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My HD is dying - what do I do?

Yes, by "recovery" I mean DR III or DW, and yes, typically you run these programs from another disk/computer.

Probably you should go to the DR III and DW sites and explore.

But basically the idea is that DW attempts to "fix" your disk, so that if it succeeds, then you have a working disk. That's why they don't give you a free trial -- if it works with the free trial, then you're done and have no motivation except conscience to pay for a working version.

DR III's procedure is to extract data from the bad disk and reconstruct that data on another disk. So you can see that for them, a free trial makes sense provided they limit the amount you can transfer. DR III lets you see whether it's going to work for you or not. If it does, you pay.

In both cases, you don't want to be running the programs from the very disk you're trying to fix.

Maybe others will amplify what I've said. I can say that the times I've successfully used either program, I've always run them out of a separate computer, either mounting the bad disk via firewire in Target Mode while it's still in the other Mac, or by removing the disk, putting it in an enclosure, and mounting it that way.

Actually, the last DR III rescue I did (on a machine that was identical to your iMac) went like this:

1a. remove the bad disk from the iMac
1b. install a new drive in the iMac
1c. start installing Lion on the fresh disk in the iMac

and while that was running,

2. connect the ex-iMac bad disk to my MBP as a USB external drive
3. use DW, running on the MBP, attempt a reconstruction.
4. DW fails to recover the data, so

5. download DR III
6. attach another external to the MBP
7. run DR III on the MBP, in test mode; tell it to extract from the bad drive and put what it extracted on the other external
8. success!

9. Pay for DR III, and repeat step 7
10. attach the external on which DR III had put the recovered data to the iMac
11. from the iMac, poke around the external drive and move the desired files and folders to the iMac
12. done

The only reason I tried DW before DR III was because I already had DW on the MBP, from the last time I'd worked with a bad disk (and DW had succeeded).

In your case -- if you don't have access to another Mac on which to run either recovery program -- you'll have to change out the iMac disk and get a fresh copy of whatever system you're using there on it, and only then drop the bad disk in an enclosure, connect it to the iMac, and get to work.
 
monokakata said:
...

In your case -- if you don't have access to another Mac on which to run either recovery program -- you'll have to change out the iMac disk and get a fresh copy of whatever system you're using there on it, and only then drop the bad disk in an enclosure, connect it to the iMac, and get to work.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the step-by-step. That is VERY helpful.
If we assume for a second that I put off purchasing a new machine for now, and that I do have another Macbook Air at home, what would be the best course of action? Could I run DWIII through the Macbook Air attached to the iMac in any way? Or probably not because the Air doesn't have Firewire?
 
Also, before I remove the HD, is there anything else I should check first? Could it be bad RAM, etc? I almost wish Disk Utility was throwing an error so I could say for sure!

Then again, what else could cause Carbon Copy, etc. to be unable to clone files?
 
classicaliberal said:
Thank you for the step-by-step. That is VERY helpful.
If we assume for a second that I put off purchasing a new machine for now, and that I do have another Macbook Air at home, what would be the best course of action? Could I run DWIII through the Macbook Air attached to the iMac in any way? Or probably not because the Air doesn't have Firewire?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that starting the iMac up in Target Disk mode requires Firewire.
 
monokakata said:
I'm pretty sure that starting the iMac up in Target Disk mode requires Firewire.
Click to expand...

I'm going to go ahead and follow your instructions step-by-step. Two quick questions:

1) I know there are multiple 'how to replace a HD in an iMac' tutorials online, so you have any you'd recommend personally?

2) I'm currently running Lion on this iMac. I'd like to reinstall Lion on the new HD, but am not sure how to do so since Lion is all online. I know the new macs have a feature which allows you do this even with a clean HD via the internet, but mine obviously doesn't have that feature, so what do I do?
 
I think I used this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdhE0S1vbos&feature=related

The only non-standard thing I did was not to remove the LCD panel entirely. I worked from the top end (with the iMac lying on a table), opening it up by pulling the panel up, as if it were the lid to a box. I had my assistant hold the LCD panel up out of my way.

Then I went in with the appropriate screwdriver and unfastened the disk, and put the new one in. There's a heat sensor but even after you pull it free it's likely to have enough adhesive left over to be reattached.

I don't necessarily recommend that. I did it because I'm comfortable with my hands and arms sticking into a place without much room, and working by flashlight. If you're not comfortable, then obviously don't do it. What I gained was not having to refasten the various cables that you have a disconnect in order to completely free the LCD panel.

I had already made a Lion installation package on a USB stick, but you haven't done that.

Search around this site for help. You're not the first person to need to do that.

If you have another Mac you could do a download (but you might have to pay, depending on what's running on the other Mac) and then find the instructions on how to convert that download to something that can either be burned to a DVD or put on a USB thumb drive. The important trick is to make sure that you don't execute the installation package before you save it.

I can't remember every step, but around the time that Lion was released, there were many, many step-by-step instructions.

Also -- somebody else I hope will get in here -- if (big if, I know) you can pull anything from the iMac bad drive onto the Air, then perhaps you can extract the restore partition as well, and it might even be that once you get the new drive in and have it partitioned and ready to go, that you can point it to the partition on the old drive, always assuming it's intact.

Do search the forums.
 
monokakata said:
The only non-standard thing I did was not to remove the LCD panel entirely. I worked from the top end (with the iMac lying on a table), opening it up by pulling the panel up, as if it were the lid to a box. I had my assistant hold the LCD panel up out of my way.

Then I went in with the appropriate screwdriver and unfastened the disk, and put the new one in. There's a heat sensor but even after you pull it free it's likely to have enough adhesive left over to be reattached.
Click to expand...

That's the exact same thing I did - that way I didn't have to remove all the cables connecting the lcd to the board. I was able to work with the lcd resting on the top of my arm.
 
monokakata said:
I think I used this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdhE0S1vbos&feature=related

The only non-standard thing I did was not to remove the LCD panel entirely. I worked from the top end (with the iMac lying on a table), opening it up by pulling the panel up, as if it were the lid to a box. I had my assistant hold the LCD panel up out of my way.

Then I went in with the appropriate screwdriver and unfastened the disk, and put the new one in. There's a heat sensor but even after you pull it free it's likely to have enough adhesive left over to be reattached.

I don't necessarily recommend that. I did it because I'm comfortable with my hands and arms sticking into a place without much room, and working by flashlight. If you're not comfortable, then obviously don't do it. What I gained was not having to refasten the various cables that you have a disconnect in order to completely free the LCD panel.

I had already made a Lion installation package on a USB stick, but you haven't done that.

Search around this site for help. You're not the first person to need to do that.

If you have another Mac you could do a download (but you might have to pay, depending on what's running on the other Mac) and then find the instructions on how to convert that download to something that can either be burned to a DVD or put on a USB thumb drive. The important trick is to make sure that you don't execute the installation package before you save it.

I can't remember every step, but around the time that Lion was released, there were many, many step-by-step instructions.

Also -- somebody else I hope will get in here -- if (big if, I know) you can pull anything from the iMac bad drive onto the Air, then perhaps you can extract the restore partition as well, and it might even be that once you get the new drive in and have it partitioned and ready to go, that you can point it to the partition on the old drive, always assuming it's intact.

Do search the forums.
Click to expand...

Well, I just completed the job! (still not working though, keep reading)
I created the Lion USB via the instructions I found online. about 99% I did that right.
I followed online instructions to replace the internal drive in my iMac. About 98% sure I did that right.

Now, I start up the iMac, I get the Apple Symbol, but then it switches to a "no" symbol (as in no smoking, or no running) and it just sits there and spins.

Am I missing something? Am I supposed to press a key or something when the restart process happens?

Thank you!!
 
The iMac is telling you that there's no operating system in sight anywhere.

I assume you inserted the USB stick (with Lion on it) in one of the USB ports.

If you didn't, then do that.

Power up the iMac and immediately press the Option key.

You should then see a screen giving you the option of booting from the Lion distribution package on the USB key.

If you can't get anywhere with the Option key on cold boot, then certainly something's wrong.
 
monokakata said:
The iMac is telling you that there's no operating system in sight anywhere.

I assume you inserted the USB stick (with Lion on it) in one of the USB ports.

If you didn't, then do that.

Power up the iMac and immediately press the Option key.

You should then see a screen giving you the option of booting from the Lion distribution package on the USB key.

If you can't get anywhere with the Option key on cold boot, then certainly something's wrong.
Click to expand...

The USB must have have been working for some reason. I was able to boot off of the old internal HD and install Lion on the new HD that way. Not optimum, but it worked! Thanks again for all of your help!
 
Indeed. I assumed you were using the term generally, but clearly I was wrong.

I don't choose my friends or people I help according to their political views.

So now let's proceed with the data recovery. How's it going?

I still think a free Data Rescue III trial ought to be your first move. You already learned that you couldn't access some of your stuff directly (if I'm remembering correctly) and so I don't think you're going to find it just because it's now in an external.

It wouldn't be wrong to try to extract it using Finder, but I wouldn't try very hard. The disk is defective, and every read operation you ask of it risks making what's wrong worse. So I'd suggest only one attempt, and then go to DR III.

If DR III won't work, then give Disk Warrior a try.
 
monokakata said:
I don't choose my friends or people I help according to their political views.
Click to expand...

Excellent policy. I share the same approach. ;)



monokakata said:
So now let's proceed with the data recovery. How's it going?

I still think a free Data Rescue III trial ought to be your first move. You already learned that you couldn't access some of your stuff directly (if I'm remembering correctly) and so I don't think you're going to find it just because it's now in an external.

It wouldn't be wrong to try to extract it using Finder, but I wouldn't try very hard. The disk is defective, and every read operation you ask of it risks making what's wrong worse. So I'd suggest only one attempt, and then go to DR III.

If DR III won't work, then give Disk Warrior a try.
Click to expand...

As soon as I had the new OS on the new internal drive, I tried just that... to use the finder to move my iPhoto Library over via the finder. Failure. About 1/4 the way through the process Finder threw an error and the file move stopped completely. I won't try that again.

I think I will take your advice and try Data Rescue III, but first, I had one more idea... inside of the iPhoto library folder there are 10+ folders. I found the 'masters' folder which appears to have each and every original image as it was downloaded from the camera. I would also assume that one of those files is probably the main database. My question is... assuming there are only 3-5 or so of those files inside of the 'iPHoto Library' that are really 'necessary' and the rest are irrelevant, is there any hope in trying to just move over the necessary files hoping that the HD error resides in one of the irrelevant files? To do this though, I'd have to know which files are necessary and which aren't. Any thoughts on this? Worth my time, or should I move right to DRIII?
 
I'd be inclined to move that Masters fold (as a folder, including everything in it) over to your new disk if you can. Then, even if you have to rebuild your entire iPhoto setup, you can.

On the new disk, keep it somewhere outside of the iPhoto package for now, and give it a descriptive name.

Worst case is that you have to start up your new iPhoto and have it rebuild itself by importing all the images from that folder. I always keep my images initially outside of iPhoto, and import them as needed. I don't let iPhoto import them. That way, I can always return to my starting point.

If the entire Masters folder comes over, you're in great shape. If not -- if whatever's wrong is wrong where part of the Masters folder are stored, then open Masters and see whether it has subfolders, and if it does, then try moving them over one by one. If one fails, then go into that one and see about moving the image files over in small blocks, eventually working around the one(s) that are bad.

Once you're confident that you have the raw data that's really important to you off that bad disk, then have at it using whatever tools suit.
 
monokakata said:
I'd be inclined to move that Masters fold (as a folder, including everything in it) over to your new disk if you can. Then, even if you have to rebuild your entire iPhoto setup, you can.

On the new disk, keep it somewhere outside of the iPhoto package for now, and give it a descriptive name.

Worst case is that you have to start up your new iPhoto and have it rebuild itself by importing all the images from that folder. I always keep my images initially outside of iPhoto, and import them as needed. I don't let iPhoto import them. That way, I can always return to my starting point.

If the entire Masters folder comes over, you're in great shape. If not -- if whatever's wrong is wrong where part of the Masters folder are stored, then open Masters and see whether it has subfolders, and if it does, then try moving them over one by one. If one fails, then go into that one and see about moving the image files over in small blocks, eventually working around the one(s) that are bad.

Once you're confident that you have the raw data that's really important to you off that bad disk, then have at it using whatever tools suit.
Click to expand...

The masters folder moved over perfectly, which is great. As I move the rest of the folders over one by one, and say for example I get everything except for one irrelevant file (crossing my fingers) then how would I join those files back into the 'iPhoto Library' since they were previously 'packaged' up in that fashion?
 
I would try Disk Warrior first. I have used it with success years back. My HD was going bad and Disk Warrior repaired the drive enough to allow me to save my files.


Always keep your files backed up on something or somewhere!
 
I have to admit I'm not sure about that.

I'm sure you can get all the folders in place, but I don't know what you have to do to get that packaged up and acting like iPhoto as you see the package in Finder.

Maybe somebody else can chime in.

If you don't have a really elaborate system of albums, it might be easiest to start up your new iPhoto with nothing in it, and then import the images you managed to pull off. That means re-specifying your albums, but if you don't have many, or if they're straightforward, that might not be bad.
 
Dweez said:
1) backup your data (as best you can)
2) replace the drive
3) restore your data
4) carry on
Click to expand...

5. set up regular backups of your NEW disk so that you don't get caught with your pants around your knees again next time.

disks fail (often, unexpectedly). once they've started to fail, it is often too late.


keep backups!
 
fastlanephil said:
I would try Disk Warrior first. I have used it with success years back. My HD was going bad and Disk Warrior repaired the drive enough to allow me to save my files.


Always keep your files backed up on something or somewhere!
Click to expand...

I would, but with DWIII you can try before you buy.



monokakata said:
I have to admit I'm not sure about that.

I'm sure you can get all the folders in place, but I don't know what you have to do to get that packaged up and acting like iPhoto as you see the package in Finder.

Maybe somebody else can chime in.

If you don't have a really elaborate system of albums, it might be easiest to start up your new iPhoto with nothing in it, and then import the images you managed to pull off. That means re-specifying your albums, but if you don't have many, or if they're straightforward, that might not be bad.
Click to expand...

Yeah, seems a bit 'advanced'... anyone else have any idea?



throAU said:
5. set up regular backups of your NEW disk so that you don't get caught with your pants around your knees again next time.

disks fail (often, unexpectedly). once they've started to fail, it is often too late.


keep backups!
Click to expand...

I actually thought I had a great little backup system in place. Unfortunately, what I think happened is that my bad main HD effected my backup Time Machine HD, to the point where the Time Machine Drive started acting weird and not working before the internal drive. Consequently, I was done w/ the process of of deleting that drive and starting from scratch when the internal drive started acting up. From now on, I'm going to have two backups... one Time Machine, and one offsite clone. Sound like a good idea?
 
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