need help quick fast....

[junassara]

ok heres whats up...

My mac went nuts so I shut it down. When I turned it back on it went to a gray screen with a little file folder on it going in between a ? and the mac happy face even though it was not happy...I now have my install disks but I need to know where to go from there to get it back up. I put it in and went to disk utility but now I am stumped and of course I never thought that my computer would crash so I never backed up my pics and I would like to save them if at all possible......please help!!!!!

 

[blodwyn]

ok heres whats up...

My mac went nuts so I shut it down. When I turned it back on it went to a gray screen with a little file folder on it going in between a ? and the mac happy face even though it was not happy...I now have my install disks but I need to know where to go from there to get it back up. I put it in and went to disk utility but now I am stumped and of course I never thought that my computer would crash so I never backed up my pics and I would like to save them if at all possible......please help!!!!!

So when you loaded disk utility did the hard disk show up? If the system boots the install disk and runs disk utility then it's likely that the hard disk has failed. You don't say what Mac you have so I can't say how easy/hard it will be to replace it. In some cases it's possible to recover data but by no means guaranteed. There are data recovery services that will attempt to do it, but they can be expensive.

I've got to say though - you thought your computer would never crash? Unfortunately on Planet Earth, disks do crash - including external drives. So anyone out there with data you want to keep, that exists on only one disk, internal or external, should go and figure out how you're going to back it up or learn to live without it.

 

[junassara]

yes I know I was being sarcastic. My Hubby kept telling me to do it and I didn't want to I an so mad at my self. I have a IMac G5

 

[junassara]

no the hard drive did not show up...so that is bad? the hard drive has crashed?

 

[blodwyn]

no the hard drive did not show up...so that is bad? the hard drive has crashed?

It looks like the drive may be dead. If you have an Apple store anywhere near you could get them to take a look, otherwise I suggest you get a new drive. You will need to re-install everything of course. Once you have then you could try putting the old disk in an external enclosure (that takes SATA drives) and see if you can mount it and get any data off.

 

[junassara]

is there a way to try through the command prompt to access the hard drive to see if i can get anything off of it.....

 

[blodwyn]

is there a way to try through the command prompt to access the hard drive to see if i can get anything off of it.....

If disk utility doesn't see it then it is unlikely to be mounted, and is therefore invisible to the system, including the command prompt

 

[junassara]

could I try? could you tell me? I just don't want to give up just yet....I am still holding out some hope...I want to try all avenues...Please!!!


Also I have another hard drive that was in a PC could I use it for my MAC? If so do I have to do anything special to it like format or anything before I put it in my MAC?

 

[junassara]

sorry so many ?'s but I just can't help it...


there is the technology out there to pull info off the crashed hard drive right?

so if I get a new hard drive I could save this one for when I have money to recover the info off of it...right?

My Hubby and I have no wiggle room right now to do anything but in a few years I'm sure I would so it could work...in theory, right?

 

[blodwyn]

could I try? could you tell me? I just don't want to give up just yet....I am still holding out some hope...I want to try all avenues...Please!!!

I personally don't know how to access the drive if it's not showing up in disk utility. Anyone reading who does know - please chime in

Also I have another hard drive that was in a PC could I use it for my MAC? If so do I have to do anything special to it like format or anything before I put it in my MAC?

If the PC drive has a SATA interface then probably. If it's an older PATA interface then it won't work unless you put it in an external Firewire enclosure and use it like that. You will need to format it to the Mac Filesystem format (Journalled) using Disk Utility before you install OS X on it

there is the technology out there to pull info off the crashed hard drive right?

Yes, but it depends on what is wrong with the drive. If the magnetic surfaces in the drive are damaged then there's no real hope

so if I get a new hard drive I could save this one for when I have money to recover the info off of it...right?

Correct

My Hubby and I have no wiggle room right now to do anything but in a few years I'm sure I would so it could work...in theory, right?

Correct in theory, if the drive has recoverable data then it will OK to leave it for a while.

 

[junassara]

what do you mean by PATA or SATA? does that mean how it connects to the motherboard? I am not real savvy on the terms when it comes to this stuff but I know how to take it apart and put it back together....

 

[andy.barron]

Have you tried booting the disk as a target disk & letting another mac have a look?

Borrow another mac, connect a firewire cable between them etc. etc. (lots of instruction on how to do on web) & see if you can access this way.

If the borrowed mac can see the disk, then simply copy off your tresured data.

Hope this helps.

 

[blodwyn]

what do you mean by PATA or SATA? does that mean how it connects to the motherboard?

Yes, Parallel ATA and Serial ATA drives have different connectors, and only Serial ATA (SATA) drives will plug into your iMac

 

[junassara]

oh ok....got it! sorry but I do not have another MAC to borrow from and I cannot afford to go to the MAC store and shell out 130 or more bucks....my hubby has said no to the reuse the other hard drive so we are so maxed at having to buy another one I don't know what we'll do.



But....if the connectors are the same and if I just boot up with the disk and go to disk utility and format it it would work? Would I just go to partion under disk utilities and that would be all or am I missing something? If I did it wrong it just wouldn't run right right? cuz I am going to keep trying with my hubby cuz I want to save the money.

Thanks for all your help I soooooo appreciate it!!!!

 

[blodwyn]

But....if the connectors are the same and if I just boot up with the disk and go to disk utility and format it it would work? Would I just go to partion under disk utilities and that would be all or am I missing something?

Assuming the disk fits OK, then you boot the iMac from the DVD, run Disk Utility, click on the drive in the left pane (we hope it shows up - right!), click on the 'Erase' tab, choose 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)', enter the drive name of your choice in 'Name', and then click the 'Erase' button. Wait for it to finish.

Then you can install the Operating System on it

Good luck