Backing up from within recovery mode?

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Backing up from within recovery mode?

So my MacBook pro has gone into this weird mode. I'm not sure but I think it's the safe mode (grey Apple logo, a circling 'loading' thing and a progress bar). After the bar loads fully, the laptop just shuts down itself. So after a few tries, I googled on my phone and on many forums, they said to press the option key to go into recovery mode. Now, I wanna back up my files into an external hard drive. I have one with more than 400 gb free.

And I followed the instructions for backing up in recovery mode: go into disk utility, choose the Mac hard drive and choose make new image with destination as the external hard drive. The Mac hard drive is just about 170 something gb, more than enough space available on the external hard drive but every time I try making a new image, it says 'Unable to create "Macintosh HD.dmg" (file too large)'. I really don't understand what to do. I have my English assignment in there and my deadlines already over, I'm desperate (it's a 3000+ word essay and I don't have the time to write it all again). Please help!

My laptop is a MacBook pro 13" mid 2012 model. I will seriously be really grateful for any help, at all.

Posted on Jul 12, 2014 2:49 AM

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Answer 1

Csound1

Level 9

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Jul 12, 2014 2:52 AM in response to mwonline

That's not a Safe mode start, it's not a start at all.

So let's try a safe start (reboot, hold the shift key down at the sound of the chime) keep it down until the progress indicator appears.

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Answer 2

Jul 12, 2014 2:55 AM in response to mwonline

How much disk space do you have on the external drive? How much space is used on your internal drive? It seems as if perhaps Disk Utility "thinks," for whatever reason, that you've less free disk space on your external than the space used on the internal. Do you have the external drive partitioned by chance? How is it formatted?

Call back...

Clinton

MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS Mavericks 10.9.4, 16GB Crucial RAM, Crucial M500 960GB SSD, 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display

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Answer 3

mwonline Author

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Jul 12, 2014 3:27 AM in response to Csound1

I thought that too and I've already tried that, but it just continues with that loading circles and progress bar and when the bar is full, it'll shut down again 😕

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Answer 4

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jul 12, 2014 3:32 AM in response to mwonline

Did you try a Disk Repair (from Recovery) and if yes, what was the result?

I suggest that you reformat the external before trying to make an image again.

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Answer 5

mwonline Author

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Jul 12, 2014 3:47 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

I have 465 GB available on the external drive. And the recovery mode disk utility shows the space used by my drive as 174.14 GB. And yeah, I had it formatted as exFAT so I could transfer files with my sister (who uses a Dell). Should I format it as HFS?

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Answer 6

Csound1

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Jul 12, 2014 3:51 AM in response to mwonline

Yes, it must be HFS+ (MacOS Extended (Journaled)

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Answer 7

mwonline Author

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Jul 12, 2014 3:52 AM in response to Csound1

I did and the process does start but stops itself saying "disk utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed up file"

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Answer 8

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jul 12, 2014 3:55 AM in response to mwonline

OK, the path is clear.

Back it up, delete the partition and create a new one (GUID) formatted as MacOS Extended (Journaled) and restore the backup (I would use Migration Assistant).

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Answer 9

mwonline Author

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Jul 12, 2014 5:37 AM in response to Csound1

OMG it worked! Thank you sooo much!! Both of you individuals 🙂

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