PB G4 Hard Drive -- Strange Noises

FireWired · 11-07-2005, 09:58 PM

Well, I think my first big (well, hopefully not) problem has occured since I've had my loyal PowerBook G4 (1GHz 12").

Yesterday started out like every other day; I was on AIM (which had been the first time in a long while) and things suddenly started getting really slow. I just thought it was my cruddy DSL going out again, but then my hard drive started making these high-pitched clicking noises at a rate of about twice a second. During this, AIM completely hung, and when I switched to the Finder, it hung as well. My mouse was still moving, so I went down to the dock, then that hung/froze. By now, my HD's clicking was more rapid and loud with lots of abnormal high-pitched scratching (compared to normal quiet little clicks and bits).

So I hard reset my PB; it booted up fine except for the strange noises coming from my HD. After about 5-8 mins of "normal" use (as in everything was fine cept the abnormal crunching), it started the clicking again, and everything hung. So I reset it again, same thing happened. The next time, I shut it down properly soon after it booted and left it until today.

I booted it today and so far everything seems fine. The HD still makes the loud high-pitched scratching. (It pretty much took the place of the normal little clicks/scratches every now and then that you hear from your drive.)

When it's at rest and completely idle, I've noticed a faint higher-pitched hum that I don't think was there before. There's nothing I've really done yet to figure the problem out, but I'm about to do a Drives test using TechTool Pro. I do have 5.8GB still left on my drive, so space isn't the issue..

It definitely does not appear to be any kind of software malfunction, only what is caused by the HD. I also was not moving it at all, it was completely still and flat on my desk when it happened. It's almost like the needle got bent or something funky like that with the hardware. (<-- Not probable of course, it just seems like this is what would happen if something like that did happen.)

Also, I had no peripherals attached, and I'm on 10.4.3.

Thanks, any help as soon as possible is appreciated.

JDV · 11-07-2005, 10:06 PM

Get as much data as you possibly can to a safe place and replace that drive before you have nothing to replace!!!

Joe VanZandt

DeltaMac · 11-07-2005, 10:19 PM

I absolutely agree - back up the data you want to save while you still can.

Unusual mechanical noises from a hard drive are NEVER good! Even rare noises make me nervous, but one that is frequently clacking, squealing, or banging means that you must take time to back up quickly.

Time for a new hard drive....

FireWired · 11-08-2005, 12:50 AM

Well, I have just about everything backed up to a my external LaCie 250, except for Safari bookmarks. I'm think of just taking snapshots of my bookmarks and URLs, but is there any easier way to back them all up?

Man... I suppose I could get a 100GB drive if this one dies, but it was all so sudden and for no good reason. Right now (and all of today so far), my computer has been perfectly normal except those occasional sounds.

I also was just burning a data CD using Toast, and I noticed it said something similar to "Copying data to hard drive cache" instead of what it usually says "Filling RAM cache." It isn't possible that I could be running on virtual (hard drive) RAM is it?

Well, so much for my hope of an answer like "Oh yeah, that happens all the time, just do this and that when you start up."

Ah well. So should I wait til it's really dead, or take it into an Apple Store or something?

DeltaMac · 11-08-2005, 07:46 AM

Safari bookmarks are easy. Go to your user folder/Library/Safari folder, and copy the file bookmarks.plist.
Put this file back into the same location, and Safari will use it.

I don't know the answer to your question about ram cache, vs. hard drive cache. It depends on how you work, how long since a reboot, how much RAM you have installed, how much free memory, how many other apps are open at the same time, etc.

chicorasia · 11-08-2005, 09:06 AM

I agree with JDV.

If your hd hasn't died yet, you can use disk utility to create a disk image on the external LaCie, and then use this image to restore the system onto a new hard drive - this will automatically restore all your settings, apps, messages, bookmarks, etc.

Boot up from the OSX Install disc, choose "disk utility", select your hd and click on "new image". Get a new hd for your PB and the use disk utility (from the install disc, again) to format the new drive, click on the "restore" tab, choose the image on the LaCie as the source and your new hd as the destination.

Beware that Disk utility will put great stress on your hd, as it creates the image, which may lead to a crash.

JDV · 11-08-2005, 09:36 AM

If, for some reason, you are using disk caching more than usual, that might explain the sudden increase in the amount of noise that you hear, but (and I hope this isn't beating a dead horse) a hard drive making those kinds of noises is in trouble, and your description makes it sound like unrecoverable problems may not be far off. Depending on where the location of the drive is in a particular machine, you should be able to (barely) hear normal disk read/write activity. High-pitched whines are a sign that bearings may be on the way out; clicks and banging are signs of more serious mechanical problems. There's no absolute way to KNOW when the drive will fail, except using the general rule of thumb that it will be when you least want it to. So this really isn't something to put off too long. It is good to know that you've backed up carefully, and preserving Safari bookmarks, as noted in a previous post, is a very simple process.

Joe VanZandt

FireWired · 12-03-2005, 01:13 AM

Well, it's been almost 4 weeks since my hard drive snafu, but it still seems to be running strong, even with a S.M.A.R.T. status of "Failing." Still making the same higher-pitched clicks and scratches, but other than that, it's acting normally. About 2 weeks ago though, I found it making the repetitive loud constant clicking with a whole system hang. Unsurprised, I hard reset, it booted, but then started the clicking again. This time when everything hung, I gave my PowerBook a firm little whack (probably out of frustration/desperation... heh heh) where the hard drive is located underneath, and it stopped clicking, somewhat to my delight and surprise.

It soon started again though, but I just kept tapping it whenever it stuck, and things went back to normal temporarily. I just shut it down that night, booted it again the next morning, and it has been running "normally" since.

I know it can't last like this forever, and it looks as if the replacement drive will be acting as an X-mas gift (so hopefully it'll make it until then), so nothing has been ordered yet.

My question is, does anybody have a strong preference on the type/brand drive I should get? A very knowledgable friend said to avoid the Hitachi notebook 'Travelstar' (supposedly nicknamed 'Deathstar') drives. He had one fail on him, and he replaced it with (and strongly recommended) a Toshiba notebook drive, which he's had working fine for 5 years now. However, he was under the impression that I currently had a Hitachi drive in my PB, but I in fact have a failing Toshiba. So... this makes me really unsure which drive to trust.

I'm looking at probably either the 100GB Toshiba or the 100GB Seagate drive (see this page). I've actually read only good things about Seagate drives; does anybody have one of their notebook drives? If so, how is it holding up? If no one out there has a Seagate, does anyone have positive news about a Hitachi or Toshiba drive...?

One of these three look like my only choices (in the 100GB size), but now I'm leary of both Hitachi and Toshiba. Oh, I think i forgot to mention that my failing drive is only just under 2 years old. I don't think I've been hard on it... For about the first 6 months, I shut it down and booted it everyday, but after that, I've just been letting it sleep. Which is harder on the drive? (Shutting/booting right?) Other than that, it's been through pretty normal use, except for periods of pretty heavy video editing.

-----------------------

On the topic of backing up, I've been keeping my files backed up the old way by just copying everything to the external. It would be nice to simply create a disk image to restore everything though. I have to admit, I've never created one though, and I don't want to screw something up, since I might only have one shot at making one, if it puts a lot of stress on my drive, and it crashes. On the other hand, I don't want to make one and have my drive last another 2 months, which by that time I will have added countless more files to my drive (I mean, I must go through a quarter of a gig a day it seems like somehow).

Well, thanks in advance for any help and/or advice that can be offered.

JDV · 12-03-2005, 11:50 AM

i know nothing specific about their 2.5" drives, but Seagate has the lowest return rate in the industry. That doesn't mean a drive won't fail, but it does mean it's a decent bet.

Joe VanZandt

voldenuit · 12-03-2005, 01:06 PM

I'd clone the drive and change it right now, use CCC or another reliable cloning software.

According to Murphy's law, it will die at the most annoying point in time, plus you get to eBay a drive while it might still be working

(just kidding).

dormire · 12-11-2005, 11:57 PM

Similar symptom. I started hearing a strange noise. As I'd (gently) rock the system back and forth I'd hear a rubbing noise. (You know that high speed whine that says "Panic"? )

I took out the previous disk a Toshiba 40G HDD2190, 4200 RPM and replaced it with a 100G Toshiba MK1032 GAX.

The new disk is 5400 RPM, and it has a slightly different noise to it. I don't ever remember hearing the disk before, and now, if I'm in a quiet room, I can hear it slightly. So if you're really sensitive to that sort of thing, you might consider staying with the 4200 RPM drive. (Then again, perhaps they all sound a little different) But the power consumption is the same and I figured that would be good.

I backed up all my data using a script that uses the program hdiutil to make a disk image and asr to copy the date. It made a complete image of the machine into a .dmg file. I simply restored that from an external HDD to the replaced HDD after booting with CDROM and using Disk Utility. I also used Disk utility to set the new disk as the boot disk. It worked great and I got back all of my data, operating system and all.

However, one thing has happened. Should I start this in a different thread?

The power book never spins the disk down. It sleeps the display, it will shut down, it starts up, it boots, and everything seems to run just fine. But that disk never spins down. And so, my battery life is pitiful.

I've set the spin down to 1 minute (using pmset)
I've checked and the new disk is S.M.A.R.T. compatible and says all is okay.
I've let the unit sit with no applications running.
I'm trying to use fs_usage to see if I can see something opening files, but haven't gotten too far with that.

Anybody know how to command a disk spin down? I'd like to see if I can at least command it to happen so I can see that the ability is there. And after that, I want figure out what got upset in the transfer.. so I can fix it.

Good luck with your upgrade, and I hope you don't find the same problem I did.

Thanks,
Dormire

FireWired · 12-16-2005, 02:27 AM

Well, my episode has finally come to conclusion over the last couple of days! Four days ago, my failing hard drive just suddenly started the clicking again (but this time, it was a lot quieter), and tapping it didn't do anything anymore. I managed to get to the Shut Down command, but after 20 minutes of trying to shut itself down with no luck, I just held the power button. The next day, the clicking started again as soon as it was turned on, so it had appeared my hard drive had taken its last dying breaths.

(And yes, of course, it was at about the worst time possible, but everything still worked out fine in the end.) The bad thing is that I never got around to creating a disk image of my entire drive (I must have demensia or something, because I have no idea where the time goes..), but I did just happen to do another manual backup of my personal files.

The good thing is that although I was expecting to wait until Christmas for a new HD, I got to open a certain early present today -- a 100GB 5400RPM Toshiba drive. (I actually would have sprung for the Seagate drive, but the Toshiba had already been ordered by the time I got the info on which specific drive I wanted to my parents. But it's all good.)

So we spent 2 hours disasembling my beloved PowerBook, following a guide from PBFixIt.com, replacing the drive, and putting it back together. I reinstalled Tiger and tons of Updates, and so far, so great. Everything seems a lot snappier and crisp (probably just from the OS re-installation -- that was the good thing about not having made the disk image -- a re-installation is probably good for my PB). I'll spend tomorrow copying all my files back from my external.

To dormire: I got the same drive you have (the MK1032GAX), and I don't really notice that much of a change of sound.. but it could be just me. As for your problem -- I'd try repairing your permissions (in Disk Utility>First Aid), and see if that does anything. Other than that, I'm not to sure what you could do.. maybe a FileSystem Check (fsck -f I believe in SingleUser mode (Command-S during startup)). Anyway, hope you solve that problem. I'll be sure to post if I run into any problems.

P.S. Now that I have a brand new drive, I really want this to last as long as possible, so any for-sure tips on how to keep drives well maintained? Or at least maybe an answer to the age-old question: should I shut down or sleep at night (which would be easier on my drive)? Thanks

Caius · 12-16-2005, 04:34 AM

My Hitachi hard drive (80GB) failed in my 12" PB and apple wouldn't replace it (said I'd dropped the machine, yadda yadda.) Anyway after some research I bought the 100GB seagate and it was running fine until the powerbook went for repair 4 weeks ago. (Apple store said it was probably a reed switch failure - its now had a logic board replacement. Finally get it back tomorrow!)

The HD runs perfectly, only thing I notice is whenever I've been using the HD a lot (opening closing a lot of stuff, playing iTunes and skipping songs pretty frequently, etc) is the case gets a tad warmer on the outside than the old one used to, although the temperature sensors in the machine didn't seem to report an increase in temperature levels.

TrumpetPower! · 12-16-2005, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireWired


	P.S. Now that I have a brand new drive, I really want this to last as long as possible, so any for-sure tips on how to keep drives well maintained?

Yup. Just one, really: don't worry about it. If you're super-ultra-paranoid and want to extract an extra few percent out of its lifespan, you could go with the most aggressive settings in Energy Saver, but that's about it.

Quote:


	Or at least maybe an answer to the age-old question: should I shut down or sleep at night (which would be easier on my drive)? Thanks

There's absolutely no difference between the two as far as the hard drive is concerned. Whether sleeping or off, the PowerBook will first park the heads on the drive and then cut all power to it. To the hard drive, ``sleep'' and ``off'' is the same thing.

Though I used to sleep the computer at night, with the advent of Tiger, I've taken to either shutting it down or putting it into Safe Sleep. Booting is so danged fast with Tiger that, if I didn't have any kind of session going on that I want to preserve, it's in no way inconvenient. And waking from Safe Sleep is just a few seconds longer than waking from normal sleep, if I do have a session I want to continue.

The key thing is that both ``off'' and Safe Sleep consume absolutely no power at all. Normal sleep does use a bit of power, though not much. When I'm traveling, it's enough of a drain on the battery to put a noticeable hit on the useable charge after sleeping for several hours. When I'm not traveling, it's much more of a drain than any of those wall wart power vampires I've gone to such lengths to get rid of.

So, normal routine now is to shut down (or Safe Sleep) at the end of the day, and then turn off the power strip.

Cheers,

b&

FireWired · 12-18-2005, 04:09 AM

Thanks TrumpetPower (by the way, judging from your name, you must play the trumpet? I've been playing for 7 years. Rock on.

). I've just been putting it to sleep at night as usual. But out of curiousity, what exactly is Safe Sleep?

To others who may be interested, my new 100GB Toshiba 5400RPM actually seems quieter to me -- at least the normal little clicks and ticks. Also, my fan seems to hardly come on anymore, and when it does, it's for a short time, so I guess this means it's cooler too. Not only that, my system is faster! So far, I'm very happy with this drive.

I'm just about done copying all of my files back to my new drive. The only somewhat major thing I lost was all of my "Sent" emails -- as in every single email I've written (on my primary Email account that I had in Mail). Oh well...

TrumpetPower! · 12-18-2005, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireWired


	Thanks TrumpetPower (by the way, judging from your name, you must play the trumpet? I've been playing for 7 years. Rock on. ).

Yeah, I'm a trumpeter. This time of year, it just about pays the bills. Unfortunately, this is as busy as it gets....

Quote:


	I've just been putting it to sleep at night as usual. But out of curiousity, what exactly is Safe Sleep?

See here: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...51114072358161

Cheers,

b&

FireWired · 12-19-2005, 04:54 PM

Cool, I'm only doing a whopping 2 gigs (as in playing sessions, not gigabytes

), but it's a start for some future years at least.

Thanks for the info. I think I'll just keep putting my PB to regular sleep, and shut it down for periods I won't be using it over a day.

11-07-2005, 09:58 PM	#1
FireWired Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 452	PB G4 Hard Drive -- Strange Noises Well, I think my first big (well, hopefully not) problem has occured since I've had my loyal PowerBook G4 (1GHz 12"). Yesterday started out like every other day; I was on AIM (which had been the first time in a long while) and things suddenly started getting really slow. I just thought it was my cruddy DSL going out again, but then my hard drive started making these high-pitched clicking noises at a rate of about twice a second. During this, AIM completely hung, and when I switched to the Finder, it hung as well. My mouse was still moving, so I went down to the dock, then that hung/froze. By now, my HD's clicking was more rapid and loud with lots of abnormal high-pitched scratching (compared to normal quiet little clicks and bits). So I hard reset my PB; it booted up fine except for the strange noises coming from my HD. After about 5-8 mins of "normal" use (as in everything was fine cept the abnormal crunching), it started the clicking again, and everything hung. So I reset it again, same thing happened. The next time, I shut it down properly soon after it booted and left it until today. I booted it today and so far everything seems fine. The HD still makes the loud high-pitched scratching. (It pretty much took the place of the normal little clicks/scratches every now and then that you hear from your drive.) When it's at rest and completely idle, I've noticed a faint higher-pitched hum that I don't think was there before. There's nothing I've really done yet to figure the problem out, but I'm about to do a Drives test using TechTool Pro. I do have 5.8GB still left on my drive, so space isn't the issue.. It definitely does not appear to be any kind of software malfunction, only what is caused by the HD. I also was not moving it at all, it was completely still and flat on my desk when it happened. It's almost like the needle got bent or something funky like that with the hardware. (<-- Not probable of course, it just seems like this is what would happen if something like that did happen.) Also, I had no peripherals attached, and I'm on 10.4.3. Thanks, any help as soon as possible is appreciated. __________________ "The truth is, banana peels just aren't that slippery."

11-08-2005, 12:50 AM	#4
FireWired Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 452	Well, I have just about everything backed up to a my external LaCie 250, except for Safari bookmarks. I'm think of just taking snapshots of my bookmarks and URLs, but is there any easier way to back them all up? Man... I suppose I could get a 100GB drive if this one dies, but it was all so sudden and for no good reason. Right now (and all of today so far), my computer has been perfectly normal except those occasional sounds. I also was just burning a data CD using Toast, and I noticed it said something similar to "Copying data to hard drive cache" instead of what it usually says "Filling RAM cache." It isn't possible that I could be running on virtual (hard drive) RAM is it? Well, so much for my hope of an answer like "Oh yeah, that happens all the time, just do this and that when you start up." Ah well. So should I wait til it's really dead, or take it into an Apple Store or something? __________________ "The truth is, banana peels just aren't that slippery."

12-03-2005, 01:13 AM	#8
FireWired Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 452	Well, it's been almost 4 weeks since my hard drive snafu, but it still seems to be running strong, even with a S.M.A.R.T. status of "Failing." Still making the same higher-pitched clicks and scratches, but other than that, it's acting normally. About 2 weeks ago though, I found it making the repetitive loud constant clicking with a whole system hang. Unsurprised, I hard reset, it booted, but then started the clicking again. This time when everything hung, I gave my PowerBook a firm little whack (probably out of frustration/desperation... heh heh) where the hard drive is located underneath, and it stopped clicking, somewhat to my delight and surprise. It soon started again though, but I just kept tapping it whenever it stuck, and things went back to normal temporarily. I just shut it down that night, booted it again the next morning, and it has been running "normally" since. I know it can't last like this forever, and it looks as if the replacement drive will be acting as an X-mas gift (so hopefully it'll make it until then), so nothing has been ordered yet. My question is, does anybody have a strong preference on the type/brand drive I should get? A very knowledgable friend said to avoid the Hitachi notebook 'Travelstar' (supposedly nicknamed 'Deathstar') drives. He had one fail on him, and he replaced it with (and strongly recommended) a Toshiba notebook drive, which he's had working fine for 5 years now. However, he was under the impression that I currently had a Hitachi drive in my PB, but I in fact have a failing Toshiba. So... this makes me really unsure which drive to trust. I'm looking at probably either the 100GB Toshiba or the 100GB Seagate drive (see this page). I've actually read only good things about Seagate drives; does anybody have one of their notebook drives? If so, how is it holding up? If no one out there has a Seagate, does anyone have positive news about a Hitachi or Toshiba drive...? One of these three look like my only choices (in the 100GB size), but now I'm leary of both Hitachi and Toshiba. Oh, I think i forgot to mention that my failing drive is only just under 2 years old. I don't think I've been hard on it... For about the first 6 months, I shut it down and booted it everyday, but after that, I've just been letting it sleep. Which is harder on the drive? (Shutting/booting right?) Other than that, it's been through pretty normal use, except for periods of pretty heavy video editing. ----------------------- On the topic of backing up, I've been keeping my files backed up the old way by just copying everything to the external. It would be nice to simply create a disk image to restore everything though. I have to admit, I've never created one though, and I don't want to screw something up, since I might only have one shot at making one, if it puts a lot of stress on my drive, and it crashes. On the other hand, I don't want to make one and have my drive last another 2 months, which by that time I will have added countless more files to my drive (I mean, I must go through a quarter of a gig a day it seems like somehow). Well, thanks in advance for any help and/or advice that can be offered. __________________ "The truth is, banana peels just aren't that slippery." Last edited by FireWired; 12-03-2005 at 01:21 AM.

12-11-2005, 11:57 PM	#11
dormire Registered User Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 1	Just replaced the disk in my 12" power book Similar symptom. I started hearing a strange noise. As I'd (gently) rock the system back and forth I'd hear a rubbing noise. (You know that high speed whine that says "Panic"? ) I took out the previous disk a Toshiba 40G HDD2190, 4200 RPM and replaced it with a 100G Toshiba MK1032 GAX. The new disk is 5400 RPM, and it has a slightly different noise to it. I don't ever remember hearing the disk before, and now, if I'm in a quiet room, I can hear it slightly. So if you're really sensitive to that sort of thing, you might consider staying with the 4200 RPM drive. (Then again, perhaps they all sound a little different) But the power consumption is the same and I figured that would be good. I backed up all my data using a script that uses the program hdiutil to make a disk image and asr to copy the date. It made a complete image of the machine into a .dmg file. I simply restored that from an external HDD to the replaced HDD after booting with CDROM and using Disk Utility. I also used Disk utility to set the new disk as the boot disk. It worked great and I got back all of my data, operating system and all. However, one thing has happened. Should I start this in a different thread? The power book never spins the disk down. It sleeps the display, it will shut down, it starts up, it boots, and everything seems to run just fine. But that disk never spins down. And so, my battery life is pitiful. I've set the spin down to 1 minute (using pmset) I've checked and the new disk is S.M.A.R.T. compatible and says all is okay. I've let the unit sit with no applications running. I'm trying to use fs_usage to see if I can see something opening files, but haven't gotten too far with that. Anybody know how to command a disk spin down? I'd like to see if I can at least command it to happen so I can see that the ability is there. And after that, I want figure out what got upset in the transfer.. so I can fix it. Good luck with your upgrade, and I hope you don't find the same problem I did. Thanks, Dormire

12-16-2005, 02:27 AM	#12
FireWired Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 452	Well, my episode has finally come to conclusion over the last couple of days! Four days ago, my failing hard drive just suddenly started the clicking again (but this time, it was a lot quieter), and tapping it didn't do anything anymore. I managed to get to the Shut Down command, but after 20 minutes of trying to shut itself down with no luck, I just held the power button. The next day, the clicking started again as soon as it was turned on, so it had appeared my hard drive had taken its last dying breaths. (And yes, of course, it was at about the worst time possible, but everything still worked out fine in the end.) The bad thing is that I never got around to creating a disk image of my entire drive (I must have demensia or something, because I have no idea where the time goes..), but I did just happen to do another manual backup of my personal files. The good thing is that although I was expecting to wait until Christmas for a new HD, I got to open a certain early present today -- a 100GB 5400RPM Toshiba drive. (I actually would have sprung for the Seagate drive, but the Toshiba had already been ordered by the time I got the info on which specific drive I wanted to my parents. But it's all good.) So we spent 2 hours disasembling my beloved PowerBook, following a guide from PBFixIt.com, replacing the drive, and putting it back together. I reinstalled Tiger and tons of Updates, and so far, so great. Everything seems a lot snappier and crisp (probably just from the OS re-installation -- that was the good thing about not having made the disk image -- a re-installation is probably good for my PB). I'll spend tomorrow copying all my files back from my external. To dormire: I got the same drive you have (the MK1032GAX), and I don't really notice that much of a change of sound.. but it could be just me. As for your problem -- I'd try repairing your permissions (in Disk Utility>First Aid), and see if that does anything. Other than that, I'm not to sure what you could do.. maybe a FileSystem Check (fsck -f I believe in SingleUser mode (Command-S during startup)). Anyway, hope you solve that problem. I'll be sure to post if I run into any problems. P.S. Now that I have a brand new drive, I really want this to last as long as possible, so any for-sure tips on how to keep drives well maintained? Or at least maybe an answer to the age-old question: should I shut down or sleep at night (which would be easier on my drive)? Thanks __________________ "The truth is, banana peels just aren't that slippery." Last edited by FireWired; 12-16-2005 at 02:30 AM.

11-07-2005, 10:06 PM	#2
JDV Hall of Famer Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Chicago, Illinois Posts: 3,191	Get as much data as you possibly can to a safe place and replace that drive before you have nothing to replace!!! Joe VanZandt

11-07-2005, 10:19 PM	#3
DeltaMac League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 8,531	I absolutely agree - back up the data you want to save while you still can. Unusual mechanical noises from a hard drive are NEVER good! Even rare noises make me nervous, but one that is frequently clacking, squealing, or banging means that you must take time to back up quickly. Time for a new hard drive....

11-08-2005, 07:46 AM	#5
DeltaMac League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 8,531	Safari bookmarks are easy. Go to your user folder/Library/Safari folder, and copy the file bookmarks.plist. Put this file back into the same location, and Safari will use it. I don't know the answer to your question about ram cache, vs. hard drive cache. It depends on how you work, how long since a reboot, how much RAM you have installed, how much free memory, how many other apps are open at the same time, etc.

11-08-2005, 09:06 AM	#6
chicorasia Major Leaguer Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: curitiba, brazil Posts: 264	I agree with JDV. If your hd hasn't died yet, you can use disk utility to create a disk image on the external LaCie, and then use this image to restore the system onto a new hard drive - this will automatically restore all your settings, apps, messages, bookmarks, etc. Boot up from the OSX Install disc, choose "disk utility", select your hd and click on "new image". Get a new hd for your PB and the use disk utility (from the install disc, again) to format the new drive, click on the "restore" tab, choose the image on the LaCie as the source and your new hd as the destination. Beware that Disk utility will put great stress on your hd, as it creates the image, which may lead to a crash.

11-08-2005, 09:36 AM	#7
JDV Hall of Famer Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Chicago, Illinois Posts: 3,191	If, for some reason, you are using disk caching more than usual, that might explain the sudden increase in the amount of noise that you hear, but (and I hope this isn't beating a dead horse) a hard drive making those kinds of noises is in trouble, and your description makes it sound like unrecoverable problems may not be far off. Depending on where the location of the drive is in a particular machine, you should be able to (barely) hear normal disk read/write activity. High-pitched whines are a sign that bearings may be on the way out; clicks and banging are signs of more serious mechanical problems. There's no absolute way to KNOW when the drive will fail, except using the general rule of thumb that it will be when you least want it to. So this really isn't something to put off too long. It is good to know that you've backed up carefully, and preserving Safari bookmarks, as noted in a previous post, is a very simple process. Joe VanZandt

12-03-2005, 11:50 AM	#9
JDV Hall of Famer Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Chicago, Illinois Posts: 3,191	i know nothing specific about their 2.5" drives, but Seagate has the lowest return rate in the industry. That doesn't mean a drive won't fail, but it does mean it's a decent bet. Joe VanZandt

12-03-2005, 01:06 PM	#10
voldenuit League Commissioner Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Old Europe Posts: 5,146	I'd clone the drive and change it right now, use CCC or another reliable cloning software. According to Murphy's law, it will die at the most annoying point in time, plus you get to eBay a drive while it might still be working (just kidding).

12-16-2005, 04:34 AM	#13
Caius All Star Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Leeds, UK Posts: 757	My Hitachi hard drive (80GB) failed in my 12" PB and apple wouldn't replace it (said I'd dropped the machine, yadda yadda.) Anyway after some research I bought the 100GB seagate and it was running fine until the powerbook went for repair 4 weeks ago. (Apple store said it was probably a reed switch failure - its now had a logic board replacement. Finally get it back tomorrow!) The HD runs perfectly, only thing I notice is whenever I've been using the HD a lot (opening closing a lot of stuff, playing iTunes and skipping songs pretty frequently, etc) is the case gets a tad warmer on the outside than the old one used to, although the temperature sensors in the machine didn't seem to report an increase in temperature levels. __________________ http://caius.name/

12-18-2005, 04:09 AM	#15
FireWired Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 452	Thanks TrumpetPower (by the way, judging from your name, you must play the trumpet? I've been playing for 7 years. Rock on. ). I've just been putting it to sleep at night as usual. But out of curiousity, what exactly is Safe Sleep? To others who may be interested, my new 100GB Toshiba 5400RPM actually seems quieter to me -- at least the normal little clicks and ticks. Also, my fan seems to hardly come on anymore, and when it does, it's for a short time, so I guess this means it's cooler too. Not only that, my system is faster! So far, I'm very happy with this drive. I'm just about done copying all of my files back to my new drive. The only somewhat major thing I lost was all of my "Sent" emails -- as in every single email I've written (on my primary Email account that I had in Mail). Oh well... __________________ "The truth is, banana peels just aren't that slippery."

12-19-2005, 04:54 PM	#17
FireWired Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 452	Cool, I'm only doing a whopping 2 gigs (as in playing sessions, not gigabytes ), but it's a start for some future years at least. Thanks for the info. I think I'll just keep putting my PB to regular sleep, and shut it down for periods I won't be using it over a day. __________________ "The truth is, banana peels just aren't that slippery."