Yeppers, Buster the iMac is in trouble. Big trouble. The good news is I got the data off of it, though I wasn't able to check every bit of it for intregrity. The bad news is, Tiger wouldn't install, even with the erase/install setting. Then the Disk Utility essentially said, "He's DEAD, Jim!"

Now I need to ask the experts about how difficult it would be to install a new HDD myself, or should I have the Genius Bar deal with it. Or, should I just buy a Mac Mini? I have a gut feeling that there's something else wrong with Buster that caused the HD to fail and by the time I get done paying the Geniuses to futz with fixing it, I will have basically paid for a new Mac Mini.

Decisions...decisions.