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GregE

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 28, 2007
380
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This morning when I woke up my iMac, I could click on an e-mail message but the message never appeared. Then the only thing I could do was move the mouse around. I turned off the computer and then I got the grey screen. Then after trying it again I got the question mark folder. Is my hard drive dead? I'm really at a loss as to what to try. I've done the PRAM reset but no luck. I've put in my OS-X disk and after the PRAM reset, I get ant Mac OS X screen asking me to choose my language. Is there a program I can buy that will help me try to recover my drive?

Thanks
 
What you experienced is something very common to Mac users, warning icons on boot and is the most frequent problem amongst callers calling into AppleCare. Your data should still be there, the problem is that the computer can't find the necessary file(s) to load OS X. Important thing to know is whether or not your HDD is listed in Disk Utility, if it is, your HDD is safe and it's a bad file. Performing an Archive & Install preserving user settings and folders should fix the problem for you.
 
I went into disk utility this morning and my HDD is not listed. The only thing I see there is the CD drive and an external drive. Does that mean my internal HDD is dead and I've lost everything? What's my next step? A trip to the Apple store?

Is there any software that could help revive my HDD even temporarily? I do have a backup it's just a little old. We recently purchased some songs off of iTunes and haven't backed those up yet.
 
GregE said:
I went into disk utility this morning and my HDD is not listed. The only thing I see there is the CD drive and an external drive. Does that mean my internal HDD is dead and I've lost everything? What's my next step? A trip to the Apple store?

Is there any software that could help revive my HDD even temporarily? I do have a backup it's just a little old. We recently purchased some songs off of iTunes and haven't backed those up yet.
Click to expand...

Yikes. There is little that can be done if your HDD is not listed. I would strongly recommend taking a trip to the Apple Store, maybe they have tools to help you get your files off? Hopefully you have some backup of the data on your HDD. As for your iTunes music, call AppleCare or talk to the Genius Bar and ask for a case number. You can go online and contact iTunes Online Support and explain the situation. They will offer you the opportunity to download the music again free of charge (if it's a few and not like 100) or simply refund the money.
 
So Disk Warrior won't be able to do anything either? I didn't know if it would be able to see and read the drive and allow me to save the files elsewhere.
 
That's the problem we're looking at. If the computer can't read the HDD, there's something up with the HDD, highly doubt it's the SATA connector. You can try to reseat the HDD but it's doubtful.
 
I didn't know if a program like that was able to see the drive when the OS couldn't. I wish it was easier to get inside to do things like that. Oh well.

Do I need an appointment to go to the Genius Bar? This is the first problem I have had with my iMac.
 
It would be best to book an appointment at your local Apple Store rather than walking in expecting to be taken care of, never know if the volume will be high.
 
Thanks. I've got an appointment for tomorrow morning. Do I need to bring a power cord, keyboard, and mouse or just the iMac?
 
I got the grey screen of death a week and a half ago. Took it to the Apple Store and the guy said my HD was probably going bad. He recommended I get DiskWarrior to see if I could repair the HD just enough to get the most important projects backed up that I didn't get to yet this month. (Hard drive decide to cause problems before I could do my monthly back up of projects.) I get the "preview" section and shows my stuff there on the computer, but how do I copy the stuff to my external. The "Replace" or "Rebuild" button (can't remember which one it is) is greyed out and I can only hit the "Cancel" button. There's nothing in the pdf manual (under the Help Menu) that comes with the program as to how to back up to my external HD. HELP PLEASE!
 
This happened to me a week ago as well. My iMac is only one and a half months old so it was weird. All this happened when I booted into Windows 7 and tried to shut it down (but it didn't) so I forced it to shut down and after that when I tried to boot back to OS X it didn't. I tried couple of times, both W7 and OS X, W/ booted fine but OS X didn't. I was about to install Leopard again, and I was one click away from installing it but then I tried the last time booting to OS X and it worked! Hard drive wasn't the problem 'cause it was seen in Leopard installation. That time I decided to remove W7 and never, NEVER installing any Windows to my Mac again
 
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