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Q: Installing Mavericks but disk damaged, no recovery or safe modes

So I have a 2009 Mac book. I downloaded OS X Mavericks successfully this afternoon. But when I try to install it, it tells me: "The OS X upgrade couldn't be started because disk is damaged and can't be repaired. After your computer restarts, back up your data, erase your disk, and try installing again. Click restart to restart your computer and try installing again." Okay, fine, but annoying. So I hit restart and end up at this exact same error message. And when I open disk utility, the repair button is greyed out. When I try and open in recovery mode (holding down command - r) it just takes me back to the OS X installer and the error message. When I try to restart in safe mode, my entire computer just shuts off.

 

When am I supposed to do now? Luckily I backed up my computer last night. But I'm a grad student and a teacher. I need my computer to work. Help?

Posted on Oct 22, 2013 9:45 PM

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Q: Installing Mavericks but disk damaged, no recovery or safe modes

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  • by medenius,

    medenius medenius Oct 29, 2013 10:59 AM in response to mattolds
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 29, 2013 10:59 AM in response to mattolds

    mattolds -

    i had the same problem (no backup, unable to repair disk), and this is what I did. it's basically what christo g is saying, i think, but without being sure exactly how to "access your old file system" this is what i ended up doing.

     

    reposting from a similar thread ....

     

     

    i don't know much about anything but here's an account of what worked for me, after being told by apple there was nothing i could do.

     

    my 17" macbook pro (running lion) had this problem; something weird happened in the download of Mavericks (i think; maybe interrupted), told me my hd was damaged and to back up & restart. Had no back up of my files; "repair disk" wasn't working, then later was greyed-out. I thought i was going to have lose all my data and wipe my drive: and while I did end up having to wipe it, I was able to work around and back up all my files first, which applecare told me there was no way to do (take heart!).

     

    I believe this is the same as what Christo G suggested, but after an hour chatting with apple care in which they told me my HD was shot, and that it needed ($) repair, i tried this and it worked:

     

    1) In disk utility, create a new partition on my external HD. Name it something identifiable; not "hd" e.g.

     

    2) Reboot in recovery mode. Select the option to Reinstall Mac OS X. At this point both Macintosh HD and Recovery HD were "locked' (and couldnt be unlocked through disk utility repairs or anything else), so I couldn't reinstall there even if I wanted to. Select the new partition of the external HD as the destination for the install. Install OS X (mountain lion) there.

     

    3) Rebooting & holding down the Option key after the startup noise, select the disk which is the new partition with OS X (mtn lion) on it. Should be able to boot up from here.

     

    4) When it boots up for the first time, it will give you the option to import data (like, from another computer, from an external disk, etc). Here, *even though my (internal) HD was theoretically Damaged, Failing, Locked, Irreperable, Needed to be serviced by apple, Physically Damaged, etc etc etc,* I was able to import all of my user data and applications from my (internal) HD, simply by selecting the option to import from an external disk, then selecting my (internal) HD. should be able to pick and choose what you want to import: which users, what data, etc.

     

    5) Once that data was imported, OS X starts up (from the external HD, still) with all the data that was on my internal HD (so it looks like my computer did before i tried to install mavericks).

     

    6) Now, create a time machine back up. I did this on the old partition of the external HD that, on its new partition, was currently running OS X. when I created that backup in time machine, it asks if you are sure you want to create a time machine back up on the same something (disk? volume? i can't remember) as your current start up disk. Usually probably a bad idea, but, here... it worked fine. So: you back up everything you have as a time machine back up on that other partition. this took about 7 hours.

     

    7) go to sleep, wake up.

     

    8). To sum up: You are now running OS X mtn lion off one partition of your external hd; on the other partition is a time machine back up of your data. your original HD (the one inside your computer) is irrelevant, if you've done everything up to this point; not only did you managed to copy that data to your new install of OS X/ external HD, you now have it backed up as a time machine backup (on the other partition of that external HD).

     

    9). So: when you are absolutely sure you have your time machine backup made on your external HD, use Disk Utility to Erase your INTERNAL, macintosh HD (*not your external HD!*), the one that couldn't be repaired before, where you were trying to install Mavericks. When I first tried, Disk Utility was not able to unmount the disk; when I restarted, it had no problem. Not sure what the deal is there, others might have a different experience, for better or worse. The Erase took up about 5 seconds. I then verified the disk (which had thrown up all kinds of trouble before), it checked up, verified permissions, gave the "repair disk" a good click or two just to make sure, and it was all clean and good.

     

    10). at this point, with the internal hd wiped clean, and a time machine back up on your external HD, reboot in recovery mode and select "Restore from Time Machine Backup". Select the backup from your external drive, and as the destination select the (now-clean) internal backup. had no problems restoring that backup to the internal drive; computer then restarts (mine automatically restarted using the internal HD as the startup disk) and should be running Mtn Lion, with all the files you backed up from that damaged HD, from your internal HD once again. At this point, after trying to feel sure that i was running off the internal hd's os x, i nervously ejected the external HD. no hitches; all my un-backed-up data; my *working* OS x mtn lion; a functional internal hd; and only some 25 abysmal hours poured into an idle attempt to get Mavericks.

     

    good luck. i hope this is more helpful than confusing. i have a feeling it's not the most direct solution by far, and that it's just a more verbose version of what has been suggested, but in my particular situation (no access to other computers to download 3rd party disk utilities, etc) it was the only thing I could figure out that worked.

  • by Russla,

    Russla Russla Nov 7, 2013 8:53 AM in response to medenius
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 7, 2013 8:53 AM in response to medenius

    medenius wrote:

     

     

    4) When it boots up for the first time, it will give you the option to import data (like, from another computer, from an external disk, etc). Here, *even though my (internal) HD was theoretically Damaged, Failing, Locked, Irreperable, Needed to be serviced by apple, Physically Damaged, etc etc etc,* I was able to import all of my user data and applications from my (internal) HD, simply by selecting the option to import from an external disk, then selecting my (internal) HD. should be able to pick and choose what you want to import: which users, what data, etc.

     

    Is there anyway to do this once the computer has booted?

  • by William Lloyd,

    William Lloyd William Lloyd Nov 7, 2013 9:49 AM in response to newtomacnh
    Level 7 (21,158 points)
    Nov 7, 2013 9:49 AM in response to newtomacnh

    No, your drive has major issues.

  • by Russla,

    Russla Russla Nov 8, 2013 1:01 AM in response to William Lloyd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 8, 2013 1:01 AM in response to William Lloyd

    Not necessarily, it's a bit to coincedental to me. I've backed up all my files off it so can't have "major issues".

  • by theloon,

    theloon theloon Nov 11, 2013 2:08 PM in response to PST MD
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 11, 2013 2:08 PM in response to PST MD

    Really, we are actually still seeing comments like the one below  25 years after computers became a way of life and hard drives became dirt cheap?

     

    "I didn't back up before I decided to install ........"

     

    Kinda beyond belief at this point.

  • by Karimakins,

    Karimakins Karimakins Nov 20, 2013 1:51 AM in response to willy0317
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 20, 2013 1:51 AM in response to willy0317

    I had the same problem, trying to install Mavericks on my husband's iMac only for the installation to fail telling me my disc was damaged and couldn't be repaired. I spent 3 days trying EVERYTHING that was suggested in various forums, but the machine wouldn't even go into Safe Mode or start up from the original disc.

     

    I spoke to Apple for over an hour and we exhausted all suggestions leaving them to tell me that I would have to bring the iMac into a store and probably having to pay quite a lot of money to have it fixed. I couldn't afford this so kept trying various things.

     

    HERE is what worked for me in the end:

     

    I connected the iMac that was affected to my old Macbook laptop via a Firewire cable. Then I started the iMac holding down the 'T' key. This throws the machine into Firewire mode.

     

    On my Macbook the iMac then showed up as an external drive. I went into Disc Utility and repaired the Disc through that. It failed at first but upon trying again it repaired it and I then disconnected the machines and re-started my iMac. It was completely fine and NO data was lost.

     

    I hope this helps!

  • by Danilo TL,

    Danilo TL Danilo TL Nov 23, 2013 8:29 AM in response to medenius
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 23, 2013 8:29 AM in response to medenius

    Nice!!! Thank's men!!!! Work perfect here!!!!!

  • by dang_I_am_a_fanboy,

    dang_I_am_a_fanboy dang_I_am_a_fanboy Mar 1, 2014 3:52 PM in response to Danilo TL
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 1, 2014 3:52 PM in response to Danilo TL

    I just had this happen to me on a 2011 Macbook Pro 13.

     

    Started the Mavericks install and then it said disk corrupted.

    Same symptoms - couldn't verify the disk or repair it.

    It kept insisting I had to format the hard disk.

     

    But there were important files that were not backed up...of course.

     

    I popped on a Firewire 500G external drive, installed Mavericks, migrated all the files.

    After verifying that it looks like everything was there by booting to the external drive,

    I wiped the internal drive, re-partitioned, installed Mavericks and migrated files.

     

    Just wanted to say this solution worked for me too.

    Hopefully, this wasn't the long way there.

     

    I'm not used to this kind of windows-like crap from apple. Arggghh!

  • by rickmusikstudios,

    rickmusikstudios rickmusikstudios Mar 1, 2014 4:29 PM in response to dang_I_am_a_fanboy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 1, 2014 4:29 PM in response to dang_I_am_a_fanboy

    My laptop just switched off after installing the latest Mavericks. People have offered work-arounds but none worked for me... so....

    I installed OSX Mavericks on a separate firewire drive and it works fine... with a message that my old system drive is corrupted.... but all my files seem to be there?

     

    I'm going to extract the files, then fit a new internal drive and download Mavericks again onto that.Not sure if I will come across any problems on the way.

     

    I don't know if it is 10.9.2  or a broken disk that has caused  my problems of the last couple of days. Maybe I will never know for sure... but in the end you have to do something positive and a new drive is cheap.

  • by petermac87,

    petermac87 petermac87 Mar 1, 2014 4:37 PM in response to dang_I_am_a_fanboy
    Level 5 (7,402 points)
    Mar 1, 2014 4:37 PM in response to dang_I_am_a_fanboy

    dang_I_am_a_fanboy wrote:

     

     

    I'm not used to this kind of windows-like crap from apple. Arggghh!

    Disc failure is common to all computers and can happen to anyone at anytime. They are particularly susceptible under the stress of installing a new and hungrier OS. It doesn't matter who makes the software. Apple gets the hard drives from HD manufacturers. They are as prone to failure on Macs as they are on windows. That is why anybody who even cares slightly abut their data and ease of reinstalling should backup.

     

    Cheers

     

    Pete

  • by dang_I_am_a_fanboy,

    dang_I_am_a_fanboy dang_I_am_a_fanboy Mar 1, 2014 5:31 PM in response to petermac87
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 1, 2014 5:31 PM in response to petermac87

    The disk didn't fail.

    It got corrupted somehow during the upgrade / install to Mavericks.

     

    The issue I experienced upgrading was similar to several others.

    I just wanted to put it out there that the install Mavericks to external HD and transfer the data then reverse the process worked to recover the data on the drive.

     

    Your response is non-sequitur, but thanks.

  • by petermac87,

    petermac87 petermac87 Mar 1, 2014 5:29 PM in response to dang_I_am_a_fanboy
    Level 5 (7,402 points)
    Mar 1, 2014 5:29 PM in response to dang_I_am_a_fanboy

    dang_I_am_a_fanboy wrote:

     

     

    I just wanted to put it out there that the install Mavericks to external HD and transfer the data then reverse the process worked to recover the data on the drive.

     

     

    Yes I was aware of your highly technical advice......

     

    I'm not used to this kind of windows-like crap from apple. Arggghh!

     

    Glad all is well.

     

    Cheers

     

    Pete

  • by Patrick Franklin,

    Patrick Franklin Patrick Franklin May 12, 2014 5:48 PM in response to PST MD
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 12, 2014 5:48 PM in response to PST MD

    I had a friend with this issue. This site has a list of suggestions that helped me recover his data and also upgrade to Mavericks.  The process requires an external USB drive.

     

    http://recovertextsms.com/imac-recovery.html

     

    On my friends Mac, every disk utility tool he tried said his HD was damaged, but it was working when you would try to reboot into recovery mode... how damaged can it be if it boots into recovery? 

     

    This guide shows how to make a emergency backup of Macintosh HD from the OS X Installer so you can reinstall Mavericks. Once installed you have the option of using the Migration Assistant to bring the files back from the emergency backup.

     

    Good luck.

  • by Hayasawaf,

    Hayasawaf Hayasawaf Jun 14, 2014 10:58 AM in response to PST MD
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 14, 2014 10:58 AM in response to PST MD

    Can you please explaine in details :(

  • by rickmusik,

    rickmusik rickmusik Jun 15, 2014 12:58 AM in response to PST MD
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 15, 2014 12:58 AM in response to PST MD

    A lot of people seemed to get a disk failure on installing Mavericks; is this a coincindence? I installed Mavericks on a new drive (externally) with a Lindy disk caddy and then replaced my internal drive with this disk once I had managed to retrieve everything from the old (broken?) disk. I tried every other solution but nothing else seemed to work.

     

    I was lucky with my data and now use Time Machine on all of my computers!

     

    Hope this helps.

     

    BTW....I seem to remember that the (broken?) disk would load a version of OSX in safe mode. It was a few months ago now.

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