I think my hard drive might be failing. I've had problems ever since I upgraded to Maverick. Is there a way I can test the hardware before I install a new drive?
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)
Clone your current disk to an external USB drive. Run off the USB for a reasonable amount of time and see if the problems disappear. If so, time to replace your disk. If not, try reinstalling Mavericks from the Recovery drive.
Clone your current disk to an external USB drive. Run off the USB for a reasonable amount of time and see if the problems disappear. If so, time to replace your disk. If not, try reinstalling Mavericks from the Recovery drive.
I use an external drive for my time machine backups. Can I use the same drive and make it bootable? And how do I clone it? Maverick's has corrupt files, aren't those going to transfer if I clone my external drive? Or is a USB drive something different? (I'm not too swift)
mbzgurl wrote:
I use an external drive for my time machine backups. Can I use the same drive and make it bootable?
You can boot from it already in recovery mode, but you want something more robust that Time Machine.
mbzgurl wrote:
And how do I clone it?
Get Carbon Copy Cloner. The trial is free. That's all you need (for now). http://www.bombich.com/download.html
mbzgurl wrote:
Maverick's has corrupt files,
Unless there's something you haven't told us yet, that's still to be determined. Indeed, one thing you should do is try reinstalling Mavericks (you do so by holding down 'command' and 'R' keys then doing a power on; choose 'Reinstall' from the panel) before replacing your hard disk. HOWEVER (it's in caps because it's important), you should clone your drive first as a backup against disk failure.
...aren't those going to transfer if I clone my external drive? Or is a USB drive something different? (I'm not too swift)
No. A USB drive is just an external disk you plug into your USB port. And yes, it'll copy files (both corrupt and otherwise) straight over exactly (= "clone"). But that in itself will tell you something. If you clone the disk then boot from it (start the mac holding down the 'option' key, then choose the clone drive to boot from) and you have the same problem, you'll know the source of the problem is Mavericks and not the physical state of the drive (so the solution would be to reinstall mavericks on your internal HD).
So, in sum, here's your order of play:
1. Get Carbon Copy Cloner and a USB drive.
2. Clone your mac's Hd to the external drive.
3. Try to boot of the external HD.
4a. If the same problems show up, shutdown the mac. Disconnect the external USB. Restart the mac while holding down 'command' and 'R' keys; choose 'reinstall OS X'.
4b. If the problems are gone when you run off the external USB, clone that disk BACK to the internal HD. Shutdown the mac, disconnect the USB, restart the mac and test.
can't get past the apple, spinning ball, progress bar, then shuts off.
