Q: Safely saving Data when you have the gray folder with question mark?
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May 3, 2014 5:04 PMby Drew Reece,What model of Mac is it?
Do you have a backup of the Mac or any of the files on it?
Do you have access to another Mac & a disk large enough to copy the data from the failing Mac?
Using 'Target disk mode' with Firewire or Thunderbolt may work to read data however you need another Mac to access the failed Mac and a cable to connect between them. Obviously the connection types depend on the Mac model(s). You need Firewire or Thunderbolt on each Mac.
Target disk mode - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
How did you get into this situation? Did the Mac just start doing it or have you run some cleanup software or done something else recently?
The flashing question mark means it cannot find a valid startup disk.
1. Try holding alt at startup & see if a list of disks appears. Select the main boot disk if it appears, otherwise hold the power button to shut down if nothing appears - report what happens here.
2. Boot into recovery & see if the main disk shows up & can be verified/ repaired.
Boot holding cmd+R. Recovery mode should startup (assuming you have a recovery partition).
Select Disk Utility in the list of options
In Disk Utility select the 'boot disk' this is usually the item above 'Macintosh HD' (or whatever your boot disk is called).
Select the 'First Aid' tab
Repair any disk damage that is reported via 'verify'. Then select The 'Macintosh HD' & repair the permissions too.
3. It may be possible to run third party repair or recovery tools, do you have Disk Warrior, Tech Tool Pro or any other Mac apps for this?
4. Report back here with info about what other Macs you can access etc
5. It may be possible to reinstall 10.9 without loosing your data, the default 'reinstall OS X' option will try to replace the OS files & leave all your user data intact. If the disk is still functioning & has a valid partition this could make it bootable. HOWEVER if the disk is damaged beyond repair it will need to erase the disk - DELETING all your data. Personally I would take a backup before doing this, even if it meant waiting to use a friends Mac (or a trip to the Applestore).
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May 3, 2014 5:11 PMby GlitchErrorY,If anything I really only need one folder that has my finished assignments for class. I really only need the last two projects i didn't back up. I dont mind losing anything else but those 2 files are the ones i'm trying to salvage. I obtained a firewire cable and my friend let me use her mac. Where would i find target disk mode?
I was using it all day yesterday with no problem. I was watching a movie and then shut it because I was migrating to my room. Then I was gonna check some e-mail for the night and then the multi colored pinwheel appeared for a while and i just shut it. This morning I tried restarting it and then this current problem occured.
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May 3, 2014 5:16 PMby Drew Reece,The link I posted above explains Target disk mode.
If it works the damaged Mac (the target) will appear on your friends Mac as a disk. The key part is having the correct leads for each Mac, you can mix Firewire 400/800 and Thunderbolt so long as you have the right cables.
You can also use Disk Utility on your friends Mac to repair your disk if the damaged one needs it to mount.
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May 3, 2014 5:24 PMby GlitchErrorY,I obtained a firewire cable that is double sided.
I held down the T and my target computer has the firewire symbol but I can't seem to find the hard disk? The link said it would show up on my friend's desktop but it's not on there....Would the targets disk show up anywhere else?
I tried repairing it from my friends computer and the same thing happens
"ALERT
Some information was unavailabe during an internal lookup."
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May 3, 2014 6:12 PMby Drew Reece,Let's be clear…
Both Macs are connected to each end of the Firewire cable
The failed Mac has the Firewire symbol on screen because it is in Target disk mode.
On your friends Mac in Finder use, 'Go menu > Computer'.
Does the failed Mac's disk appear in the window that opens?
External disks may not show up on the Desktop, it depends on the users settings, but it should appear under 'Computer'.
I don't understand the error, was that shown in Disk Utility?
I assume the disk appears in Disk Utility, if so you can select the disk & try clicking 'Mount' in the toolbar. A blue link should appear when mounted at the bottom of the window, click that to open the disk (if it is mounting OK).
Report any errors in full if possible, some can be selected for copy & paste.
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May 3, 2014 6:26 PMby GlitchErrorY,On my friends 'Go Menu> Computer' the failed Macs disk does not appear.
The failed Macs disk does appear in disk utility though. So I tried what you suggested and tried to repair it there.
-First I try verifying the Bootup Disk and this pop up box appears with this message:
ALERT
some information was unavailable during an internal lookup" Then i tried to repair it and I get the same alert.
I press ok.
This is the details of the error:
Verifying partition map for “AAPL FireWire Target Media”
Checking prerequisites
Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting
Error: Some information was unavailable during an internal lookup.
I try and repair the bootup disk:
Same pop up box appears:
ALERT
some information was unavailable during an internal lookup"
This is the details to the erros:
Verifying partition map for “AAPL FireWire Target Media”
Checking prerequisites
Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting
Error: Some information was unavailable during an internal lookup.
Verifying and repairing partition map for “AAPL FireWire Target Media”
Checking prerequisites
Problems were encountered during repair of the partition map
Error: Some information was unavailable during an internal lookup.
Mounting:
I selected the disk and clicked mount and nothing happened.
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May 3, 2014 6:51 PMby Drew Reece,It's possible the disk is failing so we really want to avoid trying to do too much, otherwise it may just cause more damage.
What type of disk is it SSD, spinning disk? Does it make any noises, have the sounds changed at all recently?
I can only see a couple of references to that error message…
https://discussions.apple.com/message/21135230#21135230
and
They don't have a clear answer. I have a copy of Disk Warrior so I would try running that to see if it can repair the disk, but it's an unknown error for me, it may not work but I have found DW to be good in the past. http://www.alsoft.com/
Another option is free commandline tools like ddrescue or photo rec which can try to read the raw disk, it will also need another disk to record onto. It's complex & time consuming too, the resulting disk will probably need repairing too, so you could end up needing DW anyway.
The final option is to take the Mac to professional data recovery experts, they may be able to rescue what you need but at a price, you also want to avoid using the Mac at at all if you plan to do this, since it could be doing more harm if it is a physical defect etc.
Sorry, I'm unsure how to you would like to proceed.
