Mac Pro 2008 OS X 10.6.8 random restarts, grinding HDD So I've had my Mac Pro since 2008. I currently have OS 10.6.8 on it. In the last week, it has restarted itself twice while I was in the other room. Since I wasn't there, I don't know if there were any messages. This has never happened before.

When this happens, it takes quite a few hours before it will operate normally without grinding the hard disk for a minute or more at a time. Most applications freeze or become very unresponsive while it does this.

The disk is a 320 GB drive, and there are 42 GB free still. I've done a DiskUtility Verify Disk on it, and it says everything looks normal.

Is this some issue that has a common cause, or do I need to take it in to the shop?
Grinding is a hard drive's way to remind you to be really protective of your drive containing the most up to date backup of your data.

Here is a fabulous app that educates you on what each failure mode might sound like.


Drive Saver app for iOS.