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pcd2k · Mar 7, 2003, 09:19 AM

After returning from a fruitful excursion I go to check my mac
System update is waiting for me to click

System update wants to install a security update and imovie3.0.2
so I click ok

when its finished installing I'm faced with two choices

shut down or restart

I think that I want to immediately reuse the mac so I hit restart

I have already forgotten the colloquial adage around the local scene of Jaguar users "OSX doesn't like to be rebooted "

Anyway having clicked restart everything seems to fold except that my desktop picture is still there up to an hour after having clicked restart

I then get impatient and try hitting the recomended sequence of buttons on the front of the tower none of which result in any change - my desktop picture is still there so I resort to the last straw I switch off the power to the mac.

But when I then hit the start key on the keyboard I end up with my other drive running old faithful 'classic' and no visual icon of my 40 gig .I begin to feel distraught I call upon a friend and ends up telling me the 40 gig is dead and said that when he tried to run it in his mac it gave him all sorts of headaches with his own setup

So I remain somewhat perplexed no Jaguar no 40 gig and no copies of the latest work I was doing and so I go on feeling remorse for my loss and begin to get paranoic thoughts about that last security update or did my drive get nabbed by higher secretive espionage ?

Detrius · Mar 7, 2003, 11:57 AM

You should have hit the restart button on the front of the mac, or held down the power button on the Mac... NOT switch off power. Instantaneously and spontaneously removing power can do SERIOUS damage to hard drives. If the head actually lands on the drive, your data is toast.

It's not the update that fried your drive.

iRebound · Mar 7, 2003, 12:44 PM

Originally posted by pcd2k:
I have already forgotten the colloquial adage around the local scene of Jaguar users "OSX doesn't like to be rebooted "

This is the first time I've heard this...OS X Doesn't like to be rebooted...

but anyways try running fsck or use diskwarrior if you have it. your data might be corrupted.

brainchild2b · Mar 7, 2003, 01:27 PM

You're data most likely isn't toast, u will probably need to use an os 9 type utility diskwarrior or norton systemworks to get it back.

That's an idiotic fatalist view that pulling the power on your cpu will cause the heads to mess up the platters. While it happened back in the day it rarely could even happen now as heads are designed much better. On the last two macs including this one, I've pulled the power plug hundreds if not thousands of times without shutting down properly to simply prove that my roomate was overly paranoid.

Moonray · Mar 7, 2003, 01:33 PM

Originally posted by pcd2k:
I have already forgotten the colloquial adage around the local scene of Jaguar users "OSX doesn't like to be rebooted "

What a nonsense.
If that's your world, try getting advice from those local Jaguar users.

-

pliny · Mar 7, 2003, 09:52 PM

1. X not like reboot.
2. Do not pull power.

Haven't heard these before. I've done the 2nd so many times on several different machines. In fact the first iMacs had no reset switches and when they got stuck, you *had* to pull the power cord out.

DeathMan · Mar 7, 2003, 11:18 PM

Originally posted by pliny:
1. X not like reboot.
2. Do not pull power.

Haven't heard these before. I've done the 2nd so many times on several different machines. In fact the first iMacs had no reset switches and when they got stuck, you *had* to pull the power cord out.

X does like to reboot. What it doesn't like to do is have people write fun little "scripts" into an rc file or other config file, and forget about the script, and it turns out you wrote it wrong, but the thing runs rock solid with no reboots for months and months, so when you finally reboot the system, it doesn't work, and you have no idea why.

Rule of thumb. If you can't fix it, don't mess with it.

As far as the HD going out, could be because of powerdown, could be just because HDs go out. Thats why we should back up.

From Nick Burns: "Retrospect only backs up your data files. Say good by to your 3rd party applications."

Nep2ne · Mar 7, 2003, 11:23 PM

Originally posted by pliny:

Haven't heard these before. I've done the 2nd so many times on several different machines. In fact the first iMacs had no reset switches and when they got stuck, you *had* to pull the power cord out.

You are wrong. All of the first generation of iMacs had pinhole-sized reset switches on the side. You could access them only with a paperclip though, and even then, it had to be a narrow paperclip!