'BLESS' this hard drive! Big PB problem

[BEET]

Hi,

I'm getting so fed up with my 15 inch PowerBook, it might be taking a flying lesson out the window soon!

Here's the problem - Last week, to the day, the pb froze and was making a strange whirring/ buzzing sound. Nervously, I read about odd sounds etc on various forums (on another computer) and was begining to accept that my hard drive was dead, losing a few months of data. I was gutted, on the off chance I got someone to have a look. I was delighted to find it 'fixed' the next day. The guy who fixed it said he spent a while trying to boot it off the osx dvd, and when it eventually started up he mentioned something about 'blessing' hard drive files?? Luckily I got a second chance to back everything up on an external hd, phew!

One week later (minutes after spending hours today of editing film footage) the damn thing has just frozen and is making the same whirring noise and won't start again. I've tried booting from the dvd, but can only get as far as the blue screen.

Please does anyone know about 'blessing' or anything else I can do to get it up and running again? ( a bit of extra info - it's a couple of years old ((I guess £1700 for a computer that only lasts 2 years is reasonable?)), running on panther 10.3.9)

Any help would be immensly appreciated!

Beet.

 

[benthewraith]

Hi,

I'm getting so fed up with my 15 inch PowerBook, it might be taking a flying lesson out the window soon!

Here's the problem - Last week, to the day, the pb froze and was making a strange whirring/ buzzing sound. Nervously, I read about odd sounds etc on various forums (on another computer) and was begining to accept that my hard drive was dead, losing a few months of data. I was gutted, on the off chance I got someone to have a look. I was delighted to find it 'fixed' the next day. The guy who fixed it said he spent a while trying to boot it off the osx dvd, and when it eventually started up he mentioned something about 'blessing' hard drive files?? Luckily I got a second chance to back everything up on an external hd, phew!

One week later (minutes after spending hours today of editing film footage) the damn thing has just frozen and is making the same whirring noise and won't start again. I've tried booting from the dvd, but can only get as far as the blue screen.

Please does anyone know about 'blessing' or anything else I can do to get it up and running again?

Any help would be immensly appreciated!

Beet.

He used blessing figuratively. He was able to recover the data....but the HDD is gone. Blessing is in reference to the very fact that the files survived at all. Not that he was able to restore them. The only option available to you is to buy a new HDD and install it.

 

[BEET]

He used blessing figuratively. He was able to recover the data....but the HDD is gone. Blessing is in reference to the very fact that the files survived at all. Not that he was able to restore them. The only option available to you is to buy a new HDD and install it.

Are sure sure about the figurative use of the term 'bless'? as I've found quite a few references to it on various sites - http://www.hmug.org/man/1/bless.php

Also, if the hd was totally dead last week, how come it's been working ok for 7 days?

 

[benthewraith]

Are sure sure about the figurative use of the term 'bless'? as I've found quite a few references to it on various sites - http://www.hmug.org/man/1/bless.php

Also, if the hd was totally dead last week, how come it's been working ok for 7 days?

Hmm. Interesting. Still, if it did it to you again, it's more than likely your hard drive is going.

The question is, are you going to take it back on the off chance he can save your hard drive again or are you going to replace it.

Personally, I recommend you replace it. On another note, you aren't the other person that had a hard drive that gave all it could to get it's information to the owner. The Most Dramatic and Heartbreaking PB death...ever.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[BEET]

that story makes me feel like I could have put a little more effort into my description!

I'd quite like to see if the guy could fix the hd one last time, just so I can backup the last 7 days of work and then I'll sort it out with a new hd.

cheers.

 

[BEET]

a ray of hope

I've just opened disk utility and unlike the last time this happened, disk utility is recognising that there is a hard drive in the computer. Last week it couldn't see the hd.

Should I do anything in here like restore or first aid?

 

[benthewraith]

I've just opened disk utility and unlike the last time this happened, disk utility is recognising that there is a hard drive in the computer. Last week it couldn't see the hd.

Should I do anything in here like restore or first aid?

Try restoring it, and immediately back up all your files (if you can). It may or may not help to completely reinstall OSX, and then just reinstall the applications.

 

[BEET]

Try restoring it, and immediately back up all your files (if you can). It may or may not help to completely reinstall OSX, and then just reinstall the applications.

I've never really used disk utility before, I've already started running first aid, it sounded like a good button to press. I'll try restore next. I'll keep you posted.

 

[wmmk]

You should also wipe, then reformat he drive, as long as you're sure that everything is backed up. If that doesn't work, just buy a seagate. They're very reliable.

 

[pooky]

He used blessing figuratively. He was able to recover the data....but the HDD is gone. Blessing is in reference to the very fact that the files survived at all.

I'm not sure this is what he meant. In pre-OS X days, a folder had to be "blessed" before it was able to start up the computer. Basically it's what tells the computer, "hey, there are system files in here, start up from this folder." You could have multiple system folders on a single drive, even with different names, and the computer started from whichever one was blessed. Not sure if the term is still used with OS X, though.