Using old HDD is it possible?

[Piersuk]

I had an old iMac a few years ago and before it went to the great Mac graveyard I salvaged the HDD.
I've now found another iMac (iSight) model which comes without a HDD. I've tried to drop the iMac HDD in but alas all I get is the folder with question mark flashing at me, the same as before I even put the HDD in.

Question is am I trying the impossible or is the iMac failing as a result of another fault?

Thanks

 

[marzer]

I had an old iMac a few years ago and before it went to the great Mac graveyard I salvaged the HDD.
I've now found another iMac (iSight) model which comes without a HDD. I've tried to drop the iMac HDD in but alas all I get is the folder with question mark flashing at me, the same as before I even put the HDD in.

Question is am I trying the impossible or is the iMac failing as a result of another fault?

Thanks

What version of OS X is loaded on the hard drive you are trying to install? What model iMac did it come from? What model iMac are you trying to boot it from?

Maybe the old machine was PPC and the new machine is Intel?

 

[SuperPolli]

Make Sure The Numbers All Match

It could be any number of things that are preventing you from loading this drive. You could try holding down the "Option" key on startup to see if that will reveal the drive. You need to ensure that both the HDD and the new machine are in good condition. Obviously check your connections everywhere to ensure that A gets to B.

After that if it still isn't working I would try and reset most standards. Reset PRAM, and anything else you can reset on your particular machine. I'm giving generic advice since you didn't list specs for the machine.

You could also try making sure that the Firmware is up to date and that it can load a different hard drive if possible. Again, since there were no particular specs listed that's really the most help I can give.

If that doesn't help then I really don't know what to tell you.

 

[Piersuk]

Maybe the old machine was PPC and the new machine is Intel?

I think you've got it!!! Going to check that the old machine was PPC, sure it was, the new one I have here is Intel for sure..

That, I presume would cause the symptoms described?

Thanks

 

[marzer]

I think you've got it!!! Going to check that the old machine was PPC, sure it was, the new one I have here is Intel for sure..

That, I presume would cause the symptoms described?

Thanks

OS X came in two forms (PPC and Intel) during the architecture transition up until Lion (I think) when support for PPC was dropped. If the drive is loaded with a recent intel-only version of OS X it won't boot a PPC machine.

 

[Piersuk]

I see, though I'm the other way around. The Osx on the drive is 10.5 and was originally on a PPC machine, now trying to use that drive on an Intel machine. Guess I'll have to try an install from cd

Thanks

 

[marzer]

I see, though I'm the other way around. The Osx on the drive is 10.5 and was originally on a PPC machine, now trying to use that drive on an Intel machine. Guess I'll have to try an install from cd

Thanks

If you want to recover data from that drive, it will mount on any OS X regardless of architecture. You could try booting the new machine from install media, using Disk Utility see if you can non-destructively add a second partition if there is enough free space, then install the OS to the new partition, leaving the old data intact in the other partition.