Possible dead HD on imac

I tried to load windows xp using boot camp and i think i formatted the wrong partition to ntfs. When computer starts up there is no bootable device so i boot from installation disk and try to repartition disk using disk utility and all attempts fail. Mac genius from Apple store seems to think I need new HD. Is it possible to break my Hard drive with one simple mistake?? If so, it's gonna cost me about $600 CAD.

If you formatted the drive incorrectly it is not broken. Have you tried to install the Mac OS again? Try putting the disc in and following these directions:

Installing Leopard | Software - Page 1 | Macworld

I've never heard of anyone ruining their HD because of formatting. What kind of error messae do you get when you try to format your disk?

Make sure you are holding C while trying to boot off the disc and install. Let us know what kind of error you are getting and we will try and help!

error message i receive is "no bootable device" The guy at the apple store was able to boot to the install disk and i think he ran some sort of recovery attempt he said he was unable to or "failing to partion or to be repaired."

MacdaddiJosh said:

error message i receive is "no bootable device" The guy at the apple store was able to boot to the install disk and i think he ran some sort of recovery attempt he said he was unable to or "failing to partion or to be repaired."

Click to expand...

Try booting the machine with your original install media. Once booted to the install media, select "Utilities" from the top menu and then select "Disk Utilities". Highlight your hard drive and select verify. If it comes back with errors, select repair. Allow it to repair all errors (if any). Keep running repair until all errors are resolved.

If Disk Utility fails to recognize your hard drive, then it's possible the drive may be defective.

Regards.

You know, most of the time, you got some technical person from a company helping you, you found out they make the problem worst than it was. What do they know beside what your are telling them? Just the wrong interpretation often lead to the wrong solution-
Does the repartition disk sees the drive at all? check the connection-- tried the drive on another computer--the reformat should not affect the drive accessibility.

If I remember correctly (It's been a while since I've done this), but you need to partition de BOOTCAMP partition for XP to run on your mac. But like I said, don't take my word for it, it's been a while for me.