Attempting to retrieve files off hard drive via terminal

Try using 'ditto' - man ditto

/usr/bin/ditto -X --rsrc −−extattr −qtn −−acl −−preserveHFSCompression  /from/directory  /destination/directory

I think this will copy the entire directory tree from whatever you specify as the from directory to the destination directory

You should do some simple experiments on small directories to make sure it is working as expected, before doing huge transfers.

The 01 is from the forum software, as in a line number, if I had included multiple lines, but since there was only 1 line, there is just 01

Not exactly, as /from/directory and /destination/directory are just placeholders for the paths you want to use.

my options example was wrong. There should be 2 dashes before --qtn

Also there is no such directory as /from nor /destination. You have to provide REAL file path information. The / separates directory names.

Also if there are spaces in the directory names, you MUST quote them.

You can either put the path in single quotes '...' or double quotes "..." or you can put a backslash before each space this\ is\ a\ backslash\ quoted\ string

'TOSHIBA MK7559GSXF Media'

"TOSHIBA MK7559GSXF Media"

TOSHIBA\ MK7559GSXF\ Media

And

'My Backup'

"My Backup"

My\ Backup

And you need to figure out what the directories are for /from and /destination. /from/ and /destination/ are not magical. You need to put something real as the path to the starting directory and place you are transferring the data.

If the starting/from directory is in the current working directory, then you do not need to put anything in front of the first directory.

How are you booted? From Recovery Mode (Boot holding Command-R), or Single User Mode (Boot holding Command-S)

Looking at an earlier ls of /, I do not see 'Users' directory which is where user accounts are stored. So I'm wondering if this is Recovery Mode.

You might try

/usr/sbin/diskutil list

which should tell you what devices are out there and their volume names.

the 'mount' command tells you want is mounted, not what is unmounted.

Did your disk have FileVault whole disk encryption? If so, you may need to use get it mounted first. When I'm had to mount my FileVault encrypted boot volume from Recovery Mode, I have use Menu -> Utilities -> Disk Utility. Selected my encrypted boot disk, then gone to the Disk Utility -> Edit -> Unlock, which prompted me for my password. Then my FileVault encrypted boot disk was mounted, and I had full access to it.

And you should be able to navigate to your home directory, if you can get any part of your boot disk mounted. If you are in Single User mode, then your home directory should be /Users/<yourUnixUserNameHere>. If you are in Recovery Mode, then if you get the Boot device mounted, you would find your home folder in /Volumes/<nameOfYourBootVolume>/Users/<yourUnixNameHere>

Here is a technique I worked out with mac os 10.4. You need to put in a formatted flash drive before starting the machine.

You may try to recover your data by booting up an installation cd/dvd and using the terminal.
You could try getting into the Unix command line interface and copy some files or directories. You can copy files on the Unix command line interface if you placed the flash drive the USB port before powering on your machine.
0) you best have the flash drive formatted for the Mac. See disk utility. It's on the pull down.
1) You can copy files on the Unix command line interface if you placed the flash drive in a USB port before powering on your machine.
2) Boot up your installation CD or DVD. To do this, place to the CD or DVD its drive. [ or boot the recovery partition via command r
3) Power off the the machine. Hold down the c key then power on your machine.
4) After you specify the language you will come to the installation panel.
5) Do not install.
6) Go to the top of the screen and click on the tools menu item.
7) Click on Terminal to use the command line interface.
Boot up your installation CD or DVD. To do this, place to the CD or DVD its drive. Power off the the machine. Hold down the c key then power on your machine. After you specify the language you will come to the installation panel. Do not install. Go to the top of the screen and click on the tools menu item. Click on Terminal to use the command line interface.
You should verify that the files have been copied correctly by trying them in another Mac before it the deleting the original.
Here is an overview of the commands. Lets assume that the problem account has a short user name of mac.
#Copy directory "/Applications/Applescript files" to
# directory "/Volumes/Spotless/Applescript files".
# "Spotless" is my flash drive.
ditto -X -rsrc /Applications/Applescript\ files /Volumes/Spotless/Applescript\ files
#cd is change directory
cd /Volumes/COPYIT/answers/
# pwd is print working directory
pwd
#the ls command is for list
# l is long
# a to show hidden files. not shown in this example.
# F is type of file where / is directory
sh-2.05b# # Please note ls is the list command. l is a lower case L
sh-2.05b# ls -lF
Here is what these commands mean:
cd is change directory
pwd is a print working directory
ls is list
sudo is Super user do
# The sudo command will ask for your administration password. No characters will appear when typing your password. Press return when done typing.
cp is copy
copy a file example:
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# cd /Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# pwd
/Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# cp -i answers.txt /Volumes/SpotMore
Will copy the file answers.txt in the directory SpotMore.

1. Some files have a space in the name. You need to escape. see example:
   mac $ ls -l ~/"see it"
   -rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 3171 Oct 26 23:38 /Users/mac/see it
   mac $
   mac $ cd /Users/mac/Desktop/ttt\ html\ copy/
   
2. Do you know about tabing? Type in a few letters of a name then press the tab key. The computer will type out the rest of the name if it is unique.
3. The up arrow key will retrive the previous command. You the left arror and right arror keys to move around. Use the delete key to delete a character to the left.
   

*More examples and moving around*

sh-2.05b# pwd
/
sh-2.05b# ls /Volumes
.Trashes Classic Macintosh-HD
._.Trashes Mac OS X Install DVD SpotMore
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
/dev/disk4s3 2.6G 2.5G 89M 97% /
devfs 121K 121K 0B 100% /dev
fdesc 1.0K 1.0K 0B 100% /dev
<volfs> 512K 512K 0B 100% /.vol
/dev/disk5 467K 9.0K 435K 2% /Volumes
/dev/disk6 95K 64K 27K 70% /private/var/tmp
/dev/disk7 95K 14K 77K 15% /private/var/run
/dev/disk3s1 3.7G 1.3G 2.5G 34% /Volumes/SpotMore
/dev/disk0s10 1.1G 1.1G 3.4M 100% /Volumes/Classic
/dev/disk0s12 70G 45G 25G 65% /Volumes/Macintosh-HD
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# cd /Volumes/SpotMore/
sh-2.05b# pwd
/Volumes/SpotMore
sh-2.05b# # Please note ls is the list command. l is a lower case L
sh-2.05b# ls -l
total 880
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 6148 Sep 10 2010 .DS_Store
drw------- 4 unknown unknown 136 Aug 25 2010 .Spotlight-V100
drwxrwxrwt 3 unknown unknown 102 Sep 3 2010 .TemporaryItems
d-wx-wx-wt 3 unknown unknown 102 Sep 10 2010 .Trashes
drwx------ 3 unknown unknown 102 Sep 3 2010 Desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 18944 Aug 27 2010 Desktop DB
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 2 Jul 29 2010 Desktop DF
-rwxrwxrwx 1 unknown unknown 26281 Oct 27 2009 Warranty Information.PDF
drwxr-xr-x 13 unknown unknown 442 Aug 4 2010 backup
drwxr-xr-x 13 unknown unknown 442 Aug 4 2010 backupPrior
drwxr-xr-x 7 unknown unknown 238 Aug 27 2010 cons
drwxr-xr-x 65 unknown unknown 2210 Sep 4 2010 iMac-back
... clipped ...
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# cd /Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# pwd
/Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# # Please note ls is the list command. l is a lower case L
sh-2.05b# ls
Z2300 iMac
.DS_Store move
.FBCIndex new Belward
.FBCLockFolder primary-comments-new copy.doc
Consolidate-rc primary-comments-new.doc
Downloads psc 1200
... clipped ...

sh-2.05b# ditto -X -rsrc iMac /Volumes/SpotMore/iMac-back
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# # Please note ls is the list command. l is a lower case L
sh-2.05b# ls -h /Volumes/SpotMore/iMac-back/
total 2800
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 24K Sep 12 2010 .DS_Store
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 2K Apr 18 2010 Differentiate Between Models .html
... clipped ...

sh-2.05b# pwd
/Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# ls
Z2300 iMac
.DS_Store move
.FBCIndex new Belward
.FBCLockFolder primary-comments-new copy.doc
... clipped ...

sh-2.05b#

It would seem disk0s2 is your internal disk that may or may not have all your data on it.

I think you might need to use Disk Utility to mount "Macintosh HD"

Then you should see /Volumes/Macintosh HD in your system

Then this command "Might" work. I do not know if it will, just that it sounds good 🙂

/usr/bin/ditto -X --rsrc −−extattr −−qtn −−acl −−preserveHFSCompression    /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD    /Volumes/My\ Backup

If it will not mount, and repair does not make it mountable, then I do not think you will be able to recover data on that disk without a disk recovery service.

Google: "os x data recovery"