Confirmed iMac Hard Drive Is "Failing"

Starting around lunch on Monday, it became a very long but productive day into the night until 4am. We were still able to fit in an afternoon hound walk, some breaks outside for them and me and calmness remained as I looked at my options. It was confirmed late Monday night that my iMac hard drive was "Failing" due to pending bad sectors with a reason of "old age" ... I'm serious, that's the reason they gave me.

{Warning} This post is going to be all computer talk about what happened yesterday, my options, what I did and my future computer plans. All of it is fit in-between some yesterday afternoon pictures and pictures from this morning's walk.

I sit here this morning with a better system and much much faster system than I had even before the computer crash on Thursday. Sometime around 10:30am Monday (yesterday), my repair job or a clean reformat on Sunday, started acting like it did before I erased my hard drive to start over. The computer would freeze over the simplest tasks. Open a program, hang up .. type a word, spinning beach ball .. open an Excel spreadsheet, wait forever, still might not open. All signs of a bad hard drive.

By mid-afternoon Monday my screen on the iMac and large monitor went black and froze. After shutting it down by holding the power button down, the reboot froze halfway across the progress bar just like it did when it crashed. I got into the computer the backdoor way and ran Disk Utility Repair and once again it found missing start up files and bad sectors to repair. That fixed it to where it would run.

It was during this time early Monday afternoon I started going through my options. My intuition told me last week that my 'almost' 7 year old hard drive was dying a slow death. An app sent to me called 'Smart Drive' confirmed it late last night in about a second, literally. My hard drive was failing due to pending bad sectors. I'll explain later how I got that app. I would link it but it is designed to start downloading immediately once you click on the link, so I'll not do that here.

Again on Monday I looked at computer replacements at Best Buy online, with plans of driving over and buying a new iMac that was on sale. I would have a larger hard drive more RAM and a faster processor. Once again I was steps away from leaving when I stopped to look at something else. The Mac Mini !!!

They had improved so much over the years that CNET was giving it raving reviews. It too had more RAM, a bigger hard drive and a much faster processor than my current old iMac. So I had two options I was looking at and really couldn't decide. I wanted to make sure that either one was in stock before making the 45 minute drive one-way. Still ... I had something else in mind.

I was sitting here with a MacBook Air that had a new solid state hard drive, less than two years old and had the ability to connect to my large monitor, use my wireless keyboard and trackpad. Since I had moved 262Gb of pictures to an external drive on Sunday, I knew my 62Gb of files left would fit on the laptop's 128Gb Flash Drive (solid state).

All the geeks use their laptops like that. So why not use that as an option? It was already paid for and a better faster system than the two computers I was looking at. I had bought this laptop to be my main computer when I had plans to travel full time or 6 months at a time. Since those plans were put on hold, this laptop had been nothing more than a place to play Mahjong (addicted) and look out my nice view from the kitchen table when I still was on the computer.

Now remember, I am not an official computer geek or IT specialist, but I know enough to be dangerous as they say. Everything I have learned over my 24 years of using computers is from OJT, google searches, computer forums, Apple and Microsoft support and more recently YouTube (rare). Also add in the fact that at times my memory is not as good as it use to be, unless it is sports trivia or past ballgames, so I forget at times how to do simple things on the computer ... such as:

How do I get the wireless keyboard and wireless trackpad or mouse to connect and work on this laptop instead of my iMac. I found my answer from a google search that led me to that same question being asked by someone else in Apple Support. I had to manually go into preferences and disconnect them from the iMac first before the bluetooth on the laptop would find them so I could click and add them.

Once I figured that out and had a 'new' fast system again, I was golden. I forgot about buying a new replacement computer or even the Mac Mini. PLUS ... the old iMac was still a great, new condition, computer ... all it needed was a new hard drive and some additions RAM memory sticks to be installed. I can do that and did a few times when I had PCs years ago.

But before I made the jump I wanted to make sure my intuition was right. I had time consuming work ahead of me if I decided to make the laptop my new desktop replacement computer. So another place I go to when I have any computer questions is a place for Mac owners called MacRumors Forum

When I could not find my answer by looking through other posts, I decided to write a new post telling people what had happened in detail (bullet format) and what I had done (bullet format) and what the computer was currently doing. Then I asked for opinions or answers to "Is my hard drive slowly dying"?

Within minutes I had an answer that my intuition was exactly right and they suggested opening up that iMac and installing a new solid state hard drive. Within 30 minutes of that answer someone else sent me two links to do just that, where to buy what I needed to do the install and a video on how to do it. Within the hour after writing my post someone from Australia sent me the hard drive analysis app (SmartDrive) that confirmed it was failing.

By this time it's getting close to midnight. I was energized knowing I had a great replacement system sitting right here (on kitchen table) and within a few hours time I could migrate all the files from the iMac to the MacBook via the Time Machine backup from the iMac. But, it would take hours to complete that.

Since my computer desk is the size of a door, I have plenty of room for the laptop to be sitting there connected to power, to the monitor and then having two external hard drives plugged in. One is for the automatic backup every hour and the other is the picture library that Apple Photo runs off of. Then later I had a brain storm that I could set my iMac on my other desk (regular size) to get that out of the way, until I decide to install a new hard drive.

By 3am all the files on my iMac had been migrated to the MacBook Air and things were running smoothly and fast. I had my computer system back using the same monitor, keyboard and trackpad I had used since October 2010.

Just like when you buy a new computer, you have a chance to do some 'house cleaning' of files, apps, software programs thus freeing up hard drive space and getting rid of stuff you never look at or use anymore. I tore into that process even though it was after 3am. I was thrilled with the change of speed, no hanging up, and using a computer the way it was meant to be.

I did have a 'user error' at the very end where I had a real problem. Once again a search on google that led me to the same question from someone else six years ago in Apple Support forum ... I made the mistake of disconnecting the wireless mouse from my iMac. With my wireless keyboard already connected via bluetooth on my MacBook Air ... I had NO way to move around the iMac or even shut it off.

It gets better ... and funnier .... without a lot of thinking I decided I needed to electronically disconnect the trackpad from the laptop so I could connect via Bluetooth to the iMac ... but the iMac couldn't find the signal so I could add it to the iMac. So .... to dig my grave deeper ... I disconnect the wireless keyboard from the laptop to see if the iMac Bluetooth could find the keyboard so I could add it that way.

The iMac could not find the keyboard signal either !!!  So I had two different computers and no way of using them because I (ME) had disconnected ALL of my wireless mouse, keyboard and trackpad and the only way to move around a computer. Luckily my solution was hidden on google search, all I needed to do was ask the question. That led me AGAIN to the same question by someone else asked in the Apple Support Forum.

Needless to say, I got everything worked out in a pretty short time. During these 17 hours of computer work I did not lose my cool, didn't panic, and just kept looking for answers or recommendations to find the solution. Like I said on Sunday night, in a sick sort of way I love doing this type of work on a computer when nothing is working.

For a split second I thought about pulling an all-nighter ... college lingo ... I was getting a lot done and this system was so much faster than I had before. So I had to force myself to turn out the lights and head for bed at 4:18am. I knew the hounds would be waking me up soon for their breakfast kibble but in the meantime Sadie was snoring, Stella was running in her sleep and Heidi was buried under her Mexican blankets with the windows open.

I think I fell asleep about the time my body was in the horizontal position, I don't remember anything.

I had left the computer in sleep mode while I slept instead of turning it off because the Time Machine was copying 60Gb's of backup files to the different computer. There was an option I chose that keeps the old copy in case I send it back to the iMac later one but that will not be needed if I replace the hard drive.

I did think this morning that I had other options.

1.  I could keep this the same setup and with to repair the iMac with a new hard drive.

2.  I could buy the Mac Mini as a temporary desktop replacement but a future of working next to my tv, where I could store movies, tv shows, ballgames on that drive like my DVR, then connect that Mini to the tv vis HDMI cable and use that like a DVR .

3. No matter what, I will install a new solid state hard drive and more memory sticks in the iMac. Depending on the size of the hard drive, I could basically have enough memory and space for around $300-$350.

Before I make any purchase I am gong to live with the set up I have right now and see how I feel about it two or three weeks later. The Mac Mini is nearby if I decided I want to use that. I'll move my iMac to my other desk, plug it into that power strip and continue to look and make sure I am not missing anything as far as information, old files or data before I open the front of that machine to add new stuff to it. (I know all the files were migrated and nothing should be missing) That moving process will take place after the hounds have their late lunch ... they are all passed out right now and have missed the noon howling/barking feature.

When thinking of options, I really did think of the new Windows Surface with the combine laptop/tablet and great reviews. All for the same price of the iMac I thought of buying yesterday. I also thought of going to the ChromeBook route. I've looked at those in the past and from what I do know and plan to do in the future, I just needed more computer than the ChromeBook.

I remember how hard it was, even with computer experience, to go from a Microsoft background to Apple. There was a learning curve there for a few weeks. When I was working and had only a PC at work, then I was flipping back and forth between Windows and Apple every day so it wasn't as hard.

But the fact is ... I love Apple equipment. I had almost 7 years of no problems while spending more time on a computer than a lot of people. I wish it wasn't that way but it's life in the 21st century.

Until this morning, as I typed this and doing computer stuff before our morning walk, I did not really realize just how bad that iMac hard drive was. It really does feel like I have bought a new computer since hooking up the laptop to all the main stuff like large monitor, wireless keyboard and wireless trackpad.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I also get a lot of my information on how to do things, or what to buy by looking at Google "Images" in search. How else would I know without pictures, that a Mini Countryman could really go off-road and even tow a trailer??? Or just how would that MacBook Air look connected to a large 27" monitor ... where would all the cables go? Or ... Heidi's skin condition, has there ever been another basset hound with those type of allergies.

Searching on Google Images is a good tool for information and answers to questions.

So that about does it for the computer story. I am up and running, a clear plan on the old iMac, I have a faster system that makes things more enjoyable and all without spending a dime in today's money. Feel free to email me or make comments on any questions you may have about computers stuff. I know enough to 'be dangerous' and will lead you to someone that can if I can't answer your question(s).

There is nothing such as a straight walk between point A and point B with Stella. Even when you think the walk is almost over ... she finds just one more thing to check out before it's officially finished. Right after I snapped this picture above, she did an about face turn and headed back to the field .... a yell of 'no' ... "over here" got her back in the direction of the house.

Still just 12" into the yard ... there was just one more thing to check out.

You may have saw above that the water is receding in the field ... but thunderstorms are in the afternoon forecast. I hope to MOW the yard not BALE the yard on Friday after these next few days of rain.

After a frustrating Monday, today has been fantastic here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

The Hounds Knew It Was Thursday

They all knew but as we went through the hound 'ear cleaning' exercise they didn't let on that I had just posted the wrong day in my title yesterday.

It wasn't until I looked at my email later last night, telling me I was getting comments on the blog post. Cat M was the first to let me know that I might be a little confused. She was nice in telling me that I had the wrong day. She could have hammered me and let me know that the International Date Line is out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and not in Indiana. Don't they have schools where you live?

Greg and Bethers also chimed in, giving me a break. Would posting it was Friday on a Thursday be classified as a 'senior moment' or too much partying when I was younger? Luckily I did have all the times correct for my basketball marathon. I didn't miss any games and finally turned off the tv around 2am after my last game. Today and tonight looks to be the same schedule.

Consequently we all started the day a little later today. Sadie was sure that we were going for a walk BEFORE I had any coffee. She assumed wrong. She talked Stella into coming back to the house after their short post breakfast trip outside.

It was nice to glance up slightly to the right corner of my computer monitor and see it was Friday and not Saturday or Sunday. Pretty convenient when the day of the week is 12" or so away from your eyes where you can see. What a concept that is.

As we started this morning's walk in 45° and a cold breeze coming from the north, I thought for a few seconds that I would let the hounds roam as they wanted while I walked the path. The smell of something burning in the air changed that ... there is a burn pit between my two neighbors where they burn trash the old fashion way. I didn't want Sadie nor Stella to head that direction.

By the time I took this picture I was sure I had a mutiny on my hands. Both were pretty far behind me and chomping on natural protein, dead leaves, or whatever faster than I could scarf down candy. I just turned and headed up the path.

In an instant Sadie ran up along side of me. She must have started her sprint as I turned away from her. She will rarely if ever wander off like Stella does.

I assumed that Stella would head to the woods with her new freedom this morning. She kind of veered that directly slightly but then headed toward the camera. Is it scent or sight that directed her my direction?

She has such a relaxed expression most of the time, outside and inside, that it is very hard at times for me to tell if she is feeling well or is something wrong with her. She does not seem as energetic as she was last spring.

As I walked I kept laughing about my mistake yesterday in the blog post.

Stella was enjoying her walk, at least I think she was. Her tail was wagging slightly while walking behind me. She caught up with Sadie and they headed for the corner of the field. I walked over in that direction to make sure I could keep her in the general direction. I didn't want Stella going into her new area today.

Sadie didn't really stop, just ran with her nose to the ground. A quick check of the field border. Or she had picked up a scent that was strong enough to keep her in motion.

It must have been a strong scent for Sadie because she took off to the center of the field leaving Stella behind. I only had three pictures to capture Sadie's tracking but she was all over the place, going back and forth in different directions.

For the rest of the walk both hounds walked behind me, too close to take pictures. Stella stayed on the worn path in her slow motion type walk. There were still a few places they needed to check out a little closer. It was another beautiful morning today. March is flying by and the outside 'to list' will be started within weeks I think.

Finally they decided it was time to go inside, eat lunch and take afternoon naps. They will assume all of the food I cooked this morning will be for them. Since they are bloodhounds they naturally think everything belongs to them. You can review the "Bloodhound Laws" on my right sidebar.

Cajun food is the basketball games diet today. I have cooked enough that the food should last me two days and nights of games. I could eat Cajun food everyday and been satisfied.

I don't know how but those dishes I spoke of the other day were done and the vacuum worked fantastic. So I am caught up with all that domestic stuff, rested for another 12 hours of basketball and the games are already on four different channels.

March is one of my favorite months for sports, with college basketball conference tournaments and a few days later the NCAA tournament.

The hounds of course will be able to fit in an afternoon walk between games. They will have multiple short breaks outside to check out the weather, for me to get the mail and check on the new grass seed I planted a few weeks ago. Will it survive the colder temps?

I'll admit though it does NOT feel like a Friday today in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Stella's Monday Morning Walk

What a big difference it is to start the day off 25° warmer than yesterday morning. With the feel of freezing gone I didn't mind the overcast skies.

The hounds didn't stay out long on their first trip of the day, there was  a very light rain and they were more interested in having their breakfast kibble.

My daily coffee went fast, internet reading went fast, so the first walk of the day was about an hour earlier than normal. The hounds didn't mind. Both went on the walk this morning like always but after I had downloaded the pictures from the walk the majority of them were of Stella, so she got the headline today in the title.

I was somewhat undecided what the parameters would be for Stella this morning. I wanted her to have free range but I also didn't want her hanging way behind and then slowly venturing over to the woods behind the neighbors house.

She didn't take long to show me she was on her own schedule this morning and the words "come on Stella" were going to be the theme of this morning. Sadie and I continued to on with occasional glances back to check on Stella's location.

I wanted to test my auto focus setting on this next picture. I wanted  the bare tree limb to be in the background of the focused green bushes. I finally did something right.

At this point of the walk I knew I wasn't going to backtrack to hook her up on the leash. Sadie and I were too far away so I yelled 'come on Stella' and was shocked at her response ... she trotted our direction.

For readers that are unfamiliar with the bloodhound breed, the word 'obedience' is not part of their vocabulary. The words 'stubborn' and 'scents' are part of their DNA. Still it's nice to have them respond somewhat positive when I give a command ... otherwise I'd spend all of my time outside in all kinds of weather while they explored for hours and hours.

The word 'scent' became a factor on her trot toward Sadie and I. She needed to stop and check out something. I've been reading a couple of different books in hopes of gaining more knowledge on what is happening in that rock hard place between their ears ... known as their brain.

The word identifying or identification is the main reason for their intense sniffing and even eating strange material they find. In some cases they do it because they like it but most of the time it is just the process of identifying what animal has been in this field prior to their arrival.

No leash was involved this morning at any time. That word was never spoken to get her to respond because she continued to walk toward us whenever I called her.

Rarely is that a direct, route with her. Sadie is entirely different and basically needs no adult supervision. LOL

These next three pictures will give you a very good example of my command "come on Stella" and her responses. The pictures show exactly what takes place 99% of the time when given that command.

Yell #1

#2 - "come on Stella"

#3 - "come on Stella"

After that I gave up, turned around and headed along the back of the field while Sadie explored along the fence line. With my back turned, Stella had sprinted to the far right corner of the field.

For some strange reason she started heading our direction without being called. Her slow walk brought out her personality, which is funny and pure bloodhound.

There is no trotting in this sequence ... just one slow step at a time, you would think she was walking in slow motion. Out of all the hounds I have had since 1987, I've never had a basset hound nor a bloodhound walk as slow as she can.

I would pay any amount of money to know her thoughts when she has that frown on her face as she is walking.

After Sadie ran over to her, tapped noses together and then immediately turned to head back to the edge of the field, Stella followed her. She responds to Sadie better than she does to me.

Of course there is always one spot on almost every walk where both of them want the same thing. They share well and never fight over what they find.

Another walk is in the books, no winds blowing cold air today and I can see possibly three walks by the end of the day. With cold weather over the weekend it was the perfect time to do laundry and some house cleaning ... so the week is wide open for activity.

In the Apple Photo program you can edit your pictures after you download them from your camera, phone or ipad. Most of the time just one click on each picture named 'enhancement' will adjust the picture without anything else needed. Today though I clicked two other adjustments instead of the one labeled enhancement.

Can you tell the difference in any of them?

Slowly but surely they both head back to the house with a little coaxing by me. For new readers of the blog, yes I can leave them outside to let them roam the field on their own but this past summer, they kept moving the boundary out further ... too where they were too far away and in one case almost disaster.

Living 80' - 100' from a major highway, in a passing zone, I have to be careful on just how much freedom I give them when I leave them outside. They never go to the front yard unless I am there or if Heidi is in the front soaking up some sunshine.

When I looked at my blog traffic stats this morning it was funny to see that the word 'Idiot' in my blog title the other day tripled the number of visitors. I have a feeling that the stories I posted did not match up with their expectations ... as 62% of them were off my blog in 5 seconds or less.

It just wasn't that blog post for the rate of escape, that 62% is the overall average for all blog traffic. Then 29% of visits have this site turned on their computers or tables for over an hour.

I remember last year I tried writing one blog per hound, in their view, from a suggestion of a reader. That brought my total blog count up to 7 counting the two private blogs I write on regularly. It was fun writing in their point of view but way too time consuming so I deleted them and then let their domain names expire this year.

Again you will notice more blogs added to the left sidebar. Some of them might be interesting to you. A few blogs I use to list were deleted months ago when they became more political and controversial. I try to stay away from that here. This blog is more about the daily life of the hounds anyway and the pictures I take.

I mentioned last summer that I would like to take some pictures of my local small town showing the damaging effect of high unemployment, a new interstate nearby taking away traffic from downtown ... but at the same time keep my location private. It's hard to do and I am not sure how I am going to work that out, but I still like the idea of a little history.

After Heidi's walk in the field last week, she showed some irritation. Could it have been the field grass? The reason I am asking that question is, after months and months of not licking her paws down to bare skin ... the morning after her walk through the field, both of her front paws were bare skin ... she had licked them that much.

I almost forgot, on the right sidebar under 'Labels" I added 51 more topics. Those links are rarely clicked but useful. I basically added that many to even out the left and right sidebars since I went back to listing 4 posts on one page instead of just one post per page.

I think near the bottom of each post I am going to start listing an off topic thought, whatever is on my mind. I'm hesitant in doing that because it might show just how crazy I really am ... LOL

No ... I didn't watch the Oscars last night.

What will happen this week in the 'tropics' of southern Indiana?