dingdongbubble Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 I was trying to install Mac OS X86 the JAS version 10.4.8. So somewhere in between there was some error and the installation had to stop. Some error. So I quit and tried again. But on the console thing it says disk2s3 unsupported mode. I guessed that it was because of the stopped installation so I tried to format the HDD to FAT32 again but it cant. I tried Acronis but it says that the HDD is not supported. I tried right clicking on My Computer and going to Manage and tried formatting from there but no luck. I think the DD is gone forever. Do you know any HARDWARE way where I can render the HDD as fesh with no formatting on it or no data or anything as though it is new? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/57933-hdd-screwed-forever/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJMoose Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 More than likely, all is not lost. If you have a copy of Hiren's boot disk or a windows boot floppy that has fdisk on it you're probably in better shape than you think. Here's what you do: 1. Install your HDD in your computer. 2. Run fdisk from your floppy or cd-rom 3. If you have more than one HDD, make sure you identify the right disk because you will lose all your data. If you're not sure how to id your drive, play it safe and just disconnect any other HDDs for the time being. That way you can be certain you are working with the proper drive. 4. One of the options in fdisk will be to delete a non-DOS partition. Do that. Do it for each non-DOS partition on the drive. 5. Step 4 will leave you with unallocated space on your HDD. What I would do now is delete all the rest of the partitions on the drive, leaving it entirely unformatted. 6. Now you can use fdisk or your favorite partitioning software to split up your newly formatted disk however you want. 7. Don't forget to re-attach any HDDs that you may have disconnected. Hope this helps... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/57933-hdd-screwed-forever/#findComment-413721 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingdongbubble Posted July 23, 2007 Author Share Posted July 23, 2007 Well I tried qParted (I think thats what its called) from Kubuntu Linux. No use. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/57933-hdd-screwed-forever/#findComment-413722 Share on other sites More sharing options...
stud muffin Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 i had a similar problem i had to unplug my hard drives power and boot windows installation disc from cd as soo as u get to the begining plug the hd power in and then format it Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/57933-hdd-screwed-forever/#findComment-413726 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingdongbubble Posted July 23, 2007 Author Share Posted July 23, 2007 do u think xp's formatter will be powerful enough? i mean at this stage i am looking for something with brute force which can format just about everything. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/57933-hdd-screwed-forever/#findComment-413727 Share on other sites More sharing options...
stud muffin Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 it worked for me, it was the only thiung that did, just make sure u dont power it up untill u boot from disc Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/57933-hdd-screwed-forever/#findComment-413740 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingdongbubble Posted July 23, 2007 Author Share Posted July 23, 2007 What happens if I do power it up earlier? And wont it be dangerous to power up a drive connected to your PC with an ATA cable whi9le the PC is turned on? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/57933-hdd-screwed-forever/#findComment-413762 Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJMoose Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Unless somehow or other the drive is really physically fried, the method I described above will work. There's a very strong possibility the XP disk will work, but fdisk is faster. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/57933-hdd-screwed-forever/#findComment-413898 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mebster Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 I've screwed my HDDs so many times and a lot of those times I thought it was dead. What always seems to get it back to normal is when I zero-fill my drive back to factory settings. Go to the manufacture of the HDDs website and look for some low-level formatting program that runs on floppies, cd or usb and then give that a try to format the system. XP's format doesn't seem to be strong enough. Alternatively try fdisk. Although I've never needed to use it, i've heard many people recommend it including now BJMoose. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/57933-hdd-screwed-forever/#findComment-413991 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. C Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Start with your JaS 10.4.8 install disc. Start the disc utility (don`t know the exact english name for it... The tool to format etc. your HDD) Select your HDD. Don`t just click on partition, instead delete every partition manually in the window where you can create a partition scheme, until the HDD is empty. Format now with the journaled MAC OS filesystem, if you are lucky you`ll have a clean HDD with a Master Boot Record holding your new partition scheme. Dr. C Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/57933-hdd-screwed-forever/#findComment-414022 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingdongbubble Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 Oh thank God. I did it. I formatted it. YEAY But now I hav more problem with the MACOSX JAS. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/57933-hdd-screwed-forever/#findComment-414040 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. C Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Oh thank God. I did it. I formatted it. YEAY But now I hav more problem with the MACOSX JAS. Glad it worked out for you (if you meant me) Which problem do you have with JaS 10.4.8? Dr. C Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/57933-hdd-screwed-forever/#findComment-414142 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts