I'm unable to select macintosh hd as my startup disk

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Level 1

4 points

I'm unable to select macintosh hd as my startup disk

I am running 10.8.3 and have Boot Camp running Windows 7 on a Retina MBP 15" 2012 model. I am unable to select Macintosh HD as my startup disk as it is not even listed in the options. I've done some searching and I don't see anyone with the same issue. If anyone can help it would be much appreciated, and if I left out some information you need to help me just say the word. I'm unable to install the latest SMC update until I get this fixed it looks like.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Mar 25, 2013 2:03 PM

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Answer 1

Zlig

Level 4

1,340 points

Mar 25, 2013 2:07 PM in response to drydenlee

What startup disk options do you get when starting up holding down the "alt" key?

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Answer 2

drydenlee Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 25, 2013 2:12 PM in response to Zlig

I can see my Macintosh HD, Boot Camp, and Recovery Partition when holding Option or Alt during boot. Once booted into my OSX Partition, I can't select it in the System Preferences > Startup Disk. It simply has Boot Camp as the only option.

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Answer 3

Zlig

Level 4

1,340 points

Mar 25, 2013 2:16 PM in response to drydenlee

I suggest that you startup from the recovery partition, and perform a permissions repair and disk repair.

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Answer 4

drydenlee Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 25, 2013 2:44 PM in response to Zlig

Well I did that and even though the disk repair did find a block error, the rpoblem still persists. The permissions were all fine.

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Answer 5

Zlig

Level 4

1,340 points

Mar 25, 2013 3:24 PM in response to drydenlee

I don't want to sound alarmist, but block errors could mean that you could have a potential problem with your HDD. Are you fully backed up?

Anyway download Onyx -care be sure that you choose the version for your current version of OS X:

http://www.titanium.free.fr/downloadonyx.php

This will test your Hard Disk and warn you of any potential problems.

Be sure you read the instructions before using any of it's features.

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Answer 6

drydenlee Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 25, 2013 4:01 PM in response to Zlig

Ok tried performing all diagnostics and maintenance that I could find in Onyx and nothing has changed. It's really strange. Is there a file that holds the boot drive data or something I might be able to force to see my drive? I don't understand how it shows up under available boot devices on boot, but not in the Mountain Lion OS. I would think it would be reversed if there was an actual hardware issue...

Thanks for your help, I appreciate you taking the time.

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Answer 7

drydenlee Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 25, 2013 4:34 PM in response to drydenlee

I found a workaround! Doing a search for assigning a startup disk through the command line I came across this:

sudo bless -mount /Volumes/"startup disk" -setBoot

Or what I had to enter in my case:

sudo bless -mount /Volumes/"Macintosh HD" -setBoot

And I am now able to boot from my Macintosh HD partition! It still doesn't show up under the startup disk preferences, but at least it works.

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Answer 8

Mar 31, 2013 12:28 AM in response to drydenlee

what did you do exactly to fix the problem ?

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Answer 9

drydenlee Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 31, 2013 8:12 AM in response to hughcramer97

I entered the above command in a terminal window. Depending on what your drive name is called, you would substitute that for "startup disk" keeping the quotes. This will set the startup disk to your Mac OS but it does not fix the issue of the drive not showing up in system preferences. I hope this helps!

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