[Ridnparadise]

Sorry no other forum seems to fit. Didn't want it in the religion forum.
What would happen if the hard drive had died and you turned it on - What would appear on the screen?

 

[251]

You might want to try another forum.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1892

 

[UncleRobin]

IIRC a file folder with a question mark in it.

Also 251's advice is spot on.

UR

 

[Kasper]

What would appear on the screen?

NOT Mtbr - your harddisc is working..

 

[mtnbiker72]

Well when my over priced POS iBook hard drive failed both times the computer would not boot

 

[Berkeley Mike]

It is not that simple

It would be so nice if things just" failed" but that isn't always the case. An iMac can still start up with a "failing" hard drive. The same with a "failing" logic board. A variety of screens indicate a variety of problems not all of which are easy to nail down. There can be software problems, fragmentation problems, corruption of details that make the whole thing work.

From your post it sounds like you are assuming a failed hard drive. Perhaps a better way to go about this is to describe your symptoms.

 

[nachomc]

NOT Mtbr - your harddisc is working..

:lol:

 

[Fiskare]

Hey, Berkeley Mike is on the right track. Describe the symptoms, exactly, and maybe someone can help. Start with the basics, like resetting the PRAM. If that doesn't work then boot from the system CD. Simple OS corruption, along with about 100 other things, can cause a failed boot. I am Apple certified, for whatever that is worth, and have been for many many years. I have been inside everything Apple has produced in the last 20 years. Apple builds fairly robust stuff, and real failures are pretty rare. The problem is almost always user born..nobody like to hear that but it is the truth...and no disrespect intended. Don't fret, I bet it turns out to be nothing much.

 

[Ridnparadise]

Thanks Fiskare and BM. It initially turns on as normal with the grey apple screen and then shuts down. That's it. It's only a few weeks old so the wife was told to take it into the service centre. They say it is a HD failure and would like some$ to recover data.
Thanks again for the help and the other bright spark replies too. This forum:band: :band: :band: :band: :band: :rockon: :drumroll: :drumroll: :band:'s

 

[Fiskare]

Well, here is a dirty secret. Service centers that are run for profit always find a failure that they can bill Apple for.....and then try to get extra $$ out of the customer for things like DATA recovery. If the drive is dead then the data can't be recovered. No BS. The great thing about my situation is that I work for a very large organization that was not long ago the single largest installed base of Apple products in the world. That means I don't do anything for money. My job is to get the stuff up and running without losing data. I know a bunch of the Apple engineers and Apple service folks. Most of the 'bad' parts Apple gets back from the service centers are in perfect working order. I think the latest number was 85% are good and only 15% actually bad. Most service techs are not very good at what they do, unfortunately. I repeat, if the drive is bad the data can't be recovered by your typical service tech. To recover data from a bad disc requires solving the failure, usually a head problem, sometimes simply a mechanical problem that is fixed by a really smart techy type who takes the drive apart and solves the issue, then spins it back up and reads the data.I will quit talking now, cuz I think I have made my point.

 

[Simonns]

Well, here is a dirty secret. Service centers that are run for profit always find a failure that they can bill Apple for.....and then try to get extra $$ out of the customer for things like DATA recovery. If the drive is dead then the data can't be recovered. No BS. The great thing about my situation is that I work for a very large organization that was not long ago the single largest installed base of Apple products in the world. That means I don't do anything for money. My job is to get the stuff up and running without losing data. I know a bunch of the Apple engineers and Apple service folks. Most of the 'bad' parts Apple gets back from the service centers are in perfect working order. I think the latest number was 85% are good and only 15% actually bad. Most service techs are not very good at what they do, unfortunately. I repeat, if the drive is bad the data can't be recovered by your typical service tech. To recover data from a bad disc requires solving the failure, usually a head problem, sometimes simply a mechanical problem that is fixed by a really smart techy type who takes the drive apart and solves the issue, then spins it back up and reads the data.I will quit talking now, cuz I think I have made my point.

In my experience, if the hard drive at least spins up there is about a 50% chance I can recover some data. This is on PC's, not sure about Macs though.

 

[Ridnparadise]

Thanks Fiskare. They want $110 for data recovery!! Too cheap? I smell BS heavy in the air, that's why I posted. However I still don't know if what I saw could be a hd problem. Would it looklike that?

 

[Fiskare]

I smell BS too. Let them swap the drive. Apple will pay the bill and it is a super simple swap on an iMac. If the drive spins up and stays spinning without any klunking or odd repetitive noises then it likely is not a HD failure. That doesn't mean that the problem is not with the drive. There are lots of HD problems that do not amount to a HD failure. My guess is a corrupted OS, or a mildly mucked up HD, but not a HD failure. Has the machine been knocked around a bit? Maybe moved some while running? The thing about an iMac is the HD is in the same case as the monitor, and people are accustomed to being free to readjust the monitor at will. To do so while the drive is being read can cause some minor drive issues. The most elegant solution is to boot from a CD (with a generic OS and diagnostic tools) provided by Apple as part of their support of techies, then dump the entire HD onto another drive connected via USB or Firewire, then remap the HD in question. This process writes and reads to every part of the drive looking for bad sectors. A new map of good and bad sectors is created. Then reload the OE OS and any included apps on to the remapped HD - so it is at this point exactly as delivered when new. Then pull anything important from the copy made at the outset, like docs and pictures and other stuff. But these folks will just swap the drive and Apple will pay them to do so. I would forget the data recovery thing - how much critical data can you have accumulated in a few weeks? The thing to know is that the margin on Apple products can be really low, so the $110 data recovery fee will be more than they made on the sale itself. My 2 cents. Good luck.