iMac HDD Problem?

[JavaWizKid]

My iMac wont start and is showing just a http://chris.pirillo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/3331459927_56be5b67cb.jpg sign. I've ran the hardware test, that is ok. Recovery partition works (Lion). I couldn't clone the hdd to an external as it failed and I tried to repair disk using disk util and said failed. This is pointing to a HDD failure right? I just wonder why the recovery partition works.

If so, iMac 24" has a 3.5" sata 2 HDD? Since sata 2 is hard to come by these days, would a sata 3 HDD work, any branding?

Thanks a lot!

 

[S.B.G]

You probably have some bad sectors in just the right places preventing the boot up but allowing the recovery partition to work. You can also put in a SATA 3 HDD or SSD in the SATA 2 computer as they're backwards compatible.

If you can, try out Spinrite as described below.

Note: Steve Gibson is currently working on a new version of Spinrite that will work natively on the Mac as well as the PC. Watch for it!

I use a PC DOS-based program called Spinrite as a maintenance and data recovery utility on all my HDD's. You have to have an IBM-PC in order to use it though. You take the HDD out of the Mac and connect it to the IBM-PC and run the program. Below is my old MBP HDD in a Dell PC with Spinrite working on it.

Independent review of Spinrite (not me)

The SMART Utility, for OS X, was indicating a bad sector on my iMac HDD and recently I took it out and installed an SSD. I put the HDD in a Dell PC and ran Spinrite on it, correcting the bad sector.

 

[JavaWizKid]

So if the HDD has bad sectors, can you reinstall OSX or is the hard drive actually physically damaged? Do I need to buy a new HDD?

 

[S.B.G]

So if the HDD has bad sectors, can you reinstall OSX or is the hard drive actually physically damaged? Do I need to buy a new HDD?

Its possible to do a reinstall, but its no guarantee that it will work right. They can be repaired or marked bad so as not to be written to again with Spinrite.

Typically, when a HDD gets bad sectors, its an indication that it may be starting to go bad, or has gotten too bad to keep.

 

[JavaWizKid]

Ok, thanks a lot!

 

[S.B.G]

Ok, thanks a lot!

I would recommend, if you plan on replacing it, to go with an SSD to greatly improve the performance of your Mac over a HDD.