imac won't start, not sure if it is the hard drive

Question

imac won't start, not sure if it is the hard drive

My computer wont start now. It was taking ages to start up and now it wont at all. It was suggested on this forum that the hard drive was knackered. I pressed squiggle button + R, and then copied the disk to an external hard drive. I then re-started in the same way, and chose the USB external hard drive as the starty up disk. The computer still wont start. I am thinking that if it wont start this way then probably the internal disk is ok.

I was going to try an reinstall the operating system, but I dont appear to have any disks.

Does anyone know what the next logical step might be?

I can't really take it to a shop to be fixed due to access / logistics.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), 3.06GHz Intel Core Duo; 8GB 1067 MH

Posted on Feb 10, 2014 5:32 AM

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Answer 1

Joe Bailey

Level 6

12,227 points

Feb 10, 2014 2:58 PM in response to Community User

Your test is not conclusive because if the system was damaged, copying it to another drive would not fix it. It would still be damaged and unbootable.

You can reinstall the OS by booting from the Recovery Drive the Mavericks installer created on your hard driver as part of the initial installation. Boot your computer while holding down Command+R to boot directly into the Recovery drive. You will need a broadband internet connection to download the Mavericks installer.

However, before you reinstall the OS while you booted into the Recovery Drive launch Disk Utility and run Disk Repair to be sure the volume structure of your hard drive is sound. If it is damaged and Disk Utility is unable to effect repairs, you will have to erase the HD. In that case I would not place any reliance on the hard drive or any data on the drive regardless of the S.M.A.R.T. values.

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Answer 2

Dec 5, 2014 12:18 PM in response to Community User

I would agree with Joe Bailey on reinstalling it. Your hard drive definitely could be just fine physically, and the OS just got messed up. Like he said though, you might be able to keep your information, but you might not.

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