Enough with this Mac Problem already.
October 27, 2006 8:01 PM Subscribe
MeFi Mac Gurus: Here's an odd problema for you to solve:
I have an iMac G5 1.8 ghz machine, with an OEM internal seagate 160gig drive.
About 2 weeks ago, the dock vanished. Nothing would bring it back. Fortunately quicksilver let me start apps easily enough.
I was busy with life so I let it sit, dormant for week. When I next went to use it, it would no longer boot. Whatever zapped the dock, went on to zap the OS, by way of "overlapping Extent files", aka as crosslinked files on a PC.
Because the internal drive would not verify, I couldn't reinstall the OS from the install DVDs.
I removed the drive, dropped it in a PC with MacDrive installed and was able to rescue the data off the drive.
But it wouldn't format, either as HFS+ with macdrive or as NTFS. A look inside the drive found that though I had erased all the data, there was still something on the disk. (" 0 files using 80k of space").
I found a utility to low level format and recertify SATA drives and did so. Now the drive was cleared, fully.
I reinstalled it in the iMac, and now, though the system profiler shows the drive, the install routine doesn't find the drive for the purpose of installing OS X on it.
What's a gal to do next?
I have an iMac G5 1.8 ghz machine, with an OEM internal seagate 160gig drive.
About 2 weeks ago, the dock vanished. Nothing would bring it back. Fortunately quicksilver let me start apps easily enough.
I was busy with life so I let it sit, dormant for week. When I next went to use it, it would no longer boot. Whatever zapped the dock, went on to zap the OS, by way of "overlapping Extent files", aka as crosslinked files on a PC.
Because the internal drive would not verify, I couldn't reinstall the OS from the install DVDs.
I removed the drive, dropped it in a PC with MacDrive installed and was able to rescue the data off the drive.
But it wouldn't format, either as HFS+ with macdrive or as NTFS. A look inside the drive found that though I had erased all the data, there was still something on the disk. (" 0 files using 80k of space").
I found a utility to low level format and recertify SATA drives and did so. Now the drive was cleared, fully.
I reinstalled it in the iMac, and now, though the system profiler shows the drive, the install routine doesn't find the drive for the purpose of installing OS X on it.
What's a gal to do next?
Response by poster: Its not a case of bad sectors, the problem is cross-linked files, now erased. An error in the FAT tables, whatever they are called in HFS+
posted by Fupped Duck at 8:19 PM on October 27, 2006
posted by Fupped Duck at 8:19 PM on October 27, 2006
Have you reformatted the drive as bootable from the Mac? You can get to disk utility from the installer menu.
posted by bonaldi at 8:35 PM on October 27, 2006
posted by bonaldi at 8:35 PM on October 27, 2006
Response by poster: disk utility doesn't see the drive either, it only shows up in profiler
posted by Fupped Duck at 8:52 PM on October 27, 2006
posted by Fupped Duck at 8:52 PM on October 27, 2006
what format is it now? did you reformat it after certifying?
posted by bonaldi at 9:09 PM on October 27, 2006
posted by bonaldi at 9:09 PM on October 27, 2006
Sounds like the hard drive has gone bad if you reformat it and it continues to have disk errors.
Have you called AppleCare?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:20 PM on October 27, 2006
Have you called AppleCare?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:20 PM on October 27, 2006
thirding bad drive. even if it does say otherwise - if you can't format it, it's pretty dead. you could fire up the Console to see if there are any errors there, or go through VersionTracker for a SMART tool (as SMART is a way drives can report their status to you).
posted by mrg at 10:07 PM on October 27, 2006
posted by mrg at 10:07 PM on October 27, 2006
If the System Profiler sees the drive, and you can't manually mount the drive with Disk Utility (you did select the drive and hit the mount button?), it sounds like it's toast.
Drives are crazy cheap right now. I would just replace it and save yourself the time and trouble. I assume that if you had Applecare on the machine, you would of just taken it in.
I usually buy drives from newegg, but if your not picky about the brand you may want to check dealmac.
posted by -t at 10:27 PM on October 27, 2006
Drives are crazy cheap right now. I would just replace it and save yourself the time and trouble. I assume that if you had Applecare on the machine, you would of just taken it in.
I usually buy drives from newegg, but if your not picky about the brand you may want to check dealmac.
posted by -t at 10:27 PM on October 27, 2006
n-thing all the upthread advice about a bad disk. Sounds like the controller card is hosed. Replace it.
posted by onalark at 10:35 PM on October 27, 2006
posted by onalark at 10:35 PM on October 27, 2006
onalark: uh, you can't. It's on the motherboard. He'd have to replace the entire logic board.
Fupped Duck: Try a new drive first. Your symptoms indicate a dead drive. If Disk Utility won't even see it, chances are the drive is pooched.
posted by drstein at 11:15 PM on October 27, 2006
Fupped Duck: Try a new drive first. Your symptoms indicate a dead drive. If Disk Utility won't even see it, chances are the drive is pooched.
posted by drstein at 11:15 PM on October 27, 2006
Can you pull the drive out and format it in a windows machine? Obviously, this won't give you HFS, only FAT32, but at least a format will tell you if the drive is any good and whether it has any bad sectors.
Also, I've never used macdrive, but it sounds from your comment like it can format HFS+, so I guess if you can sucessfully format the drive FAT32, you might then try formatting it HFS+, get it all ready for your mac and then throw it back in and try the OSX install again.
posted by ranglin at 4:04 AM on October 28, 2006
Also, I've never used macdrive, but it sounds from your comment like it can format HFS+, so I guess if you can sucessfully format the drive FAT32, you might then try formatting it HFS+, get it all ready for your mac and then throw it back in and try the OSX install again.
posted by ranglin at 4:04 AM on October 28, 2006
drstein, sorry I meant the controller chip on the disk, not the adapter on the motherboard. And yes, my advice is to replace the whole disk.
posted by onalark at 7:38 AM on October 28, 2006
posted by onalark at 7:38 AM on October 28, 2006
onalark: ah, ok. :)
Yeah, survey says.... replace the disk!
posted by drstein at 9:30 AM on October 28, 2006
Yeah, survey says.... replace the disk!
posted by drstein at 9:30 AM on October 28, 2006
To reiterate what others said before. Swap in a new drive. If you are having so many problems, wouldn't the most logical solution be to replace the faulty component?
posted by mphuie at 11:53 AM on October 28, 2006
posted by mphuie at 11:53 AM on October 28, 2006
To reiterate what others said before. Swap in a new drive. If you are having so many problems, wouldn't the most logical solution be to replace the faulty component?
posted by mphuie at 4:53 AM AEST on October 29
Because, of course, everybody's got a spare SATA HDD sitting around on a shelf, right, or the $80 (or more) to go and buy one?
I'm quite surprised so many people are suggesting replace the drive. I know it takes time to diagnose the problem another way, but sometimes a little bit of time spent one evening (in leiu of watching Gray's Anatomy!) is easier than finding the cash to just replace it.
And, just so this post is more than a snark, Fupped Duck, how'd you go?
posted by ranglin at 1:54 AM on October 31, 2006
posted by mphuie at 4:53 AM AEST on October 29
Because, of course, everybody's got a spare SATA HDD sitting around on a shelf, right, or the $80 (or more) to go and buy one?
I'm quite surprised so many people are suggesting replace the drive. I know it takes time to diagnose the problem another way, but sometimes a little bit of time spent one evening (in leiu of watching Gray's Anatomy!) is easier than finding the cash to just replace it.
And, just so this post is more than a snark, Fupped Duck, how'd you go?
posted by ranglin at 1:54 AM on October 31, 2006
I'm quite surprised so many people are suggesting replace the drive. I know it takes time to diagnose the problem another way, but sometimes a little bit of time spent one evening (in leiu of watching Gray's Anatomy!) is easier than finding the cash to just replace it.
When it comes to your average AskMe about hard drives, I assume that no data redundancy or backup system is in place. Admittedly, Fupped Duck sounds very competent, however, I do not recommend tooling around with hard drives unless I know for a fact that no important data is being stored on them. Not to mention that Fupped Duck has ruled out the likely software problems...
posted by onalark at 12:36 PM on October 31, 2006
When it comes to your average AskMe about hard drives, I assume that no data redundancy or backup system is in place. Admittedly, Fupped Duck sounds very competent, however, I do not recommend tooling around with hard drives unless I know for a fact that no important data is being stored on them. Not to mention that Fupped Duck has ruled out the likely software problems...
posted by onalark at 12:36 PM on October 31, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
Any drive which is sata and fits the power connector should do fine.
posted by clord at 8:05 PM on October 27, 2006