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I'M MAD trying to install OS X Mavericks

garirry

garirry

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 27, 2013
1,543
3,907
Canada is my city
This is just unacceptable. Backed up my data, launched the installer, it rebooted, then says I have a hard disk problem. Tried rebooting, but no longer boots back into Mountain Lion. Tried holding Cmd-R, launched Recovery mode, verified the HDD, says it has a problem, tried repairing it, couldn't repair it. Tried erasing it, couldn't erase it.

I'll tell you THAT I'M REALLY MAD :mad:
If then my backup drive stops working to, then that would mean I loss ALL MY FILES WHICH ARE ON OF THE MOST PRICELESS THINGS IN MY LIFE!

I am really disappointed. This is WITHOUT DOUBT the WORST EXPERIENCE IN INSTALLING OS X. It literally BROKE my HARD DRIVE WITH MY WHOLE LIFE IN IT. If anyone can help, I would be happy. But Apple, shame on you!

Sorry for bad language
 
guess what? hard drives fail, it's a part of life....


nothing to be angry about, take it to apple and if it's under warranty they will repair it for free. You didn't specify what kind of computer you are on, but you could possibly even change it out yourself.

If your data is the most precious thing in your life, you might want to consider buying another hard drive, possibly two, and double or triple backing up your data, keeping one off site. It's not like they are expensive, especially for "the most priceless thing in your life"
 
agreed. hard drives are not infallible. it's extremely unlikely that the installation process did anything to your hard drive, it's most likely a coincidence that it failed at the same time you tried updating the OS.
depending on your mac model, the hard drive could be pretty easy to replace, and new ones are only around 50-100 bucks depending on capacity. if in the off chance the mavericks install did mess up your hard drive, apple would probably replace it. they are usually pretty nice about things like that.
 
I bought my iMac Late 2009 used almost three months ago. It was on eBay, and of course the seller's warranty had expired. I bought it used because I had no money buying a new Mac, so I wanted a cheap Mac. For how much could I sell an functional Mac but with a failed hard drive? Or what should I do now? Now I'm stuck using my Early 2008 MacBook for that time.

Maybe it's some kind of system Apple had designed to break hard drives of older Macs, I doubt it, but it is possible.
 
garirry said:
Maybe it's some kind of system Apple had designed to break hard drives of older Macs, I doubt it, but it is possible.
Click to expand...

I know you're upset but it's not possible. This is just one of the reasons why the industry is migrating (slowly because of high cost still) to SSD or Flash storage. Analog hard drives fail, they use rotating disks. I've had them fail on newer machines in under a year. There's nothing in tech history that's ever proved software or an OS could break a hard disk. It was already on it's last legs when you bought it on Ebay.

Just a reality check, not chastising but if your files are the most precious things in your life then this should've been a non-issue for you because anyone would've had them backed up multiple times. Aside from my iMac's built in drive, I have 4 other hard disks backed up with my stuff and some other things in the cloud. Even some stuff is backed up on DVD's.

If you're not technically comfortable enough to follow a YouTube video and install your own drive then take it to the Apple store. They will install it but they may not do it if you bring in your own. They generally install only their parts.
 
HenryDJP said:
I know you're upset but it's not possible. This is just one of the reasons why the industry is migrating (slowly because of high cost still) to SSD or Flash storage. Analog hard drives fail, they use rotating disks. I've had them fail on newer machines in under a year. There's nothing in tech history that's ever proved software or an OS could break a hard disk. It was already on it's last legs when you bought it on Ebay.

Just a reality check, not chastising but if your files are the most precious things in your life then this should've been a non-issue for you because anyone would've had them backed up multiple times. Aside from my iMac's built in drive, I have 4 other hard disks backed up with my stuff and some other things in the cloud. Even some stuff is backed up on DVD's.

If you're not technically comfortable enough to follow a YouTube video and install your own drive then take it to the Apple store. They will install it but they may not do it if you bring in your own. They generally install only their parts.
Click to expand...

Upgrading and additional backup drives, that's good. But there is only one problem: I can't afford most of the things. I would get an SSD, but then I would have no storage for my videos, so I will have to purchase an additional drive to backup my video drive (now used for backups) and another one to backup my SSD: Total estimated price: around 500$. Or I could get a cheap and unreliable hard drive which is going to break when I am going to upgrade to OS X 10.10 or OS 11. Plus I need to buy the "suction cups" to remove the glass panel on my iMac. Maybe going to be cheaper, but I still need at least a 1TB drive and I have to take my time to upgrade the HDD. Bringing it to the Apple Store will make the repair 3x more expensive. Or I could possibly sell my iMac and get a brand new Mac Mini, but again, I need a quite powerful computer, so I will have to get 8GB of RAM (not sure if iMac memory is compatible with Mac Mini). ANY of these solutions are expensive to me, but do you think replacing it with a brand new Mac Mini is a good idea?
 
you're really blowing the cost out of proportion.

a. you don't need to buy an ssd, nobody told you that.

b. hard drives are cheap as little as $50-100

c. why don't you call the apple store and see how much a repair would cost you. May be cheaper than you think.

d. You can buy the suction cups for very cheap from sites like ifixit.

e. If your data is the most precious thing in your life, you need to back it up. You just said it is priceless to you, yet you don't want to spend the money on backup drives. If you can't afford a couple of backup drives, you probably shouldn't have spent the money on a mac in the first place... just saying.
 
xxBURT0Nxx said:
you're really blowing the cost out of proportion.

a. you don't need to buy an ssd, nobody told you that.

b. hard drives are cheap as little as $50-100

c. why don't you call the apple store and see how much a repair would cost you. May be cheaper than you think.

d. You can buy the suction cups for very cheap from sites like ifixit.

e. If your data is the most precious thing in your life, you need to back it up. You just said it is priceless to you, yet you don't want to spend the money on backup drives. If you can't afford a couple of backup drives, you probably shouldn't have spent the money on a mac in the first place... just saying.
Click to expand...

a. I know, just SSDs are more reliable than HDDs
b. I need at least 1TB of good reliable storage
c. I'll do that, but I saw someone telling on the Apple forums that they wanted 360$ to upgrade 2 or 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD on an iMac (Intel White). I doubt it will be cheap
d. Yes I can, that's not a problem, but I need to be very careful on what I'm doing, so I don't mess up anything
e. I needed a Mac because my PC failed on me and I was "computerless" because the only computer I had was an iMac G4. And I NEED TO DO video editing on my computer.

My question is: Is it worth it selling my iMac with broken hard drive and buying a Mac Mini instead?
 
garirry said:
a. I know, just SSDs are more reliable than HDDs
b. I need at least 1TB of good reliable storage
c. I'll do that, but I saw someone telling on the Apple forums that they wanted 360$ to upgrade 2 or 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD on an iMac (Intel White). I doubt it will be cheap
d. Yes I can, that's not a problem, but I need to be very careful on what I'm doing, so I don't mess up anything
e. I needed a Mac because my PC failed on me and I was "computerless" because the only computer I had was an iMac G4. And I NEED TO DO video editing on my computer.

My question is: Is it worth it selling my iMac with broken hard drive and buying a Mac Mini instead?
Click to expand...

a. so buy an ssd when you can afford it.

b. 1tb HDD for under $90

c. $360 for parts and labor for both a hard drive and RAM is not that expensive. A lot better than risking breaking your screen by doing it yourself and being out over a thousand dollars.

d. great

e. PCs do video editing just like macs do. Why anyone would think otherwise is just silly. You can get very good editing suites on PC like Sony Vegas, Adobe After Effects, etc. If professional studios can edit full length movies on a PC, I think you would be able to manage as well. Would be a lot better to have a computer and money left over for backing up the "priceless and precious" data than to blow all of your money on a computer and lose that data. Buy yourself a cheap external they are not that expensive.
 
xxBURT0Nxx said:
c. $360 for parts and labor for both a hard drive and RAM is not that expensive.
e. PCs do video editing just like macs do.
Click to expand...

c. Getting my Mac was some serious savings. I spent all my money on my iMac, now I can't afford anything. ESPECIALLY paying half the price of the computer to get it repaired. I can install it myself, that's no problem, I've done multiple upgrades to my iMac G4, but never to an Unibody Mac.

e. With my experience with PCs, they are super-slow, they have ton of unremovable viruses that made me reinstall (Windows) seven times on my PC that I only had for like 3 years. The only good PCs are super-expensive and very well-built one. The only reason I would consider a PC is to get a second computer for gaming only and to keep my Mac for everything else. But of course, now I can't afford any new PCs as my Mac needs to be repaired.

I am going to try to contact the seller on eBay, then possibly order some suction cups.

Since I am a WD fan, I found this drive for 65$: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339
 
garirry said:
a. I know, just SSDs are more reliable than HDDs
Click to expand...
Actually, that's not necessarily true. Some hard drives will last for 10 years or more. We don't have that data on SSDs yet.

SSDs can also fail: usually without warning and totally. You need a backup for any type of storage media.
 
garirry said:
"Our records show that the hard drive in this iMac has already been replaced as part of this program." No I am not eligible.

I tried to put OS X Mavericks on an thumb drive, but it doesn't work either! Tried two methods, both says the disk cannot be erased. I just don't get it.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your nightmare. That sucks. I have the same model iMac and I have had to replace the hard drive once already. It is a very delicate repair but if you follow the ifixit guide you will be fine. It's not hard you just have to be very patient and careful. The part you have to be MOST careful is when removing the LCD after removing the glass. I slipped when screwing gone of the screws and made a tiny scratch in the LCD. You can only see it when the display is a white background so it's no big deal but I'm mad that I wasn't careful enough.

You can do this repair for under $100 with a good hard drive. JUST GO SLOW.
 
brendu said:
Sorry to hear about your nightmare. That sucks. I have the same model iMac and I have had to replace the hard drive once already. It is a very delicate repair but if you follow the ifixit guide you will be fine. It's not hard you just have to be very patient and careful. The part you have to be MOST careful is when removing the LCD after removing the glass. I slipped when screwing gone of the screws and made a tiny scratch in the LCD. You can only see it when the display is a white background so it's no big deal but I'm mad that I wasn't careful enough.

You can do this repair for under $100 with a good hard drive. JUST GO SLOW.
Click to expand...

What I'm doing right now is installing SL, then I am going to install OS X Mavericks through the App Store.
 
brendu said:
Wow. Bizarre, but I'm glad your system is running again...
Click to expand...

Actually, I'm not at home right now, so my Mac is waiting to get setup. So I am going to restore from a Time Machine backup, if everything works fine, I'll tell you. I'm planning on getting a second hard drive for backup, but right now I don't have money to afford it.
 
Um......

garirry said:
This is just unacceptable. Backed up my data, launched the installer, it rebooted, then says I have a hard disk problem. Tried rebooting, but no longer boots back into Mountain Lion. Tried holding Cmd-R, launched Recovery mode, verified the HDD, says it has a problem, tried repairing it, couldn't repair it. Tried erasing it, couldn't erase it.

I'll tell you THAT I'M REALLY MAD :mad:
If then my backup drive stops working to, then that would mean I loss ALL MY FILES WHICH ARE ON OF THE MOST PRICELESS THINGS IN MY LIFE!

I am really disappointed. This is WITHOUT DOUBT the WORST EXPERIENCE IN INSTALLING OS X. It literally BROKE my HARD DRIVE WITH MY WHOLE LIFE IN IT. If anyone can help, I would be happy. But Apple, shame on you!

Sorry for bad language
Click to expand...

Ran into the same problem with my wife's iMac.

Want to know how I fixed it and got it to install?

Run Disk Utility
Highlight the "Macintosh HD" iCon on the upper left of the drive pane.
On the lower right click "Verify Disk".
You'll find "Repair Disk" is probably grayed out.
Once complete reboot and zap the pram:
That's command-option-p-r while rebooting.

That did it for my wife's iMac and all was well, it allowed me to install Mavericks just fine.
 
aliensporebomb said:
Ran into the same problem with my wife's iMac.

Want to know how I fixed it and got it to install?

Run Disk Utility
Highlight the "Macintosh HD" iCon on the upper left of the drive pane.
On the lower right click "Verify Disk".
You'll find "Repair Disk" is probably grayed out.
Once complete reboot and zap the pram:
That's command-option-p-r while rebooting.

That did it for my wife's iMac and all was well, it allowed me to install Mavericks just fine.
Click to expand...

Anyway it's working right now (I hope), now it's restoring from my Time Machine backup drive which luckily wasn't damaged.
 
garirry said:
I bought my iMac Late 2009 used almost three months ago. It was on eBay, and of course the seller's warranty had expired. I bought it used because I had no money buying a new Mac, so I wanted a cheap Mac. For how much could I sell an functional Mac but with a failed hard drive? Or what should I do now? Now I'm stuck using my Early 2008 MacBook for that time.

Maybe it's some kind of system Apple had designed to break hard drives of older Macs, I doubt it, but it is possible.
Click to expand...

It's a late '09? check the make of hard drive. If it's a seagate 1tb then Apple will replace a failed drive..

http://www.apple.com/support/imac-harddrive/
 
Success! I installed Mavericks on my iMac just fine, no HDD repair needed. No data has been lost. I had to put in my OS X Snow Leopard thumb drive to erase the HDD and install OS X on it, then I had to upgrade to 10.6.8 in order to get the App Store, then download Mavericks, then install Mavericks, then use Migration Assistant and restore from T.M. Backup.

Now everything works fine!
Thanks to everyone anyway for your help!
 
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