Q: Use disk utility without startup disk?
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by rkaufmann87,HelpfulMar 4, 2015 9:24 AM
rkaufmann87
Mar 4, 2015 9:24 AM
in response to Bret Stephenson
Level 9
(58,704 points)
Photos for MacThe disc must be found or replaced. You (or someone from the school) can call AppleCare and request a replacement disc. I don't know how Apple handles educational institutions on this but for business and private owners there is a nominal fee (about $30) for the replacement DVD. What is needed is the machine's serial number and a credit card.
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Mar 4, 2015 9:28 AMby Drew Reece,Your IT guy needs to learn to use Target disk mode.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode - Apple Support
Run it from a similar OS version if you choose to run repair permissions. You will need correct leads to join the Macs, run Disk Utility from the second Mac whilst the first is in target disk mode.
Bear in mind that repair permissions does nothing to the user home folder - so not may not alter much. What error are you actually getting?
Maybe the IT guy knows all this & is not telling you for other reasons (like if you are only a student & he has other work to do), you need to have permission to do this since you will need the admin password on the second iMac to repair the first ones disk.
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Mar 4, 2015 9:32 AMby Drew Reece,You can also run fsck from single user mode.
That will not repair permissions but it will repair the disk structure…
Mac OS X: How to start up in single-user or verbose mode - Apple Support
The prompt lists the exact fsck command when you run single user mode.
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Mar 4, 2015 9:39 AMby Drew Reece,I agree the discs should be replaced, but knowing how schools operate (& the IT guy seems to be quite new) it will be in a cupboard or iMac box that he hasn't been shown yet that probably contains many copies of iMac installer disks - schools rarely buy one iMac. End of term tidying may uncover them
If they can't be found, replace them but there are ways to repair if the system is booting.
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Mar 6, 2015 9:53 AMby Bret Stephenson,Thanks everyone. This is pour third IT guy in six months and while he has good intentions, can't find anything. The guy that was here for years was anti-Mac so no idea what he did. I've been also trying to get our Adobe Suite codes so I can do a couple clean installs. Anyway, I got in through Safe Boot and managed to get most of my stuff onto a hard drive, then made a new account but of course lost a lot of bookmarks and such things. Weird how only one account won't open. Much appreciated….
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Mar 6, 2015 10:05 AMby Drew Reece,You can consider copying the user folder to a new OS installation or to a working Mac with a similar OS version. Target disk mode will help with that.
That will migrate the data, if you create a new user in Users & groups with the same 'short name' a.k.a. 'account name' as the folder. Then you may be able to login & access all the content for that user.
Your post is a little vague as to what you are trying to achieve & what errors you have seen. It's also possible you may be using server based accounts, which is not uncommon in larger education environments. If you want to attempt other methods please explain more about what you see, you shouldn't have to lose data unless the disk is beyond recovery or your home folder is encrypted.
For Adobe, see if you have any way to contact them. They may be able to supply SN's if you have setup online accounts with them, I suspect they are all somewhere within their web interface for the schools account - if you can figure out what email was used for login.
