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R33 · Jul 16, 2008, 11:55 AM

I own a stock 3.06 GHz 24-inch iMac. In the last few days it started to feel sluggish. I would get constant beach balls and copying files from the Macintosh HD to my external FireWire 800 drive would go insanely slow or would just top abruptly due to a read/write error.

Today I decided to do an Erase & Install, which took over two hours (normally just one). Booting sometimes takes over six minutes or it won't start at all unless I unplug the iMac and wait a few minutes before attempting again.

I know for a fact my external FireWire 800 drives aren't the problem, because they work just fine on my other Mac. So my thoughts immediately go to the internal hard disk. Strange enough Disk Utility doesn't return a single error when verifying the Macintosh HD, nor does it fail when trying to partition and/or format it.

Any ideas?

ibook_steve · Jul 16, 2008, 12:24 PM

Boot from the install DVD and do a repair instead of just a verify. You should also try running the hardware test. This certainly sounds like a dying drive.

Steve

R33 · Jul 16, 2008, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by ibook_steve

Boot from the install DVD and do a repair instead of just a verify. You should also try running the hardware test. This certainly sounds like a dying drive.

Steve

A repair doesn't return any errors and I can still format the internal drive without a problem. It looks like a dying drive to me as well, I just find it curious Disk Utility doesn't return a single error whatsoever.

ibook_steve · Jul 16, 2008, 04:28 PM

You can't always rely on the software. The platters may be fine, but there could be something wrong with the spindle or some other hardware aspect of the drive which software can't detect. Check your S.M.A.R.T status in Disk Utility and with the freeware SMARTReporter. In any case, I'd replace the drive. Might as well get a bigger one while you're at it.

Steve

cjrivera · Jul 17, 2008, 11:31 AM

Sounds exactly like the problem I had. (bad hard drive)

SMART status was normal using Disk Utility and Onyx, but a 3rd party utility (Smart utility) showed a problem.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32454

Replacing the hard drive fixed the problem immediately.