Disk Repair Made Hard Drive Worse

[HvyMtlPlyr]

27" i5 iMac - only 3 Weeks old! Yesterday get home from work and it was running slow, then fast, then slow, etc.. pin wheel on apps that normally loaded within seconds. checked into it and ran Disk utility - said drive needed to be repaired and to restart with OSX disk. Did that, ran Disk Repair and it said the drive could not be repaired - backup data & reformat. At this point I'm already pi$$ed as the system is only three weeks old. Reboot the computer and nothing - just the "Do Not Enter" sign (circle with line through it). What gives? Windows Check Disk never made any drives I had worse - it either fixed it or couldn't. So I run the OSX disk again and now instead of reporting my drive being 1TB with 845GB free and x folders, it only shows the drive being 1TB - nothing else. Being that it's only 3 weeks old I have almost all of my data. However, there are two videos that I recently took that I do not have a backup of (I am religious about backing up - swap external drives monthly, store in fire proof safe, etc) but did not run a backup of this yet as I was still in the process of copying data over from my Windows machine before I reformatted the external drive for HFS+. Two questions:

1) Any way possible to get the data off the drive at this point? The video is no longer on my camcorder (another stupid mistake on my part - I broke my own rule about not formatting the memory card until I know I have a good back up). Stupid me figured I had time since this was a new computer.

2) I read a lot on here about "...just reformat the drive and reload the OS." Is this typical for a Mac? To say I'm extremely disappointed with this is a HUGE understatement. Not sure if I should just return it and go back to Windows or give Appple another try. You know the saying, screw me once shame on you, screw me twice, shame on me.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Bob

 

[Hellhammer]

http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_doesn't_boot

Sounds like your HD is busted. That's not Apple's fault, all HDs will eventually die so you just had bad luck

 

[HvyMtlPlyr]

Thanks for chimming in Hellhammer!

To load OSX on an external drive can I do that from this Mac that is not working - using the OSX disk? Also, will this work with a USB external drive. A friend of mine has a Macbook so I can probably use that if necessary.

Also, I know drives fail and that Apple could not have predicted that. I've had drives fail with Windows too over the years but not within a 6 hour period. I was so excited to switch to the Mac I probably could have been the poster child for them. So I'm just disappointed right now. I'm sure that when I get this thing going again I'll get over it.

Thanks,

Bob

 

[Hellhammer]

Thanks for chimming in Hellhammer!

To load OSX on an external drive can I do that from this Mac that is not working - using the OSX disk? Also, will this work with a USB external drive. A friend of mine has a Macbook so I can probably use that if necessary.

Also, I know drives fail and that Apple could not have predicted that. I've had drives fail with Windows too over the years but not within a 6 hour period. I was so excited to switch to the Mac I probably could have been the poster child for them. So I'm just disappointed right now. I'm sure that when I get this thing going again I'll get over it.

Thanks,

Bob

If the HD is busted, you should be able to boot from the OS X install disk and then install it to the external HD and then boot from that. If you can borrow your friends MacBook, you can use Target Disk Mode.

HDs usually die within couple of weeks (manufacturing flaw) or after several years of service

 

[HvyMtlPlyr]

OK Hellhammer here's where I'm at. Connected an external USB drive and load OS X on it. Booted from it and the mac came up with it. Didn't see the internal drive so I went into disk utility to mount it. Says "The disk Macintosh HD could not be mounted..Try running First Aid.." Tried it and the disk won't repair. Getting Invalid Node Structure and Invalid Record Count errors. Says "Disk utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk and restore your backedup files." How am I supposed to backup my files (only need a few) if I can't mount the disk?

I'm thinking it's toast at this point.


Thanks, Bob

 

[DoFoT9]

I'm thinking it's toast at this point.

oh yes, without doubt its completely lost all of your files. unfortunately you will have to take it back to apple to get your hard drive replaced out. i doubt they will have tools to get the information back, but its worth a try to ask them if they can.

p.s. wb hell

 

[Hellhammer]

OK Hellhammer here's where I'm at. Connected an external USB drive and load OS X on it. Booted from it and the mac came up with it. Didn't see the internal drive so I went into disk utility to mount it. Says "The disk Macintosh HD could not be mounted..Try running First Aid.." Tried it and the disk won't repair. Getting Invalid Node Structure and Invalid Record Count errors. Says "Disk utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk and restore your backedup files." How am I supposed to backup my files (only need a few) if I can't mount the disk?

I'm thinking it's toast at this point.


Thanks, Bob

Yeah, it sounds like it's busted Apple will replace it but you'll lose all your files. You could of course pay for data recovery but that costs a lot so unless there is something VERY important, just live with it

 

[DoFoT9]

Yeah, it sounds like it's busted Apple will replace it but you'll lose all your files. You could of course pay for data recovery but that costs a lot so unless there is something VERY important, just live with it

A LOT A LOT! and it mightnt even work

 

[HvyMtlPlyr]

OK - quick update here...

Downloaded a demo copy of Data Rescue 3 and it was able to see the files on my drive (even though the drive it wouldn't mount) and with the demo I was able to restore 1 file - which I did (a .mov file). However, I hadn't loaded iMovie on the external drive yet so I couldn't confirm it would play - don't see why it wouldn't since the Mac recongnized the file type. Anyhow, it was getting real late so I'll have to test it later. I leave on vacation tonight so I won't know for sure until I get back late next week.

I'll post an update when I get back but it's at least looking promising.

Thanks for all your help. Been a life long Windows guys (my job too) and wasn't really expecting a crash course in rebuilding Mac's, but at least now I have a little more knowledge

Bob

 

[HvyMtlPlyr]

OK - long over due post here.

I brought my iMac in to Apple and they replaced the drive and gave me my old drive back. I loaded it into an external drive case, installed Data Rescue II (not III - got v.II from a friend who no longer uses a mac) and it recovered everything! Even though the drive could not be mounted, Data Rescue read it and was able to find everything. It took several hours to read the drive, and then I had to go through numerous folders to find my data - but it was all there.

 

[DoFoT9]

OK - long over due post here.

I brought my iMac in to Apple and they replaced the drive and gave me my old drive back. I loaded it into an external drive case, installed Data Rescue II (not III - got v.II from a friend who no longer uses a mac) and it recovered everything! Even though the drive could not be mounted, Data Rescue read it and was able to find everything. It took several hours to read the drive, and then I had to go through numerous folders to find my data - but it was all there.

!!!! thats great! very happy for you that you have retrieved your data successfully congrats.

 

[Orange™]

OK - long over due post here.

I brought my iMac in to Apple and they replaced the drive and gave me my old drive back. I loaded it into an external drive case, installed Data Rescue II (not III - got v.II from a friend who no longer uses a mac) and it recovered everything! Even though the drive could not be mounted, Data Rescue read it and was able to find everything. It took several hours to read the drive, and then I had to go through numerous folders to find my data - but it was all there.

 

[drambuie]

If the HD is busted, you should be able to boot from the OS X install disk and then install it to the external HD and then boot from that. If you can borrow your friends MacBook, you can use Target Disk Mode.

HDs usually die within couple of weeks (manufacturing flaw) or after several years of service

Also, it may not even be an OEM fault with the drive. The drive could have been dropped, or otherwise mishandled at the iMac manufacturing facility. With the complaints of fingerprints and dust inside screens, along with dented and scratched cases on iMacs and MPBs, a mishandled drive isn't out of the question.

 

[Detrius]

OK - long over due post here.

I brought my iMac in to Apple and they replaced the drive and gave me my old drive back. I loaded it into an external drive case, installed Data Rescue II (not III - got v.II from a friend who no longer uses a mac) and it recovered everything! Even though the drive could not be mounted, Data Rescue read it and was able to find everything. It took several hours to read the drive, and then I had to go through numerous folders to find my data - but it was all there.

I'm most shocked that Apple gave you the bad drive. Every third-party service provider is *required* to send the bad drive back to Apple.

 

[Orange™]

I'm most shocked that Apple gave you the bad drive. Every third-party service provider is *required* to send the bad drive back to Apple.

He still had data to recover from it! It's not wise to anger a customer in retail, in fact, Apple thrives on making customers happy so it's really no surprise...

Maybe if they offered to extract the files for free they could take the drive with them? Only way I'd let them take it if I still had a chance to recover personal files.

Though, you are correct. They usually tend to keep the faulty drive... not sure why. Their 'testing' doesn't seem to be helping, does it?

 

[HvyMtlPlyr]

When I called Apple Care about the drive failing they are the one that suggested I get my drive back - I didn't even ask. They said the store will replace and give you the old drive. I had 95% of my data backed up so it wasn't a big deal, but I figured if I could get the other 5% then why not. When I brought the iMac in for repair I told the guy I wanted my drive back (that Apple Care said I could) and he said no problem. He put that comment in my ticket so it was written down. When I went to pick up my iMac this guy (different person) said he didn't think I cold get my drive back. Then he saw the notes and said no prob. I asked if there was a certain amount of time I needed to have it back by (assuming they needed the bad drive for the warranty claim - no different that auto service, right?) and he said keep it, it's yours.

So now I have all my data and an extra 1TB drive. I'm going to re-format it and if the format doesn't find any errors on the drive I'll use it as a scratch disk for test data. If it fails again no biggie. If the format finds errors on the drive I'll toss it.

Forgot to mention - I brought in my iMac afer the 14 day return period and they still offerered to replace it. Knowing the screen and everything else on the iMac is good I chose to just have the drive repalced. Bottom line is even though I wan't happy with the drive failing so soon I am VERY pleased with Apple's customer service. That and a big vote of confidence for Data Rescue.