swallz

Q: Data recovery after failed 10.10.4 update

So I updated to 10.10.4 and now my MBP won't boot. Get's about 1/3rd of the way through the loading bar and crashes. Can't reinstall Yosemite from recovery mode, can't repair permissions or the disk with disk utility, can't reinstall 10.10.3 booted from a thumb drive, and can't get a "borrowed" version of DiskWarrior 4.4 to work. Fsck also crashed when I tried to repair with that. I can wipe everything and do a clean install of 10.10.3 but I'd like to get my data off first as I haven't backed up my HDD in 9 months (I know, I know...). Since this is purely a software issue I should be able to get all of that data back, correct? Can anyone recommend what tools to use or how to go about doing this?


Here's what I'm working with for hardware options at the moment:

Failed mac: 2012 MBP, 500gb HDD

Working mac: 2010 MBP, 250gb HDD (my girlfriend's computer)

1TB external HDD, partitioned into 500gb time machine backups and 500gb storage with ~150gb of files

64gb USB stick

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Aug 2, 2015 7:20 AM

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Q: Data recovery after failed 10.10.4 update

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  • by iW00,

    iW00 iW00 Aug 2, 2015 7:58 AM in response to swallz
    Level 4 (1,349 points)
    Aug 2, 2015 7:58 AM in response to swallz

    Get an empty External USB Hard Drive and do an installation of OS X to that External USB. After installation is completed, your computer should boot from that External USB Hard Drive and if internal Macintosh HD can be mounted, you should be able to access your user files to copy them across, from corrupted system to external HDD.

     

    OS X: Installing OS X on an external volume - Apple Support

  • by swallz,

    swallz swallz Aug 2, 2015 8:05 AM in response to iW00
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 2, 2015 8:05 AM in response to iW00

    Can I use the 500gb storage partition on my 1tb drive to do this? The few guides I've seen require that the external be formatted as a single partition, and as I only have one drive that also contains my time machine backups I don't want to get rid of those. I'll give it a quick try on my 64gb USB but I worry that with 10.10.3 on there there is very little space left for the files I want to transfer over. Could I boot from the USB stick and my external, mount the internal hard drive, and copy files from the internal to external HD?

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Aug 2, 2015 9:59 AM in response to swallz
    Level 9 (73,959 points)
    iTunes
    Aug 2, 2015 9:59 AM in response to swallz
    Could I boot from the USB stick and my external, mount the internal hard drive, and copy files from the internal to external HD?

     

    That should work or you can clone the data over.

     

    Clone  - Carbon Copy Cloner          (Often recommended as it has more features than some others)


    Clone – Data Backup

     

    Clone – Deja Vu

      

    Clone  - SuperDuper

     

    Clone - Synk

     

    Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested

  • by KiltedTim,

    KiltedTim KiltedTim Aug 2, 2015 10:08 AM in response to swallz
    Level 9 (56,486 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 2, 2015 10:08 AM in response to swallz

    Are you saying you don't have a backup?

  • by swallz,

    swallz swallz Aug 2, 2015 11:27 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 2, 2015 11:27 AM in response to Eric Root

    I was able to boot to the USB stick and I can get at the hard drive but all of the folders on the internal HD that I want have the red minus on them, which if I understand correctly means their permissions need to be repaired. As I said previously, disk utility failed at doing this. Is there another way for me to fix the permissions either with another tool or the command line? Is there any risk of losing the data in doing so?

     

    I can't just use chmod can I?

  • by swallz,

    swallz swallz Aug 2, 2015 11:25 AM in response to KiltedTim
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 2, 2015 11:25 AM in response to KiltedTim

    I have a back up from 9 months ago - I know it was stupid not to back up more recently. Lots of important data between now and then that I'm looking to recover.

  • by iW00,

    iW00 iW00 Aug 2, 2015 1:11 PM in response to swallz
    Level 4 (1,349 points)
    Aug 2, 2015 1:11 PM in response to swallz

    swallz wrote:

     

    I was able to boot to the USB stick and I can get at the hard drive but all of the folders on the internal HD that I want have the red minus on them, which if I understand correctly means their permissions need to be repaired. As I said previously, disk utility failed at doing this. Is there another way for me to fix the permissions either with another tool or the command line? Is there any risk of losing the data in doing so?

     

    I can't just use chmod can I?

    Do not modify any permissions if you do not have a backup of your data.

     

    Reason why you cannot access these files is that the user account that you are using right now and your old user account have 2 different names.

     

    Here is a better solution for you. Instead of trying to copy each individual file, copy entire user account from Macintosh HD/Users to External HDD/Users. Once you have done this, by using System Preferences > Users & Groups you can recreate your user account - when prompted to choose account name make sure that it will matched your home folder name; when prompted for password, make sure you are using your old password.

  • by swallz,Apple recommended

    swallz swallz Aug 2, 2015 1:56 PM in response to iW00
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 2, 2015 1:56 PM in response to iW00

    Problem solved. I was able to set the hard drive to ignore permissions from "Get Info" and am now copying my entire user account over to my external drive. After that I'll reformat the hard drive and do a clean install.