Did a big NO-NO....

[cyberkazoo]

Hello,

I guess I just made a huge mistake on my iMac DV+ (slot loading, 450MHz). My system started acting funny, like Outlook Express locked up, etc., so I wanted to try some system utilitites before I buy any. So I downloaded the demo version of Norton Utilities and run it from OS 9.2.

....That was the mistake. Now I don't know the specific term but my HD isn't recognized anymore. Well, it is there, but when I boot from OS X CD (OS 9 CD doesn't work for some reason) it asks whether I want to initialize the HD (of course not!) I can quit the installer and run the disk ulitity, but it gets an internal error and I can't go on.

Bringing my Mac to the repair center is the last thing I want to do, but if there's software out there to do my work (to fix that data sector) I'm willing to buy it. I know there are Norton, TechTools Pro (and Drive X), DiskWarrior... which would you recommend? Or is it too late so I should bring it to the store?

Gawd... my class project is tomorrow and everything is in that iMac! :'(

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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Spec: iMac DV+ (G3 450 MHz), 30 GB HD, 576MB RAM, MacOS 9.2 + 10.1

[themacko]

Norton isn't that great for Macs, I would suggest you try using a DiskWarrior boot disk (if you can get your hands on one). Before you try those, you may want to run the Hardware Diagnostics disk that came with your iMac to see if it can do something about your drive.

This thread may also help.

[cyberkazoo]

Thanks, macko,

Here's what I discovered so far: It recognizes 9.1 CD, 10.0 CD, 10.1 CD and all the original CD which came with my iMac, but it doesn't recognize 9.2 CD.

Appearently, none of them seem to recognized OS 9.x portion (note I didn't say partition as I didn't) as formatted drive, and applying another driver doesn't help either. That's why I can't even let OS X installer do the work because it doesn't see the HD (but the disk utility does see it).

Boy, what have I done?? *sigh*

[themacko]

Okay I think I see what you're saying, well that is a bad deal. Especially since you have data on there that you need. I still think your best bet would be to use a DiskWarrior boot cd and hope for the best, but if you can't get one (which you probably can't) you may want to try using the Hardware Diagnostic cd that came with your Mac.

Other than that I'm not sure what all your options are if you can't backup the current data on your whacked out HD. It sounds more like a software/file structure problem to me than a physically bad hard drive, so I'll copy this thread over to Troubleshooting and hopefully someone in there has an idea of what to do.