He diagnosed it himself and mostly got there. On powering up his iMac he heard "a "Clicking" noise" followed by "a folder with a "?"", and reasonably assumes "hard drive failure ?" He is weighing whether to "install a new drive or recover data and reinstall into a new Mac" Clicking followed by the question-mark folder is a failed drive — the two symptoms together point one way: the clicking is a mechanical fault, and the question mark is the Mac unable to find a system on that failed drive. The data comes first, before any decision about a new drive or machine.
| Media | Internal hard drive from an iMac — clicking on power-up followed by a flashing question-mark folder; hard-drive failure suspected, data recovery the priority before hardware decisions. |
| Reported situation | iMac clicking on power-up · flashing question-mark folder at startup · owner's diagnosis of hard-drive failure · deciding between a new drive or recovering data into a new Mac · recovery needed first. |
| Fault class | Head or mechanical failure — the clicking indicating heads unable to find their reference, the question mark confirming no readable system; platter condition the determinant, further power-ups the hazard. |
| Equipment used | Not powered repeatedly once clicking — each attempt risks the platters · drive removed and powered from a current-limited bench supply, the draw profiled · mechanism opened in clean air under laminar flow, heads and platters inspected under stereo microscope · matched donor head assembly of the correct family fitted, alignment set · imaged on DeepSpar Disk Imager behind PC-3000 UDMA, the Mac volume read in UFS Explorer, data validated. |
His diagnosis is right, and the two symptoms reinforce each other. Clicking on power-up is the classic sound of a mechanical fault — heads unable to find the servo reference marks that tell them their position, retreating and retrying. The question-mark folder is the Mac reporting it cannot find a system to boot, because the drive holding it is unreadable. A clicking drive is exactly why the Mac finds no system: the two symptoms are one failure, and his read of "hard drive failure" is correct.
The clicking is the reason to stop powering the iMac, urgently. Every power-up flies possibly-damaged heads across the platters, and each pass risks scoring the surface where the data lives. Powering the iMac again to check on it is the fastest way to turn a clean head-replacement job into a platter-damage one. The drive should be removed and left unpowered until it can be worked on under controlled conditions — that restraint protects the data more than anything else he can do.
The hardware decision comes after recovery, not before, which reframes his question. He is weighing a new drive versus recovering into a new Mac — but that is a question about the future of the machine, separate from getting his data back. The data lives on the failed drive now, and recovering it is the first and independent step. Once the data is safe, he can freely decide whether to repair the iMac or move to a new Mac; the recovery does not depend on, and should not wait for, that choice.
Head replacement is the established route, done in clean air. Recovery means opening the drive in filtered clean air, assessing whether the heads alone failed or have marked the platters, and fitting a matched donor head assembly with alignment set correctly. The iMac context matters only later, when the recovered Mac volume is read — the mechanical fault is addressed the same as for any clicking drive, and the volume then read with Apple-aware tools from the image.
The platters set the honest ceiling, stated before the work. If the heads failed over intact platters, a donor set restores reading and the data comes back, ready to place on whatever drive or Mac he chooses. If prior clicking power-ups already marked the platters, recovery narrows to the intact regions — determined by inspection under magnification, not assumed, and reported before any charge.
The drive was not powered repeatedly once clicking, and was removed and powered from a current-limited bench supply with the draw profiled. The mechanism was opened in clean air under laminar flow and the heads and platters inspected under stereo microscope, a matched donor head assembly of the correct family fitted with alignment set. The drive was imaged on DeepSpar Disk Imager behind PC-3000 UDMA, and the Mac volume read in UFS Explorer, the data validated.
Head failure addressed with a matched donor set in clean air, the drive imaged, and the Mac volume read to return the data. The diagnostic costs nothing and completes within two working days of arrival, and the quote is one fixed written figure with VAT already in it; opening a drive is invasive work, so 50% of the quote is payable upfront to cover donor parts and lab time, with the rest owed only if the data comes back. The decode: you diagnosed it right — clicking plus a question mark is a failed drive, the click mechanical and the question mark the Mac finding no system. Recover the data first; then choose a new drive or Mac freely, with your files already safe.
Stop powering it — clicking is head failure, and each power-on risks the heads scoring the platters, with the question mark simply the Mac finding no system on the failed drive. Don't reinstall the system or erase the drive hoping to fix it. Recover the data first, as a step independent of whether you keep the iMac or move to a new Mac — that decision can wait until your files are safe. This needs clean-air head replacement in a laboratory, so set the drive aside unpowered.
Our case files are written up from genuine enquiries our lab has handled for customers across Swansea and South Wales, anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Each one describes the diagnostic and recovery approach our engineers apply to that fault, using the equipment listed.
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