need help quick fast....

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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

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

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

Correct

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

 

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.

 

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

 

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