Panic report when Yosemite boots, PLEASE HELP!

Wayne,

Take it in! Let them run the extensive RAM test and have it repaired/replaced. Linc Davis said some time ago "....or some other hardware fault". Don't let them tell you that RAM can't be replaced, it can be. It just costs a bit more, and must be done by a specialist.

If your outputs (display) is fine in the command line, then besides the processor, the graphics processor, the RAM remains. I know the RAM is also used for output in the Command Line, but it is stressed far less. Sorry!

Leo

Hi Wayne,

Be prepared for the probability that your hard drive is indeed mucked up. If they can't access the drive, they can't recover the data from it. Now there are hard drive recovery services available (not done by Apple) but it involves taking your hard drive's internal disc out of the drive and placing it into a working hard drive. Very expensive equipment is used to do this, you or I cannot do this. These services can easily cost well over $2000 and even they cannot guarantee that they can recover your contents. This is why back ups are so very very important.

If the hard drive is beyond hope, your data is likely lost forever. I have to say, everything is pointing to the drive at the moment. The reason I say this is because every back door approach to accessing your hard drive has failed.

BTW, Diagnostics Gateway is the same tool they use at any authorized Apple repair facility to diagnose your computer's problems.

At the end I can't understand why backing up hard drive using Unix commands is so dangerous and harmful (In such case that we can't do anything else) ?

Manili -

Unix commands are dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. I don't think he was saying using terminal is a bad idea so much as saying "You really need to get your computer to a repair shop before it doesn't even power up at all."

I'm not so certain Wayne ever actually accessed the hard drive successfully at all, in which case, even Unix wouldn't help him. If it is the hard drive, and everything is pointing in that direction, a new hard drive may be in his future.

Dear pmiles -

I'm thinking about essential data in hard drive. If Wayne could not access hard drive directly I think it's the last he can do ! So it's not a bad idea to test hard with simple things like "ls /" command, to check whether hard drive can be accessed or not.

Wayne,

It is a Unix command which you use to "list" the directories and files in the root directory. While it, by itself, is not dangerous and only reads what is there in the directory to read, you were advised against doing the command line stuff because of the possible sensitivity and importance of your data. Drives can be replaced, at a cost. But the advisors, including myself, would like to give you the best possible chance to retrieve your information. Unix/BSD/Linux is extremely powerful as far as programming languages go, but one should exercise extreme caution in when and where and by whom it is used.

In a previous post, you yourself have alluded to the importance thereof. I don't believe M intentions were anything else but good, and he just wanted to establish whether or not the drive could be accessed at all. The problem is that you might have only one chance to retrieve your data and clone what is important to you. If that chance is lost by experimenting, it is either irretrievably lost, or it is going to cost you much more to recover maybe a fraction of it.

That is the problem. But, it is your decision.

Leo

Hi Wayne

This command will list all items in a directory (here root directory). Of course listing a directory items does not mean your entire HDD is working properly but it can be a good news.

As Leo mentioned in his post Unix/BSD commands are very powerful. I advised them because I didn't face any issue using them. But remember I'm not the person who might lose everything if ANYthing bad happens.

Hi Fearny

It only tells you that a part of your disk could be working, that is the part where the catalog (directory in MS terms) is stored on the HD. It does not tell you anything about the integrity at all. Normally, it should do no harm at all. Further it does not give you the total directory structure, only the root (beginning), of the structure. However that mount point is very important. One way to put it is to say, it is the reference point from where it starts to read data.

Look, your Mac is not dead. It is very much alive, having a new battery, with keyboard, display, touchpad, peripheral connections all working. Your problem could be zero'd in with two possibilities, first being HD failure or eminent failure, or a logic board problem, with the culprit there possibly RAM. Everything else seems to be working from what you have described. The risk of data loss, especially with no backups, that is your biggest problem. Therefore the least stress put on that critical part is preferable, until steps have been taken to recover the maximum amount of your critical data.

Hope it helps.

Have fun

Leo

Wayne,

Hard drives have two kinds of failures, logical failure and mechanical failure. If it is a mechanical failure, you're data is beyond the reach of mere mortal attempts. You have to physically place the drum of the dead drive into a new enclosure and precisely calibrate the head to it's last known position. This is very expensive and unless you are willing to spend $2000 for the *possibility* that they might be able to recover *some* data, you will have to accept the fact that all the data is lost. And when I say *some* data, you may be looking for your family photos and all they can recover is your address book... for a hefty price tag.

Logical failures are partial data losses. Make no mistake, there is some data loss. What the kind folks have been trying to have you do here is attempt to recover data due to a logical failure... which may not be the type of failure your drive has incurred. All mechanical failures suffer logical failures of some sort before the inevitable end. So merely trying to access the drive in any capacity may actually be pushing it closer to a mechanical failure or increasing the probability that even more data may be unrecoverable.

Take the computer in and have them get your computer up and running, if it is indeed the hard drive that is gone, they can return the bad drive to you when you pick up your working computer. At that point you can look into options for trying to recover the data. Make no mistake, if they can't access the drive, odds are your attempts will result in the same outcome. The only difference is, you are sitting there with a computer that doesn't function.