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I think my 2 month old iMac hard drive is dying!!

rev.b

rev.b

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 1, 2009
233
0
Portugal
I got a input/output disk error when trying to copy a file, so I tryed to repair with disk utility. It couldn't repair it, even when booting from install DVD. I tryed fsck_hfs, same results!





I decided to erase the partitions (I had a partition with Linux I created with boot camp), make only one HFS+ partition and reinstall the OS. It's great that timemachine works just fine, so 40 minutes later I had the system operational again...

I borrowed a copy of Tech Tools pro and on the surface scan, I already have one bad block! SMART reports everything is fine, but obviously it's not...

Should I return the iMac under warranty? I'm afraid the disk will fail shortly despite SMART reporting the disk is fine.

On 15 years of computing I'm afraid this is the first hard drive failure in such a short time, I was expecting better quality control from apple...:mad:
 
Apple doesn't manufacture the drives...

Call em and ask what to do. Hard drives can die in first hours of use
 
I'm in Portugal and we don't have apple direct hotline here.
I didn't bought it from apple online store, but from a retailer.

50% surface scan and 2 bad blocks now. Ok, this is going back. :mad:
 
Nothing to do with Apple. Hard drives fail, they just do, and it can happen at any time.

Apple or the reseller should handle the replacement for you, or the drive manufacturer might also be able to help.
 
I know that, it's just frustrating a 2 month old computer needing repair. Or they could do the hard drive easily replaceable, I gladly would install a spare 500Gb sata hdd I have around.

Could the reseller upgrade the hard drive (I have the 320Gb model) without loosing warranty? Just thinking.

PS: 8 bad blocks and counting and random slooooooowing down when acessing the hard drive. Definitely it's failing. :(
 
Now this is odd.

I tryied the hard way and zeroed the disk 7 times. I installed Mac OS X (again) and did again a surface scan and... passed with no bad blocks. SMART readings are within normal ranges also.

Is this right? Could bad blocks be fixed like that? Or it's just a temporary fix?

Now I'm confused if I should return my iMac or not.
 
It is frustrating: The hdd on my iMac died only after a month-- no warning signs. I'd recommend taking it in. As for the bad blocks, I had those as well, zeroed the disk, and things seemed fine for a while. But the bad blocks came up again.

Do yourself a favor, avoid later frustrations and hassles and take it in now :)
 
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