Help needed re crashed HD

H

Hammer1

Registered
Hi all.

Newbie to this forum, but not to Macs. Need some help/advice re my Mac. Have a dual core processor imac which was running Leopard.

Was running fine until i received the dreaded 'question mark' folder on start up.

Managed to get hold of an OS X CD (not my original os cd) and was able to get on to my desktop. Was in process of getting another mac set up to migrate data across when we had power cut and my imac obviously switched off.

The OS cd is still inside and i can't get it to eject. When i start the imac, the cd kicks in, but tells me the computer cant install the OS on the computer.

Wouid appreciate suggestions re recovering the data on my crashed imac. Is there any way i can simply connect imac to another imac, or am i being overly simplistic?
Also, does anyone have a suggestion re getting the cd out of the imac?

Any advice wouid be appreciated (apart from "backup in future' - learned that one already unfortunately!')

Thanks
 
Hammer1 said:
Wouid appreciate suggestions re recovering the data on my crashed imac. Is there any way i can simply connect imac to another imac, or am i being overly simplistic?
Also, does anyone have a suggestion re getting the cd out of the imac?
Click to expand...

Connect the broken Mac via firewire to another Mac. Power on the broken Mac while holding down the "T" key until you see a floating firewire symbol on the screen of the broken Mac. Then if the drive is not to bad off, you should see the volume from the broken Mac appear on the desktop of the functional Mac its connected to.

As far as ejecting the disk, power on holding the mouse button down. Or else power on while holding the option key down until you get to the boot manager. Then just hit the eject key.
 
djackmac said:
Connect the broken Mac via firewire to another Mac. Power on the broken Mac while holding down the "T" key until you see a floating firewire symbol on the screen of the broken Mac. Then if the drive is not to bad off, you should see the volume from the broken Mac appear on the desktop of the functional Mac its connected to.

As far as ejecting the disk, power on holding the mouse button down. Or else power on while holding the option key down until you get to the boot manager. Then just hit the eject key.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the suggestions. Ive managed to get the cd out of the imac. Unfortunately when i tried the firewire connection im not seeing anything on my "ok" imac. (before i managed to get the cd out i was seeing the mac os x cd that was in my "broken" imac).

I know the cd is a newer version of OS than i had on the imac. Im wondering if thats why its trying to install/update on the computer. (still shows 'cannot update/install on this computer')

My only other thought is to try and get a copy of an older version to try and see if that will let me access the hd. As i mentioned in my initial post, i was able to access the hd after loading the cd, so it is/was possible.
 
It sounds like you are using an install CD designed for a different model of apple computer then yours, (grey colored label).
You might have better luck with a retail version suitable for all supported Macs.
 
Here

You can substitute "Snow Leopard Disk" for Installation Disk--it is cheaper to get and more reliable than trying to find the correct grey installation disk for your machine.

--J.D.
 
Hammer1 said:
Thanks for the suggestions. Ive managed to get the cd out of the imac. Unfortunately when i tried the firewire connection im not seeing anything on my "ok" imac. (before i managed to get the cd out i was seeing the mac os x cd that was in my "broken" imac).

I know the cd is a newer version of OS than i had on the imac. Im wondering if thats why its trying to install/update on the computer. (still shows 'cannot update/install on this computer')

My only other thought is to try and get a copy of an older version to try and see if that will let me access the hd. As i mentioned in my initial post, i was able to access the hd after loading the cd, so it is/was possible.
Click to expand...

The drive is not mounting. That's why it's not showing up through target disk mode on the working Mac. My professional opinion is that the drive needs to be removed from the broken Mac (to keep it cool) and some really good third party software like DiskWarrior and Data Rescue 3 will most likely be the best options for getting the data off that drive. Any more messing around trying to load a system over it is more than likely going to bring the drive down totally.
 
Managed to get hold of a snow leopard disc. I started up my iMac, expecting to see the ? folder...but it loaded all the way throuigh to my desktop. :) (all without the disc btw)

Ive scrambled to attach external hd and think ive copied most of my important stuff. Once i'd done that, i became bolder and restarted with firewire attached. Managed to get that to work so have it on my new iMac's desktop. Have copied my applications etc across using migration assistant.


Given the way this has transpired, would anyone hazard a guess if the HD is dodgy, or if the motherboard is dodgy? (or couid something else be the culprit?) Bit strange that it is loading ok sometimes, and not ok at other times.

Thanks for all the help & suggestions in the thread.
 
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