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boot from DVD but cannot find hard drive now

just updated to 10.7.3, then cannot boot from hard drive. I boot from DVD and cannot find hard drive now

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on May 2, 2012 11:35 PM

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17 replies

May 3, 2012 1:31 AM in response to ventcher

Did the 10.7.3 update complete the installation process?


Some updates, when being installed and applied can restart (but not fully start up) the machine a couple of times.


I'd restart your machine and give it a few uninterrupted minutes to see if it boots up normally. Depending on the specs of your iMac, the remapping of app shortcuts etc can take a little while to complete (but not an excessive amount of time).


It is unlikely the update caused your hard drive to fail.


If your iMac doesn't boot up, restart and boot into the recovery partition of Lion by holding down both the cmd & R keys while booting. This will run Lion Recovery which will allow you to repair your Hard Drive, reinstall or install a fresh copy of Lion (network access is required).


If this fails, boot from the recovery DVD and launch Disk Utility from the Tools option in the toolbar and see if your hard drive is listed in Disk Utility. If your hard drive is not listed, there is a hard drive problem and you'll need to speak to Apple Tech Support to arrange a repair.


Hope this helps

May 3, 2012 6:06 AM in response to necronym

Hi , thank you very much for your reply.


I boot from DVD and launch disk utility, the hard disk didn't listed out.


I tried to use diskwarrior but still cannot see the hard disk.


I guess the reason is due to the combo update as I also install windows 7 in the Imac.


I just want to get some important files from the hard disk and reinstall it, can you find a way to solve this?

May 3, 2012 7:19 AM in response to ventcher

I've never used Boot Camp, I have no use for Windows on my Mac, so don't have any experience there, but it does remind me of an issue I used to get after updating Windows in the old days when I ran a dual boot Linux / Windows system.


The Windows update always corrupted the Bootloader so I couldn't access Linux after the Windows update.


I ended up dumping Windows and just ran Linux for years.


This sounds like a corrupt boot loader between Mac OS X and Windows. I'm not sure if there's a way to reinstall the bootloader Boot Camp uses.


You might want to read additional options here:


http://macs.about.com/od/faq1/f/emergencystart.htm

May 3, 2012 8:16 AM in response to ventcher

The Mac OS X folder with a '?' in it means the machine can't find a boot sectore or OS to boot from.


The Windows issue would infer the same thing.


Try restarting your machine while holding down both the Cmd & R keys and select Recovery HD. From there you should have options to either Restore Lion/ Reinstall Lion or perform a clean install of Lion.


You will have access to Disk Utility tools as well, Repair Disk/ Permissions etc. You could try repair disk and see if it helps.


If nothing else, you may have to perform a clean install 😟

May 3, 2012 9:09 AM in response to ventcher

Sorry I had to go out for a while so couldn't respond.


Did you boot from the restore DVD and use Disk Utility from the Tools menu in the Toolbar to verify your Mac OS X partition?


If it is saying verified it means your Disk File System is intact. There is a question as to why your Mac OS X is showing 10.6.8 yet you say you installed 10.7.3 prior to this issue displaying itself?


Can you now boot into Mac OS X?

May 3, 2012 9:21 AM in response to necronym

Hi I am sorry to make a mistake for Mac OS X system, it is 10.6.8, not 10.7.3.


I didn't book from restore DVD . I only use the disk utility on the hard drive to verify it again, it say the disc seems good.


I think I need to back up all the important files first, then restart it again, to see if it can boot into Mac OS X in a normal way and then change to windows 7 to see if it is ok.


is that correct?

boot from DVD but cannot find hard drive now

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