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cold aspiration · Aug 19, 2005, 04:31 AM

hey everyone, I am really desperate right now.

So I just recently got tiger for my birthday (a fantastic idea) and I installed it on my 12" ibook g4 800. I did a clean install after backing all my important stuff onto my external firewire drive. Tiger just took my breath away and I never knew a clean install could be sooo smooth in terms of reverting back to my databases of address book, icals, mail, bookmarks, and so forth. I was ecstatic. So my brother wanted to get tiger too and i had to empty my external HD so he could back up his stuff. he updates to tiger and returns my external HD, and I back up everything again except my pictures folder because i was creating more space on the external HD (compressing movies and such).

Then all of a sudden, I was just browsing MacNN and the safari freezes.. The hard drive starts making incredibly loud whirring and whining noises and vibrations are felt. This goes on for about 5 minutes while i am trying to force quit safari. no go. so i try to force quit by clicking on the apple icon through finder. finder freezes up. uh oh, now THAT never happened before.

so a long while passes I realize my only option is to hold the power button. I do that and the horrible noise from my HD finallly stops. then when it trys to restart I first get that question mark thing. So i put in my new tiger install disc to boot the ibook. I get to the install part where you choose where to install and there is nothing there!!!! I realized my hard drive is screwed and all i need from it is my iphoto library folder. I have all my pictures in there.

I hooked up the firewire external HD to the ibook and restarted and install mac os x tiger onto that so the computer could boot. I went to disc utility and it sees that my internal HD is still there. not mounted. it won't let me verify, it wont let me repair, it won't let me mount. I am running off of my firewire drive. All i want is to be able to somehow get my iphoto library folder. Any suggestions?? I know i've read some stuff about this before here on Macnn . I am really desperate.

I am still under applecare. i think. actually i think i am on the verge of it ending. this is my third year with this ibook beecause i got it for my birthday two years ago. anyways, if it still was under applecare, does apple do data recovery service for free as well?? I know that data recovery services are kind of expensive but do you think that i am better off sending my HD to someplace like lazarus.com ?? thanks everyone for reading htis long post.

ghporter · Aug 19, 2005, 08:16 AM

Data recovery? No, not at all. In fact, if you send in your computer for service that does not involve a hard drive problem, they still recommend you do a full (off-line) backup first.

If your data is that critical, you'll first have to make sure Apple sends back the defective drive when they replace it. Then send the bad drive to whatever data recovery service you choose-and prepare to pay a LOT for the service.

Sorry, but that's the nuts and bolts of it. Always back up your data regularly. If nothing else, it helps forestall Murphy's Law from screwing up your work.

cold aspiration · Aug 19, 2005, 04:41 PM

so i just got off the phone with applecare. They told me that everything is included under the warranty and they are going to replace the HD. I asked them that I want to have my old HD back because I have my iphoto library on there and they said that they don't allow that?? I called again and this time they said that it would cost me to have that old HD back but after putting me on hold, applecare told me that my only alternative is to send my ibook to drivesavers becauset they are the only place authorized by apple to open up my HD w/o voiding the warranty.. what a way to increase the price..

i checked with drivesavers and they estimated 500 - 2700 dollars!!! and that included everything on the drive, not just the iphoto. i know that there are other services that are cheaper. but i can't do anything with them because of the warranty. has anyone else had any success getting old HD back from apple??

tooki · Aug 19, 2005, 05:34 PM

Not gonna happen, Apple always keeps the dead part. A local Apple authorized place might be able to do it for you, by removing the broken drive, sending it off for recovery, and then getting it replaced afterwards. (Apple requires the broken part to be sent in within 2 weeks, IIRC.)

As for the price of recovery: yup, that sounds about right. It's an extraordinarily expensive service, and there's no way around it, other than backing up regularly.

tooki

Ji Eun · Aug 19, 2005, 09:12 PM

same thing happened to a close friend recently. you're up ****'s creek, pal. no two ways about it. take a deep breath, feel the zen, and let it all just gooooo......

cold aspiration · Aug 20, 2005, 03:14 AM

i guess this just goes to show this even happes to those who back up his or her data fervently... I learned all of those "back up regularly" lessons from my windoz days.. a really long time ago. What are the chances of the hard drive just pooping out right before I am about to drag my last folder to my external.... Thanks for the replies everyone. I know i am not going to pay that much just to get my 2000 photos back. but I may try to call my local apple store to see if they will send it off for recovery ...

cold aspiration · Aug 20, 2005, 03:16 AM

oh and i backed up a copy of my library .

so this should include data for ... ical, mail, safari bookmarks, what about address book?? I always save the "backup database" for address book as the last part of my backing up cycle so I didn't get to that either. thanks in advance

amazing · Aug 20, 2005, 09:57 AM

Since Disk Utility can still see the HD, you should try mounting it using firewire target disk mode: Do you have a buddy nearby with a Mac? The chance is small but worth exploring, especially if you've got access to another Mac nearby. You'll see the details of the apple support site, but basically (from Help): It can't hurt and might actually work (cross your fingers). Otherwise, unless you want to pay $500 min, send it to Apple before your Applecare expires.

To use FireWire target disk mode

Make sure that the target computer is turned off. If you are using a PowerBook or iBook as the target computer, you should also plug in its AC power adapter.
Use a FireWire cable (6-pin to 6-pin) to connect the target computer to a host computer. The host computer does not need to be turned off.
Start up the target computer and immediately press and hold down the T key until the FireWire icon appears. The hard disk of the target computer should become available to the host computer and will likely appear on desktop. (If the target computer is running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, you can also open System Preferences, choose Startup Disk, and click Target Disk Mode. Then restart the computer and it will start up in Target Disk Mode.)
When you are finished copying files, drag the target computer's hard disk icon to the Trash or select Put Away from the File menu (Mac OS 9) or Eject from the File menu (Mac OS X).
Press the target computer's power button to turn it off.
Unplug the FireWire cable.

cold aspiration · Aug 20, 2005, 02:55 PM

^ your one sentence

(If the target computer is running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, you can also open System Preferences, choose Startup Disk, and click Target Disk Mode. Then restart the computer and it will start up in Target Disk Mode.)

does this refer to the target computer being restarted or the other mac. I have my brother's ibook as well and I am very eager to try this. thanks for the suggestion

SVass · Aug 20, 2005, 03:27 PM

Your brother's good ibook should already be running. The 6 pin firewire cable should be connected with your broken computer OFF. Your broken computer should be started/restarted with the T key depressed. sam

cold aspiration · 06:34 PM

so i tried the target disk mode and on the good ibook, the message appeared : disk insertion, the disk you inserted could not be recognized by this computer. and the options were eject, initialize, and ignore. Nothing appeared on the desktop. Also, the same situation using the disk utility from the good ibook. Any other ideas???

Ji Eun · Aug 21, 2005, 12:52 PM

the drive is kaput, baby.

obeythelaw · Aug 21, 2005, 02:45 PM

i'm new to the Apple world and I love it. Reading this thread, however, concerns me. What do Apple users usually backup? I would like to back up my email and Word docs as well as Safari stuff. Is there a special place within the hard drive where all of this is stored?

amazing · Aug 21, 2005, 04:59 PM

Well, the firewire target disk mode was a long shot. Sorry, but it does look like the drive needs replacing. Data recovery is the much harder question, namely cost-wise...

Ji Eun · Aug 21, 2005, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by obeythelaw

.... What do Apple users usually backup? I would like to back up my email and Word docs as well as Safari stuff....

with safari you can click file and select 'export bookmarks'
with email go to user/library/mail and just copy that folder.... that's what i do anyway, but there might be a more elegant solution
your docs / music / pics are stored in whatever folder you store them in.

this is most of what i back up every couple of months, takes about ten minutes to do everything.

wataru · Aug 22, 2005, 05:58 PM

I backup my entire home folder to my iPod automatically using my own iPodBackup. You can use it with regular, non-iPod hard drives too.

obeythelaw · Aug 24, 2005, 08:35 PM

thanks for the tips. one more thing, i'm a new apple user. i was a longtime windows user. if you were to back those things up. how would you do a format? when i used windows i would format my pc about once a year. if i wanted to do that with my ibook, even though it wouldn't be required, do i do just put the tiger cd into my computer and reinstall? then just restore what i backed up?