My hard drive just vanished

[Rhisiart]

This relates to my Macbook Pro (purchased 18 months ago) - see specs below. I synced a few items between my Mac Mini and the Macbook yesterday. It was odd as it refused to allow some transfers (no permissions).

Today I booted up the Macbook Pro and instead of the spinning icon as it booted up I got a strange icon (similar to attachment).

I loaded the Snow Leopard DVD and it says no hard disc was available (the hard disc in Disc utility was shaded out). No choice but to erase that disc and reinstall Snow Leopard.

I am curious as to how this has happened.

 

[MisterMe]

Sounds like you need a new hard drive.

 

[Doctor X]

Or . . . and I have done this only when I have REALLY screwed around with things--see some of my first questions!--you somehow so frelled up your volume that Disk Utility could not recover it. In that case(s), Disk Warrior--from whom I really do not get kick-backs!--fixed it or at least allowed me to recover data.

However, in another case I have blathered a few times about, the HD basically about died, and DW allowed me to save the data before replacement.

So . . . "best case scenario" is frelled up volume and worse case scenario is what MisterMe suggests--dying HD. Either way make sure NOTHING on that HD is something you cannot replace--those highly tantalizing yet highly illegal French vegetable etchings, for example--and make sure if you continue to use it you back up as frequently as needed. "As needed" for me is every day, but if I have just added 20 pages to my "Opus Dissertation of Doom!" when I just added the pages!

And . . . you should know the answer soon. If a dying HD . . . it will die. You will get similar problems or "bang!"

Some programs like TechTools--and, years ago Norton Utilities--will do a surface scan of your HD and may show you bad blocks which heralds a coming death. Probably not worth your effort.

--J.D.

 

[Rhisiart]

Thankyou Mr MisterMe and Doctor X for confirming my worst fear (actually losing a leg would be more frightening).

I sometimes wonder about Apple. The said same Macbook needed its DVD replacing only weeks after purchase.

 

[MisterMe]

Let's not go off the deep end here. Apple does not manufacture hard drives. Hard drives are mechanical parts. Mechanical parts fail. It is the nature of the beast. If your MacBook's hard drive failed within weeks after purchase, then it failed with months left on the warranty. You did not even have to worry about AppleCare because AppleCare does not take effect until your warranty expires.

I have never had anything but the most cooperative experience whenever I called Apple for help with a problem. If you had brought your MacBook's failed hard drive to Apple's attention, then your hard drive would have been replaced with dispatch.

 

[djackmac]

I loaded the Snow Leopard DVD and it says no hard disc was available (the hard disc in Disc utility was shaded out). No choice but to erase that disc and reinstall Snow Leopard.

I sometimes wonder about Apple. The said same Macbook needed its DVD replacing only weeks after purchase.

The volume under the drive being shaded in disk utility just means it wouldn't mount. Doesn't necessarily mean it was bad. There were other options besides nuking and paving OSX. First option would have been disk first aid in disk utility (the repair option under the first aid tab). Had that option failed, then disk warrior would have been the next option to possibly get the volume to mount. Now if the volume showed up in red on the left column and the SMART status showed failed, that would definitively would have proven the drive had failed.

The volume not mounting could have been caused by a software problem or another impending hardware failure making the machine crash and in turn corrupting the directory structure. Another major possibility is a sudden power loss making the machine shut down abruptly causing the directory structure to become corrupted. Of course it could also be a bad drive, but way too premature of a diagnosis.