Does OS X Recovery work even though I can not boot up from my internal HD? And without reformatting or removing data?

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Level 1

8 points

Does OS X Recovery work even though I can not boot up from my internal HD? And without reformatting or removing data?

Hello!

After some Mail and Safari crashes I couldn't boot up my MBPro anymore. Restarted, ran Disk Utilities which quit halfway through.

Tried to start up from external HD but just got grey screen + Apple logo and spinning beach ball.

I understand OS X Recovery will get me out of this hole. Before running it, will I get my data back or will it just reformat?

Thanks for your help!

Arie

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)

Posted on Jan 28, 2013 11:45 AM

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Answer 1

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Jan 28, 2013 11:57 AM in response to dutcharie

If you restart using Command+R which boots you into the Recovery HD, you will get the OS X Utilities menu where you can use Disk Utilities to Verify and Repair your drive. The Recovery HD won't format anything unless you select Disk Utilities or Terminal and tell those to.

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