The Dreaded Gray Screen & ?

The Dreaded Gray Screen & ? Can't find the HD on my iMac

#1 tlm76

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Posted 08 March 2012 - 09:19 AM

I'm sure many of you know the gray screen and question mark folder I'm referring to. If I've read correctly, the system can't find the software. I tried all the recommendations on various sites...Checked mouse and keyboard, checked disk utility using the install CD, reset the PRAM when I didn't see the HD. Once I reset the PRAM I saw the HD and there were damaged files that could not be repaired.

Next, I bought a firewire cable to transfer all the data from my iMac to my macbook (no I didn't have it backed up...yes I'm an idiot). When I went to transfer the data I could not find the HD on the damaged iMac. Even when using disk utility it doesn't show up like it did before. One last thing, when I turn on the iMac now it makes a "clicking-like" sound as if something is not quite connected right?? Is it possible that I can't see the HD in disk utility because it came disconnect internally and that is the new sound? I'm just trying to find the HD so I can transfer data and reinstall OS X.

I really appreciate any help y'all can offer. Thanks so much!!!

Trace

#2 Gerek

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Posted 15 March 2012 - 11:35 PM

tlm76, on 08 March 2012 - 09:19 AM, said:

#3 ridddder

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Joined: 02-August 05

Posted 20 May 2012 - 12:03 AM

tlm76, on 08 March 2012 - 09:19 AM, said:

I would hope you have this fixed by now, but will give you the standard advice.

1) Boot from a CD, or external device, and see if you can see the hard drive(drive mounts on the desktop). There is software which may be able to repair the hard drive such as Data Rescue, Disk Warrior or Drive Genius.

2) Try to start up your computer in Target Disk mode(Hold down the "T" key when you reboot), by connecting your computer to another working apple computer the host computer may be able to mount the HD, and fix the damage. Use Apples disk utility first, then other heavy hitters like Drive Warrior, or Disk Genius afterwards. The Apple software often times can fix things while causing the least amount of harm. Even if the disk will not mount you may get a disk utility to fix the VIB(Volume Information Block), or Boot Partitions which may be corrupted. All you can do it try here, also try several times sometimes what it doesn't find or fix on one pass it may fix or find on a second. Sometimes this is hit and miss, but you never know sometimes before you try.

3) If you have a lot to lose you can send your drive out to a repair service like "Drive Savers" for professional service, but know this will be very expensive something like $70 to $120 an hour depending on the size of the drive, and the amount of damage.

4) If everything is a loss, you can try to reformat the drive several times, or just replace it to be sure.

5) Buy an external drive of over 500gig, and do backups once a month, or sooner using Time Machine or Drive Genius or another method is to clone the HD, and save to an external drive. Those are things you will have to decide then. So far I have used Time Machine, and it has worked well when I have needed it. I back-up monthly, just make a habit of it, and it won't be too much of a hassle.

As they say, if we learned from our mistakes we should all be geniuses by now... LOL

Good Luck

"It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes