Powerbook DIED. Target Disk Mode Failed.

I did everything under the sun short of bringing it to a mac service store. My computer was left whirring all night (I was not home) and the next day I found all the programs frozen so I did a hard shutdown. I haven't been able to reboot it past the gray apple screen since. Tried resetting PRAM, tried reinstalling from CD but it did not read the drive, tried disk utility from CD to "repair" drive but got errors, failed and could not continue. Diskwarrior didn't make a difference. Now I'm trying to transfer data via target disk mode to another mac. Connected firewire cable, rebooted holding down T, I see the yellow firewire icon bouncing around, but HOST computer does not see target drive. WHAT DO I DO?? What's going on? I was under the impression that target disk mode was foolproof in times like these. ANY suggestions would help. Thanks.

Welcome to the Apple discussions.
Unfortunately, it sounds like your hard drive has died. If disk utility from CD couldn't find it, and Disk Warrior couldn't find it, and firewire target disk mode can't find it .... these all point to a hard drive that crashed hard.
You didn't say if you ran the Apple Hardware Test. Insert your first OS X DVD that came with your system (will say 'AHT Version x.x in small print on the label), and boot holding the option key down. Choose the Apple Hardware Test, click the arrow pointing to the right and follow directions. Did that confirm the diagnosis? If you have a TechTools program, that can do the same testing.
If you have Applecare, go get a new drive. If you don't, consider buying your own drive and taking it to an Apple Authorized Service Provider to replace the drive (If you take it to Apple to pay for a replacement, they will usually keep your old drive, as a trade in towards the replacement drive - some people are bothered with this approach which anectdotally is not negotiable with Apple). Apple Authorized Service Providers can be found at http://www.apple.com/buy/locator/service/
If you scan the discussions, people generally seem pleased with HItachi and Seagate drives, although other brands work too. Seagate has a 5 year warranty if that's a consideration. You'll want a drive with a parallel ATA interface (not Serial ATA which won't work). 5400rpm minimum speed although for a few bucks more you can get a faster 7200 rpm drive. Two sources of drives are OWC at http://www.macsales.com and Newegg at http://www.newegg.com .

Similar Messages

PowerBook in Target Disk Mode - cloned MacMini - created much confusion!

I'm hoping someone can tell me how to undo the mess I've made :-((
I've been using SuperDuper to clone the hard drive of my MacMini to my 12inch Powerbook so that the Powerbook is an exact copy of everything on my MacMini - BIG MISTAKE (I now realise). I wanted to check some details of the PB's bluetooth capability today and discovered that everything shown in 'About this Mac' actually refers to the MacMini and not to the PB.
Can anyone please tell me how I can get back my PB information?
I should add that I do have a separate hard drive in a firewire enclosure that I also use to backup my MacMini hard drive - I just thought I would be very 'belt and braces' by having a clone on my PB, but instead I seem to have created a big mess for my PB.
Cheers
Tricia

> I must admit to not understanding what 'cloning to a disk image is.
That basically means backing up to a 'virtual' software-based disk, rather than an actual physical disk.
Your only real option with the PowerBook is to erase and install. There is no need to download the 10.4.7 combo update separately as you can do that from the PowerBook once it has been installed with Tiger.
As for Entourage and the MS Office applications. You need to install the applications on to your PB first. Afterwards, with regard to Entourage emails (and I am not the best person to answer this as I do not use Entourage), I think there is an import function/wizard that allows you to locate the 'old' data and import it into the new installation. The remaining PowerPoint, Excel and Word data files can simply be copied over.
For both the data transfer tasks you may want to have your Mac mini connected via (ironically) FireWire Target Disk Mode so that the PB can access the mini's drive.
15" 1.25GHz/12" 1GHz PBs, 2xPPC Mac minis, 12" iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.6) Cube, 2xTAMs, iPods 2G/4G, iPs, AEBS, AX

Spotlight will not fully index PowerBook used in target disk mode

I connected my PowerBook in target disk mode to my desktop to transfer files. Quickly added the PowerBook drive to the desktop's privacy list. After restarting the PowerBook, it started indexing, but said it was finished in less than 5 minutes (about 50 GB on drive). Spotlight will get a few hits, but misses many that I know are there for key words that are in both file names and contents.
I've tried erasing the index, I've tried using Spotless, I've tried running mdimport on the whole drive (it began using too much memory and bogged down). Nothing I can think of will get the drive to index properly. Any ideas?

< Any ideas? >
Yes, use Easyfind. Easy find doesn't have all those limitations that Spotlight has.

Target Disk Mode Backup

The hard drive on my 12" powerbook g4 is failing and I need to do an emergency backup. I've pulled all the important data off and now I'd like to make a disk image backup so that I don't lose my preferences, fonts, etc, etc.
I'd thought to do this by putting the powerbook into target disk mode, mounting the disk on a friend's powerbook, and then using her disk utility feature to create the new disk image on another, external drive. Her internal drive isn't large enough to hold the disk image.
But reading the apple how-to, it seems like you can't have another firewire connection active when you've got a computer hooked up in target disk mode. Is this so?
Is there any way I can create this disk image backup and get it on my external drive without booting up the failing powerbook?
powerbook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)
powerbook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hi, oligopisto. Welcome to the Discussions.
The instructions for Target Disk Mode are very specific. I've not tried using a FireWire drive while having another Mac connected in Target Disk Mode. While Apple doesn't state the reason, I'd take them at their word. If the instructions state not to do it, I'd follow their advice.
I presume you only have one FireWire drive, that it's not partitioned, and that you've used that drive to save the data you've backed up from your PowerBook?
If that's the case, then here is a suggestion for an emergency backup procedure:
1. First, using your friend's Mac, see if you can create a disk image of the data on the FireWire drive that you can save on her computer. You need to do this to save the info you've already backed-up to the FireWire drive before proceeding.
2. Open the Get Info window for the FireWire drive and see if the "Ignore ownership on this volume" checkbox is selected in the General pane. If so, uncheck that checkbox.
3. Eject the FireWire drive from your friend's Mac (drag its icon to the Trash), then power off the FireWire drive and disconnect it from her computer.
4. Connect your FireWire drive to your PowerBook and power-on the FireWire drive.
5. Startup from your Tiger Install DVD.
6. Select Language.
7. After the Installer window opens, select Utilities > Disk Utility. You should see both the FireWire drive and the PowerBook's startup disk (e.g. Macintosh HD) in the column on the left side of the Disk Utility window.
8. In Disk Utility, select Macintosh HD.
9. Select the Restore tab.
10. Drag the Macintosh HD icon from the left column to the Source field in the Restore tab.
11. Drag the icon of the FireWire drive's volume to the Destination field in the Restore tab. Your FireWire drive will show up in the left column as:<pre>FireWire Drive Device Info
FireWire drive's volume</pre>The FireWire drive's volume is below and slightly indented with respect to the FireWire Drive Device Info. It's listed with the name of your FireWire drive. That's what you want to drag to Destination.
The first a screen shot in this article will give you some idea of what things should look like.
12. Select Erase Destination. Note: This option will result in the FireWire drive being erased after the next step.
13. Click Restore. Disk Utility begins to copy your entire Macintosh HD to the FireWire drive's volume. This may take several hours depending on how much data is on your PowerBook.
14. When Disk Utility has finished, Quit (Command-Q) Disk Utility.
15. Quit (Command-Q) the Installer. When prompted, select Shutdown to shutdown your PowerBook.
16. After your PowerBook shuts down, power off and disconnect the FireWire drive.
17. Check the files on the FireWire drive using your friend's Mac. If done correctly, you may even be able to startup her Mac from the Backup using Startup Manager. However, given that your PowerBook's hard drive is dying, you'll need to be satisfied with whatever you can get off of it. For example, if the OS on your PowerBook is corrupted, you might get your data files, but the drive won't be bootable.
18. Copy the disk image from your friend's Mac, created in Step 1, to the FireWire drive.
19. Eject the FireWire drive from your friend's Mac (drag its icon to the Trash), then power off the FireWire drive and disconnect it from her computer.
Your FireWire drive should now have both a copy of whatever could be recovered fro, your Macintosh HD and the disk image you created in step 1.
After you get your PowerBook's hard drive replaced, I suggest you implement a comprehensive Backup and Recovery solution. For advice on the backup and recovery solution I employ, see my "Backup and Recovery" FAQ.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Can't get Target Disk Mode to work with host computer

Here's the problem. My Powerbook G4 went down a week ago (it's 7 years old) and I suspect the problem is either the hard drive or the portion of the logic board controlling the drive. I also have a Power Mac G4 400 that's running OS 10.4 Tiger. I've been trying to extract some files (that I failed to back up) from the Powerbook via Target Disk Mode using the older Power Mac as the host, however the target disk doesn't show up on the host screen. When I boot up the Powerbook holding the T key, it chimes and the FireWire symbol shows up like it's suppose to, but that's as far as goes. I plan on upgrading to a newer Mac, which would probably work better as a host, but money is a bit tight right now. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

If the trouble with the Powerbook is either a failed hard drive or a failed hard drive controller, FireWire Target Disk Mode isn't likely to work with any host computer. What you may want to try is installing data recovery software on the desktop G4 and seeing whether it can see the Powerbook's drive (connected in FWTDM) even though it won't mount. Data recovery software is often able to salvage data from drives that won't mount normally; it may be able to do the same thing via FWTDM.
These three DR utilities are all available in free downloadable demo versions that will show you what the full version would be able to recover before you have to pay for anything:
Data Rescue
FileSalvage
VirtualLab
Good luck.

MBP and target disk mode with PPC desktop

I am thinking about finally jumping to a MBP from a PowerBook.
One of the things I do a lot is hook up my PowerBook in target disk mode to interchange information with my PowerPC desktop.
Any problems with using a MBP in target disk mode with a PPC desktop? If so... what???
Thanks for any feedback, help, cautions.
-- Jim
Powerbook 15 1.67ghz High Res DDR2 Mac OS X (10.4.6) 1.5gb ram, 80gb

We just took the plunge and our MBP is being shipped.
Did you let the Migration Assistant move your applications? I am thinking about whether it is a good idea to migrate Final Cut Studio and any other non-Universal apps, for example, from the PowerBook, then get the Universal upgrades? Or just get the Universal versions and install them?
thanks

Does Disk Utility work in FireWire Target Disk Mode?

I have the dreaded "overlapped extent allocation" disk error on my PowerBook G4 FW800, which I discovered when attempting to install Tiger. I can still boot into 10.3.9.
My question: Can I run Disk Utility from my G4 PowerMac (Tiger10.4.7) with my PowerBook in Target Disk Mode? I have seen this mentioned in some discussion threads, but others say it won't work.
Alternatively, is there another way (e.g. ethernet) to connect the two to fix the problem?
PowerBook G4 15" 1GHz FW800 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Thank you.
I ran Disk Utility via TDM and it repaired the problem. Luckily, the corrupted files were not important.
PowerBook G4 15" 1GHz FW800 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Using Target disk mode from hard drive which is starting to fail, when I move files, I get a preparing to copy message but nothing happens. Any ideas?

Hello, i have a MacBook Pro. The hard drive is failing to such an extent that I can't currently use the computer, only things like utility mode etc. I have connected it unto my iMac and using a Firewire in target disk mode, I am attempting to move files across using that mode. The HD of the Macbook Pro appears in the IMac devices menu and I copy and paste the appropriate folders/files but as I do this I get a progress bar which says "preparing to copy" but then nothing appears to happen. Any ideas on what to do? Is there a password or other issue here that I am over-looking. Perhaps the hard drive of my macbook pro is so corrupted that I can't move files over. Any help would be great?

Try moving smaller groups of files. I' guessing that you don't have a backup huh?

Target Disk Mode with G4 PowerBook

This week I'm installing a new hard drive in my 2003 867Mhz PB. I plan to do a fresh install from the original CDs so I will have a computer clear of much data for a trip I'm going on next week. I will apply all updates to 10.4.11 to match my Mac Pro.
1. Can I install my '08 iLife apps onto my PowerBook? I'm the only user of both machines and normally I wouldn't care that the PB still has '06 since I rarely use it. However, the purpose of my trip is to take photos for five days. My PB doesn't meet the minimum requirements for Aperture. I want to start culling some of the photos on the trip so I won't have too many to import to Aperture when I return. Taking a bunch of DVDs isn't an option because the PB doesn't have a SuperDrive.
2. If I can install iPhoto '08, will Aperture see the PB's iPhoto Library in Target Disk Mode? If I can't install '08, will Aperture see the '06 iPhoto Library in Target Disk Mode? I will not be editing any photos in iPhoto on the PB - only viewing them to delete the bad out of the collection so I won't have to import a huge collection. Obviously iPhoto won't be running on either machine when I connect them in Target Disk Mode, so technically I won't have more than one copy in use at any time.
I have a wireless home network. I could set up file sharing on my PB to transfer the photos, but I think that would be much slower than using Target Disk Mode. Since I'm taking photos for my job, and knowing the schedule of events and shoot list, I'm estimating 10G of photos minimum. That's a lot of time with a pokey old PB for transferring. I won't be taking a Firewire hard drive because it's too bulky with all the other equipment considering that the 120G hard drive I'm installing in the PB won't have many apps. I also won't have internet access so I can't upload the photos to my iDisk.
3. Does anyone know if Target Disk Mode can be used with my PB when I upgrade my Mac Pro to Leopard? I'm not planning on installing Leopard on the PB (don't know if it meets the minimum requirements) because I don't see myself using the PB too often. By the time I need to be portable more frequently, I will buy a MBP. I hadn't turned the PB on for over a year until last week to make sure it still works for this trip. It would be more useful to buy an extra iPod to store photos than to buy Leopard for the PB.
Sorry if that seemed like a confusing bunch of questions. I tried searching the forums and Apple's support site and now I'm too exhausted to think too clearly. Thanks for any help or pointers.

I have to answer my own post as this question probably isn't allowed here. After installing the new hard drive I read the license agreement while waiting for the restore DVD to finish. I didn't bother with upgrading 10.2 which is what the PB had when new. I immediately installed Tiger and after it's done updating I'll see what software I need/want besides iWork. I'm sure Tiger isn't different in the license than Leopard. (So I'll have to plan on getting a new portable soon as I think the Target Disk Mode is faster for transferring unless I get another Firewire drive.)
But at least the new hard drive and maxed RAM has made my PB a bit more peppy. Or maybe I'm not remembering how slow it was because I haven't yet used it. I'm currently still waiting for Tiger to finish installing. I'll hold off a little longer before upgrading my Mac Pro to Leopard to find out if there are any network gotchas I should know about with my PowerBook. If I'd been using the PB, I'd know all these answers. I've just been so thrilled with my Mac Pro and 23" monitor that the PB hasn't had much appeal. But maybe I'll try to wring a little more life out of the PB.

Mac mini doesn't recognise Powerbook G4 in Target Disk mode

The hard disk on my Powerbook G4 is reporting errors so I would like to get the data off it by connecting it to my mini in target disk mode with a firewire cable.
The powerbook drive fires up into target disk mode but the mini doesn't seem to recognise it. Anyone else had this problem and solved it?
Thanks in advance.
MK

Hi,
Thanks for your reply, I cannot get startup manager to come up unfortunately, I have tried trying to get startup to take place with the 10.4 bootup DVD, but couldn't get that to work either. I am thinking of resorting to using DiskWarrior DVD to load from it and see what I can salvage....

Unable to boot PowerBook G4 (15-inch Aluminum) in target disk mode

I wanted to move some files from my G4 AGP to my faster G4 Powerbook. When I try to start the G4 Powerbook in target mode I get the t on the screen and then see a bar along the bottom center of the screen which contains a little red bar and then it shuts down.
When I try to restart, the Powerbook is dead and I have to reset the PMU. It will then start up normally.
There is currently no battery for the Powerbook and I am running with the power adapter only. Could this be the problem?

The 15" Powerbooks have two batteries. One is the one you can remove from the bottom of the machine without any screws, the other you need detailed instructions of the computer's interior and special parts to replace. The user accessible battery will only impact Target Disk Mode if you have no A/C power to connect to the wall outlet, and it also is out of juice. The non-user accessible battery if it gets more than 4 years old, can impact Target Disk Mode accessibility even if you are plugged into A/C power from the wall outlet. If your power brick is frayed, it may not be giving power to the computer, or if the power manager is damaged it may not give power to the computer. See my FAQ*:
http://www.macmaps.com/frayguide.html
Consider how old your machine is, and likelihood of one problem versus the other. If you are in the U.S., these places may be cheaper to replace the non-user accessible battery than Apple or other authorized service technicians:
http://www.dttservice.com/
http://www.powerbookresq.com/
http://www.microdocusa.com/
http://www.macspecialist.com/
http://www.techrestore.com/
If you feel up to the challange, you can order the parts and replace that battery yourself with instructions from http://www.ifixit.com/
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

FYI: Corrupt hard drive will cause target disk mode to fail

I have just finished restoring my nephew's iBook which had had a major disk corruption issue - keys out of order, invalid key lengths, etc. in the catalog. While the iBook would boot, it had a lot of problems running due to the corrupt file system.
As part of the restoration process, I tried to connect the iBook in target disk mode, but had a lot of trouble. Apparently, bad file system data structures will cause the target disk mode to hang; I needed to disconnect the iBook from my main system to get out of the SPOD. In the end, I booted the iBook from the installation DVD and ran Disk Utility from there to reformat the hard drive. Surprisingly, it was impossible to reformat the drive in target disk mode due to the corruption.
Once the disk was reformatted, target disk mode worked fine, and I was able to restore the entire system (less files lost due to the corruption) in that mode.

It is impossible to say what can be recovered without knowing the cause of the installation failure. The possibilities range from some interfering third party addition to the previously installed OS to a substandard or degraded hardware component (especially RAM) that can't meet the more stringent demands of the new OS version.
All I can suggest is to try Target Disc Mode & see what you can recover to another drive -- one that your bother should have had for backups to begin with & should now see the value of having if he did not before.
If that doesn't work, the alternatives are investing in special data recovery software (moderately expensive) or a data recovery service (very, very expensive).

Using Target Disk mode to reinstall OS-X

I have a PPC G5 Dual 2.0gHz which failed the other day. All the fans were running full and a red LED showing on the logic board (it's just a warning I think). Since then the machine cannot be started up. It will begin the startup process normally but will hang on the Apple logo screen (no spinning gear wheel).
The same thing happens when attempting to start up from the install disks and also when started in safe mode or with Option pressed down at startup.
The logical assumption (given the original failure) is a hardware problem but I'm not entirely certain that's the case and cannot get it to a technician right now. I can run Apple Hardware Test and it passes that. I can also mount the G5's drive in Target Disk mode using a PowerBook G4 as a host so the drive itself appears to be okay. All the data is there and can be transferred.
Is it possible that this is software not a hardware issue? The normal startup chime is there, the relay clicks at startup and it does begin to access the drive and all the normal noises can be heard. Just stops loading at the Apple logo screen. I'm wondering if some OS files were corrupted in the original crash (which happened overnight so I don't know what caused it) and if there is some way to eliminate the OS as the problem before going to a technician.
As I can mount the drive in target mode, is it possible to use my PB as a host and reinstall the G5 OS-X that way? They're different machines so I don't know if that would work or the PB would reject the installation. Alternatively, if it could be just corrupted OS system files would it make sense to try to 'guess' the most likely to have been corrupted and manually replace them, again using the PB as a target host?
I'm really stuck without this machine but just can't get it to a workshop for at least a couple of weeks so I'll try anything!

Boy, I love these forums, and I love Macs (most of the time). I was so convinced this was hardware but it seems (fingers crossed) to be fixed. Yay!
You guys were both right in a way. Roam's solution would clearly have been the easiest but because I had tried it before without success I didn't expect it to work. And, trying it again with the G5 install disk, it didn't. Same problem as before. But Graham's reminder of using the original multi-machine Tiger disks in target mode made me wonder. So before trying Target Disk mode I tried just restarting the machine using the Tiger DVD instead of the G5 disks -- and it booted into the installation dialogue!
I figured I'd need to reinstall 10.4 (and, if it worked, go through the whole update drag to get back to 10.4.10). Before I did that though, on a whim, I tried quitting the installer and selecting the normal G5 system as the startup disk. Restarted and voila -- there it was, all back to normal, everything sweet and no data lost!
I didn't even need to repair the disk. Disk verify shows no problems. Even repairing permissions was just a couple of minor changes. I'm amazed. And delighted.
I might be jumping the gun and there might still be a hardware problem that will repeat the original failure and I'll find all the fans going full blast and nothing working again tomorrow but, if Murphy is having time off, for the moment I'm back in business.
I would love to figure out what caused the problem in the first place. I suspect a big power surge overnight did it but I have no idea exactly what it did to cause these symptoms.
My grateful thanks guys.

Target Disk Mode HELP!

Hi everyone, my wife's 12" aluminum G4 Powerbook has died. The only thing I can get it to do is go to Target Disk Mode. Otherwise it just goes gray apple screen on startup (running 10.4.x).
I have it connected to my host computer, an old Beige Box G3 I added firewire and usb to. It is running 10.2.8. I've used it as a host for a powerbook before with no issues.
My issue this time is that the host will not show the icon for the powerbook on the screen! I can't find it on the desktop or finder. That said, it does show in the system profiler, and I found it in Disk Utility, though it just freezes up the old machine when I try and choose it.
Any suggestions for a long-time Mac'r?
Thanks
Sam

Hey Tom! I'm going crazy here, I have my Mac plugged into the same screen as our Dell tower, with two keyboards and two mice. Then a laptop on the desk as well. I am going crazy trying to remember which input device to use!
I have had success using the G3 as a host. However, it was before I had 10.3 installed on anything I think...and before 10.4 for sure!
How do I check and be sure I have Firewire 2.3.3?
Thanks
Sam (wrong mouse again!)

Macbook in target disk mode locks up when trying to transfer files to another computer. Suggestions?

A week ago I installed snow leopard on my girlfriend's macbook without backing anything up. Dumb idea I know. The installation failed multiple times. I ran her computer in target disc mode to try to save what files I could. Now when I try to transfer files it will freeze up at different times. Sometimes I can transfer a huge amount of data like 4GB's and the other times it locks up trying to transfer 4kB's. I'm at my wits end trying to figure this out. I can see the files but can not transfer them.
Any suggestions or past similar past experiences?

Hi Anand,
Have you noticed when you plug the drive in whether its making any sounds? You can put your ear up to the drive on the Macbook. Its located on the right hand front sided of the top case.
Also, check to see if the target disk mode icon is moving after a few minutes. If the firewire icon has stopped moving it usually indicates that theres something seriously wrong (probably mechanical) with the drive.
Id definitely give Disk Warrior a try. Especially if you have a situation where you can hear the drive running or spin up but it doesn't make any sound after that. Hope this helps.

Powerbook DIED. Target Disk Mode Failed.

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