Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Mac Pro - Stuck on white start up screen

I turned on my machine last night to see it stuck on the white start up screen with spinning circle (left it for over an hour and still didn't start up).

Is there any way I can reinstall Snow Leopard without losing my data - or if install SN on another internal hard drive, can I easily copy my files, photos and emails from my old to new drives.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Mac Pro - (Jan 2008 model), Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Nov 1, 2009 1:31 AM

Reply
5 replies

Nov 1, 2009 3:11 AM in response to MATT-MAC

First, you need to try [fixing the hard drive with Disk Utility|http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417]. If that doesn't solve the problem - and it probably won't, as the symptoms you're seeing probably indicate that some vital system files are damaged - you can simply reinstall Snow Leopard. It won't erase the hard drive unless you explicitly do so using Disk Utility.

Of course, you'd be wise to make a backup of your data before reinstalling. You can use Disk Utility for this while booted from the Mac OS X install disk, assuming you have another hard drive on which to store the backup. See #8 on [this page|http://www.macworld.com/article/51199/2006/06/julyworkingmac.html].

You should have had a backup all along. If you had, you'd be in much less of a mess now. For help figuring out how to set up a backup, look at my [Mac Backup Guide|http://www.reedcorner.net/thomas/guides/backups>.

Nov 1, 2009 12:58 PM in response to Barry Hemphill

Thanks folks for all your help.

I managed to recover the drive by repairing the install. It seems it was self inflicted by truing to change the sharing and permissions for my boot drive and it's second partition. I have been unable to repair the second partition permissions and the partition has a silver padlock on it on my desktop. I have posted a question about this a few minutes ago if anyone has time to read and reply.

Again, my thanks for your help.

Mac Pro - Stuck on white start up screen

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.