Replace or Not to Replace

[a9205]

Hello guys, bit of a long problem but help would be greatly appreciated.
Ok so basically this morning my iMac froze so i turned it off, when i turned it back on however i got the blank screen and eventually an icon indication hard drive problem, so i popped in my snow leopard disk and hit restore from time machine backup, however all i could see on hard drives ti install to was my external and my iPod nano no internal sata. I restarted the disk and then found my hard drive renmaed as "media" with no bytes of data capacity and unable to restore. I saw this as a sign of hope so restarted my iMac once more and would you believe it my HD was found with full capacity etc.
My question is should i get the HD replaced after all there was a problem and if anyone knows can you please tell me what is (was) the problem.
Once again sorry for the long post.
Thanks

[jessica.]

Sounds like a failing HDD. I would not hesitate to back up and get another drive in there.

[a9205]

Sounds like a failing HDD. I would not hesitate to back up and get another drive in there.

i have time machine set up,however the thing is i live in london, uk and the price of getting the hd replaced will undoubtably be very expensive

[avihappy]

Hello guys, bit of a long problem but help would be greatly appreciated.
Ok so basically this morning my iMac froze so i turned it off, when i turned it back on however i got the blank screen and eventually an icon indication hard drive problem, so i popped in my snow leopard disk and hit restore from time machine backup, however all i could see on hard drives ti install to was my external and my iPod nano no internal sata. I restarted the disk and then found my hard drive renmaed as "media" with no bytes of data capacity and unable to restore. I saw this as a sign of hope so restarted my iMac once more and would you believe it my HD was found with full capacity etc.
My question is should i get the HD replaced after all there was a problem and if anyone knows can you please tell me what is (was) the problem.
Once again sorry for the long post.
Thanks

Yup, your HDD failed on you. Very good thing you had a TM backup! At this point, if you bought the Applecare coverage then you should haul it into an Apple Store (or any Apple Authorized Service Provider) and tell them what happened. They should set you up with a new drive. If you are out of warranty, then ifixit has a guide for you: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/iMac-Intel-20-Inch-EMC-2133-and-2210-Hard-Drive-Replacement/1008/1

[jessica.]

I would try the do-it-yourself route. And really? Regardless of where you live if your main machine's hard drive is failing or has failed then you really have no other choice. Looks like DIY would be the best route, and cheapest.

[panzer06]

I would try the do-it-yourself route. And really? Regardless of where you live if your main machine's hard drive is failing or has failed then you really have no other choice. Looks like DIY would be the best route, and cheapest.

He could just use an external FW800 drive to keep working until he can afford to replace the defective one. Some of the students I used to support would do that on their old MBPs, just holding option at boot to select the external disk.

BTW, glad to see the cat is back.

Cheers,

[stonemann]

i have time machine set up,however the thing is i live in london, uk and the price of getting the hd replaced will undoubtably be very expensiveI recently had to get an out of warranty Powerbook HD looked at. I took it to the Genius Bar at the Regent's Street store on Oxford Circus. They diagnosed the problem and gave me a reasonable quote for a HD replacement (around £100 parts and labour). I rang around a couple of Apple resellers in Central London to compare. One quoted me over £200, the other said they couldn't get the part anymore. I went with the Apple store. It was fixed in two days. Very pleased with the service. Obviously an iMac is a pain to transport around town, but if you can't get it fixed yourself I recommend the Apple Store on Regent's Street. You can also try www.macupgrades.co.uk who are based in Cambridge but do a mail-in hard drive replacement service by courier. They also sell iMac hard drives if you're competent enough to do it yourself.

Good luck.

[jessica.]

He could just use an external FW800 drive to keep working until he can afford to replace the defective one. Some of the students I used to support would do that on their old MBPs, just holding option at boot to select the external disk.

BTW, glad to see the cat is back.

Cheers,

Tech question:
If the internal drive is failing and the OS is on that drive, how does he use an external FW? Or am I not understanding his issue?

My fame to claim, Ball Licker™.

[panzer06]

Tech question:
If the internal drive is failing and the OS is on that drive, how does he use an external FW? Or am I not understanding his issue?

My fame to claim, Ball Licker™.

Reinstall OS onto external, restore TM to new install. Live with external boot drive for foreseeable future. Simple, inexpensive and only slightly slower than the internal disk.

--Wow trademarked even, impressive.

Cheers,

[a9205]

hi, so my imac keeps showing an icon with a folder with a ? occasionally does this indicate it is the HD and not e.g. the logic board, just wanted to know before i ordered my repair

[panzer06]

hi, so my imac keeps showing an icon with a folder with a ? occasionally does this indicate it is the HD and not e.g. the logic board, just wanted to know before i ordered my repair

Usually that is correct, your Mac cannot find the boot OS.

Cheers,