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All replies
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Helpful answers
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Aug 23, 2014 9:40 PM in response to zambokneeby Carolyn Samit,The hard drive may be faiiling or has failed.
You could try booting from the install disc and running Disk Utility to see if it can be repaired.
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Aug 24, 2014 7:50 AM in response to Carolyn Samitby zamboknee,I Put the install disk in and it just keeps turning and clicking with the same noises.
can i pull th hard drive and mount it while connected to another Mac? Can I mount the hard drive while it's still in PowerBook to my MacBook Pro and clone the files that way?
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Aug 24, 2014 8:39 AM in response to zambokneeby dalstott,RE: Can I mount the hard drive while it's still in PowerBook to my MacBook Pro and clone the files that way?
You could try Firewire target disk mode.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
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Aug 24, 2014 2:54 PM in response to zambokneeby LostAccount,It's highly likely that the hard drive has failed or near completely failing. At this point backup is critical, I hope you already had a backup regime in place.
I recommend replacing the drive. You might have some data on the drive in which case you can try (depending on how the drive cooperates) to put the affected mac in Firewire target disk mode, this essentially turns the mac into a firewire hard drive. Follow this article: How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
iFixit has a very good step by step with excellent quality photos that will guide you through replacing the hard drive. After backing up as per the above article. Please select your model and follow the steps related to hard drive replacement. https://www.ifixit.com/Device/PowerBook_G4_Aluminum_Series
This is likely the article you need to refer to for hard drive replacement. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/PowerBook+G4+Aluminum+15-Inch+1-1.5+GHz+Hard+Drive+ Replacement/227
This drive should work for your computer, http://www.amazon.com/320GB-Laptop-Drive-M9419LL-M9623LL/dp/B00LZ7P6JC/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407348592&sr=8-1&keywords=ibook+G4+hard+drive+320&tag=ifixitam-20
I have to go through a similar process to replace the drive on my 17" powerbook G4. It's on the back burner but I will do it. The computer is still extraordinarily good for day to day work.
Hope this helps.
PS while your target machine (the affected computer) is connected to another mac, you can try to run disk utility but the fsck (file system check) reference is essentially what disk utility will do but you can try to run it AFTER performing a backup.
Please let me know if you need more help or guidance.
Alex
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Aug 24, 2014 4:30 PM in response to zambokneeby LostAccount,Hello
After seeing the image of the failed repair attempt, I kindly suggest you read my previous reply.
- Yes another utility may be able to repair the issue. Back up first using FireWire target disk mode.
the issue is likely NOT hardware related but resolving the issue is clearly beyond the scope of disk utility's capabilities. It merely detected the issue.
- after a backup I encourage you to 'zero out data' on the drive. This will give you the assurance that all sectors have been evaluated for potential errors prior to a software install. This WILL wipe your drive clean . See Mac OS X: How to zero all data on a disk
- follow-up with a clean install of osx, followed by a reinstall of your apps and backup
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Aug 24, 2014 5:10 PM in response to LostAccountby zamboknee,I put the Powerbook in Firewire Target Disk Mode. My Macbook Pro couldn't mount it but DiskWarrior and Drive Genius, TechTool Pro were all able to see the drive of the affected computer but none of them were able to do anything with it.
DiskWarrior couldn't repair/rebuild, Techtool and Drive Genius (and Date Rescue) would essentially just spin their wheels. I left them going for a couple hours and no progression.
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Aug 25, 2014 2:23 AM in response to zambokneeby LostAccount,- With your mac in target disk mode, open disk utility and from its' side bar does the powerbook drive appear? If so, select it and click mount.
- next, from the Finder menu, click Go and choose Computer, is the drive now mounted or visible?
- I presume it is visible in Disk Utility at minimum.
- Apple includes TechTools Deluxe, a cut-down version of TechTools Pro, in each AppleCare kit, is this the one you are using?
Which tool did you leave running in the background? As far as I know, as an FYI, Disk Warrior is more of a tool for repairing damaged directories.
In the event that you can not recover the data on the drive or mount the drive, you might have a few remaining options.
- Hire a data recovery service such as http://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com
- You can also try SpinRite but your hard drive will have to physically moved to a Windows box. It has stellar testimonials. The benefit here is that you will have very good software and may prove much less expensive than a data recovery service. https://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm. Spinrite does back up their software with this guarantee, noted in their FAQ, https://www.grc.com/sr/faq.htm
We stand behind SpinRite one hundred percent, and we offer a 30-day money-back satisfaction guarantee. If for ANY REASON you are unhappy with your ownership of SpinRite, we will immediately refund your purchase price. No questions asked
- Finally, if you already have a back up of some sort and are willing to jeopardize the data on the drive, simply try to zero out the drive.
As a last note, I might recommend you consider purchasing a new hard drive. It is difficulty to actually suggest this but it depends on how old the affected hard drive is and how much use it has had. Unfortunately, a spinning drive can begin to exhibit issues at any time, even early on. As an example I've had 2 hard drives replaced that were no less than a year old. Luckily, warranty took care of that.
It is certainly possible that we are dealing with simple data corruption to part of the data that makes up a significant part of the software on the drive that makes it useable to begin with. I would feel safer to say that it is the former however.
Please chime back if you need any other help.
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Aug 25, 2014 10:56 AM in response to zambokneeby Martin Svika,Yes, as previously stated - you Probably need to replace the Hard Drive
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Aug 25, 2014 12:48 PM in response to zambokneeby zamboknee,It's looking that way but I'm in the grab files off old drive mode now.
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Aug 26, 2014 4:57 PM in response to zambokneeby Jan Hedlund,If necessary, and if you wish to handle the hard drive externally, a universal adapter similar to the one at http://www.newertech.com/products/usb3_universaldriveadap.php could perhaps be of interest. That way it would be possible to connect the drive via USB to another Mac (or a Windows/Linux PC with suitable software) for further tests.
Jan


