Question for the Mac gurus

[my99vdub]

Hi there -

My brother's Mac gave up the ghost and he has bought himself a new-to-him replacement - here's my question: I told him that I'd try to help him recover the old machine's hard drive - music (his and his wife's voice files) and the usual email addies and stuff - can you guys point me to some websites that would give me an idea about tearing the old Mac apart ?(I can take apart my Windows machines and not worry cuz it's mine so if I break it I deal with it - ha ha) He says it won't even power on - am I crazy or is there a power supply just like in any Windoze based machine? He said I can go for it especially since he can't even get the case apart (I don't know the model yet tho).

Thanks for any and all pointers for Mac info!

Beth

[macdave]

What model are the old and new systems?

[mrbeetlebrain]

http://www.whoopis.com/computer_repair/

Have a look at the link above, I've got tear aparts for most of the macs so PM me if you can't find it. If it's an old iMac and won't start (at all) get the hard drive out and trash the rest. You'll be able to put the old HD into an external case, of course it wont mount on a PC.

All the rest of the mac range are fixable - whether it's worth it is another question.

Cheers, paul

[my99vdub]

macdave -
I'll have to ask my brother exactly what the models are - I think the new model is an emac G4 - I need the answer from my brother about the old model - Thanks!

mrbeetlebrain / Paul -

Again, I need to check the old model # and then I will look at the site and know what I am looking for - thanks for the offer! I know it won't go into a PC, but am thinking that if the HD is salvageable, we'll be able to hook it up to the new one (at least to try to recover data). I saw a link for an emac G5 - didn't look too hard to see if there's one for the G4 - but that's the new model.

to be continued . . . .

Beth

[my99vdub]

OK, heard from my brother
new machine is a PowerPC G4, old one is a iMac G3 running OS9.

But, he tried to access the old HD via Firewire off the new machine and no-go. Says the old one won't boot and the old HD would make a ticking noise and he didn't hear the drive spin - think it's toast? think there's anything to do to try and salvage any data?

Appreciate this!

Beth

[CaptainXeroid]

Last year, my G3 iMac's HD died with a pop & flash. I called some data recovery companies, and the lowest quote just to attempt to salvage any data was $300. After a couple of attempts to fix it myself, I took it to a local shop. $150 later, I was upgraded from a 13GB to 80GB HD, AND they transfered all my data over.

The guys who repaired mine said that the OEM hard drives Apple used in iMacs didn't hold up too well. It seems the polycarbonate iMacs had air flow issues that made the problem worse.

Best of luck to your brother with his iMac. I know I couldn't think about being without mine.

[mrbeetlebrain]

Pull the tray out of the iMac and at the front is the hard drive - this part is not too hard to do and all you need is a screwdriver, wrestle the HD and put it in an external case - PC ones are fine, although you might not have USB2 on the G4 so it'll mount but copying will be slow.

Although saying that if the HD is making noise it's probably toast as you say PM me if you need any help - the last time I had an iMac that wouldn't power up I took it apart with a hammer to see if there way any part of the power supply that could be fixed and I couldn't find anything.

[macdave]

The HD sholud be an IDE, you could try to put in the G4. You can unplug the CDrom and plug it in there. Another option is a Firewire box. If the drive is dead, you could try one of the very expensive data recovery services. You could also look for an identical working drive(should be pretty cheap on ebay) and swap the external boards on them and see if you can get it to work.

One last option which I have done before, is to setup the drive in the new system or firewire box. Then make sure the area is very clean and free of dust. Now remove the top cover of the dead drive, then power up the system. Give the dead drive a push start by giving the center spindle a few turns(Do not touch the platters). If it does spin up and mounts, copy all of the data from the drive as quickly as you can to the new system. Don't forget the desktop folder. The drive won't last long with the top off.

[my99vdub]

Thanks for all these pointers guys - I am going to my brother's this Saturday and we'll see what we can do.

macdave: do you mean to *open* the old drive to try to give it a spin start manually? sounds like an operation LOL

I have looked at the online sites that come up searching for data recovery - WOW big bux!

I almost wonder if we aren't successful on our own *college try* if we might find someone locally on say, freecycle? I know, buyer beware but you guys are so far away I am really not sure how far my brother wants to try to go with recovery (i.e. paying those big bux).......

I'll be in touch to let you all know how Saturday goes!

Many thanks again for all these suggestions,

Beth

[macdave]

Originally Posted by my99vdub

Thanks for all these pointers guys - I am going to my brother's this Saturday and we'll see what we can do.

macdave: do you mean to *open* the old drive to try to give it a spin start manually? sounds like an operation LOL

Yes, take off the cover and help it spin up. Often the drive circuit gets weak and can't start the drive, but it will keep it going if you help it start.

[my99vdub]

Originally Posted by macdave

Yes, take off the cover and help it spin up. Often the drive circuit gets weak and can't start the drive, but it will keep it going if you help it start.

is this like our headlight bulbs and shouldn't have finger contact? what would be *safe* to use to try the spin? I'm not sure since I haven't ever taken apart a HD

[macdave]

The only thing you want to touch inside the HD is the Spindle.



The HD heads float on the air pressure created by the rotating disk. Any contaminant that gets between the head and disk will cause a head crash(the head actually touching the disk). This will damage the disk platter and the head ruining the HD.

[mrbeetlebrain]

ah yeah obvious - set as a slave drive and put it in the G4 - can't believe I forgot that.

Pretty brave pulling a drive apart - I'll have to try that sometime!

[my99vdub]

Here's the latest:
We got the machine apart, took the cover off the HD, Firewired to a laptop, powered up and . . .
the spindle DOES spin BUT - the actuator arm toggles back and forth a couple of times (that's the clicking we hear) but the screen displays a question mark type of icon and the laptop does not recognize any device attached thru the Firewire. Does this mean that the drive is spinning and not mounting?? We are stumped to know if there's anything else we can do. The actuator arm is not touching either the spindle or platter - does you guys think the HD is just gone or is there anything else we can try?

Also - since the G3 is only having (apparently) the trouble with the HD, think replacing with another would be cost effective? Really asking for websites to recommend that sell replacement drives (I really only have any experience looking at Windoze based parts sites) - do we need to replace with another internal drive or would an external drive be any better?

Thanks again!
Beth

[mrbeetlebrain]

I can't really tell you what's wrong with the HD, my rule is if it clicks it goes in the bin, the question mark is just telling you it can't find a valid system folder to boot from.

As for replacing the HD, yes you can do it - it'll be a 5400rpm PATA IDE hard drive, you can replace it with a 7200rpm drive but the extra heat will effect stability as it did with me.

Of course you might find it hard to get the older slower speed - I'd definately recommend you try to find the older drive - random crashes are very frustating.

Good luck!