iMac – Bad Hard Drive Symptoms
iMac 20" getting its HD replaced. Note the glass and front bezel are removed during the installation.
A failing hard drive (HD) is one of the most common ailments we see here at MyService.
Here are some of the symptoms to look for if you suspect the HD in your Intel iMac has failed or is failing:
No video or the machine turns off during boot
Yes, just like the new Unibody MacBooks, if the system detects a bad HD on boot, the system will shut itself down.
Grinding or clicking noises
This is the most common symptom we see. A noisy hard drive can often be the first sign that the drive is going to fail. There is a cool new (and free) iPhone/Touch app from DriveSavers that plays sounds of a failing hard drive.
Flashing “?” on startup
The system cannot find an operating system to boot off of (because the drive is damaged.)
Slow performance or missing files
If you notice the machine is getting much slower, files are disappearing or settings randomly change the drive may be on the way out.
So what do you do if these symptoms arise? If you can, back up your User folder first. The next step would be to take your Mac to your local AASP (like us:) for a diagnostic and service.
As part of our diagnostic, we boot using an external HD and test using Drive Genius. The hard drive replacement on the Intel iMac is a little involved (glass, bezel and screen are removed,) so we would generally not recommend a DIY on this one.
