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Can I backup my entire HD from a different partition?

Hey guys


My Hard Drive crashed recently. I've tried repairing it using fsck and Disk Utility, but nothing has worked. My HD is partitioned (I was running a beta OS on it) and I'm able to boot on there. If I try to boot on the main side, my computer turns off during startup.


I don't back up regularly so I'm freaking out. Is it possible for me to boot into my partition just to be able to access time machine and do a full backup there? Or will that only backup that partition?


Also, I was wondering, is there any way I could repair it? Maybe I'm doing something wrong with fsck? If my Hard Drive really is toast/unusable, how am I still able to use my other partition?


Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), null

Posted on Apr 27, 2015 11:58 AM

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3 replies

Apr 27, 2015 12:03 PM in response to literallysame

Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive


Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.


Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive


Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.


When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility and press the Continue button. After Disk Utility loads select the Macintosh HD entry from the the left side list. Click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If Disk Utility reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit Disk Utility and return to the main menu.


Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.


Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.


Alternatively, see:


Reinstall OS X Without Erasing the Drive


Choose the version you have installed now:


OS X Yosemite- Reinstall OS X

OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X

OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X

OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X


Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet

if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Can I backup my entire HD from a different partition?

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