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Late 2009 iMac 27" HDD crashed

I'm really hoping the wisdom of the awesome Apple community can help me with this dilemma. I will try to give as much detailed information to prevent questions, but please if I do forget to include an important detail let me know.


I have a Late 2009 27" iMac. I fell victim of the known HDD crashing issue a couple years ago and had successfully replaced it. Now after a couple years the iMac started running incredibly slow. I had booted the iMac using Command + R, and using Disk Utilities to run First Aid on the HDD. Under Disk Utilities on the left side where it lists the available drives, it shows the Main title of the HDD and under that the sub-title (partition HD MAC). When I select First Aid for the HD Mac partition everything checks out okay. When I select First Aid on the Main Title it says there was some corruption with the partitions and I need to run First Aid under recovery in order to fix it. I have run these tests booting into recovery several times and keep getting the same result. I don't understand why it would keep telling me to run First Aid in recovery mode since I was already doing that. Needless to say I removed the HDD and connected it to my PC desktop running Windows 7.


Under windows 7 typed diskmgmt.msc to show the iMac HDD, there I right clicked the partitions and selected delete. Unfortunately that included deleting the iMac recovery partition, which at the time I didn't think was a big deal since it could have been one of the partitions that Disk Utilities could have shown as corrupted. I then closed the Diskmgmt.msc window in Windows 7 and typed cmd to open command prompt window. I typed diskpart, listdisk, select disk 2, clean. This deleted the previous partitions completely and then I closed the command prompt window. I then typed diskmgmt.msc again and in that window the iMac HDD was listed and I had to select the disk and click initialize. Once initialized I was able to select GUID partition map and create a new partition in NTFS. Fat or Fat32 was NOT an option to select.


I reinstalled the HDD in my iMac and when booting into recovery mode (Command + R) Disk Utilities doesn't come up anymore. Instead now all I get is an icon of a folder with a ? thats blinking. I have tried booting into recovery mode using Command+R or Command+Option+R or Option and keep getting the same blinking folder icon. I have tried unplugging the power and rebooting to clear the SMC controller. I have tried clearing NVRAM and still keep getting the same blinking folder icon. Since it has been a few years since the original HDD replacement I can't for the life of me remember how I got the new HDD to work properly that allowed me to reinstall Mac OS X.


Mac OS X is another issue. Unfortunately my disk drive on the iMac no longer functions, so my only option to boot this iMac to install the Mac OS X is to create a bootable USB drive, which again I forgot how to do that using Windows 7. I also can't remember where I found before on Apple's website to redownload Mac OS X onto a USB drive using Windows 7 since I don't have access to the MAC App store on a Windows 7 laptop.


**Time Machine backups was something that I DID have on an external USB HDD but unfortunately that HDD crashed as well.

**iCloud backups I have for all of my other Apple products (iPhone 6, iPad Pro) I also thought I had iCloud backups of my iMac because I'm using iCloud drive and it shows the iMac desktop.


PLEASE Help!!!!!!

iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12.5)

Posted on Jun 19, 2017 1:43 AM

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3 replies

Jun 19, 2017 2:30 AM in response to ismetopher

That Mac is too old to use macOS Internet Recovery: Computers that can be upgraded to use OS X Internet Recovery - Apple Support


Install OS X from its original System Install DVD. If you no longer have it, purchase a retail Snow Leopard DVD from Apple. Install that operating system (read below), update it using Software Update, and finally upgrade to Sierra. That will recreate the Recovery Partition.


OS X Snow Leopard - Apple Support


Unfortunately my disk drive on the iMac no longer functions,


You will need to obtain a replacement internal optical disc drive, an external USB optical disc drive, or Use the CD or DVD drive from another computer with your Mac - Apple Support.

Jun 19, 2017 2:47 AM in response to John Galt

I don't have the extra money to purchase new software or a new internal disk drive. I remember a couple years ago that Apple had somewhere on their site a place to download full versions of previous Mac OS X titles for free once you logged in with your apple ID, but I can't remember where to find them. They also had an option to download recovery assistant or something like that. I remember I was able to create a bootable USB drive to help with all of this using my Windows 7 computer. Now I can't find where I did that in the past on their site. The only option they show is to go to Mac app store from another Mac computer which I don't have and didn't need in the past. So can someone please help me to find the links on Apple's site where I can go to accomplish the above tasks? I can log into my apple id on the site and even into icloud with no problems to access my information. I just need help creating a bootable USB drive for the iMac using my Windows 7 computer and then help finding where I can redownload a valid version of Mac OS X Sierra somewhere other than the Mac App store unless someone knows how I can access the Mac App store from a Windows 7 computer.

Jun 19, 2017 3:26 AM in response to ismetopher

As I understand the problem, you erased the startup disk containing the Recovery Partition. It must re-created using the procedure I described. If you created a bootable USB installer in the past, then use it. If you can borrow a USB Superdrive then do that.


Either way you need to obtain an operating system that your Mac can boot. The software that was preinstalled on your iMac was yours to keep. If you misplaced its original System Install DVD, you will need to obtain a replacement. There are no authorized "free" download sources (outside of the possibility of properly licensed corporate or institutional deployments).


I just need help creating a bootable USB drive for the iMac using my Windows 7 computer and then help finding where I can redownload a valid version of Mac OS X Sierra somewhere other than the Mac App store ...


Just as there are no authorized Snow Leopard download sources, there are no authorized sources for macOS other than the Mac App Store, and the Mac App Store only runs on a Mac.

Late 2009 iMac 27" HDD crashed

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