Help! Hard Drive Crash!

[Lux Interior]

I think the 250 GB hard drive in my 2.2 MBP is dead or dying.

The machine wouldn't boot from the hard drive. I would get the gray screen with the Apple logo, then it would go blank before I ever got the little rotatey thingy.

I booted with my 10.5 DVD (worked fine) and ran disk utility. Repaired permissions (lots of stuff "fixed") and then tried "repair disk". It gave me a message along the lines of, "Disk FUBAR, cannot fix".

Next I bought and downloaded Disk Warrior. Fortunately, my sister in law is currently visiting, so I have another MPB. I tried to burn the DW dmg to a DVD, but it wouldn't boot. I guess the version you download isn't bootable(?).

Next, I boot my MBP into FW target mode and connect to the other MPB via FW800. The "bad" disk will show up in disk utility, but I can't do anything with it (repair permissions and repair disk buttons grayed out).

Disk warrior just gives the spinning beach ball.

If I have time this weekend, I plan on using the good MBP to install Tiger onto an external FW800 drive, then boot the bad MBP with the external and hope DW can repair it.

Any other things to try?

Can I make a bootable version of DW?

Other info: The HD is a pull from a WD passport.
Bad drive is (was) running Leopard with latest updates.

P.S. Alsoft is sending me the bootable CD (included in the purchase), but it is going to my sister in the US. I have no idea how long it will take to get here.

[mikebw]

Best not to leave it running until you have the right tools on hand to retrieve your data.

If the drive mechanism is mechanically failing then no amount of Disk Warrior or Disk Utility sorcery will get your data back.

At this point I would say your best bet it using FW disk mode to try and copy your more important data off first. If you can get the drive to mount that is. Don't try and copy the whole drive because it won't. Select one folder at a time and babysit it until it fails. Often times you can turn it off and let it cool, let come back later and get some more. If you are desperate- the freezer may become your savior.

[Lux Interior]

Alas, the drive will not mount in FW target mode.

[RgrF]

Screw the drive, drives are cheap; recovery maybe not so much if you're not backed up.

If you visit the Paris Apple Store and offer to pay in Mexican pesos...

[Lux Interior]

Nothing is cheap in Paris and there is no Apple Store here.

[mikebw]

[quote RgrF]Screw the drive,.
In Soviet Russia drives screw YOU!

Well, actually that happens everywhere, but more so in Soviet Russia.

[RgrF]

No Apple Store, how did they miss that?

OWC doesn't ship to La Belle France? (I feel so cheap hawking this site, I don't even know Larry)

Did I forget to mention I'm Apple certified and a prepaid two way ticket will get me there by Sunday.

[Jimmypoo]

Just like an engineer......


The oil is draining out of the crankcase - and he FLOORS it to get the car home faster so he can fix it!!!!!!

In reality (outside the above reality) - I had a 20GB drive recently in the Pismo (6 months or so?) - and was simply running a utility on it from VersionTracker. I don't know who caused who - but running the utility was heating up the drive, and I came back into the room 90 minutes later to hear "click click click ------ click click click" --- so definitely, running a bunch of stuff on it now, while it's mad at you is not a good idea.

First, I must ask this question..... isn't redundancy the hallmark of your profession? Where is your Time Machine drive? Hmmmmmm?

I'm surprised you don't hear anything - or hadn't heard anything prior to this. And drive access on that machine isn't like the MB - so a quick trip to the freezer isn't practical.

Well, all I can say is.... send me the unit - I'll take to the Apple store up the road, and then bring it back to you, personally, to ensure no problems. I'll even fly coach-ish.... which is sorta like cargo, near the bathroom, where you have to stand.

Better for my back anyway....

[modelamac]

DW 4.1 DVD will boot in Tiger, but not Leo. The Alsoft site tells you that. There are simple instructions on how to make a bootable DVD.

I have DW 4.1 on several bootable hard drives, and boot into one to use DW on another.

[Lux Interior]

[quote modelamac]DW 4.1 DVD will boot in Tiger, but not Leo. The Alsoft site tells you that. There are simple instructions on how to make a bootable DVD.
I'm not sure what you mean by "will boot in Tiger, but not Leo". Wouldn't it boot whatever OS is on the DVD? It seems like you are saying the hard drive has to have Tiger on it in order for the DVD to boot.

I used Disk Utility to burn the DW 4.1 disk image file to a DVD. Disk Utility hung on "closing session" so I hit cancel, but the DVD mounted anyway, so I tried to boot the bad MBP with the DVD, but got the folder with ?. I figured the burn was bad and it would mount but not boot.

I searched all the included manuals for "bootable" but came up with nil. It was late and I was tired, so it's possible I missed something, but even a Google search on "Disk warrior bootable DVD" came up with no useful info.