[OT] Looking For OS X Troubleshooting Suggestions 22

[Jim Hurley]

Thanks Kay. The "complete external kit" sounds like a particularly good idea. 
It allows me to test the next step in the process before proceeding.

Jim


> 
> Message: 9
> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:28:07 +0800
> From: Kay C Lan <lan.kc.macmail at gmail.com>
> To: How to use LiveCode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com>
> Subject: Re: [OT] Looking For OS X Troubleshooting Suggestions 22
> Message-ID:
> 	<CA+uh5kjsfnJQpD3F2hNQJiBfnnO8KdSXVEZNo---=X27LTjYBw at mail.gmail.com>
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> 
> On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 3:07 AM, Jim Hurley <jhurley0305 at sbcglobal.net>wrote:
> 
> 
>> But I have one more very sophisticated diagnostic test I perform. I
>> listen. Every so often, the HD on my Mac Mini squeaks for a few minutes.
>> That can't be good.
>> 
> 
> Are you sure it's the HD, that would be very very unusual. What about the
> fan or DVD drive (if it isn't the latest Mac Mini?
> 
> The fan might squeak at certain rpm which would equate to certain
> tempertures. I think smcFanControl will work in an Intel Mac Mini and show
> you internal temps and fan rpm.
> 
> http://www.eidac.de/
> 
> If you are convinced it's the HD then I completely agree with Bob; it's
> time to make a clone and buy a new bigger and faster replacement, before
> you lose the drive.
> 
> Highly recommend:
> 
> http://www.macsales.com/
> 
> Buy a complete external kit. Use it to clone your old internal onto the new
> external. The move the new HD into your Mac Mini.
> 
> Then you can put the old HD into the external case and run programs like
> DriveGenius to see if there are bad blocks or something else that might be
> causing the squeaks. Don't do this before you've cloned your drive, the
> last thing you want is the drive to fail during testing but before you've
> cloned.
> 
> At worst, if it can't be cured, you can always use it as an emergency boot
> drive. I have an old 40GB drive I pulled out of a G3 PB that has a pristine
> copy of SnoLeo on it + DriveGenius. Every now and then I start off it and
> run software update to make sure everything is up-to-date. Very rarely I
> actually start off it so I can do some serious Disc maintenance on the
> internal drive of my MBP.
> 
> Note, this drive is NOT used for backups, it doesn't have anything
> essential on it, so when it does bite the dust it's no great lose. In the
> mean time it's got something on it that can be a huge time saver.
> 
> As for performance hit, see my previous post; from fastest to slowest:
> 
> 1) Internal HD
> 
> External
> 2) eSata
> 3) FW800
> 4) FW400
> 5) USB 2.0 HD
> 6) USB 2.0 thumb drive
> 
> 7) DVD install disc
> 
> I don't have USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt cases but I would expect both of those
> to sit somewhere around eSATA, but still below an Internal HD.
> 
> HTH
>