Mac hard drive probably dead. Help me figure out the next step.
March 8, 2011 2:27 PM Subscribe
Mac hard drive might be dead. What are my options?
I have an iMac that I got back in January 2009. A couple of weeks ago it started to act up. It started to slow down. A couple of times it froze entirely, and I could only fix it with a hard reboot. Then it started to have issues booting at all. The first two or three times I would attempt to boot it, it would flash an icon of a gray folder with a question mark on it--but it would maybe boot the fourth or fifth time. This would also happen trying to awaken it from sleep mode.
From what I've read online this is all consistent with the hard drive deciding it has finally had enough of this world.
Luckily, I saw the writing on the wall and backed up my important data, but I do have some *un*important data on the drive that I would like to save.
My questions are:
1. Do you think this is actually a hard drive failure? There is no "clicking" sound, just a sort of asthmatic whirring.
2. Presuming I didn't get an extended warranty, how much would it take to get it fixed and how much of a hassle would it be? I tried to find estimates online but I'm getting very different estimates. I do not have an Apple store in my town.
Complicating factor: I'm a student who not only really needs to have a computer, but doesn't have much money. How much it costs, and how long it takes, is a big factor in deciding whether I should just buy the cheapest Windows machine possible to get me through this semester. (Before you suggest it, Linux is not an option; I have to use software that is not supported for Linux.)
3. I attempted to troubleshoot following the instructions on this page. I tried the first two steps (rebooting in safe mode, resetting the NVRAM/PRAM) but neither worked. The next step calls for inserting the Mac OS X install disc--which I probably have, but there is a disc in the drive already! How do I get this disc out of the drive, since my iMac has no physical eject button and I cannot boot it?
(Special bonus: This is the disc for a game I bought, so if I never get it out it's about a $40 loss.)
I have an iMac that I got back in January 2009. A couple of weeks ago it started to act up. It started to slow down. A couple of times it froze entirely, and I could only fix it with a hard reboot. Then it started to have issues booting at all. The first two or three times I would attempt to boot it, it would flash an icon of a gray folder with a question mark on it--but it would maybe boot the fourth or fifth time. This would also happen trying to awaken it from sleep mode.
From what I've read online this is all consistent with the hard drive deciding it has finally had enough of this world.
Luckily, I saw the writing on the wall and backed up my important data, but I do have some *un*important data on the drive that I would like to save.
My questions are:
1. Do you think this is actually a hard drive failure? There is no "clicking" sound, just a sort of asthmatic whirring.
2. Presuming I didn't get an extended warranty, how much would it take to get it fixed and how much of a hassle would it be? I tried to find estimates online but I'm getting very different estimates. I do not have an Apple store in my town.
Complicating factor: I'm a student who not only really needs to have a computer, but doesn't have much money. How much it costs, and how long it takes, is a big factor in deciding whether I should just buy the cheapest Windows machine possible to get me through this semester. (Before you suggest it, Linux is not an option; I have to use software that is not supported for Linux.)
3. I attempted to troubleshoot following the instructions on this page. I tried the first two steps (rebooting in safe mode, resetting the NVRAM/PRAM) but neither worked. The next step calls for inserting the Mac OS X install disc--which I probably have, but there is a disc in the drive already! How do I get this disc out of the drive, since my iMac has no physical eject button and I cannot boot it?
(Special bonus: This is the disc for a game I bought, so if I never get it out it's about a $40 loss.)
Response by poster: The eject button didn't work the first time I tried it, so I thought that it must have been mediated by the OS somehow. On your advice I tried it again, and it worked! I must not have held it down long enough. Hurrah.
I will try the next step on the troubleshooting guide and update once that's done.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:34 PM on March 8, 2011
I will try the next step on the troubleshooting guide and update once that's done.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:34 PM on March 8, 2011
If Disk Utility says that the drive is kaput: DIY HD replacement on the aluminium iMacs isn't for the faint-hearted, but it is doable.
posted by holgate at 2:37 PM on March 8, 2011
posted by holgate at 2:37 PM on March 8, 2011
Best answer: Was the iMac new as of Jan '09? If it is (it would have an aluminum-and-glass body), congratulations! Your iMac has a hard drive that is a real pain to replace.
Re: your questions:
1. Yes, that sounds like a dying or dead drive. When hard drives die, they don't always make loud angry noises- in fact, a minority of hard drive failures come with those sorts of noises. Although it's not certain, it's the most likely cause of your troubles.
2. You'll need to pay for a new hard drive and the labor to replace it. A new hard drive shouldn't cost that much: on Newegg a 500GB internal hard drive that would fit your iMac will run about $40. The labor will be the expensive part: if you have an aluminum-and-glass iMac, a hard drive replacement is a time-consuming and delicate job. At my shop, we quote 1-1.5 hours of labor for the replacement, although you might be able to get the work done cheaper somewhere else. Make sure that the shop doing the quoting has experience with Macs, particularly these iMacs, because they're not like most PCs.
3. You can eject the CD in the drive by restarting the computer with the mouse button held down. Keep holding the mouse button down until the CD ejects. When you boot off your Mac OS X install DVD, you can use Disk Utility to verify the filesystem on your internal drive. Based on the symptoms you're describing, though, it doesn't sound like Disk Utility will be able to help you.
It seems silly to me to write off such a recent (and expensive!) computer because of a hard drive failure. If you can't afford to get the hard drive replaced right now, you could buy an internal drive and put it in an external drive case. If you install your OS on that drive and run off the drive until you have more money, you can have it installed in the computer later.
posted by aaronbeekay at 2:38 PM on March 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Re: your questions:
1. Yes, that sounds like a dying or dead drive. When hard drives die, they don't always make loud angry noises- in fact, a minority of hard drive failures come with those sorts of noises. Although it's not certain, it's the most likely cause of your troubles.
2. You'll need to pay for a new hard drive and the labor to replace it. A new hard drive shouldn't cost that much: on Newegg a 500GB internal hard drive that would fit your iMac will run about $40. The labor will be the expensive part: if you have an aluminum-and-glass iMac, a hard drive replacement is a time-consuming and delicate job. At my shop, we quote 1-1.5 hours of labor for the replacement, although you might be able to get the work done cheaper somewhere else. Make sure that the shop doing the quoting has experience with Macs, particularly these iMacs, because they're not like most PCs.
3. You can eject the CD in the drive by restarting the computer with the mouse button held down. Keep holding the mouse button down until the CD ejects. When you boot off your Mac OS X install DVD, you can use Disk Utility to verify the filesystem on your internal drive. Based on the symptoms you're describing, though, it doesn't sound like Disk Utility will be able to help you.
It seems silly to me to write off such a recent (and expensive!) computer because of a hard drive failure. If you can't afford to get the hard drive replaced right now, you could buy an internal drive and put it in an external drive case. If you install your OS on that drive and run off the drive until you have more money, you can have it installed in the computer later.
posted by aaronbeekay at 2:38 PM on March 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Unless you're handy, confident in your skills, and have a good place to work, I wouldn't recommend replacing that drive yourself. There are a lot of things that can go wrong during that install.
posted by aaronbeekay at 2:39 PM on March 8, 2011
posted by aaronbeekay at 2:39 PM on March 8, 2011
If possible, before you pay to have this done, at least drag it down to the apple store and look very sad. I've had Apple repair a number of computers that were long out of warrantee. It's worth a try.
posted by tomswift at 2:42 PM on March 8, 2011
posted by tomswift at 2:42 PM on March 8, 2011
Mr. F's aluminum iMac was a month out of AppleCare and they cheerily gave him a new (bigger!) HD anyhow. You might *try* your Apple Store.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 2:44 PM on March 8, 2011
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 2:44 PM on March 8, 2011
Here's a USB drive case you could put that $40 500GB hard drive in. I don't really like USB cases, but that's a total of $80ish to get you up and running again, and you can do it all yourself.
The poster said that he has no Apple store nearby.
posted by aaronbeekay at 2:46 PM on March 8, 2011
The poster said that he has no Apple store nearby.
posted by aaronbeekay at 2:46 PM on March 8, 2011
Best answer: This happened to me about 2 months ago. After trying a variety of methods to save it, I decided to bring it to my closest Apple Authorized Service Provider. I paid $50 for a new replacement drive, a $29 diagnostic charge, and $99 for them to replace the drive, so $180 total. I think it would have cost me an additional $150 for labor if they were to re-install Snow Leopard and restore the data from my backups, but since I religiously back everything up I was able to do that myself.
Good luck!
posted by photovox at 2:50 PM on March 8, 2011
Good luck!
posted by photovox at 2:50 PM on March 8, 2011
Response by poster: Okay, I tried booting from the disc, but disk utility says that my HD has a capacity of 0bytes and all of the options (Verify Disk, Repair, etc) are greyed out. I'm guessing that answers my first question...
I did some more Googling and found that I do actually have an authorized apple service provider that's local, even though I don't have an actual Apple store. They quote $90/hr for repairs. It looks like this might my best option as long as it doesn't take them forever (in which case I can't afford it).
I have two external hard drives in good working order that are actually larger than my internal hard drive. Is it possible to install the OS to either of these drives as a temporary fix? I'm in a time crunch and doing without my computer for a few days will be a big problem.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:57 PM on March 8, 2011
I did some more Googling and found that I do actually have an authorized apple service provider that's local, even though I don't have an actual Apple store. They quote $90/hr for repairs. It looks like this might my best option as long as it doesn't take them forever (in which case I can't afford it).
I have two external hard drives in good working order that are actually larger than my internal hard drive. Is it possible to install the OS to either of these drives as a temporary fix? I'm in a time crunch and doing without my computer for a few days will be a big problem.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:57 PM on March 8, 2011
Sure, you can easily install an OS to one of those external hard drives. If you plug one of them in, then boot off the install DVD and follow the prompts, the installer will let you pick it as an install destination.
AASPs aren't your only option: you can also look for an Apple Consultant. They won't necessarily have a lower rate, but it's another option.
My shop charges about $90 an hour, so that's not unreasonable.
posted by aaronbeekay at 3:02 PM on March 8, 2011
AASPs aren't your only option: you can also look for an Apple Consultant. They won't necessarily have a lower rate, but it's another option.
My shop charges about $90 an hour, so that's not unreasonable.
posted by aaronbeekay at 3:02 PM on March 8, 2011
Second the GeniusBar thing if your google-fu doesn't turn up more diagnostic info for you. They may be able to help with the HD, and can also tell you if it might be some other problem. Depending on how kindly the local Genius is, he or she may help with a replacement as "good will," especially if your model is known for its wonky HD.
posted by Hylas at 3:20 PM on March 8, 2011
posted by Hylas at 3:20 PM on March 8, 2011
Best answer: DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT USE DISK UTILITY TO REPAIR THE DISK IF YOU THINK IT HAS CRASHED
The last thing you want to do right now is to overly stress out the drive to the point where it's even dead-er than it is right now. The repair/verification tools in Disk Utility assume that your hardware is working properly, which it is not. The verification process will heavily thrash your disk, and the repair process will move lots of important files around, which is bad as your drive is in no condition to read OR write.
Your best bet is to boot off of another drive, and try your damndest to get the bad disk to mount, and quickly copy off the files that you need before it craps out again.
If you can get the computer to detect the drive, but not mount it, ddrescue has worked wonders for me in the past. You'll have to clear out a bunch of space on one of your external disks, and buy one of your nerd friends a beer to help you do the recovery. (Don't expect a paid consulting firm to help you out with this).
Failing all that, there are data recovery companies that will recover your data from a hard drive that has crashed, burned, or drowned (literally). For a price. Anywhere from $500-$2000.
Fortunately, replacing the drive will be a lot easier and cheaper. You should be able to easily find a new drive (that will be bigger and faster) for about $100. Take a peek at the iFixIt guide for replacing a hard drive in your iMac, and decide whether or not you can undertake the repair process yourself. It's not a terribly difficult process, and iFixit's awesome guides hold your hand the entire way.
posted by schmod at 8:31 PM on March 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
The last thing you want to do right now is to overly stress out the drive to the point where it's even dead-er than it is right now. The repair/verification tools in Disk Utility assume that your hardware is working properly, which it is not. The verification process will heavily thrash your disk, and the repair process will move lots of important files around, which is bad as your drive is in no condition to read OR write.
Your best bet is to boot off of another drive, and try your damndest to get the bad disk to mount, and quickly copy off the files that you need before it craps out again.
If you can get the computer to detect the drive, but not mount it, ddrescue has worked wonders for me in the past. You'll have to clear out a bunch of space on one of your external disks, and buy one of your nerd friends a beer to help you do the recovery. (Don't expect a paid consulting firm to help you out with this).
Failing all that, there are data recovery companies that will recover your data from a hard drive that has crashed, burned, or drowned (literally). For a price. Anywhere from $500-$2000.
Fortunately, replacing the drive will be a lot easier and cheaper. You should be able to easily find a new drive (that will be bigger and faster) for about $100. Take a peek at the iFixIt guide for replacing a hard drive in your iMac, and decide whether or not you can undertake the repair process yourself. It's not a terribly difficult process, and iFixit's awesome guides hold your hand the entire way.
posted by schmod at 8:31 PM on March 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you, schmod. Your dire warning is appreciated but ultimately unneeded, because about as much my Mac could do was say "hey, there's some kind of hard drive there." It wouldn't let me touch it.
I took it in this morning and told them not to bother with trying to recover the data because what I haven't backed up isn't worth the money or the hassle.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 7:23 AM on March 9, 2011
I took it in this morning and told them not to bother with trying to recover the data because what I haven't backed up isn't worth the money or the hassle.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 7:23 AM on March 9, 2011
because about as much my Mac could do was say "hey, there's some kind of hard drive there." It wouldn't let me touch it.
This is actually something of an encouraging sign, and I've seen ddrescue work in those cases. It does suck that nobody's adapted it to be easier to use though...it's pretty damn difficult to use unless you're a professional Unix administrator.
Anyway, glad to see that things are working now. Sorry if I was a little bit overdramatic :)
posted by schmod at 7:40 AM on March 9, 2011
This is actually something of an encouraging sign, and I've seen ddrescue work in those cases. It does suck that nobody's adapted it to be easier to use though...it's pretty damn difficult to use unless you're a professional Unix administrator.
Anyway, glad to see that things are working now. Sorry if I was a little bit overdramatic :)
posted by schmod at 7:40 AM on March 9, 2011
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The Drive may be salvaged by using Disk Utility from the Boot CD.
posted by Gungho at 2:31 PM on March 8, 2011