skernz wrote:
My 24in iMac is booting to gray screen with flashing folder with a question mark in it. Its getting old and at this point all i am worried about is gathering some data off my drive. It currently wont boot into safe mood and I can not boot into disc utility.
Any thoughts??
Old enough that when purchased, system DVDs came w/it? If so, do the following:
Disconnect all devices from the computer then do the following:
Boot up from the system DVD that originally came w/the iMac while holding down the "c" key.
Select the language you wish to use, and then choose "Disk Utility" from the menu bar.
Your HD should appear in a panel on the left hand side of the window which opens. Select it and then click on the "repair disk" button in the right hand section of the window.
Once this process has been completed restart your computer and repair permissions directly from Disk Utility.
If Disk Utility is unable to complete the repair, you will need to use a stronger 3rd party utility like DiskWarrior, Techtool PRO (not Deluxe) or Drive Genius.
If the above works, start backing up. Check out the following links:
Mac Basics: Time Machine
OS X Mountain Lion: Alternatives for backing up your Mac
User Tip: Most commonly used backup methods
Emergency backups you didn't know you had!