My MacBook Pro is able to turn on with install disk or safe mode but I am not able to repair disk. It says to back up files. How do I do that with a external hard drive plugged in?
MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011)
seacloudstudio,
which app do you normally use to make backups?
I'm not sure this is all new to me I have backed up my computer onto an external hard drive before but it's been far too long and now I need to nuke and plow my computer so it will work again but I'm afraid I will lose all my family photos and a few important documents
seacloudstudio,
you can follow the instructions on this Apple page, in the “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility” section. (You can follow them even if you have a newer version of OS X than 10.6 installed.)
Hi I tried this already but I can't get past the section of repair disk it says in red
Unused node is not erased ( node = 81)
Invalid leaf record count
( it should be 2353 instead of 2354)
Invalid node structure
The volume macintosh had could not be verified.
Then it says A few other things then error disk utility can't repair disk
Also under S. M. A. R. T status it says failing
seacloudstudio,
if your internal disk is failing, then skip the verification and repair steps and copy whatever you can from the failing disk to your external disk. Once you’ve copied what you can, connect your external disk to a different computer, to ensure that you have good copies of those family photos and important documents on your external disk. Look into purchasing a new internal hard drive or SSD as soon as possible; don’t try to reuse the failing disk by reformatting it.
Thank you but I'm having a difficult time with the steps on how to make copies or recover photos /files etc. I cannot find them anywhere. I'm not computer savy. I have followed the steps up to this point with success but now I'm totally stuck. Can you please help me with the steps on moving the files over to external hard drive?
seacloudstudio,
continue to follow the steps that were given in the Apple page which was linked to above, but just skip the disk verification and disk repair steps.
Oh geez I'm stuck again. It says cannot allocate memory and my only option is to click the OK bottom so now what do I do??? Please help
seacloudstudio,
which version of OS X is installed on your internal disk? Do you have a bootable external disk or a FireWire 800 cable? Do you have access to a second Mac with a FireWire 800 port?
My version is 10.6.6 when I look up my info it says yes under bootable! Is this what you mean? Like I said I'm not computer savvy. Sorry. I don't have another computer but I believe I have a transfer cable??? That we purchased for our previous macbook. Is that what you mean by FireWire cable 800? All I have is my iPad and iPhone
seacloudstudio,
if you’ve never installed Mac OS X on your external disk, then it won’t be bootable. (The “yes under bootable” is probably in reference to your internal disk.)
Your Early 2011 MacBook Pro has a FireWire 800 port, located between its Ethernet port and its Thunderbolt port. It requires its own cable to be able to connect to FireWire 800 peripherals or to another Mac with a FireWire 800 port. If you have a friend with such a Mac, you could purchase a FireWire 800 cable to boot your Mac into Target Disk mode, which would let your Mac act as an external hard drive to the second Mac; you could then use the second Mac to copy the photos and important files from your Mac.
How much free space is on your external disk? If you still have the grey Mac OS X Install DVD which came in the box with your Mac, you could install Mac OS X from that DVD onto your external disk, and then use Startup Manager to boot from your external disk, and then copy your photos and important files from your internal disk to your external disk using the Finder.
Thank you I will ask a family member to use their computer and look into the cable thx for your help
How to back up MacBook Pro in safe mode
