Serious mac problem, advice!

Honestly, I kinda had that thought in the back of my mind. OS X file system has only ever failed on me when the HD itself starts going **** up.

Get a replacement disk, put it in a freezer bag with some rice or something to absorb the moisture and leave it in the freezer for a while.

Get a USB enclosure and you may be in luck [try it in the USB enclosure first before the freezer], when my MBP HD 'died' it wouldn't boot but would allow access to my files once connected to something else.

Oh and BACKUP, why does it require this kind of thing to happen before people actually do anything about it? :(
 
Concorde Rules said:
Oh and BACKUP, why does it require this kind of thing to happen before people actually do anything about it? :(
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Because of the type of people that don't backup?

Mother, in her late 50's, facebook,email and internet... Not everyone is computer savy like we are. If it was my choice i'd burn every mac, horrible horrible things. Atleast with a windows system i'd be able to just bung on another sata cable and copy over just her pics!
 
Neil79 said:
Because of the type of people that don't backup?

Mother, in her late 50's, facebook,email and internet... Not everyone is computer savy like we are. If it was my choice i'd burn every mac, horrible horrible things. Atleast with a windows system i'd be able to just bung on another sata cable and copy over just her pics!
Click to expand...

You do realise that you [Given you are computer saavy and are aware of occurrences like this] could have setup a backup with one click?

Time Machine asks you every time when connect a external disk if you want to use it as a backup drive.

You can't get any simpler than that. Now you know about TM you can set it up for her ;) :)

Also doesn't make the rest of what I said irrelevant to the situation.

Also you can install OS X straight onto a USB drive with absolutely NO faffing about what so ever, A quick google suggests you need to faff command lining and what not to USB boot Windows 7.

So in two regards which are extremely relevant to your mum's computer, OS X wins completely on ease of use and simplicity.

So just to clarify:

Get a USB drive. Install OS X directly onto it. Boot OS X from this USB HDD by holding down the option (alt) key when you press the power button until a screen pops up with options to boot. If the internal HD mounts, copy files off. Replace internal drive. Carbon Copy Cloner the USB HD to the internal HD or reinstall from scratch. Setup USB as a TM disk, and suggest that your mum plugs it in once a week, or keeps it plugged in as long as the MBP is plugged in itself.
 
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It said the hard drive was fine, it said the memory was good.. I didn't get a chance to backup as i was today going to buy dvdrs!

Anyway i might be computer savy but not mac savy, i do not like the machine at all :(... I don't have 70GB worth of USB drive lol because that's pretty much how many files over the years she has
 
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Neil79 said:
It said the hard drive was fine, it said the memory was good.. I didn't get a chance to backup as i was today going to buy dvdrs!

Anyway i might be computer savy but not mac savy, i do not like the machine at all :(... I don't have 70GB worth of USB drive lol because that's pretty much how many files over the years she has
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If she can afford a mac she can afford the £40 or so to buy something like this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-240-SE&groupid=1657&catid=1659&subcat=1237

How this situation would be different in a PC I have no idea.

Either way the internal drive needs replacing, two options:

1. Replace the internal drive, buy a caddy and bung the dying HD in that to attempt to recover the data.
2. Bung the new HD into the caddy, install OS X on that, copy files over, place HD into MB.

Depending on the generation of the MacBook how easy it is to replace the internal drive varies, however following a guide carefully will result in a successful replacement of the drive in any MacBook.
 
Thanks CR!

Atleast the mac is on a monthly payment for guarantee, £10 a month or something. Might send it in for repair, atleast find out whats up with it. As it's shutting itself off now at grey screen.

The mac was purchased in 2007 so not new :p
 
Neil79 said:
Thanks CR!

Atleast the mac is on a monthly payment for guarantee, £10 a month or something. Might send it in for repair, atleast find out whats up with it. As it's shutting itself off now at grey screen.

The mac was purchased in 2007 so not new :p
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MacBook or MacBook Pro?

If it's the MBP then it's the same as my old MBP, it's abit tricky to get to the HD but it's possible if whatever scheme your under doesn't cover failure anymore.

As for shutting off - no idea. Might be something more wrong with it than just the HD.
 
UPDATE

The imac now has a new internal hard drive, all repaired cleaned up and installed myself!. Good fun, though i prefer a pc upgrade any day ;)

Over the week i'll be looking into data recovery from the old drive
 
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