ypfhdxu

Q: Need help to avoid data loss on a corrupt and/or failing hard drive

i don't know what happened. One minute I'm surfing the web and listening to music on iTunes. Then out of nowhere there was a sudden power outage. Didn't last long at all but now when I try to turn on my computer, it begins normally but then shortly after the chime and the apple logo appear, so does a progress indicator bar that I've never seen before today. Before the progress bar is even the size of my pinky nail, the computer just turns itself off. I started it in recovery mode and ran disk utility verify and repair. Verify disk doesn't get far when it says something like - Disk cannot be verified completely. Disk needs to be repaired. So when I click on repair disk, it only runs for maybe a minute before it comes back saying - disk utility cannot repair this disk. Back up as of your many files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed up files. So obviously that's not good. What are my options and is there anything I can do to avoid losing data that isnt already backed up? I've got quite a few things that haven't been backed up and losing some of them would be pretty devastating. This is my primary goal; to lose as little data as possible. My computer is a late 2012 iMac running Mavericks 10.9.5.

 

Thank you.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), 21.5 inch late 2012 model

Posted on Jan 19, 2016 6:27 AM

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Q: Need help to avoid data loss on a corrupt and/or failing hard drive

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  • by rkaufmann87,

    rkaufmann87 rkaufmann87 Jan 19, 2016 11:16 AM in response to dialabrain
    Level 9 (58,746 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jan 19, 2016 11:16 AM in response to dialabrain

    dialabrain wrote:

     

    rkaufmann87 wrote:

     

    I do redundant backups because I have had the primary HD fail and a TM backup fail, I was very glad I had my bootable clone backup.

     

    The chances of that happening are low, however I don't like to tempt fate anymore than I need to.

    I certainly think redundant backups are prudent and I didn't mean to imply one shouldn't use them.

     

    I just live dangerously. I've actually only had one external drive fail in 30+ years

    Lets hope your luck stays strong. I have had 3 HD's fail in the past month and this is just for home use. All three were Seagate's and more than 3 years old. When SSD becomes more cost effective for backup and the capacities rise, I'd like to move my backups to that too.

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Jan 19, 2016 11:23 AM in response to rkaufmann87
    Level 5 (6,372 points)
    Mac App Store
    Jan 19, 2016 11:23 AM in response to rkaufmann87

    rkaufmann87 wrote:

     

    Lets hope your luck stays strong. I have had 3 HD's fail in the past month and this is just for home use. All three were Seagate's and more than 3 years old. When SSD becomes more cost effective for backup and the capacities rise, I'd like to move my backups to that too.

    Even the one that failed only required a new enclosure. It ran for years after that until its capacity was too small to bother with.

     

    I have amazing luck with computers. I had a Rev. B iMac I ran for 9 years 24/7 until the video started to go.

  • by ypfhdxu,

    ypfhdxu ypfhdxu Jan 19, 2016 11:30 AM in response to woodmeister50
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2016 11:30 AM in response to woodmeister50

    I was just reading about target disk mode. Unfortunately the only person I know with a Mac has an older model without a thunderbolt port. Mine has thunderbolt but no firewire. I don't suppose there is any way of doing a thunderbolt to firewire connection via some sort of funky adapter?

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Jan 19, 2016 11:34 AM in response to ypfhdxu
    Level 5 (6,372 points)
    Mac App Store
    Jan 19, 2016 11:34 AM in response to ypfhdxu

    There are Thunderbolt to Firewire adapters. Even Apple sells one.

    http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD464LL/A/apple-thunderbolt-to-firewire-adapte r

  • by ypfhdxu,

    ypfhdxu ypfhdxu Jan 19, 2016 11:39 AM in response to dialabrain
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2016 11:39 AM in response to dialabrain

    I have regular backups up until a couple weeks ago. I had just moved into a new place and in the resulting chaos that comes with moving I simply overlooked plugging my externals in. And then when I noticed I didn't have them plugged I kept telling myself to take 5 seconds out of my day and plug them in but I kept not listening to myself. Thanks for the link by the way. I'm gonna try all that apply when I get home.

  • by ypfhdxu,

    ypfhdxu ypfhdxu Jan 19, 2016 11:51 AM in response to rkaufmann87
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2016 11:51 AM in response to rkaufmann87

    I guess if nothing else comes out of this at least from now on I'll never leave any important files without a backup. I gotta try and see if I can salvage anything but from everything I've read on here and elsewhere it kinda sounds like I'm SOL. Jeez.. Talk about feeling like an idiot. I have external drives. I just didn't have them plugged in. Because I was gonna do it later.. always gonna do it later. Then this happened and later never came. So yeah, you're right. Lesson learned.

  • by ypfhdxu,

    ypfhdxu ypfhdxu Jan 19, 2016 12:06 PM in response to dialabrain
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2016 12:06 PM in response to dialabrain

    Well that's good news. I just assumed all was lost which I guess it may still be but at least now I feel a small glimmer of hope of possibly salvaging some of my work. First thing tonight I'm getting one of these adapter and then I'm gonna talk my buddy into letting me use his computer. Thanks again for the links. I gotta figure out how to do what the kids are calling "internet searches" or something like that.

     

    Seriously thanks for the help. I'll report back at a later time whether success or failure.

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Jan 19, 2016 12:10 PM in response to ypfhdxu
    Level 5 (6,372 points)
    Mac App Store
    Jan 19, 2016 12:10 PM in response to ypfhdxu

    You're welcome and good luck.

  • by ypfhdxu,

    ypfhdxu ypfhdxu Jan 19, 2016 12:59 PM in response to ypfhdxu
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2016 12:59 PM in response to ypfhdxu

    OK this is an unrelated question (I think) but does anyone know why my ASC username would have changed to ypfhdxu? And is anyone seeing this or is it just me?

  • by ypfhdxu,

    ypfhdxu ypfhdxu Jan 19, 2016 1:31 PM in response to ypfhdxu
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2016 1:31 PM in response to ypfhdxu

    OK more important than why my username changed I have another question concerning my files. I am able to boot into single user mode. Running fsck returns the same error as disk utility. However when I type "cd /Users/Sam; ls" I can see my files still listed. So is there anyway I can transfer them from here?

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Jan 19, 2016 2:19 PM in response to ypfhdxu
    Level 5 (6,372 points)
    Mac App Store
    Jan 19, 2016 2:19 PM in response to ypfhdxu

    Good news and bad news. Almost anything you can do from the GUI you can do from the terminal. The bad news is most users, including myself have no idea how to do something like copy files from one Mac to another using the Terminal.

     

    Apple Tech Support, at least a few Senior Advisers may know.

  • by ypfhdxu,

    ypfhdxu ypfhdxu Jan 19, 2016 4:44 PM in response to ypfhdxu
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2016 4:44 PM in response to ypfhdxu

    From what I've read it seems like i should be able to use scp or rcp to accomplish this task. Still in single user mode and I have read most of the man pages dealing with these and similar commands. While I'm not totally unfamiliar with using the command line, I'm not that well acquainted with it either. But I have used the cp command many times without incident and the scp command just seems like a slightly more involved version of that. But I know from past experience that it's best to not go playing with commands one doesn't fully understand. Can anyone tell me if I'm on the right track? Would it be possible to use one of these  commands while in single user mode to transfer data to one of my external hard drives?  Or would I have to transfer my data to another computer? And if not with these commands, is there another way to transfer data from my internal hard drive to an external hard drive while in single user mode or any mode for that matter? It  seems like if I could mount one of my external hard drive so that it can be read from the command line while in single-user mode that copying files from my internal hard drive to my external hard drive should be no problem. And now that I think about it if I could just mount the external hard drive so it could be accessed from the commandline in single-user mode I wouldn't need any command except for the cp command. Is this correct or have I overlooked something?

  • by ypfhdxu,Solvedanswer

    ypfhdxu ypfhdxu Jan 25, 2016 5:47 AM in response to ypfhdxu
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 25, 2016 5:47 AM in response to ypfhdxu

    For what it's worth, everyone who told me that my data was lost was wrong. I have struggled with what to say concerning this post. Because in my heart I feel certain that the knowledge I requested could have been shared with me from most of the people who posted an answer to my original question. Perhaps I am wrong but I just do not see how one becomes a bonafide apple expert (level 8 +) without knowing the answer to my original question. I get that you don't want to give information to someone who may be potentially trying to crack into someone else's machine. But telling me wrong information vs telling me you can't help me are two completely different things. And the fact is that the information is available on the internet. So whether my intention was to recover my own data or steal someone else's, the unwillingness to share knowledge is not going to deter someone from doing what they have set out to do. In my case, I recovered all of my data without spending a dime on anything other than Tylenol. But even if my intentions were nefarious, do you really think telling a criminal they can't do something is going to stop them? Maybe my assumptions are wrong. Maybe nobody knew how to do what I asked. But like I said, that seems unlikely to me. If I am wrong, I apologize to anyone who gave me information that they sincerely believed was accurate. I just find any sort of intellectually dishonesty very offensive.

     

    Also offensive is seeing that my original question branched to new discussion after someone hijacked my post, which was then branched to a third discussion to which I am restricted from accessing. Possibly another weird ASC glitch but offensive nonetheless.

     

     

    To anyone who may need to know how to do this in the future: Single user mode was the answer to my particular situation. If you find yourself in a similar situation it may be the answer for you. There are no guarantees and every situation is different but if you can see your files while in single user mode then you can more than likely retrieve your files as well. The links below helped me immensely.

     

     

    http://thinkinginsoftware.blogspot.com/2014/03/mac-osx-not-booting-make-backup-f rom.html

     

    http://alvinalexander.com/mac-os-x/mac-osx-single-user-mode-usb-drive

     

    http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20030714194313542

  • by KiltedTim,

    KiltedTim KiltedTim Jan 25, 2016 5:53 AM in response to ypfhdxu
    Level 9 (55,946 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 25, 2016 5:53 AM in response to ypfhdxu

    We are not psychic and we are not sitting in front of your machine. We have to base our assessments on the information that you provide.

    I'm glad you managed to get it sorted out, and hope you now appreciate the importance of regular backups.

     

    The indicator that a thread has been branched to a new discussion indicates that posts were removed by the hosts for violating the Apple Support Communities Terms of Use.

    In the case of a discussion like this, it's often spam trying to push malicious software disguised as 'data recovery' software.

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Jan 25, 2016 6:50 AM in response to ypfhdxu
    Level 5 (6,372 points)
    Mac App Store
    Jan 25, 2016 6:50 AM in response to ypfhdxu

    ypfhdxu wrote:

     

    Because in my heart I feel certain that the knowledge I requested could have been shared with me from most of the people who posted an answer to my original question. Perhaps I am wrong but I just do not see how one becomes a bonafide apple expert (level 8 +) without knowing the answer to my original question…

    Your heart is mistaken and yes you were wrong. Just because someone has a large number of points does not mean they have an intimate knowledge of all aspects of OSX and Macs. What it means is they have answered questions that were posed enough times they collected points when users were nice enough to mark a solution as correct.

     

    Those that tried answering your post obviously didn't know how to solve your problem. To believe they "held back" the solution is ludicrous.

     

    I'm glad you found the solution to your problem but I would be embarrassed if i were you.

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