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Formatting a A1025 HD with Smart failure warning.

R

raomak

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 14, 2010
2
0
Hi guys...
I have a mac powerpc A1025 that i bought from an Online Acution and it came with a formatted HD,, when installing OSX its not showing me any hard disk to install at.
Disk utility shows the hard disk has Smart Failure but it is able to detect and calculate the disk size correctly.
I am thinking i need to Fdisk or reformat the Hard disk so that it calculated the magic numbers again but i am new to MAc and i dont know the command that i should be using.. please help...
 
OrangeSVTguy

OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
69
Northeastern Ohio
Sounds like the disk wasn't properly formatted for your PPC G4.

Open Disk Utility from your OS install disc. Select the HDD you want to format. Select the Partition tab and select volume to 1 partition. Select options and format it as APM Apple partition map and OS Extended (journaled). Click Apply and you should be all set. Exit DU and reinstall the OS.
 
Hrududu

Hrududu

macrumors 68020
Jul 25, 2008
2,299
627
Central US
Disk Utility will not format or erase a drive with a failing drive. Honestly, you don't want to use it anyways. If its far enough gone that SMART knows its failing, its on its last few days of life at best.
 
4JNA

4JNA

macrumors 68000
Feb 8, 2006
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looking for trash files
Hrududu said:
....If its far enough gone that SMART knows its failing, its on its last few days of life at best.
Click to expand...


second that. unless this is going to get you rescued from a deserted island or something 'life or death' like it, don't bother. there are ways around it, but a failing drive isn't going to just 'get better'... it only get worse. best of luck.
 
R

raomak

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 14, 2010
2
0
Yes infact the Partitopn and Format options are disabled in Disk manager..
I was wondering some Command line help with Fdisk might get me accross.
 
Hrududu

Hrududu

macrumors 68020
Jul 25, 2008
2,299
627
Central US
raomak said:
Yes infact the Partitopn and Format options are disabled in Disk manager..
I was wondering some Command line help with Fdisk might get me accross.
Click to expand...
The only way I know around this is to use it as an external disk. SMART isn't typically supported on Firewire or USB, so attaching it externally would allow you to format it. As far as command line stuff, its not like in Windows where you can use things like chkdsk.
 
4JNA

4JNA

macrumors 68000
Feb 8, 2006
1,505
1
looking for trash files
Hrududu said:
The only way I know around this is to use it as an external disk. SMART isn't typically supported on Firewire or USB, so attaching it externally would allow you to format it. As far as command line stuff, its not like in Windows where you can use things like chkdsk.
Click to expand...

i agree with the external solution, great way around SMART in a disaster situation.

chkdsk from windows is a rip-off of FSCK which has been part of unix since about 1970... open a terminal window and type MAN FSCK for the details. as always, read the directions and use with caution. at this point, it's already broke, so i don't imagine you can do much damage.

it might help, but again, why mess with a dying drive unless this is 12/21/2012 or something like it... best of luck.
 
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