). No chance.
Is there a possibility this may be due to a hard drive controller error (ATA)? I can’t think of anything else... Any help would be appreciated!

That was my second guess, however, I swapped the hard drives (with an almost identical model) et voilà - same error as before. Now I examined the internals of the machine and found a single wire of the IDE cable seems to be broken, I’ll exchange the cable and let you know if that solves the problem.

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External Hard Drive not Readable & Input/Output Error?

I was using my OWC 300gb external hard drive for a while and it's worked great. I had a bunch of files on it, but I recently transferred everything to another external HD I have, which worked fine, so I could erase this 300gb one. I can't remember what happened, but somehow my Macbook doesn't recognize this hard drive. I think erased everything and then unplugged it without ejecting it first. Anyways, nothing is on the the drive anymore and I get this error message:
"The disk you inserted was not readable by your computer"
This pops up when I restart my Macbook. When I try to use Disk Utility, it greys everything out on the partition and Disk Repair tabs. On the 'Erase' tab, it will allow me to select Erase, but then gives me the error:
"Input/Output error"
Does anyone know how to get my Macbook to see my drive (so I can start to partition it)? For some reason only Disk Utility acknowledges it's there, Finder won't.
Anyone have any tips of what it is or what I can try? I did try to use my OS discs booting up holding C, but that doesn't work either.

Hi there. Everyone is saying on these forums that the hard drive is failing...suck. I went and bought a new when I got input/output error and found that the new one showed the same input output error, making it impossible to partition the disk. Then the guy in the apple service center told me the new one was bad too, after having seen the code that came up related to my new scorpio 250 GB drive. Instead of sending it back, I took it out and installed the old one..however this time with a slihtly more of pressure on the tape holding down the hard drive cable between the hard drive and the circuit board. Amazingly, this time it didn't even show any hard drive at all! Then I understood what was wrong. It was exactly what was indicated an "input/output errror"! ..the cable was broken. I bought a new cable, well the Powerbookmedic sold it as new but it was an old working one that arrived. Immediately, after change of cable the old hard drive and now also the new 250 GB works perfectly! I remember that some interesting symptoms prior to all hard drive problems appeared, such as not being able to start up properly, strange blue screens, flipping question marks etc. I remember that shaking the comp occasionally worked to get it going. No wonder, shaking occasionally made it work and i believe the damaged cable maybe changed position and started conducting. The cable is very sensitive and probably should not be taped down so hard as the first service center guy at apple had done with mine when he fixed it the comp a few years ago. Polymers/plastics bent heavily become fragile/brittle with time and are specially sensitive under pressure/bent. Note that my old damaged cable still conducted and showed the hard drives but didn't work fully. I hope this will help someone, it took me 2 month to figure out..

Trying to erase hard drive, but get "input/output error". What does this mean? What can I do to erase my hard drive so I can reinstall?

Hi all,
My computer a few days ago wouldn't start up, would just stay at the gray loading screen forever. So as a result I tried to reformat the hard drive and reinstall, but I can't reinstall, until I erase the hard drive, but when I try to erase the hard drive it says the erase failed due to an input/output error. What does this mean? What can I do to fix my computer?

The startup drive is failing, or there is some other internal hardware fault.
Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.
Back up all data on the internal drive(s) before you hand over your computer to anyone. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional — ask if you need guidance.
If privacy is a concern, erase the data partition(s) with the option to write zeros* (do this only if you have at least two complete, independent backups, and you know how to restore to an empty drive from any of them.) Don’t erase the recovery partition, if present.
Keeping your confidential data secure during hardware repair
Apple also recommends that you deauthorize a device in the iTunes Store before having it serviced.
*An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.

I had a problem with the hard disk on a 2010 macbook pro. Replaced the hard disk with an Hitachi 1TB and when I tried to erase and format It fails with input/output error. Any help much appreciated!

I had a problem with the hard disk on a 13" 2010 macbook pro. Replaced the hard disk with an Hitachi 1TB disk but when I tried to erase and format, it fails with input/output error and at other times saying unable to allocate memory. Any help much appreciated!

Zap the PRAM and Reset the SMC, then try again.

Disk Utility: Create image fails with input/output error

Starting to create an image and saving it into an external hard drive (MacOS extended Journaled).
It starts after less than 60 secs it comes out with an error : Failed to create the image (input/output error)

If you don't mind I'd like to discourage you from backing up a drive onto a disc image file no matter where you plan to save it. Disc image files can be very problematical when it comes to trying to restore the backup. Furthermore, you cannot boot from a disc image. If the disc image file becomes corrupted then you have no backup.
I would like to propose that you think about a better way to backup your drive. You can clone the drive to your backup drive. It's easy to do using Disk Utility's Restore feature. A clone backup is not only bootable but you have direct access to all the files on the backup.
In order to make a bootable clone open Disk Utility. Select Disk Utility Help from the Help menu. Search for +duplicating a disk+. Click on "Duplicating a disk" at the top of the list of articles. Follow the directions.

Input/output errors on trying to format a new hard drive

I just installed a Western Digital 160 GB hard drive to replace the original 80 GB drive in my 1.67 Hi-res G4 PB. I can boot from an external FW hard drive that has a copy of the original made with SuperDuper - seems to run fine.
The new 160 GB drive shows up in System Profiler and in the Disk Utility list of drives on the left side of the window - which make me think that I did the hardware installation correctly as the drive can be seen by the system. Maybe this isn't so.
When I use Disk Utility to try to format the new hard drive I get "input/output errors" and can not proceed with the formatting.
The computer ran fine with the old 80 GB hard drive - no sign of any problems - I just need the space.
Has anyone had experience with this or thoughts on how to get to a resolution?

Hi, I installed a 160GB HD WDC (WD1600BEVE-00UYT0) for the previous one didn't work anymore.
After a month it began to freeze and I had to reset the pb, After a few days (and a lot of resetting) I had to reset the PB and the PRAM. After some more days (and a lot of PB and PRAM resettings) I had to reset the PMU, the PRAM, and the PB. After some more days (and ALL the resettings) I had to open the pb, disconnect the HD, re-connect it, and it did work again fine.
ALAS... in two weeks I was through the same procedure again.
It's the second 160GB HD that works in the same identical way (I thought the first one was broken)
I've just disconnected and re-connected the HD.
Have you discovered a simpler way to make it work fine? (I'm a little distressed...)

I'm trying to backup a my harddrive with disk utility but I'm getting an error Unable to create Backup.dmg" (input/output error). Is there any other way to save my data? I believe my hard drive is failing or corrupt file. I can't boot up. Grey screen

I'm trying to backup a my hard drive with disk utility but I'm getting an error Unable to create Backup.dmg" (input/output error). Is there any other way to save my data? I believe my hard drive is failing or corrupt file. I can't boot up. Grey screen and spinning wheel. I've tried everything https://discussions.apple.com/message/20580424#20580424
any help will be greatly appreciated.

Check here. Also have you done a TimeMachine back up?
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

External Drive Disk Erase Failed with the Error Input/Output Error

I have 2 hard drives in an external FW800 enclosure that I am unable to format. When I go to initialize the drives in Disk Utility, I get the following error message: "Disk Erase failed with the error: Input/output error."
The drives show up in Disk Utility, but I can't repair them (that option is grayed out). Disk Utility correctly ID's the manufacturer of the drives (Maxtor), their size (200gb each), so it's obviously seeing that the drives are there. But it won't let me format them.
The drives are new, by the way; they don't have any data/files on them. I have Disk Warrior, but the drives don't show up there to be repaired -- probably because they aren't formatted yet.
After looking at other posts, I tried switching the jumper settings around on the drives -- from Master/Slave to cable select and back again, but it didn't help. I also tried doing a zero erase (even though the drives are new), zapping the PRAM -- again, no help.
One question I had is whether this could be a bad FW800 cable? The cable is new -- it came with the enclosure, which is an OWC Dual FW 800 enclosure. Other than that, does anyone have any other thoughts about what's causing this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Matthew

SOLUTION!!!!
I had the exact same problem. I have the original 20 GB hard drive that came in my Powerbook G4 550MHz and a couple of years ago I traded up for a 60 GB drive and bought a FW/USB enclosure for my original drive to use it to backup my important files. I hadn't backed up in over a year (shame on me!) and I decided maybe I should erase the drive and start from scratch. It was connected via USB.
At that point DiskUtility gave me the exact same Input/Output error. I tried partitioning the drive into 1 or more partitions but came up with the same error. I couldn't figure out what was wrong so I decided to startup in OS 9.2.2, I did that and let it start up, then plugged in the hard drive and it gave me the standard "This disk is unrecognizable, do you want to eject or erase?" so I clicked Initalize. It worked!
Just make sure you choose the MacOS Extended option when initializing out of OS 9 (instead of the MacOS Standard option) so it can be read and viewed in OS X.
If your computer is too new to be able to boot from an OS 9 folder on your drive or an OS 9 CD, then see if a friend or a local library has older computers that are running OS 9 or can boot from it. If not let me know and you can send me your drive and I'll reformat it.
Kind of crazy...I haven't used the OS 9 partition on my HD in YEARS...was even thinking about erasing it since I don't use any Classic applications anymore...good thing I didn't!
Nick
Powerbook G4 550Mhz Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Input / Output Error when creating GUID Partition on External Drives

I've been trying to setup an install of OS X on an external device and therefore need to partition them to the GUID Partition Scheme.
I've tried it with my iPod and an External Hard Disk Drive and no matter what I do, I get the error:
Exited with Error: Input / Output Error
Thats all I get. I can partition them with either of the other two choices, but of course those wont let me boot an Intel Based Mac.
The External HDD is USB 2.0, the iPod I've tried both USB and Firewire, and have not had any luck. I know it can be done, but am not sure why I'm having this problem.
Any suggestions?

I'm having the same problem. Trying to format an external drive with the GUID scheme fails.
# diskutil eraseDisk HFS+ Test GPTFormat /dev/disk1
Started erase on disk disk1
Creating Partition Map
error writing partition map: Invalid argument (22)
Partitioning encountered error Invalid argument (22) on disk disk1
I've tried this on my Intel MacBook and on my PPC Mac Mini. Tried using a generic USB2 flash disk and also an iPod shuffle. Always the same error.
Is GUID broken on external drives?

Disk Utility "Input - Output error" when attempting to erase Hard Drive

Hope that someone can point me in the right direction.
I bought an external hard drive for Windows a year back and loaded music onto it. I realized that I my MAC wasn't getting "Read / Write" privileges for the External Hard Drive, so I decided to try to Partition it and make it into a FAT readable device. It erased all data from my hard drive, but Disk Utility stopped the process and displayed an "input - output error".
Consequently, I can't initialize the external hard drive to make it usable on my MAC.
Can anyone point me in the right direction so I can "reformat" my external?
Thanks!

Hi all,
I'm having similar issues on a white macbook (2006 model). I ran into some trouble with it about a month ago, when on booting up, it showed only the folder with a question mark. Booting up from the original grey install DVD worked, so I thought the problem was most likely a faulty hard drive.
It's only after having this problem, that I came across this recall for possible faulty hard drives, that Apple offered:
http://www.apple.com/support/macbook/hd/repairextension/
Doh! Too late?
So, I got onto ebay and picked up a deal and received my new hard drive yesterday. I swapped out the original 80GB with 320GB, only to find the same input/output error described by the OP, here (also in a couple of other Apple discussion posts - see below).
Disk utility shows the new hard drive to be 2.3TB in size! Should be 320GB - but, this is also what others have described. See e.g.,:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16090313#16090313
I've run the extended testing from the CD (holding down 'D' on boot-up) and it reported no problems. Also, similar to others experiences:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16081818#16081818
So, what can the problem be?!?!?!?!?
In this post, JMPC suggests it has something to do with the size of the new internal hard drive....groan.....:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16145560?tstart=0#16145560?tstart=0
Can anyone confirm this?

Hi, I have a hard disk failure so to recover my data I am using disk utility to restore the data on an external drive while booting from a second external hard drive. When I perform the operation it gives me an input/output error and stops. Any tips?

Hi, I have a hard disk failure so to recover my data I am using disk utility to restore the data on an external drive while booting from a second external hard drive. When I perform the operation and after having selected both my destination and source drives, the operation begins but soon fails due to input/output error. If I try to create an image of the drive it gives me the same error message. Any help would be much appreciated.

Disk Utility only creates a image of the drive, so it's no help getting exactly what you want, which is your files. If the file structure is messed up or the drive is failing then it's no help.
If you have a external boot drive and you can't access the internal non-booting drive though the typical Finder and windows to transfer your files via drag and drop methods, then you need to install Data Rescue on the external boot drive and it will do as best as it can to recover your files. (works on non-encrypted/non-Filevaulted drives only)
.Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
Are you sure you have hard drive failure, or that OS X isn't merely not booting?
Because if the drive is working physically, then there is a host of fixes
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents#/

External Hard Drive Input/Output error

I recently started having problems with an external hard drive setup that I did not have problems with prior to upgrading to 10.5.5 and trying to setup the drive to be compatible with Time Machine.
The hard drive enclosure that I have has 2 bays for two SATA drives. I have used this enclosure without any problems until I tried to get 1 drive to act as the backup drive for Time Machine and the other to be storage. I formatted them using Drive Genius. I used the option for GUILD or GUIL which it said was the better format for using with Time Machine.
The first problem I ran into since upgrading and reformatting the drives is I got an "input/output" error the first couple times I connected the drive via USB to my Mac. I could still use the drives but I got weird errors every once in a while like "input/output error" or "device was not ejected properly" even though the device had not been unplugged.
Now the drives will not mount using OS 10.5.5. The drives show up when I open Disk Utility, but I cannot get them to mount. I have ran Disk Utility First Aid, and it says the drives are fine. There is one error that shows up when I run the "Repair Disk" feature. It reads "Invalid content in Journal". But Disk Utility also says "The volume was repaired successfully".
I have seen some posts when I do a search in google about this issue and it seems this is a known issue. Every suggestion I see says to insert your Tiger DVD and reformat the drive using that and the problem will be solved. The only problem with that is I have a lot of important files on the drive that I cannot lose. I had the files backed up until I moved them to the new drive a while back. Now I do not have a backup because I was in the process of switching to bigger drives and erased the old drives after doing so because everything was working fine.
I am hoping someone out there may have some suggestions (other than erasing the drive) to get my dives to mount so I can transfer the data off to another drive and reformat after.
Thanks,
Paul Rugg

Thanks for the suggestion.
Do you think that would work better than Drive Genius? I bought Drive Genius 2 and it does not even see the drives when they are plugged in unlike Disc Utility which can see the drives but cannot mount either one.
Maybe this following post I made to a different questions may help. The data on the drive is other buying another program for if it will work. I think my next step may be to go over to a friends place and try to mount the drives on his computer and transfer stuff off if they connect.
text below posted to other question relating to external hard drive problem.
I have recently had the same mounting issue with my new external hard drive. I just purchased a new 750Gb Western Digital Sata drive and got everything transfered over to it. Immediately, I got an error saying that the drive had been ejected incorrectly even though it was still plugged in. I was a little curious. I restarted the computer (hard drive still plugged in via USB 2.0) and the drive showed up just fine. I plugged another 250Gb drive into the same case (2 bays) and the 250GB drive showed up just fine.
Well, I then noticed there was an OS upgrade available when I ran Software update so i ran it and when I rebooted the drives were gone. I can see the drives in Disc Utility, but they will not mount. Drive Genius cannot see either disc. Disc Utility says I need to repair the drives, but when I do it says they are fixed but they don not mount.
The problem really seems to be related to mounting USB external drives. I got ahold of 2 seperate external firewire hard drives and one shows up just fine while the other has the same problem (both work on other systems. I would try wiping the drives and reformatting but ALL MY stuff is on them and not everything has been backed up. Yuck! I have not tried connecting my hard drive to another Mac yet.
The drives being used are #1 Maxtor Maxline Plus II 250GB SATA/150 HDD 1.5b/s 7Y250m00654ra
and #2 Western Digital WD7500AACS WD Caviar GP Green Power drive.
I have another post similar to this and I have not received any feedback, but I have been doing my own searching and have found similar posts on the net.
Anybody have any clue what might be going on here? It really seems to be related to my upgrade.

Hard Drive "Input Output" Error When Attempting to Format

A friend just gave me a nice PowerBook that seems to be in need of a fresh OS and when attempting to format the hard drive I am getting an "Input Output" error. Any suggestions to overcome this issue and format the drive?

Hi all,
I'm having similar issues on a white macbook (2006 model). I ran into some trouble with it about a month ago, when on booting up, it showed only the folder with a question mark. Booting up from the original grey install DVD worked, so I thought the problem was most likely a faulty hard drive.
It's only after having this problem, that I came across this recall for possible faulty hard drives, that Apple offered:
http://www.apple.com/support/macbook/hd/repairextension/
Doh! Too late?
So, I got onto ebay and picked up a deal and received my new hard drive yesterday. I swapped out the original 80GB with 320GB, only to find the same input/output error described by the OP, here (also in a couple of other Apple discussion posts - see below).
Disk utility shows the new hard drive to be 2.3TB in size! Should be 320GB - but, this is also what others have described. See e.g.,:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16090313#16090313
I've run the extended testing from the CD (holding down 'D' on boot-up) and it reported no problems. Also, similar to others experiences:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16081818#16081818
So, what can the problem be?!?!?!?!?
In this post, JMPC suggests it has something to do with the size of the new internal hard drive....groan.....:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16145560?tstart=0#16145560?tstart=0
Can anyone confirm this?

WD External Hard Drive will not format, "Input/Output Error"

Trying to reformat an old Western Digital external drive, immediate error in Disk Utility "Input/Output Error". Switched USB cords/ports, nothing. Just getting a second opinion before I trash it.
I know I can probably take out the drive and put it in an external case, but this was just going to be an extra drive for a friend, not worth the $20 for the case.
Thanks

I'm getting the same errors from both my USB ports when I try to format a brand new Maxtor 1TB drive.
I had noticed some strange errors a week ago when Time Machine was reporting an error saying it had failed (this was using a nother external firewire drive). Errors were (not verbatim) "error writing files" & "unknown error".
I naturally thought there was a prob with the ext drive, so knowing that I had at least a good full back-up on there, bought a new ext drive (larger) to perform a full backup on so I could reformat the firewire drive and utilise it elsewhere - but got errors when I tried to set it up as a Time Machine drive seconds after I took it out of the box.
I ran "Verify Disk" on my internal macbook HD and it reported some permission errors and mis-reported file sizes and told me to "Repair Disk". I did, and this stated it fixed a few things. Ran Verify again and it still reported some permission errors.
Now, this leaves me in a sticky spot. I can't format the maxtor external disk in order to manually copy over my disk content, it doesn't even show up in disk Utility or in Finder. I can't perform a Time Machine backup - as it can't see the maxtor disk. I can't do a TM backup on the old Firewire disk - due to the program errors. AND it appears I have permission errors on my internal HD.
Whatever course of action I take to correct these problems - I would like the knowledge that I have a full backup to restore from if things "head south" while I look to correct the HD permission issues.
Anyone out there with some REAL SMART ideas that can help me out here ?
Right now I'll even accept "Half Smart", "Clever" and "**** - Why Didn't I Think Of That" answers !
S.

Input/Output Error USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

I recently started having problems with an external hard drive setup that I did not have prior to trying to setup the drive to be compatible with Time Machine.
The hard drive enclosure that I have has 2 bays for two SATA drives. I have used this enclosure without any problems until I tried to get 1 drive to act as the backup drive for Time Machine and the other to be storage. I formatted them using Drive Genius. I used the option for GUILD or GUIL which it said was the better format for using with Time Machine.
The first problem I ran into since reformatting the drives is I got an "input/output" error the first couple times I connected the drive via USB to my Mac. I could still use the drives but I got weird errors every once in a while like "input/output error" or "device was not ejected properly" even though the device had not been unplugged.
Now the drives will not mount using OS 10.5.5. The drives show up when I open Disk Utility, but I cannot get them to mount. I have ran Disk Utility First Aid, and it says the drives are fine. There is one error that shows up when I run the "Repair Disk" feature. It reads "Invalid content in Journal". But Disk Utility also says "The volume was repaired successfully".
I have seen some posts when I do a search in google about this issue and it seems this is a known issue. Every suggestion I see says to insert your Tiger DVD and reformat the drive using that and the problem will be solved. The only problem with that is I have a lot of important files on the drive that I cannot lose. I had the files backed up until I moved them to the new drive a while back. Now I do not have a backup because I was in the process of switching to bigger drives and erased the old drives after doing so because everything was working fine.
I am hoping someone out there may have some suggestions (other than erasing the drive) to get my dives to mount so I can transfer the data off to another drive and reformat after.
Thanks,
Paul Rugg

I have similar problems with my USB external HD. Reformatting or repartitioning will not solve your problem. I've tried that 2 times already. The problem will reappear. My HD was running great until last month, when it suddenly without warning disappears from disk utility and the mac altogether. It not only dismounts itself, but also ejects itself, while still physically connected and the power is still on. The HD has its own power supply of course and is directly connected to one of the iMac USB ports. I have erased, repartitioned, disk verified, rebuild spotlight indexes, cleared PRAM and NVRAM, but nothing has solved the problem.
It is application independent, and not related to like iTunes as another post had suggested. Nothing to do with Mac applications. It seems to be USB related.
Messages in the Console seem to indicate something wrong with 'USB transactions passed their expiration point' and 'USB cannot enumerate something', but these statements are a bit cryptic to me. Perhaps an Apple system engineer can someday shed some light here.
thanks much for any assistance.

Partition of hard drive fails permanently, "Input/output error" on format

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