Hello, I recently installed a hard drive from my old windows desktop into my iMac G3. I was wiping the hard drive through firewire with my PowerBook G4 and my computer froze, so I had to hold in the power button. Now the disk isn't readable and I don't know what to do.
- Tyler
iMac, iMac G3 No OS Installed Yet
Is this iMac G3 the type with tray-loading optical drive (233-333 Mhz) or does it have a slot-loading optical drive? I guess if it has FireWire, it must be a slot-loader, but I thought I'd confirm.
I was wiping the hard drive through firewire with my PowerBook G4
Does that mean you were using FireWire Target Disk Mode to start up the iMac G3, connected to the PowerBook G4 through FireWire? If so, did you try powering off the iMac G3 (pressing and holding its power button), and then starting it up in FireWire Target Disk Mode again.
It's possible the hard drive from the old windows machine is becoming faulty, which caused the problem. Also, if it is larger than 128GB, it may not work reliably in an iMac G3.
It's the iMac G3 Slot-Loading 500Mhz. Yes I have the iMac G3 in Target Disk Mode connect to my PowerBook G4. I can try powering it off and starting Taget Disk Mode again, but I don't know what to do from there. Also it is exactly 128 GB.
- Tyler
I didn't know there were any hard drives that are exactly 128GB (seems like 120GB is the typical size below 128GB).
You should start it up from a Mac OS X (or maybe Mac OS 9) installation disc, and use Disk Utility to format the hard drive. I figured you were using FireWire Target Disk Mode because you did not have an installation disc to use with the iMac G3, and you were using the PowerBook G4 to install the OS.
If you need additional advice with using an installation disc to start up the iMac G3, and format the hard drive, please post back. It would be helpful to know the version of Mac OS on the installation disc.
If the plan WAS to use the PowerBook G4 to install the OS, you also need to post back with the details about the Mac OS version you plan to use.
I've tried to format it using Disk Utility through firewire and a Panther install disk, but I always get an error. Im trying to format again now, and I'll see if it gives an error again or not. Before it showed a partition on the Hard Drive, but after my computer froze after partially wiping and formatting it, it was gone and it wouldn't format or wipe.
Also, it just gave an error while formatting and wiping it, it said "Disk Erase failed with the error: Input/output error"
When Disk Utility fails to complete an erase (formatting), it is usually because the hard drive is faulty. It may have too many bad sectors, or some other hardware issue.
Ok, so there probably isn't a way to fix it? It worked before, but when I powered off my computer during an erase the partition was gone and it gave the error.
If it's an old used hard drive, it is likely to be failing (in this case), although it may have worked initially. There is a less likely possibility that there is a problem in the iMac that is making the hard drive not work properly. You could test that possibility by connect the hard drive to your PowerBook G4 (without the iMac G3 as part of the equation). You could do so, using a USB adapter like this one
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/
or by putting it into an external drive case of the matching interface type (IDE not SATA).
NOTE: If your PowerBook G4 has USB 1.1 ports, instead of USB 2.0, it will be slow, but it should still format using Disk Utility (as long as the drive is not faulty).
Ok, I don't think I'll buy one, but thanks for the help!
- Tyler
iMac G3 Hard Drive Not Readable
