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My macbook recently froze up and a folder with a question mark showed up. I was told by Apple that is was a hard drive issue. I'm out of warranty, so I went to Best Buy and purchased a 320GB Western Digital SATA internal hard drive. I installed it, inserted my 2007 Mac OS x Intall disk and my new hard drive is not showing up. I was told to go to disk utility and format it but every tab I click on such as erase, partition, restore and first aid, doesn't allow me to click on anything listed below each of those. The drive is brand new and I dont know what to do... The left side of the disk utility shows 5.1GB Matshitacd-R... and below that is the mac os x disk 1. Basically I can't select a destination volume and Im hoping one of you experts can help? Thanks

Submitted: 379 days and 14 hours ago.
Category: Mac
Value: $9
Status: AWAITING CUSTOMER ACTION
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Posted by Claws224 379 days and 12 hours ago.

Info Request

Hi,

 

Can you tell us what model hard drive you purchased?

 

Also do you know if it was Mac or Windows formatted?

 

Thanks

379 days and 10 hours ago.

Reply

I replaced my Hitachi 120GB 2.5" SATA Drive with a WD Scorpio SATA 320GB drive. It has 7200RPM and 16MB/Mo Cache. It says it's compatible with Windows Vista/XP/2000 and Mac OS

Posted by Claws224 379 days and 10 hours ago.

Answer

Ok,

 

Can you put your OSX disk into your machine then power it up and then press and hold the C key till you get to the installer menu.

 

from the menu can you choose Disk Utility then select your new drive on the left and choose the Partition tab.

 

From the partition tab can you select the options you want and select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for the format type.

 

Once you have done that can you click apply and let me know what happens.

 

Thanks

 

Eric

379 days and 10 hours ago.

Reply

I have previously tried that. I've been to all kinds of forums about this. I can see the tabs for all of the options. I can click on the partitions tab but everything below is greyed out and not able to be clicked on.

Posted by Claws224 379 days and 10 hours ago.

Info Request

Ok,

 

What version of OSX are you trying to install, is it leopard, If so can you access the partition tab but the options are grayed out?

 

Also what type of Mac do you have?

 

Thanks

379 days and 10 hours ago.

Reply

Its a macbook and i believe it is osx 9. its about 2 yrs old

Posted by Claws224 379 days and 10 hours ago.

Answer

Ok,

 

By the sounds of things your Hard drive may be preformatted for windows so we will need to try setting up a GUID system on the drive, If you boot to the installer can you choose the Erase option then highlight your drive?

 

If so make sure you have selected the root of the drive then see if if it will alow you to erase the drive.

 

graphic
View Full Image

 

Let me know what happens.


Thanks

379 days and 10 hours ago.

Reply

My whole issue is the fact that the drive isn't showing up at all. its only showing a 5.1GB Disk that I have inserted into my disk drive. It shows a MATSHITACD-RW CW 8221 and below that is a sub category "Mac OS X install disk 1

Posted by Claws224 379 days and 9 hours ago.

Info Request

Ok,

 

Sorry I misunderstood, I thought your drive was showing but not allowing you to format.

 

In that case can you tell me what color your machine is, What size the screen is and do you know what speed yor processor is?

 

Thanks

379 days and 9 hours ago.

Reply

its white, 13.1" 2GHz processor. 667 MHz Bus Speed. Intel Core 2 Duo

Posted by Claws224 379 days and 9 hours ago.

Info Request

Ok,

 

When your old drive started showing the folder icon did you have it checked or troubleshot in some way to make sure the drive was damaged?

 

Thanks

379 days and 9 hours ago.

Reply

I called apple and they said it was a hard drive issue. I went out and bought another one. I put my old one back in to see if it would show up and that one doesn't show either.

Posted by Claws224 379 days and 9 hours ago.

Answer

Ok,

 

Do you have an external drive or another mac you can test with as I have a strong suspicion that it may not be a bad drive but instead it may be a hardware failure in the Mac itself which would indicate your old drive is fine and your new one also.

 

Let me know.

 

Thanks

379 days and 9 hours ago.

Reply

I dont have any of those. If i were to find another mac, would it be detrimental to it to switch out drives? and if it were a hardware failure, what would the failure be?

Answer

Ok,

 

Almost any Mac will support and boot the drive you already have if it is not damaged, It wouldnot be detrimental in any way and if the drive is in good condition the new machine will just boot it like normal and give you access to all your files programs etc.

 

The fact that your machine wont mount the old drive and wont mount the new drive would indicate a hardware failure in one of your machines components which could be as simple as the hard drive connector cable, however before we could start troubleshooting components we would need to confirm that the drives are good and that it is a hardware issue.

 

Let me know if you need more info or if you know anyone with a mac you can use.

 

Thanks

 

Eric

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Expert: Claws224
Pos. Feedback: 98.8 %
Accepts: 656
Answered: 1/26/2009

IEEE Datacommunication Engineer

IEEE, Microsoft

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