fayetee
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Q: Macintosh HD as start-up disk after Yosemite failed installation.

After an unsuccessful Yosemite installation with error message "File system verify or repair failed", i was able to revert back to Mavericks using an external HD as a start-up disk. How can i use my former start-up disk (Macintosh HD) to revert back to Mavericks without getting into the endless loop of reinstalling Yosemite and receiving the same error message again and again?

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on May 17, 2015 7:27 AM

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fayetee

Q: Macintosh HD as start-up disk after Yosemite failed installation.

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  • by Eric Root,Helpful

    Eric Root Eric Root May 17, 2015 8:40 AM in response to fayetee
    Level 9 (70,250 points)
    iTunes
    May 17, 2015 8:40 AM in response to fayetee

    Restart holding down the option/alt key and see what OS the Recovery Partition is. If Mavericks, boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during a restart and select Recovery Volume). Run Disk Utility Verify/Repair and Repair Permissions until you get no errors. Then re-install the OS.

     

    OS X Recovery

     

    OS X Recovery (2)


    If not Mavericks, run Disk Utility from the external, then go to the App Store and download Mavericks from the Purchases tab. Run the installer and select the internal as the install disk.

  • by fayetee,

    fayetee fayetee May 17, 2015 8:37 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 17, 2015 8:37 PM in response to Eric Root

    I don't get to see a recovery Volume upon restart, i can only see the external HD (my current start-up disk) and Macintosh HD. I selected the Macintosh HD and ran the DIsk Utility giving me an error message that Disk Utility could not repair the drive. In case Disk Utility cannot really repair my Hard drive anymore, how should i reformat the disk so i can clean install Mavericks or better so i can proceed with upgrading my OS to Yosemite?

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa May 17, 2015 9:49 PM in response to fayetee
    Level 7 (31,935 points)
    iPad
    May 17, 2015 9:49 PM in response to fayetee

    How are you restarting?

     

    You cannot repair the disk you are booted from, so you do need to boot from your external drive and then attempt to repair your internal drive.

     

    If you cannot repair it, then you'd need something like Disk Warrior which may or may not be able to fix the problem and/or your hard drive is failing.

  • by Eric Root,Helpful

    Eric Root Eric Root May 18, 2015 11:38 AM in response to fayetee
    Level 9 (70,250 points)
    iTunes
    May 18, 2015 11:38 AM in response to fayetee

    Did the repair error message suggest reformatting? Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with Option GUID is the format you want using the Erase tab. This will cause you to lose all data on the drive. I hope you have a backup.

  • by fayetee,

    fayetee fayetee May 18, 2015 6:22 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 18, 2015 6:22 PM in response to Eric Root

    Yes it did suggest reformatting. My Mac is running now, i reformatted my drive and reinstalled Mavericks. Will try upgrading to Yosemite once more, hopefully the disk error won't be a problem anymore since i already cured what was wrong by reformatting. Thank you very much for your help!

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root May 19, 2015 6:00 AM in response to fayetee
    Level 9 (70,250 points)
    iTunes
    May 19, 2015 6:00 AM in response to fayetee

    You are welcome.