Hey Guys! It's me again, I've tried a couple of things, reset HD cable, tried a different power cable of the HD, I've tried to boot without extensions, I've also tried resetting the PRAM (someone said I should hear beeps when I do this, but I didn't), I've booted from installation Cd and tried to choose the HD in the Startup disk, but the HD didn't show, and as soon as I boot up I get a dialog box saying that the computer could not read disk and do you want to intialize it. I do not want to format or reinstall the OS, 'cause there are a few important files on the HD that are needed. And I cannot use the Software Restore cd, 'cause I'm not sure what it will restore and I'm pretty sure it isn't current (the last techican here didn't leave any info. about back up's and such). I know not one thing about MACS it took we awhile just to figure out how to open the bloody thing. I'm desperate and will try anything! Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!! I would have to send the computer away and probably wouldn't get it back for a couple of weeks, so I really don't want to do that.Thanks for any help!! Mitzi

I forgot to say that at first I had a flashing question mark, after trying the above things I now get an icon of a flashing earth inside a box. Does anyone know what this means? Thanks again!!! Mitzi

You should hear beeps if you are"zapping" the PRAM be sure to hold down "p" and "r" while you boot. I have had some luck in the past using Norton Disk Doctor to recover disks that had "major errors" in the header block. I you can still hear or feel the Hard Drive spin up then there is some hope. You can install the OS without doing damage to your file system. JUST DONT INITIALIZE THE DISK. if you do your info is gone. Unless you have lots of money to pay data recovery centers. I would say that if the disk utilities can see the disk you have a good chance of getting it back. Try Norton... GOOD LUCK

DO NOT USE NORTON. It causes more problems than it fixes. Get Diskwarrior from Alsoft, or TechTool Pro from Micromat. I prefer DiskWarrior for problems I know are in software, like this one. p