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Mac Happens

Fixing, Preventing Drive Crashes

11 May 1999 - Evan Kleiman

Lately, many people have been telling me that their iMacs have been giving them many problems. They've been reporting crashes, freezes, and other various maladies. I've been able to relate to these people, since my own iMac (which I renamed "the useless green lump," until I fixed it.) was crashing too, for no apparent reason.

So I called Apple, and they were quite helpful - but not helpful enough. After many tests, they told me that I would need to erase my hard drive. So I did, but this was a quite tedious task. I tried to find a faster way, and I did.

Apple provides everything you need to restore your iMac to the state it was in when you received it. This miracle fixer is on the orange disk called "Software Restore." Before you do anything to erase your drive, back up everything you'll need! I mean this! Now that you have everything you need backed up, it's time to say reboot while holding the C key on your keyboard. This forces your iMac to boot from the CD drive.

Once you've booted up, double-click the CD icon. Now, run the program called Apple Software Restore. Once this program is loaded, click erase, and then restore. Your hard drive will be erased. Then your hard drive should be restored to its original state. But, of course, you can still mess it up, so we'll go over some tips to keep it crash-free.

Don't touch the System File or Finder. Many programs, such as Res Edit, will mess around with these files: don't use them. This will prevent many problems.
Rebuild regularly. On start up, hold command -option, and then click yes. This will make your computer faster and will save some head aches. (Another way to rebuild any Mac's desktop is with TechTool, a freeware program from MicroMat Computer Systems. Run it, click Rebuild, then let it delete your desktop file and restart your computer. dk)

With these tips, and regular backup, your iMac won't become a useless green (or blue, red, orange, or purple) lump again.

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