MacMini caught in an OS update fail loop

Question

MacMini caught in an OS update fail loop

I Decided to finally upgrade my OS to the Yosemite 10.8 only to be informed after downloading the free upgrade and starting the install that os x cannot be installed on my machine.....so ok fine..next step says to quit the installer to restart my machine and try again...which just brings me back to the upgrade failled window...sigh

so this time instead of goin through the loop again i go to the start up disk option...which seems to be the only other option at this point, it asks me to select the system i want to use to start up the machine and i only have one choice listed...click restart and i get "you cant change the startup disk to the selected disk"

please help im panicking and i need my machine back urgently.

any advice would be appreciated....except anything that would loose my files.

Thanks,

Stacey

Mac mini (Late 2012)

Posted on May 29, 2015 4:05 PM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

May 29, 2015 4:15 PM in response to staceyfromkingston

I do not understand what " upgrade my OS to the Yosemite 10.8 " means.

Yosemite is 10.10.x.

What OSX version was on the Mini before?

What was the exact wording of the error message?

Try:

Boot to Recovery

OS X: About OS X Recovery

and reinstall the OS

If you do not have a backup then boot to recovery and install OSX on an external HD. Then boot from that external HD and see if you can recovery your data from the internal drive.

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Answer 2

May 29, 2015 4:27 PM in response to lllaass

UNfortunately i didnt make note of what version i had before.

the exact message was - and still is...

os x could not be installed on your computer

file system verify or repair failed.

quit the installer to restart your computer and try again

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Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

May 29, 2015 4:31 PM in response to staceyfromkingston

If you do not have a backup then:

- If you do not have a backup then boot to recovery

OS X: About OS X Recovery

and install OSX on an external HD. Then boot from that external HD and see if you can recovery your data from the internal drive.

- You can try booting to Recovery and repairing the HD. However, that may damage the HD further since the error message you received could mean that the HD is failing. Repairing the HD may make recovering files harder.

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Answer 4

May 29, 2015 4:44 PM in response to lllaass

Unfortunately I'm not as high tech as your answer assumes. 'boot to recovery'? this is the screen i'm looking at. I would rather revert to any of the earlier OS options if this one gives so much trouble. where do i go from here?

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Answer 5

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

May 29, 2015 4:48 PM in response to staceyfromkingston

That looks like the screen you see in Recovery when you try to install OSX but it fails.

This link

OS X: About OS X Recovery

tells you how to boot to Recovery to check

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Answer 6

May 29, 2015 4:55 PM in response to lllaass

ok thanks i'll give it a read, i wont loose any files though will I?...and i found out that my previous version was mountain lion

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Answer 7

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

May 29, 2015 4:59 PM in response to staceyfromkingston

Booting to Recovery and install OSX on an external HD should not effect any data on the internal HD.

Just not that the internal HD may be damaged and you might not be able to get all or even some data off the HD.

As the article says, you can boot from the recovery partition on the HD and if that fail, later Macs like yours will then boot to internet Recovery recovery which downloads minimal stuff/tools from Apple servers to allow you to install OSX and do some other things

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