iMAC not recognizing HDD
My MAC HDD was making clicking noise so I had to replace the HDD. But when I re-installed the new HDD it will not detect it. It will restart with a question mark symbol in folder. What should i do to eradicate this issue.
Please anyone help me.
Please anyone help me.
If the drive was empty you would need to perform network restore.
It recognizes the disk but it wont recognize the partitioning table on it.
Did you use any tool to clone your old drive to new one? Or is it just a clean HDD what you put there?
It recognizes the disk but it wont recognize the partitioning table on it.
Did you use any tool to clone your old drive to new one? Or is it just a clean HDD what you put there?
What is model of your iMac?
Question mark shows Mac cannot find system folder, have you tried reinstalling MacOS Mojave or whichever is supported on your device through recovery by following.
Immediately as your Mac starts, do one of the following:
1-Install the latest version of macOS from the internet: Press and hold Option-Command-R until a spinning globe appears, then release the keys.
This option installs the latest version of macOS that is compatible with your computer.
2-Reinstall your computer’s original version of macOS from the internet: Press and hold Shift-Option-Command-R until a spinning globe appears, then release the keys.
This option reinstalls the most recent version of macOS that came with your computer, including any available updates to that version.
3-Reinstall macOS from the built-in recovery disk(if applicable) on your computer: Press and hold Command-R until the Utilities window appears.
This option reinstalls the version of macOS stored on your computer’s built-in recovery disk, including any updates that you installed.
Select Reinstall macOS, then click Continue.
Follow the onscreen instructions. In the pane where you select a disk, select your current macOS disk (in most cases, it’s the only one available).
Question mark shows Mac cannot find system folder, have you tried reinstalling MacOS Mojave or whichever is supported on your device through recovery by following.
Immediately as your Mac starts, do one of the following:
1-Install the latest version of macOS from the internet: Press and hold Option-Command-R until a spinning globe appears, then release the keys.
This option installs the latest version of macOS that is compatible with your computer.
2-Reinstall your computer’s original version of macOS from the internet: Press and hold Shift-Option-Command-R until a spinning globe appears, then release the keys.
This option reinstalls the most recent version of macOS that came with your computer, including any available updates to that version.
3-Reinstall macOS from the built-in recovery disk(if applicable) on your computer: Press and hold Command-R until the Utilities window appears.
This option reinstalls the version of macOS stored on your computer’s built-in recovery disk, including any updates that you installed.
Select Reinstall macOS, then click Continue.
Follow the onscreen instructions. In the pane where you select a disk, select your current macOS disk (in most cases, it’s the only one available).
The new disk is blank, without a Mac OS or restore partition. When there's no bootable partition on a disk, the mac will show a question mark inside a folder.
On a modern Mac, you use Command option r to boot from the internet and install the original OS that came on the Mac. This does not allow you to install Mojave unless that's what it originally came with. This is used when you install a blank disk on newer Macs. If you have an older Mac that came with an installer DVD, you must use that installer DVD to reinstall the Mac.
After the initial network or DVD install, you can update the OS to the latest OS. If you want a particular OS X, you needed to have already "purchased" the free copy. If you have an old enough version, you can find the your old "purchases" and download each version of OS X that you've previously purchased. The newest OS X App store hides away all those OS X purchases, so you can no longer download them.
On a modern Mac, you use Command option r to boot from the internet and install the original OS that came on the Mac. This does not allow you to install Mojave unless that's what it originally came with. This is used when you install a blank disk on newer Macs. If you have an older Mac that came with an installer DVD, you must use that installer DVD to reinstall the Mac.
After the initial network or DVD install, you can update the OS to the latest OS. If you want a particular OS X, you needed to have already "purchased" the free copy. If you have an old enough version, you can find the your old "purchases" and download each version of OS X that you've previously purchased. The newest OS X App store hides away all those OS X purchases, so you can no longer download them.
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I was able to install an OEM disk in an old 2009 iMac at one point, by stripping out some of the connector wires + shorting them together.
Tip: This is not for the faint of heart + I'd never do it again.
Likely having Apple replace your disk will be best.
If you really must do this yourself, you'll lookup a hardware hacking manual for your specific hardware type (every Apple time seems different).
Tip: If you have a slim form factor iMac (rather than 1-2 inch wide version), you have a very new iMac + likely there will be no way you can get an OEM drive working without some very serious electronics hacking.