Did Mavericks break my HDD and if should I upgrade and how?

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iMac Intel 20" EMC 2133 and 2210

Model A1224 / Mid 2007 and Early 2008 / 2, 2.4, or 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo processor

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royceruiz @royceruiz

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Postato: 31 ott 2013

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Did Mavericks break my HDD and if should I upgrade and how?

Here is the situation. I have an early 2008 iMac. When upgrading to Mavericks I think my HDD failed during the reboot. It froze during the shut down and I had to hold down the power button to turn it of. When I turned it back on I got the blinking ? folder icon. I restarted with option held down an it booted into recovery. Disk utility didn't see the HDD and only saw my time machine drive and lie 1.6 GB of my HDD. I needed to leave so I shut it down and when I returned I turned it on and 10.8.5 booted up like normal. I tried to install Mavericks again and this time it got all the way through the restart and it started to install. Then a screen came up that said my HDD was damaged and needed to be erased and restored. I went into disk utility and it saw my HDD but I couldn't figure out how to erase it (I've never done it before and I wanted to make sure I did it right. I shut it down and figured I would look up how to do it and then do it right. When I came back and turned it on disk utility couldn't see the HDD anymore. It only saw my external time machine backup. I tried resetting several times in various configurations. I only could ever boot into recovery when my external was hooked up. I called Apple and was directed to try a few more things. Ultimately they said that I need to replace my HDD. It seemed strange that this all coincided with upgrading to Mavericks and I initially thought that it caused my problems. Now I think it just exposed a problem that was right around the corner (though I'm open to suggestions if someone thinks my current setup can be saved).

I am now looking for a new HDD. If I'm going to do this I figure I might as well upgrade. I'm considering a few options.

Option 1. Replace my 500 GB HDD with a larger capacity HDD.

Option 2. Replace my 500 GB HDD with a smaller capacity SSD

Option 3. Replace my 500 GB HDD with a larger capacity SSHD.

Option 4. Replace my 500 GB HDD with a larger capacity HDD and my optical drive with a small SSD and attempt to create a fusion drive. (I would like to know if this is possible and fairly easy. Has anyone done this on an early ;08 iMac?)

The options are listed in opposite order of my desire (meaning I would prefer option 4). I have read a few things regarding option 2 that say this will cause my fan to run constantly. I don't want that. Will option 3 allow for normal fan operation? What unforeseen issues will come up? What options am I not considering? I figure I can do any of these options for about $200 or so. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

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I have a mid 2007 iMac that I installed Mavericks on several months ago. Everything seemed to be operating normally until recently. The only change I made was buying Civ V from the app store and deleting my previous version that used Steam. I typically leave my computer in and leave programs open incl. Civ. I maxed the RAM about a year ago.

Recently I found the computer took longer to start up and heard odd noises. I brought it to the Genius Bar for diagnostics. Everything passed and the genius said that it wasn't worth sending for further examination or repair as Apple wouldn't have replacemt parts available. 2 days later the hard drive failed and I am using the bootable backup that is attached.

I am opting to replace the HD to a 3 TB drive and am just waiting on the parts.

I figured I didn't have much time left but was surprised how quickly it died. I do wonder if Mavericks had anything to do with it

2 apr 2014 da a26cf035

Probably not. The lifetime of a HD is about 5 years. Many last longer but like old dogs and old cars it's because of the care they get and that they had good genes to start with (When you build things as complicated as a HD each part has a tolerance specification normally you get parts that are "in spec for certain values of in and they last around 5 years but sometimes you get better builds with more, or practically all the parts made the way they were specified - and you get a lot longer life. a26cf035- For future reference you posted a Question in the place where only Answers belong. Please use the add comment link'' to the O.Q. or Answer.

3 apr 2014 da originalmachead

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originalmachead @originalmachead

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Postato: 31 ott 2013

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All this coincided with starting a major project with a lack of time, and, aborting (crashing) the installs not just once, but multiple times.

New installers create e-drives (etherial) when you kill the install the e-drive partition and information goes with creating a hole in the MBD. This is why it is never advised to perform an update to a laptop that is not plugged into house current. If the battery would die that person would be in the fix you're in.

So. when you get your new HD. don't start an install unless you can leave the machine running all day, Do due diligence before starting a major OS upgrade (and IMHO you'r asking a lot of a 5 (almost 6) year old machine to run current OS.) Remember "computer years" are like "dog years" they don't track one-to-one with "human years". There's can run OS and built for or should run OS. You are at the far low margin of the confirmed upgrade hardware requirement.

I vote for option no. 1. 5 years ago you bought a nice "Joe Average" family machine. Forget fusion drive unless you buy a new machine… you are trying to do is similar to doing an "upgrade" on the family car so as to turn it into a funny car… it's not cost effective project or for the "average" user, And you should start from an entirely different car (model). If your needs or ability has changed get a new iMac or MacPro (if you like to customize/modify computers).

If this answer is acceptable please remember to return and mark it.

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1st, I agree with the comment that I am asking a lot out of my machine. Unfortunately I need to because I need it to use the latest version of iWork for the work that I do (I have become dependent on the iOS apps and iCloud.

2nd, reading through the post again I could see how it looked like I was short on time. I wasn't. I had a whole day for each time and the times when I left the machine off to come back another day it was a time when it would have been off and it was the end of the day.

I suppose I agree with eliminating option 4 as I only plan to use the machine a max of two more years (I have had it for 5 up to this point. Also, I should probably eliminate option 2. There is only a slight price difference between option 1 and 3. Is there a reason not to go with three besides it's not worth the extra $? Is there a negative to an SSHD over a traditional HDD? Thanks for the input.

31 ott 2013 da royceruiz

Don't throw good money after bad. Get a replacement HD… I'd put more money in RAM if you have not Maxed out your machine (the best bang for your buck performance wise is to maximize the RAM you computer can access) or start saving for that new machine. You start stuffing too much inside that old box you'll have overheating problems next. Couldn't you just save work from home then open/update at work? Then saveAs at work in an old version, RTF or a compatible file to open at home? Just make the needed improvements to allow you to run Mavericks…BTW I'd wait on that upgrade if you can. There may still be undiscovered "known issues"(M$ calls these "undiscovered features") pushing that new OS on an old box

1 nov 2013 da originalmachead

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I have a mid 2007 iMac that I installed Mavericks on several months ago. Everything seemed to be operating normally until recently. The only change I made was buying Civ V from the app store and deleting my previous version that used Steam. I typically leave my computer in and leave programs open incl. Civ. I maxed the RAM about a year ago.

Recently I found the computer took longer to start up and heard odd noises. I brought it to the Genius Bar for diagnostics. Everything passed and the genius said that it wasn't worth sending for further examination or repair as Apple wouldn't have replacemt parts available. 2 days later the hard drive failed and I am using the bootable backup that is attached.

I am opting to replace the HD to a 3 TB drive and am just waiting on the parts.

I figured I didn't have much time left but was surprised how quickly it died. I do wonder if Mavericks had anything to do with it — a26cf035
Probably not. The lifetime of a HD is about 5 years. Many last longer but like old dogs and old cars it's because of the care they get and that they had good genes to start with (When you build things as complicated as a HD each part has a tolerance specification normally you get parts that are "in spec for certain values of in and they last around 5 years but sometimes you get better builds with more, or practically all the parts made the way they were specified - and you get a lot longer life. a26cf035- For future reference you posted a Question in the place where only Answers belong. Please use the add comment link'' to the O.Q. or Answer. — originalmachead
1st, I agree with the comment that I am asking a lot out of my machine. Unfortunately I need to because I need it to use the latest version of iWork for the work that I do (I have become dependent on the iOS apps and iCloud.

2nd, reading through the post again I could see how it looked like I was short on time. I wasn't. I had a whole day for each time and the times when I left the machine off to come back another day it was a time when it would have been off and it was the end of the day.

I suppose I agree with eliminating option 4 as I only plan to use the machine a max of two more years (I have had it for 5 up to this point. Also, I should probably eliminate option 2. There is only a slight price difference between option 1 and 3. Is there a reason not to go with three besides it's not worth the extra $? Is there a negative to an SSHD over a traditional HDD? Thanks for the input. — royceruiz
Don't throw good money after bad. Get a replacement HD… I'd put more money in RAM if you have not Maxed out your machine (the best bang for your buck performance wise is to maximize the RAM you computer can access) or start saving for that new machine. You start stuffing too much inside that old box you'll have overheating problems next. Couldn't you just save work from home then open/update at work? Then saveAs at work in an old version, RTF or a compatible file to open at home? Just make the needed improvements to allow you to run Mavericks…BTW I'd wait on that upgrade if you can. There may still be undiscovered "known issues"(M$ calls these "undiscovered features") pushing that new OS on an old box — originalmachead

Greg Neumann @gregneumann Rep: 113 3 · Answer 1 · 2013-11-06T14:04:13-07:00

There is some evidence that OSX Mavericks install thrashes Hard discs to such an extent that it exposes any underlying weaknesses and the disc dies. It would have died soon - it's just been brought to a head.

An extract from that discussion is " agree 100% that it's unlikely that Mavericks itself is to blame for boot drives failing during installation, and more probable that the drives themselves was failing, but with the main suppliers seemingly on a race to the bottom with drive price/quality it looks like Apple and other computer companies are going to have to have sharp words with them to sort it out. Either that or Apple is going to have to modify their installer software to be less stressful on the drives, possibly by slowing down the installation."

Discussion here