What's that clicking noise?
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From: Erik Richard Sørensen on 2 Dec 2009 19:55 Paul Sture wrote: > Paul Magnussen <magiconinc(a)earthlink.net> wrote: >> My G4 (OS 10.4.11), which I've had for many years, has suddenly started >> making 5 or 6 loud clicks when it boots up, or wakes from sleep. I >> presume (without proof) that this is from disc seeks, since apart from >> that everything functions normally. >> >> Is this cause for alarm? And if so, what should I do about it? > > I would guess that it's the internal disk failing. > > My iBook did that several years ago. Fortunately I was well backed up to > an external Firewire disk, so I simply made sure it was up to date and > started booting from that. This can easily be verified.... Paul M.: If your external disk has a bootable system (OS 9.2 or OS X), open the G4 while it's shutdown and disconnect the ATA cable and the powercord from the HD. Close the lid. Be sure that the external drive is now mounted correctly with the Firewire cable. Turn on the power on the FW disk and press the startup botton on the G4. Now the G4 should startup from the external HD... If then the click sounds are gone, you can be 99% sure that it is the internal IBM harddisk that is about to leave this (computer)world and I would - if I were you - make a backup of the rest of your data to the external disk as soon as possible. To re-mount the internal drive again, just closedown normally and turn off the power to the Firewire disk, open the lid again and put back the ATA cable and powercable to the internal disk. Close the lid. Take out the FW cable to force the machine to boot again on the internal drive. Cheers, Erik Richard -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC, <mac-manNOSP(a)Mstofanet.dk> NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Text Processing - www.nisus.com OpenOffice.org - The Modern Productivity Solution - www.openoffice.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Erik Richard Sørensen on 2 Dec 2009 20:13 Paul Sture wrote: > Erik Richard Sørensen <NOSPAM(a)NOSPAM.dk> wrote: >> Since it's a G4, I'll recommend to replace the disk with a >> WesternDigital Scorpio. You can get a 320gb for reasonable amount of >> money - apprx. $100USd - maybe less depending on where you're living... > > Having a Western Digital drive myself, I wouldn't recommend them to > anyone. As already answered, I misread the G4 for a PowerBook G4, so Paul M. will need a standard ATA-100/ATA-133 3,5" disk not larger than 120gb.:-) Why then won't you recommend the WD disks? - I have only WD and Barracuda disk in all my machines and have never had any problems with neither of them. - In my one dual MDD I have 2x120gb + 2x200gb WD Caviar, in my other single MDD I have only 1x Barracuda. 4 out of my 8 external Firewire disks are also WD - 2x160gb and 2x200gb. The oldest one is a WD160BB from 2001 and it's working just like new. I have only once had a problem with a WD disk and this was an old 60gb WD600EB from 1997/98... And for 2,5" disks, I'd only recommend either WD Scorpio or TravelStar. - That said out of nearly 15 years of experience with laptop disks. Cheers, Erik Richard -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC, <mac-manNOSP(a)Mstofanet.dk> NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Text Processing - www.nisus.com OpenOffice.org - The Modern Productivity Solution - www.openoffice.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Julian G�mez on 4 Dec 2009 19:57 In article <4b12eb41$0$21653$ba624c82(a)nntp02.dk.telia.net>, Erik Richard S�rensen <NOSPAM(a)NOSPAM.dk> wrote: > Since it's a G4, I'll recommend to replace the disk with a > WesternDigital Scorpio. You can get a 320gb for reasonable amount of > money - apprx. $100USd - maybe less depending on where you're living... > > Cheers, Erik Richard Is that what you're paying in Aarhus? Out here $100US gets you an external hard disk of 1.5TB.
From: Nick Naym on 4 Dec 2009 23:03 In article jeg-BBEA83.16571404122009(a)news.astraweb.com, Julian G�mez at jeg(a)polished-pixels.com wrote on 12/4/09 7:57 PM: > In article <4b12eb41$0$21653$ba624c82(a)nntp02.dk.telia.net>, > Erik Richard S�rensen <NOSPAM(a)NOSPAM.dk> wrote: >> Since it's a G4, I'll recommend to replace the disk with a >> WesternDigital Scorpio. You can get a 320gb for reasonable amount of >> money - apprx. $100USd - maybe less depending on where you're living... >> >> Cheers, Erik Richard > > Is that what you're paying in Aarhus? Out here $100US gets you an > external hard disk of 1.5TB. Maybe for the platter...but for the entire drive (platter and enclosure)? -- iMac (24", 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 320 GB HDD) � OS X (10.5.8)
From: Erik Richard Sørensen on 5 Dec 2009 14:10
Nick Naym wrote: > Julian Gómez at jeg(a)polished-pixels.com wrote on 12/4/09 7:57 PM: >> In article <4b12eb41$0$21653$ba624c82(a)nntp02.dk.telia.net>, >> Erik Richard Sørensen <NOSPAM(a)NOSPAM.dk> wrote: >>> Since it's a G4, I'll recommend to replace the disk with a >>> WesternDigital Scorpio. You can get a 320gb for reasonable amount of >>> money - apprx. $100USd - maybe less depending on where you're living... >> >> Is that what you're paying in Aarhus? Out here $100US gets you an >> external hard disk of 1.5TB. Hei Jusian... Good to see wellknown people here too.:-)) - Strangely I can'¨t see your original posting. But, you need to have in mind that it is a G4, which uses the ATA and not the SATA controller interface.... Yes, ATA disks are quite expensive here - apprx. $100USd for a 320gb and if on discount sometimes down to $80USd though. - A 500gb infact is cheaper I have found - just around $105USd - apprx. 525Dkr.. - If it was a SATA controller interface you could get a 1tb disk for around 650Dkr. - apprx. $130USd - WD or Barracuda... > Maybe for the platter...but for the entire drive (platter and enclosure)? Nick, as you can see above the ATA disks are more expensive than the SATA, and the OP's G4 uses ATA, - if he hasn't mounted a SATA PCI controller, and therefore also will be forced to pay the higher prices for the ATA disks... - And then of course there also is the 128gb limit to have in mind, if the G4 has a firmware lower than 4.3.8f6.... Sometimes when I buy other hardware parts at OWC and they have rebates on the ATA disks, I have bought a few there, but most of the time it will be the same as here, when you add VAT and postal fee... Cheers, Erik Richard -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC, <mac-manNOSP(a)Mstofanet.dk> NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Text Processing - www.nisus.com OpenOffice.org - The Modern Productivity Solution - www.openoffice.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |