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Macbook does not recognize new HD-what did I miss? - SOLVED

T

three-jeeps

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
21
0
Hi:
I installed a new replacement HD (250G, Seagate 5400 rpm 3Mb/s transfer rate) in my 1.5 yo Macbook. I power it on, install the 10.5 OS disks....read the greetings...select Disk Utility to partition the drive. Problem is, the drive does not show up in the LHS of the Disk Util window. I see the 5 GB cd/dvd drive and the OS X install disk, but no HD.
I reseated the HD, and all seems well..the disk spins up. It is not recognized by the install program.

My old (original) disk somehow had the file system corrupted, so I opted to get a new HD, with the hopes of copying important files from the original HD on to the new one.

Anybody have any suggestions as to how to get the Mac to recognize the new disk? I am thinkin the new disk is bad....but, did I miss anything? It is a sata drive btw.
TIA
-J
 
kastenbrust said:
You have formatted the new Hard Drive in the Mac HFS+ Format using Disk Utility i take it? So the Mac can recognise it?
Click to expand...
That was my intent when I tried to access it using the Disk Utility. The disk does not appear in the drive list.
Any other suggestions?

I will remove the drive and connect it to my Linxu machine to see if it can be recognized....That way I can either confirm or deny that the disk is good.
 
Put the drive in an enclosure, see if it is recognized through OS X when you boot your old drive into Leopard/Tiger as an external drive.

If it is, then format it through Disk Utility as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Put the new back into your computer, then start up via install disk, and then install from there.
 
I've had a similar problem this week, where my new hard drive doesn't show up - i'm still waiting on an 2.5 enclosure so I can test out whether the drive is damaged or not
 
MacDuck said:
Put the drive in an enclosure, see if it is recognized through OS X when you boot your old drive into Leopard/Tiger as an external drive.

If it is, then format it through Disk Utility as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Put the new back into your computer, then start up via install disk, and then install from there.
Click to expand...

Yes, I did that after my initial post and I just realized the external enclosure I have is PATA and not SATA...a new one should arrive shortly and I'll check the disk.
 
Cave Man said:
Anyone who works with a variety of hard drives should invest in a Universal Drive Adapter.
Click to expand...

THanks, neat device...I've used something similar to this in the past..ran into a weird problem in that it would not 'see' disks above a certain size....from what I recall, it was 400gb?? Does this particular device have any limitations?
 
Case resolved

Well it turns out that my new HD works fine. I discovered the problem...
On this era macbook, the disk slides into an area that has rubber guides on each side of the HD. In these guides are grooves that accommodate the screws that protrude on the side of the disk. The screws are used to attach the carrier to the HD. It turns out that I substituted one of the original screws with one that came with the HD. That screw was slightly larger in diameter than the original. When the disk was re-inserted, it tore the rubber guide away from its mounting, and positioned a part of the rubber guide between the disk and the frame where the disk connector is located, thus preventing the disk from fully seating with the connector. Of course the OS would not recognize a disk that is 'not connected'.
Well, my bad!
Thanks to all those that helped...
 
Good to hear you figured it out.

You probably want to go back to the first post, and modify the title with [solved].
 
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