Powerbook won't see the internal hard disk drive

I'm scratching my head with this one...
Seemed to me that my HDD had died, when I booted the computer I got a grey screen. I tried using Firewire Target Disk but the other computer connected didn't see any drive pop up, and when I booted from the installer CD the HDD did not show up in Disk Utility.
So I bought a new HDD and replaced it, but the problem was the same. I took what I thought was my dead HDD and put it in a 12" PB and it booted fine (and I was able to get my data off it that I'd thought I'd lost).
The problem I now have is that I don't know the reason why the HDD is not working. I ran the Apple Hardware test and the PB passed in both the basic and extended tests. The software reported that the mass storage (I presume that is the HDD) passed. I don't understand how it can pass when the HDD doesn't show up at all.
I'm hoping the problem might be the HDD ribbon connecting cable as that would be a 10 quid replacement, but with no feedback from the hardware test I haven't a clue.
Has anyone else encountered something like this and can they give me suggestions?

Looks like your HD cable is the problem.
Apple hardware test will not tell you that the problem is your HD ribbon cable. But from my past experience with this kind of problem, I could tell you that most likely your problem located in the HD ribbon cable.
You've tried your HD in another unit and it is working fine and by process of elimination then the HD cable is next to be tried and if after you replaced hd cable the problem still persist then you can tell that the culprit is the logic board.
Flippo

Similar Messages

Is it possible to upgrade the internal Hard disk drive on the iMac

Is it possible to upgrade the internal Hard disk drive on the iMac?

Yes but it's definitely not advised. If you have a machine newer than 2009 Apple uses drives that have integrated heat sensors. This makes upgrading much more difficult but not impossible. If you have a machine still under warranty then definitely DO NOT do this yourself as you may void the warranty not to mention it isn't for the faint of heart. Take the machine to an AASP to have the work done, you will need to find one in your area willing to do so.
If you are considering a new machine then simply buy the configuation you need.

'Lombard' PowerBook won't see external USB hard disk?

I connect an external hard disk to a 'Lombard' PowerBook (Mac OS X 10.3.9) via USB and get the message "You have inserted a disk containing no volumes that Mac OS X can read." I connect the same disk to my MacBook Pro via USB and it mounts fine. I've run DiskWarrior on it, but it still won't mount on the 'Lombard'. Other USB devices work fine, e.g. USB flash drive. I know the 'Lombard' won't boot from an external USB disk, but will it also simply not read it at all?

HandyMac,
You are caught between a rock and a hard place. MacOS X 10.3.9 or earlier cannot mount/read a volume that has been partitioned using the GUID Partition Scheme adopted by the Intel Macs. PowerPC Macs use the older Apple Partition Scheme. You can reformat the USB HD on your Lombard (a PowerPC) using the Apple Partition Scheme and it will also mount/read/write on the MacBook Pro. However, if you are also using this HD as a bootable volume for the MBP, the HD must remain in the GUID Partition Scheme. The tech article below is discussing FireWire Target Disk Mode but I assume the same restriction applies also to removable media. I would confirm this on either the MBP Discussions or the Tiger Discussions.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303118
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303220

Mac OSX wont reognise my internal hard disk drive

I have a problem where for some reason when I start up my Macbook Pro (intel core duo) it does not detect the internal hard disk drive at all. I have run a hardware test and it shows no problems whatsoever. I have tried resetting the PRAM etc and to no avail. Yesterday the system hung and I tried to force quit and it wouldn't do anything so eventually I held down the power key and when it tried to reboot this is the problem I was faced with (it would boot up with the "no entry" sign). I accepted complete defeat and went to completely re-install OSX however it doesn't even show the internal hard drive when I wait for it to give me install destinations. I had tried seeing the hard drive through disk utility however it only shows the install DVD and that's it in the sidebar. I resigned myself further to thinking either the logic board or the HDD had packed in all and I took it round to my brother in law to see if there is anything he could do without opening the machine (he is Oxford educated and writes programmes etc so is very knowledgable), now this is the part that has miffed us both, he started it up using a Linux disc and once running, Linux see's the hard drive with no problems. He has been able to access the HDD with absolutely no problems under Linux both reading and writing to it. I even took my Mac Mini round and he booted them both up in Linux and completely copied Mac OSX from the mini to the macbook pro but still when I try booting up its as if the HDD isn't even there. Why can Linux see the drive and not Mac OSX? Please don't be affraid to get very technical in your answers as they may mean nothing to me but will probably all make sense to my brother in Law. Any sugestions at all would be greatly accepted.

Dear mcdkev,
You guys may have made a big error cloning the Mini HD into the MBP. They both have very different drivers and hardware settings and their OS X versions are customized to fit the hardware. That is why each mac comes with it's own version of OS X and their backup disks. That's a reason why it did not work.
Ok, so now that you do not have any of the original info on the MBP try the following:
Use linux to scan the disk surface & repair any problems.
Reformat the drive as DOS or FAT 32. (I wouldn't go into any linux specific format unless you can "Apple" format it, which I don't think linux has that option.)
Now, the MBP should be able to see it's drive...
boot from the OS X DVD , from the Utilities menu choose Disk Utilities, partition the drive as GUI file system (in case the linux format made the drive a "system boot record", you do not want that... )
Then format the drive as "OS X Extended Journaled"
Now go back to install and install your original basic set of OS X (the factory default).
*If nothing works, please do take your MBP to the Apple store or to a certified tech before you do more damage to the drive and it becomes unusable ...*

No way to free space in the internal hard disk.

Hi guy
There's no way to free any space in the internal hard disk. If I throw 5 giga of files in the trash and empty it, I don't find 5 more giga of avalaible space in the internal hard disk. Time Machine is not activated. Any idea to solve the problem? Sorry for my english....

Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks' Storage Display.
2. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
3. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
4. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
5. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
6. See The Storage Display.
You must Empty the Trash in order to recover the space they occupied on the hard drive.
You should consider replacing the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.

IMac doesn't recognise the internal hard disk (intermittent)

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give me an advice on this problem.
Background: A few days ago my iMac (20-inch MA877LL) would not boot up, it would sit on the gray screen with the wheel spinning for ever. I thought the OS might have got corrupted so I tried to re-install Snow Leopard from the CD. Installation fails with a message like 'the content of HD can not be changed'. I then went to Disk Utilities trying to repair the disk but had no luck with the repair so I decided to format the disk. I managed to get into my hard disk using the cmd R key combination at power up and backed up my essential files onto a external hard disk. I formatted/erase the hard disk (zeroed out) and tried to reinstall the Snow Leopard again. The installation failed again. Rebooted the system again and tried to re instal again but this time I got as far as the 'select the disk where you want to install Mac OS' but my Hard Disk is not listed, it's a blank list! Rebooted the maching again, tried the installation, this time it sees the hard disk but the installation fails again.
I have tried to change the boot source by hodling the 'alt' key down at power up, but I am only given the option of the CD drive with installation disk as the boot source i.e. no Har Disk. It appears that the Hard Disk is intermittently recognised and hence my problem with booting the maching when the problem started.
I am happy to purchase an internal disk to replace the existing one, but I have a feeling the actual Disk it's OK, after all I managed to access my data to back up and then format it with no problem. I just think there's a problem somewhere that intemittently doesn't recognise the Hard Disk.
Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

You need to have the hard drive replaced. The one that is currently installed has failed.

My imac starts up but I can't see the internal hard drive

The hard drice appears to have disappeared from the desktop

Have a look in Finder>Preferences>General tab and make sure you have a tick against 'Hard disks'.

I am waiting for a new iMac with two drives: SSD conventional hard drive. How can I transfer only a certain number of applications to the SSD and the rest to the physical hard disk drive?

I am expecting a new iMac (i7 with SSD). How can I transfer only certain applications along with the system, library etc. to this limited (space) HD and other applications to the conventional disk HD in order to save space on the SSD?
Thank you,
Gilles

Tom Lassiter wrote:
I have the same scenario, using an SSD for my start-up drive. I have copied my Applications folder to a mechanical hard drive and created symbolic link to it. The symbolic link resides on the SSD and works properly.
That may not be the best solution. Many updaters expect apps, especially Apple apps, to be in the /Applications folder on the OSX drive; if there are updates, the apps may not be found, thus may not be updated. I don't know if the installers/updaters will follow a symbolic link or not.
DItto some apps, especially Adobe apps, won't even work if they're anywhere else. Again, I don't know if they'll follow a symbolic link, either.

Any problems with the recalled hard disk drives, any problems with the recalled hard disk drives

Has anyone had their defective hard drive replaced?
any problems with the Apple service or restarting the machine with a new hard drive?

See this FAQ: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html

Problem installating Snow Leopard on old Macbook Pro with Intel Core 2 Duo. After creating partition on internal hard disk (Extended Journaled), installation starts but stops at half of the progress bar. Screen asking Restart appears.

Hello:
I have tried installing Snow Leopard via the installation disc on a Macbook Pro (2007) with an Intel Core 2 Duo, but I the installation has failed more than 5 times.
I have first formatted and partitioned the internal hard disk with Mac Os Extended Journal format.
Once the installation starts, it starts without a problem unti lthe progress bar gest until half completed then a screen asking for a Computer Restart shows up.
It asks to press the power button for some time until it the computer shuts down and then, press again to turn it on.
Once turned on, the installation disc gets readed, the installation screen appears again and asks again to start the whole installation process form the beginning.

Then you have a Hardware Problem.
Your system is Crashing part way through the install and Re-Booting because of the crash.
Could be the drive itself or it could be some other hardware part in your system. Like the RAM.
To check if it is the internal drive connect an External drive to the system by USB and do the install on that external. If the install completes then it more then likely the drive is bad. If it crashes again then it is more then likely some other piece of hardware in your system.

Cant see airport internal hard drive

My airport extreme base station with internal 2g network-attached storage NAS
model: A1408 stopped working recently. When It would finally turn on again, I can no longer see the internal hard drive. Its working as a wireless router. I tried putting a flash drive in the USB port and it sees that ok. Any suggestions? Shouldn't it show in the disk pane of the Airport Utility? I am using Win 7.

My airport extreme base station with internal 2g network-attached storage NAS
model: A1408 stopped working recently.
Just to be sure we are talking about the same AirPort base station. The A1408 is a 5th generation 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station. It does NOT have an internal storage hard drive.
Did you mean you had a Time Capsule or is the "network-attached storage NAS" device you refer to a device that is attached to the Extreme? If the latter, is it connected to the Extreme via a USB or Ethernet connection?
What is this hard drive formatted in ... NTFS, FAT32, ExFAT, or something else?

ITunes showing Album Covers of external hard disk i/o internal hard disk

Greetings from Malaysia again. Searched through the Discussion Group, but couldn't find anything there. Thus, hope to get your assistance on this matter.
I have some music stored in the internal hard disk of my G4 iBook. However, recently I decided to have all my music stored in an EXTERNAL hard disk, ie in addition to what's in the iBook, to sync with my iPod. Both have the artwork or album covers. The issue is when I boot up ONLY the iBook, even without the external hard disk on, iTunes (Version 8.1) is showing the Artwork/Album Covers (and list of music) of the EXTERNAL hard disk instead of what's in the iBook. I've even tried the "Option key/Choose Library", but to no avail. I've even tried changing the location, after starting up iTunes in the Preference settings, but still the same story.
Is there any way to have iTunes reflect the correct Artwork/Album Covers (and list of music) when I have the external hard disk connected, as well as otherwise?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Regards.

Moved the existing library. Created a new one, and moved all the songs to the new library. Subsequently, when using the "Option" key to select the library, it ended up as what I wanted, ie iTunes showing the album covers for the songs/album in the respective library - ie external hard disk, and internal in the notebook.

What's the maximum hard disk size for the MBP?

Sorry the title might sound like a dumb question, but I was wondering if my MBP Core Duo, is future proof regarding the internal hard disk. Will it recognise any capacity, or stuck at a certain level?
Also what are the largest Apple supported internal drives currently available? Any recommendations?

That's kind of a gray area, but I think you may be right. Here are the conditions under which Apple can refuse service:
This warranty does not apply: (a) to damage caused by use with non-Apple products; (b) to damage caused by accident, abuse, misuse, flood, fire, earthquake or other external causes; (c) to damage caused by operating the product outside the permitted or intended uses described by Apple; (d) to damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anyone who is not a representative of Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider; (e) to a product or part that has been modified to significantly alter functionality or capability without the written permission of Apple; (f) to consumable parts, such as batteries, unless damage has occurred due to a defect in materials or workmanship; or (g) if any Apple serial number has been removed or defaced.
So if something breaks that's unrelated to your HDD upgrade, I think Apple still has to service it as long as you didn't break it while performing the ugprade. At least that's my interpretation.

Dual G5 hangs while booting from internal hard-disk

Hi,
When I switched my Dual G5 (2x2.5GHz around 15 months old, 1.5GB ram, 160GB hard disk, OS 10.4.6) on yesterday, it wouldn't boot from the internal hard disk. The spinning "wheel" (under the Apple logo) didn't show up and after a couple (5? 10?) of minutes the fans started making more noise than they ever did. I tried again with the same result.
It did boot from CD though and the disk was accessible. Disk Utility didn't report a problem and the hardware test neither. Subsequent rebooting from the internal hard disk failed again.
Then I reinstalled 10.4 (with archive & install), but with the same result. Then I got a Firewire drive from the computer support department, formatted it, installed 10.4 and copied (nearly) the entire internal hard disk's content to it. I was able to work normally from that disk.
Then I booted again from the 10.4 installation disk, formatted the internal drive, reinstalled 10.4 and then it did boot from the internal drive. I migrated all my files and now everything is working again (although a few things might have gone missing). And I lost nearly a day of work.
I conclude from this that it wasn't the disk, but that somehow an essential part of the boot software got damaged.
My question: how did this happen? What could have caused it? Is there someone with a similar experience (i.e., failure to boot from disk while the disk is still ok)? Is there any way to prevent it from happening again?

we have g5s the same as you. the few times we've ever had an issue with them refusing to boot up have been solved by running diskwarrior. it's an utter 'must have'.
it's a harsh fact that drives (and the operating system that sits on them) do fail from time to time. careful housekeeping (repairing permissions regularly, running disk utility repair and/or diskwarrior) will help to prevent any major problems.
if you have an issue that can't be fixed by doing these things (and we just had one with a file sharing problem) the best course of action is a full reinstall.
we keep a fw800 drive with the latest installers of every application we use handy in each room for this purpose. it's time consuming to stay on top of but worth it when it all goes pear-shaped.

To Upgrade or Not To Upgrade (From External Hard disk to Internal Hard Disk

Hi, need some advise here.
Currently I have a External Hard Disk (320GB) connect with my IMac with Internal Hard Disk of standard 80GB.It is ok just that have to power on/off the External Hard Disk. It is very common that I forgot to power on the External Hard Disk and my iTune library goes to other location in the Internal Hard Disk instead of follow my setting in my External Hard Disk.
So I am considering remove the standard 80GB in my IMac and change with the 320GB.Read some instruction/procedure on this to me look complicated with the thermal pad thing so now hesitating worth the risk to swap the hard dsik or just leave it as it is.
Leave it as it is or change it?
Any advice ?

Here's a link to a take-apart guide I used a few times to replace & upgrade drives & memory in my old G4.
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/iMacg4/imacg4takeapart.html
No it's not as easy as opening up a pc, but the key word is patience. The key thing to remember is to make sure you get some heatsink paste from your local computer store, and apply it to the areas that need it before buttoning everything back up.
It'll only take you a few hours if you work carefully. While you have it open I highly suggest upgrading your upper memory stick, as well as upgrading your superdrive. I get all my stuff here, they haven't steered me wrong yet:
http://eshop.macsales.com/static_pages/index.cfm
Sean
San Diego

Powerbook won't see the internal hard disk drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for