I got my iMac back last Thursday, but was unable to do anything more than pick it up from the Apple Store, since I had to immediately go on bereavement leave. I got back home today and I've just now finished installing Mountain Lion. It is NICE!
Yes, my hard disk had to be replaced, but I've verified that S.M.A.R.T. isn't showing errors. I'm now installing patches and will go through Time Machine to determine what I wanted restored to the drive...this'll be a week-long process.
So, stay tuned for whining and praises of Mountain Lion!
Showing posts with label Time Machine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time Machine. Show all posts
Monday, August 06, 2012
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
iMac showing SMART failure
Wow...this is the second time in a row where I'm having drive issues with my Mac. The firs time, it was my Macbook, where the drive outright failed. This time, it is my iMac.
I purchased Mountain Lion two days ago. I began to download it last night to install on my iMac and during the install process, I was asked to select where to install ML, so I selected the main drive. A pop-up appeared stating there were errors on the drive and that failure was imminent. It would not let me install.
So, I've made an appointment to the local (if you want to call it that) Genius Bar, for tomorrow morning. I've to pack up the 27" iMac and tote it to the Genius Bar. That's going to be a bit of a PITA. Then I'm probably going to be told that they'll have my iMac for a week or so...let's not hope I have to go through the same situation as my last visit.
Now, this problem is rampant on the Apple.com forums, as well as MacRumors.com. Many people were blaming Lion, but some people were running Snow Leopard when this occurred. I don't believe it is any Mac OS version, but something isn't quite right here. Many people were affected by this. The culprit is either a bad batch of drives, which Apple has a "recall" on (my system didn't qualify for this recall...weird), or a cooling issue that is adversely affecting hard drives, as many have complained that their systems are running excessively hot. Many people have also stated that OS X is becoming smart enough to actually correctly assess imminent drive failure (whereas the previous OSs were not able to do this consistently). That only partially explains the large amount of drive failure complaints...what's causing the failures?
Another thing: I have no idea how long my machine has been showing "fail" as a SMART status. You'd think the user/admin would be prompted somehow that there's an issue related to drive failure. I wasn't made aware until I tried to install v10.8. An admin shouldn't have to check the SMART status daily, weekly, or even monthly. Really...this is 2012 and an OS should somehow convey (proactively) the nature of such a status.
I've Time Machine, so I've a backup.
I purchased Mountain Lion two days ago. I began to download it last night to install on my iMac and during the install process, I was asked to select where to install ML, so I selected the main drive. A pop-up appeared stating there were errors on the drive and that failure was imminent. It would not let me install.
So, I've made an appointment to the local (if you want to call it that) Genius Bar, for tomorrow morning. I've to pack up the 27" iMac and tote it to the Genius Bar. That's going to be a bit of a PITA. Then I'm probably going to be told that they'll have my iMac for a week or so...let's not hope I have to go through the same situation as my last visit.
Now, this problem is rampant on the Apple.com forums, as well as MacRumors.com. Many people were blaming Lion, but some people were running Snow Leopard when this occurred. I don't believe it is any Mac OS version, but something isn't quite right here. Many people were affected by this. The culprit is either a bad batch of drives, which Apple has a "recall" on (my system didn't qualify for this recall...weird), or a cooling issue that is adversely affecting hard drives, as many have complained that their systems are running excessively hot. Many people have also stated that OS X is becoming smart enough to actually correctly assess imminent drive failure (whereas the previous OSs were not able to do this consistently). That only partially explains the large amount of drive failure complaints...what's causing the failures?
Another thing: I have no idea how long my machine has been showing "fail" as a SMART status. You'd think the user/admin would be prompted somehow that there's an issue related to drive failure. I wasn't made aware until I tried to install v10.8. An admin shouldn't have to check the SMART status daily, weekly, or even monthly. Really...this is 2012 and an OS should somehow convey (proactively) the nature of such a status.
I've Time Machine, so I've a backup.
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Backup Drive Corrupted
I was on vacation and upon return noticed that my periodical backups hadn't been running since the 21st of Jan. I back up data using Time Machine, to a LaCie 750GB drive.
I hadn't restarted the iMac in awhile (to which the drive is attached), so I restarted it...that didn't get it working. I also restarted the drive itself...no resolution either.
I opened up Disk Utility and it saw the drive, so now I'm running a "verify disk" and "repair". I'm hoping this fixes the issue, but I'm now wary, as it's taking quite a while, but this is probably due to the size of the drive. Also, maybe there's a ton of errors? I don't know.
I'd hate to lose the data on this drive. Perhaps I need to think of some type of backup procedure of the backup drive (maybe backing it up every six months or so).
It might be time to look at a different solution.
EDIT: Yeah... Disk Utility couldn't repair the partition, so I had to erase it to get it working again. It is fine now, but I think I'm going to need to periodically back up the back-up drive. Lost a LOT of pictures and such. I'm actually thinking on using a cloud-based storage solution.
I hadn't restarted the iMac in awhile (to which the drive is attached), so I restarted it...that didn't get it working. I also restarted the drive itself...no resolution either.
I opened up Disk Utility and it saw the drive, so now I'm running a "verify disk" and "repair". I'm hoping this fixes the issue, but I'm now wary, as it's taking quite a while, but this is probably due to the size of the drive. Also, maybe there's a ton of errors? I don't know.
I'd hate to lose the data on this drive. Perhaps I need to think of some type of backup procedure of the backup drive (maybe backing it up every six months or so).
It might be time to look at a different solution.
EDIT: Yeah... Disk Utility couldn't repair the partition, so I had to erase it to get it working again. It is fine now, but I think I'm going to need to periodically back up the back-up drive. Lost a LOT of pictures and such. I'm actually thinking on using a cloud-based storage solution.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Time Machine
So, I've got a 750GM LaCie drive that I bought maybe a year and a half ago at Microcenter for the purpose of backing up my work laptop's hard disk. Instead, I decided to use it for my Macbook. I've been using it off and on, but after I got the iMac, I decided that I could just activate Time Machine on the desktop. In fact, I may be able to use it for both the laptop and desktop.
Backing up every hour for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all the previous months is cool as hell when all you have to do is keep it plugged in (and not that this is without configuration).
Sooner or later, though, I'm going to have to get a bigger drive...got a 1TB disk in the iMac.
Backing up every hour for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all the previous months is cool as hell when all you have to do is keep it plugged in (and not that this is without configuration).
Sooner or later, though, I'm going to have to get a bigger drive...got a 1TB disk in the iMac.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Time Machine
I'm trying to educate myself on Time Machine. I've a new USB 2.0 external drive that I'd like to use as a backup repository for my Macbook. Time Machine doesn't want to play nicely, though.
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