The Doomed Mavericks installer

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Level 1

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The Doomed Mavericks installer

Hello,

slipped up a little bit yesterday; I got bored and saw Mavericks was free so I downloaded it on the app-store. Now for some reason my brain didn't quite get into gear and i kind of forgot i was updating my OS - I didn't back up a collection of files.

I now have that issue where I am stuck inside the Mavericks installer loop because it says the internal drive is damaged - disk utility repair button is greyed out.

Now i know a format is in order but i would like to copy a few files that i know are unharmed before i go ahead with it.

Hopefully you guys can help.

I have tried resetting PRAM opt+cmd+R+P

I have then tried booting to recovery partition cmd+R - this does nothing.

I have tried asr -source in terminal to make a copy of my internal onto an external - this spat input/output errors at me (i'm assuming this is because its booted from the installer which is running from the internal drive)

I had the idea of installing Mavericks onto an external partitoned as GUID and then accessing the files on the internal drive before reformatting. but I'm not sure how to stop the Mavericks installer persistently trying to install to the internal drive.

The machine in question is a 2009 mac-book pro, the only other machine i own is the one I'm using now and it's just a desktop with windows 7, this puts the target disk mode suggestion i have seen on some sites out of my reach. I feel like if i had another OSX machine I would of fixed this little mishap by now.

Thanks in advance

UF0

😟

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Dec 28, 2013 7:02 AM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

156,770 points

Dec 28, 2013 7:30 AM in response to HOLDTITEUFO

You summarized the dilemma correctly. Essentially, you will have to boot your Mac from some other device, and your 2009 MBP is too old to use OS X Internet Recovery to repair its boot volume. "Repairing" the volume is a misnomer in that whatever caused it to fail will occur again, so your goal should be to "repair" it to the point that you can mount it for the purposes of recovering your essential files.

Here is how you can recover: Purchase or otherwise obtain an external hard disk drive and an inexpensive enclosure. Both can be obtained for a total of $60 - $80 or so. You will need to replace the internal hard disk anyway so there is no escaping this expense.

Using your MBP's original System Install DVD, install your MBP's original OS on the external hard disk. Then, you can boot from the external volume using Startup Manager. Verify it works to your satisfaction, then swap it with the internal hard disk.

Replacing the HDD is not terribly difficult. I recommend you avail yourself of the videos available from OWC / MacSales or the photographs available from iFixit. Both of them also sell the tools you may require. They are not expensive either. OWC is a recommended source for replacement hard disks, but any 2.5" SATA drive will work. Check its thickness: 9.5mm will fit but 12mm may not. This may also be a good excuse to upgrade to a SSD, which you can obtain from OWC as well. Avoid PC-centric vendors.

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Answer 2

HOLDTITEUFO Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 28, 2013 8:37 AM in response to John Galt

Hi John thanks for the fast response,

I ran my Diskwarrior CD (took a very long time to boot from disk) and it's currently recovering my personal files to an external drive. The synopsis it gave after rebuilding the directory was that the HD is essentially on it's way out so i'm most likely going to go ahead with your suggestion and replace the drive with an SSD. I am from the UK so not sure wether OWC will be the most cost effective solution but thanks anyway for the reccomendation.

Regards

UF0

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Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

156,770 points

Dec 28, 2013 8:53 AM in response to HOLDTITEUFO

In the UK, Crucial is another recommended source.

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