iMac HDD died ?

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Yesterday my (2.66 C2D 2008) iMac was running very slowly, then it crashed. Rebooted it, crashed again after a short while. Turned it on again, and it eventually came up with a white screen with [ ? ] on it which suggests to me it can't find the OS or boot at all !?

Left it off about an hour, turned it back on, and after about 15 mins of booting it came back to life.

I've been looking for an excuse for a couple of years to replace it, but with the intention of selling in working order. This was not what I had in mind ! Everything is backed up, so I'm not too worried, however I don't really want to buy another machine !! Moving house this week, and need clutch and belts on the car too.

It ran last night OK for a while, but just worked at the speed of dark. Very very slow, unresponsive etc, and when copying files it kept saying it couldn't find them, then it could.

Replacing the HDD looks like major surgery to me, and I can't currently find my original OS X discs ! :dapprove:

Easiest thing would be to buy a new computer, but really, <4yrs out of a machine isn't really a mega long life-span, is it ?! I don't really want to take it to Apple as I'm pretty busy for the next few weeks moving etc, and I don't really want to spend a fortune on something I'll probably end up throwing away or selling on eBay for spares/repairs. Don't really want to do this as currently I can't wipe the drive, which has bank info, passwords, personal details etc. on it...

I'm not going to buy a new one until I move as if I can't find the discs when I'm packing, they're gone for ever.

I can't go Hero Spec on a new iMac as I can't justify that, and I don't think I even want a 27" poverty spec. The 21.5" is larger than my 20" at the moment and that's done me just fine for the last few years !

Apple's refurb store only has two 21.5" machines in stock at the moment, poverty spec (2.5 QC, 4GB (>8GB), 500GB) and luke warm ( 2.7Quad, 4GB (>16GB), 1TB ) .. but really unsure whether to wait for new ones, get the old one going, or just bail and save some money. I'm sure a Windowz machine will drive me mental and need replacing in 2 weeks when I hurl it out the window in frustration.........

Thoughts, suggestions etc.

Thanks !

 

[Rob]

Frank's (the one you met that time) hard drive randomly corrupted the other day, he had to totally restart things and it's been fine since.

You got a time machine back up???

If not, when you fix this, get one.

My advice would be to try to reinstall somehow, I don't know if you can go about it with no discs but someone on here will.

P.s given it's age (no warranty), taking them apart is not as scary as it looks, me and Adam (old house mate, build computers etc) could come over and fit one probably?

 

[Tom]

If you can get it to boot, dump the drive into a external.

Replacing the drive is simple enough.

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac-Intel-20-Inch-EMC-2266-Hard-Drive-Replacement/919/1

 

[olliewebbuk]

Perfect time/excuse to upgrade to an SSD.

 

[Adam.]

Do you have another computer where you could download a copy of OSX?

 

[Tom]

Perfect time/excuse to upgrade to an SSD.

Meh, i guess you could. But theres not room for 2 drives so you'd have to have an external in all the time. Which i hate.

Probably not so bad with an imac.

(im assuming you have attempted to repair permissions in the main disk? You'd need the OS X discs to do the start up, it could just be that. I've had that before.)

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Thanks for the replies guys, speaking to you from what appears at this moment in time to be a working iMac. It has been off since 10pm last night.

Going to have a look to see what's occurin' when I've had some grub as I've just got in...

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Did a 'repair' and within a few seconds told me all was well. Tried 'verify' too and same as before.

So I installed a HDD scanner, and it was OK for about half an hour, until it told me there is an I/O error, which suggests to me MoBo or HDD...

I think I will buy a new one, then get the old one working (somehow?) and flog on. I hope !

 

[N0ddie]

Use a tool like CCC (CarbonCopyCloner) to copy your HDD and put it onto a temporary external HDD. Configure the iMac to boot from the external HDD then replace the HDD inside the iMac (I've not done it myself but reading upon it makes it look easy).

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

I'm struggling to copy anything though, as it's showing an I/O error, so I'm assuming is the motherboard or HDD as above...

New shiny one has been ordered. I'll get the old one to Apple when I've moved.

 

[M4rk182]

Bin it and get a MacBook pro.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Thanks for your helpful input, but as mentioned above, I've just bought a new one.

Sold my MacBook a couple of months ago as I didn't use it.

 

[Revels]

I hope you didn't get the iMac nano.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Hairlairyus.

Well the only 27" one on the refurb store was an i3 from about 18 months ago, so I decided that an 2.7 i5 'nano' would do. In the same month I'm moving house, need clutch, timing belt and brakes done on my car too, I can do without spending a grand as it is, let alone what ever I'd spec a 27" up to. As well as needing a new desk as it wouldn't fit on my current one !

Hopefully a HDD swap will solve the old one's issues and I can get some moolah back on that to offset the new one.

/pauper.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Hokay ..

So, after a month of sitting in a box, iMac 1.0 still refuses to play nice.

Disk utility - verify disk gives me the following issues:

'Invalid directory item count (it should be 32476 instead of 32477)
checking attributes...
blah blah
...the volume iMac HD needs to be repaired.
Error: the filesystem verify or repair failed.

Tried to do 'repair' but it just flatly refuses to do anything.


Hard drive completely borked ? New ones are EXPENSIIIIVE.....!!!

Or should a re-install get it back to square one or am I just wasting my time ?

Thanks... :dapprove:

 

[jenic]

Try a re install for free.

If you dont want to fix it yourself send it to me and I'll give it a good home

 

[Tom]

Are you using disk utility from the dvd or from the drive you need to repair?

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Erm, from the DVD I think.. it eventually decided it did need a repair, and then after about 3 attempts, repaired it.

Reset it, after it asked where I wanted to boot from, and it asked me to re-load Lion. Wireless then wouldn't connect and it crashed. Rebooted again, and it went into OS X after about 10 mins, and was as slow as it was a month ago.

Appears hard drives are now more expensive than ever..

Joys

 

[Tom]

Yeah they will come down, but all the factorys got fucked in the thai floods.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Aye. Didn't realise quite by how much though !

Wondering what to do next. Wait til HDDs are cheaper and then replace it, whip it out and replace it now/soon, sell it as is, or sáns HDD, or just set fire to it all and carry on with my evening

 

[Rob]

I'll set fire to it for you (reads take it and store it until HDD prices come down).

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Bumparge !

Had a moment of inspiration today - There's hoovering and other wonderful house related things to do, but luckily my brain chose this moment to think to use a sat-nav holder's suction cup to remove the glass screen cover !!

Whipped that off, took the surround off, removed the screen as far as I thought it needed to go and swapped the HDD over !

Loosely put the screen back in and shoved an install disc in.

96% complete checking install DVDs.

The anticipation is killing me !!!!

 

[Revels]

You're going to be viewing CS via dust until you sell it and buy a new one. Lol.

 

[jenic]

You're going to be viewing CS via dust until you sell it and buy a new one. Lol.

LOL

Just mentioned the dust on FB :rasp:

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

This is my back-up mac boys Do keep up.

It was full of sh*t anyway so it can't be any worse !!

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Freakin' happy with that.

 

[AK]

Bit small, isn't it?

 

[Revels]

The top left.. There's loads of dust specs. I can see them from here!!

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

I sprinkled it with dust to annoy Sash.

She thinks she's keeping it.

HAAAA.

 

[Sash]

You're forever telling me to get one... so why not give me that one, it makes perfect sense Simples.