Resolved Wiped HDD and a few questions

i tried upgrading wife's mini 2.1 lion , got dreaded "you need more ram". went crucial, ordered ram , waited. came today got out putty knives. crusted old plaster , mortar. since didn't want stuff rolling around inside wife's mini, cleaned putty knives.

opened mini, popped in 2 gig of ram, took stairs reboot , ... nothing. got spinning clock long time, got tired of waiting , switched off machine. switched on again , got less. blinking folder question mark. can't sign. went downstairs , popped in different ram. still no go. third time put original ram. no go. called apple. out of applecare recent purchase of lion gives me brief consultation.

here gets interesting. after zapping pram left me still stuck @ blinking folder wanted me find original system disk. rather use snow leopard dvd couldn't find it. @ apple guy's suggestion, popped in vintage leopard cd , booted machine apple guy on phone. says run disk utility , know what? partition map gone. gone. rather cry on create partition , let leopard install. (in of mind i'm running down list of ssd drives , time places close sell them).

leopard installs , apple guy tells me can use migration assistant restore time machine , snow leopard come back. tell him don't think insists. decide humor him , let install finish. leopard install pathetic , slow , have insert 2 cds. leopard on machine , boots tell him , promise run migration assistant suggests put bigger ram in machine.

once hang up, go downstairs, put 2 gig in machine, boot , now find snow leopard disk. darn. i've got precious disk space wasted on ms office 2004 trial because couldn't find darn sl disk while had apple guy on phone. maybe apple right. heck friggin' disks. anyway installed snow leopard , let updates run. i'm 3/4 of way through 10.6.8 combo update right now.

i'll launch migration assistant , bring wife's stuff (hopefully) our time capsule. think lion can wait few days until decide if want replace hdd ssd before put mini's top cover on.

questions follows...

** did somehow wipe drive clumsiness when took mini apart? ( have pry case open bottom putty knife, take out 4 #0 phillips screws, unsnap , move airport antenna, disconnect 2 pin connector in front swing optical , hdd assembly , out of way ram. reverse process power mini see if broke anything. ) of new mini ram door on bottom lucky!

** migration assistant bring apps, data , os? know disk utility brings of above when restore dmg don't think restoring tm backup can bring entire os. think apple guy blowing smoke on one.

** have 2 more minis upgrade aren't backing tm yet. guess should let them our tc before try ram upgrade, right?

edit: changed title resolved wiped hdd , few questions, crashed hdd , few questions.

 

so contrary title, wasn't physical hdd crash @ all.

i'd suspect prior receiving message insufficient ram, lion install procedure had (logically) deleted snow leopard partition.

think backing out should have allowed undone, maybe not.

not surprising original leopard install disk(s) allow booting , getting disk utility.

think unlikely putty knives or ram upgrade.
possible static discharge caused problem - original minis must have been opened routinely without such issues.
accidental disconnection of components maybe, nothing catastrophic.

addresses questions 1 & 3. didn't "wipe drive", , no need concerned ram upgrades on other minis.

don't use tm won't comment on on q2.
(with ccc, yes os along apps. , data restored, of course.)

 

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