Our Mac is just over 6 years old and never given any trouble until today, on start up the Apple logo appears then the rotating timer and then the timer bar, which only feeds along about 5mm before it disappears from screen leaving rotating timer which will continue for a couple of hours with nothing happening. Sorry for the basic/bad description.
Is it trying to start in safe mode? Is there anything we can do to get it to start up? Need some help or advice please.
Thanks Matt.
Happened us once - it was a HDD running v hot (hot enough to feel it from outside). Have you had a feel?
Yes DD hot this morning, been reading up and Hard drive is suspect, any more information welcome.
Hopefully you've got everything fully backed up via TimeMachine. The obvious thing is to look at getting a new HDD, possibly a Hybrid SSD/HDD, get all the OS and apps onto the SSD side, then everything else onto the HDD.
Everything backed up? Hope so...
Anyway... Sounds like the HDD has gone south, time for a new one. Perfect opportunity to put an SSD in potentially, which will increase the performance no end! If you need any more help Matt, gimme a shout. You can pop into the shop and see me in Droitwich!
Boot into single user mode (hold the s key during boot up, possibly command-s) it will boot to a text prompt.
At the prompt type[b] /sbin/fsck -fy[/b]
Press enter/return
This will run a few checks on the hard drive and data and attempt to fix any issues. It won't be able to fix any hardware problems but should confirm its a hardware problem if it is a hardware problem.
If the HDD is shot and you have to replace it, replace it with a hybrid SSD/HDD. It made a huge difference to our IMac which is about the same age as yours.
As above try and start in one of the safe or diagnostic modes [url= https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201255 ]link here[/url]
Depending on how handy you are and the specific model you can replace the HDD yourself. I actually put a new HDD into my 2009 Mini in 2013 rather than an SSD due to cost for the storage I wanted (500-750GB) but if I did the same again it would be an SSD.
Don't bin the machine, it will be repairable and should give more years of good service.
As above, SSHD hybrid device is a good way to go and requires very little faff as it sorts out what gets cached in the SSD for you. Gives you much better performance and capacity at relatively low cost - Seagate 1TB SSHD is about £60. I did it on our 2007 iMac with very little pain but a lot of gain.
There was a (Seagate) HDD replacement program on Mac's of around that age, though it may not still be running. Could be worth checking with Apple.