Please help! I am new to this forum and would appreciate any help anyone could give to help me save my dying mac!
I am running a G4 imac 800Mhz mac os 10.3.9 and the other day after shutting down successfully the previous day,the computer started up and then stuck on the grey screen with the spinning wheel. It eventually gets to the desktop after two and a half hours but I can only open a few programs and not all desktop icons will launch. My main priority is to backup my iphoto and itunes libraries but my normal techniques are not working. I have dragged my iphoto library into toast to burn onto dvd via an external lacie dvd writer but got the 'no permissions - error 5000' box popping up. I then proceeded to attempt to drag the folders onto my external lacie hard drive but now it will not mount at all! Even when I do get my photos on screen it takes about 20 mins instead of the usual 3 mins. Also everything that I plug into the mac will not mount on the desktop. I have tried repairing permissions via disk utility but this didnt do much. I also dont have the original panther disks to reboot. Although I have been using macs for a number of years, I have read many threads regarding the same topic but just get baffled with all the jargon.
I am hoping to upgrade to a G5 (non intel) imac anyway and can startup in target mode by pressing 't' on startup. Do you think this will work by transfering my data to anew mac via firewire? I have read that resetting the pram may help so will give that a try.
Any help in laymans terms would be great. Really dont want to give a data recovery company £160 to save my stuff when the problem could be staring me in the face.
I am running a G4 imac 800Mhz mac os 10.3.9 and the other day after shutting down successfully the previous day,the computer started up and then stuck on the grey screen with the spinning wheel. It eventually gets to the desktop after two and a half hours but I can only open a few programs and not all desktop icons will launch. My main priority is to backup my iphoto and itunes libraries but my normal techniques are not working. I have dragged my iphoto library into toast to burn onto dvd via an external lacie dvd writer but got the 'no permissions - error 5000' box popping up. I then proceeded to attempt to drag the folders onto my external lacie hard drive but now it will not mount at all! Even when I do get my photos on screen it takes about 20 mins instead of the usual 3 mins. Also everything that I plug into the mac will not mount on the desktop. I have tried repairing permissions via disk utility but this didnt do much. I also dont have the original panther disks to reboot. Although I have been using macs for a number of years, I have read many threads regarding the same topic but just get baffled with all the jargon.
I am hoping to upgrade to a G5 (non intel) imac anyway and can startup in target mode by pressing 't' on startup. Do you think this will work by transfering my data to anew mac via firewire? I have read that resetting the pram may help so will give that a try.
Any help in laymans terms would be great. Really dont want to give a data recovery company £160 to save my stuff when the problem could be staring me in the face.