Reformatting a Hard Drive

[india349]

While the title of this thread is kinda simple, I'm actually kinda stumped as to what to do in my situation.

I have owned my MacBook for about a year now. One day the directory file on my Hitachi 100GB Hard drive decided to corrupt itself (or something. Might have been me trying to run too many apps at once or something. I don't understand how it works.) Anyway, in short, kernel panic and it's gone.

After switching to the factory Seagate one for a while, I was able to use some recovery software to get all of the data I needed, which was surprisingly most of it. So now I'm ready to restart with the 100GB, all fresh and new.

I didn't think it should be a problem reformatting, so I restart from the CD and run the installer. About 50% of the time it tells me it can't finish and the other half it freezes. I am running the 'Erase and Install' feature.

I also tried using Disk Utility to partition my drive which seemed to work but I was still unable to install and actually start up with the new installation.

So here's my question. I've heard it's really risky to 'zero' out a drive, like the option under 'Erase' in Disk Utility. I have no problem doing it; I just don't want to harm the drive. But is that my only option now that the installer and the partitioner don't seem to work? What's a good estimate as to how long it would take to zero a drive that big and would I be doing any lasting damage to it?

Thank you.
india349

 

[gr8tfly]

Sometimes, 3rd party utilities can fix corrupted drives. But with the failures you're describing, it sounds like the Hitachi could have a h/w problem.

Have you contacted Apple? If the MB's less than a year old, it's under warranty. They might even be able to swap it out for you at the store.

edit: Zeroing the drive just writes over the old data so it can't be recovered. I don't believe it'll help anything in the directory structure.

 

[india349]

I bet it's still under warranty (I think my purchase date was like 10-20-06 or something.) but the Hitachi isn't an Apple drive. Would they still swap it? I can't imagine they would; I didn't buy it through them.

I don't actually own any third party drive tools, other than the one I have for data recovery so is there anything Disk Utility can do to fix it for me?

Note: I only found it was a directory problem after going in through single user mode. If I do manage to complete an installation, I can hook it up externally, start it up from the Seagate and see the files, but it's impossible for me to start up from the Hitachi.

 

[gr8tfly]

Yea, Apple won't help much on the drive.

Apple recommends the GUID partition map for Intel boot drives. You can select the map type when you setup the partition by clicking on "Options...".

After you initialize the drive using Disk Utility, are you able to perform a Verify/Repair on it? If it won't pass at that point, it's not sounding good for that drive.

If you make it past that point, then make sure "Owners Enabled: Yes" (in the drive information in Disk Utility). Otherwise, use the Finder to "Get Info" and uncheck "Ignore Permissions". I've had trouble in the past booting from an external volume if the volume is set to "Ignore Permissions".

 

[india349]

Thanks. I will try that and post my results.

 

[india349]

Eh, okay, so here's what I've discovered.

Running off of my 60GB drive, I can plug in the 100GB externally and check it in Disk Utility. Disk Utility can see the the drive, but it has no volumes on it. If I create a volume, or try to, Disk Utility will either freeze or successfully create a volume. If it does create one, when I restart from the OS X CD to reinstall, the volume is no longer there...

If it does work, I can successfully verify/repair it, and change "Ignore Permissions." Is something going wrong with transferring everything via USB? Would it be better if I used the internal bus?

Something tells me my wonderful hard drive is now a paperweight. Is there anything else I can do?

Thanks.

 

[Streetlightska5]

Can A windows gateway...

Can a gateway mt3705 laptop run mac osx 10.4.10? Is it possible to put mac on a windows? Please let me know asap.

 

[velocityg4]

Eh, okay, so here's what I've discovered.

Running off of my 60GB drive, I can plug in the 100GB externally and check it in Disk Utility. Disk Utility can see the the drive, but it has no volumes on it. If I create a volume, or try to, Disk Utility will either freeze or successfully create a volume. If it does create one, when I restart from the OS X CD to reinstall, the volume is no longer there...

If it does work, I can successfully verify/repair it, and change "Ignore Permissions." Is something going wrong with transferring everything via USB? Would it be better if I used the internal bus?

Something tells me my wonderful hard drive is now a paperweight. Is there anything else I can do?

Thanks.

That hard drive is definitely dead I'm afraid. Since you said you got most everything you needed off the hard drive, I would say toss it and either reinstall your old 60GB or buy a replacement.

Can a gateway mt3705 laptop run mac osx 10.4.10? Is it possible to put mac on a windows? Please let me know asap.

This would break Apples Electronic Users License Agreement (EULA) and also breaks Macrumors forum rules so you won't get much help here. Is it possible, their have been some successes getting PC's to run Mac OS. Will you get specifics here, I doubt it.

If you ask specifically how or where to get the info here or if someone tells you where the post/thread will likely be wastelanded and you and/or the responder can be banned from these forums.