Q: Macbook Air would not startup after get startup disk error
I was receiving startup disk full error on my Macbook Air 2012 model on few occasions and then it stopped booting (flashing folder with question mark started appearing). I followed instructions at this site If a flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac - Apple Support
but was unsuccessful to copy data from the startup disk to an external hard drive. I could see my startup disk (MacintoshHD) on disk utilities but could the volume appears to be not mounted. The disk size is 128 GB and only 12 MB appears to be free.
1. Started the macbook in Recovery mode. In disk utilities, ran verify disk and repair disk utilities for startup disk (MacintoshHD). No issues in generated logs. The volume is not mounted and appears grayed out.
2. Selected MacintoshHD and tried to unlock. The system tried for sometime and the password window disappeared after sometime along with the MacintoshHD from the disk utility. When I restart the machine again in recovery, the MacintoshHD disk reappears in same situation.
3. I was able to boot the macbook after installing a new OS X version in an external hard drive. During OS X installation, I could not copy data from the MacintoshHD volume (possibly the drive is locked).
4. I could not start my macbook in safe mode.
My query is -
1. I had not backed up my data through any means. What are my current options to copy my data from MacintoshHD?
2. Given that the MacintoshHD is locked and attempts to unlock it had failed from Disk Utility, will it help if I start my macbook in Target disk mode, connect to another mac through a thunderbolt cable and try to copy data?
3. What are now my options to restore my macbook? Erase my startup disk (MacintoshHD) and reinstalling OS X?
Thanks,
Dip
MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10), Start up
Posted on Sep 11, 2016 5:50 AM