Disk Utility, HD and Permissions greyed out

Question

Level 1

0 points

Disk Utility, HD and Permissions greyed out

I'm attempting to backup my system because it will only boot to Disk Utility.
Macintosh HD is greyed out, I can run Verify Disk (result includes Invalid B-tree node size - Error: this disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.), I can click Repair Disk (result is Disk Utility can't repair this disk...disk, and restore your backed-up files.)

Verify Disk Permissions and Repair Disk Permissions are both greyed out.

When I go to the Restore tab, I have Source as the greyed out Macintosh HD and Destination as an external HD (formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) )
It freezes on Setup and eventually the external drive turns off and it just sits there. I assume it has something to do with the greyed out Macintosh HD?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Jan 30, 2016 6:46 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jan 11, 2017 10:10 AM in response to keg55

Another possible reason the volume might be grade out is if you're using FileVault. You'll need to select the volume and then from the menu choose 'Unlock…', enter your admin credentials to unlock the drive. Then you should be able to run disk utility

Reply

Answer 2

keg55

Level 6

11,755 points

Jan 30, 2016 7:40 AM in response to ticketybooo

Are you running the Verify Disk and Repair Disk from your Recovery HD? If not, restart using the Command+R keys to enter the Recovery HD. Then launch Disk Utility and run those two commands.

Reply

Answer 3

ticketybooo Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 30, 2016 8:06 AM in response to keg55

Everything is exactly the same in Recovery.

I'm not sure I understand the branches of drives in the left column, I have 500.11 GB Apple HDD, under that is the Macintosh HD which is greyed out, and then there's a line and disk1 (which verifies OK), branched under that is OS X Base System which also verifies OK.

If I try to Restore using the top tier Apple HDD I get Could not validate source - error 254

Reply

Answer 4

keg55

Level 6

11,755 points

Jan 30, 2016 8:09 AM in response to ticketybooo

Select the greyed out Macintosh HD and see if you can click Mount in the Disk Utility toolbar. It seems like that drive isn't mounted. If you can't mount it then the drive could be dead.

Reply

Answer 5

ticketybooo Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 30, 2016 8:12 AM in response to keg55

Thanks for the walkthrough 🙂

Just tried mounting it: Mount Failed, the disk "Macintosh HD" could not be mounted. Try running First Aid on the disk and then retry mounting.

By dead that means that everything I want to backup is gone? I've done regular backups but 2 days before this started I was working with several important files that weren't backed up yet...

Reply

Answer 6

Jan 30, 2016 8:26 AM in response to ticketybooo

You can't use the File System on a Mac OS X drive that will not mount. (So it cannot be copied, in whole or in part, using Mac OS X.) If you do not already have a Trusted Backup, ALL those files are essentially dead to you.

There is a SLIM chance that rescue Utilities such as Data Rescue or Disk Warrior may be able to recover some files. If using Data Rescue, it prudently will NOT recover anything to the same Volume, but requires a new destination on which to place potentially-rescued files.

Do not brute-force copy everything, unless you have no other options. There are over 350,000 files on that drive you DO NOT NEED -- those that make up Mac OS X. A Re-Install from fundamental sources replaces Mac OS X EXACTLY as it was installed -- there are no modifications made to Mac OS X itself, it is customized through preference files ONLY.

You are after a few hundred files that are "Your stuff".

Reply

Answer 7

ticketybooo Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 1, 2016 2:06 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Data Rescue requires another Mac to make the bootwell drive? Is this correct? I've talked with their technical support but they weren't clear on this.

I only have a PC available to download the program to an external drive...

Reply