Bronco 01
Level 1 (43 points)
Desktops

Q: Unable to safe boot on iMac16,2

I am running the Mac OS X 10.11.6 on my iMac16,2 and was trying to safe boot and experiment in that mode to determine why I cannot see my external drive and why it will not backup using Time Machine.  After restarting and trying to safe boot, I discovered I was unable to get to safe boot.  I have been unable, therefore, to get to the disk utility to try to use first aid in its normal mode.  When I used Disk Warrior, everything appeared to be OK, but to be sure I also rebuilt my hard drive.   That did not seem to change anything.  So, I am unable to use a safe boot and cannot see my external drive (LaCie d2 Quadro) and cannot complete a Time Machine backup as a result.  Help.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), Safari 10.0, Photo 1.0, iTunes 12.3

Posted on Sep 27, 2016 7:50 AM

by Bronco 01,Solvedanswer
Bronco 01 Bronco 01
Level 1 (43 points)
Desktops
A:

My Time Machine started backup after about six hours in PREPARING BACKUP status.  It has now caught up and has backed up at least twice since then.  For now, I believe my iMac is running properly, so the discussion posting is no longer relevant.  Thanks for helpful hints.

Posted on Sep 28, 2016 10:08 AM

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Bronco 01

Q: Unable to safe boot on iMac16,2

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  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Sep 27, 2016 8:23 AM in response to Bronco 01
    Level 6 (10,497 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 8:23 AM in response to Bronco 01

    Does you have the same issue when the Lacie is disconnected ?

    Do you have Fusion Drive ?

    Can you login with a guest account ?

  • by Bronco 01,

    Bronco 01 Bronco 01 Sep 27, 2016 9:25 AM in response to Lexiepex
    Level 1 (43 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 27, 2016 9:25 AM in response to Lexiepex

    Lexiepex wrote:

     

    Does you have the same issue when the Lacie is disconnected ?

    With the LaCie disconnected, I cannot backup Time Machine, since that is what I use for that purpose.  With it still disconnected, I can do a safe boot and can accomplish the disk utility first aid.  By first opening the Time Machine preferences in system prefs, I can select that LaCie drive for backup and have it appear on the desktop, but not without doing that.  Otherwise, it doesn't appear on the desktop by itself.

    Lexiepex wrote:

    Do you have Fusion Drive ?

    Yes, I have a 1.02TB fusion drive.

    Lexiepex wrote:

    Can you login with a guest account ?

    I disabled my guest account a while back, for fear it was causing some other problems.  If I initiate one, what characteristics do you want it to have?

  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Sep 27, 2016 9:51 AM in response to Bronco 01
    Level 6 (10,497 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 9:51 AM in response to Bronco 01

    -- I suspect the Lacie disk. Also I am in favour of a disk dedicated for TimeMachine, no other partitions on it.

    What happens if you disconnect the Lacie, hang on a correctly formatted other external disk (1 partition), and use it for TimeMachine?

    -- Guest account: nothing special for the guest account. do you have the same issues ?

  • by Bronco 01,

    Bronco 01 Bronco 01 Sep 27, 2016 10:34 AM in response to Lexiepex
    Level 1 (43 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 27, 2016 10:34 AM in response to Lexiepex

    Lexiepex wrote:

     

    -- I suspect the Lacie disk. Also I am in favour of a disk dedicated for TimeMachine, no other partitions on it.

    What happens if you disconnect the Lacie, hang on a correctly formatted other external disk (1 partition), and use it for TimeMachine?

    My LaCie disk is dedicated only to Time Machine backups, with no other partitions.  I do not have another external drive to attempt your proposal.

    Lexiepex wrote:

     

    -- Guest account: nothing special for the guest account. do you have the same issues ?

    I reinitiated the guest drive and conducted a safe boot successfully and used disk utility to accomplish a first aid too. 

     

    I assume the LaCie drive has a lot to do with these issues, and I have used the recommendations made several months ago when I first encountered some of those same kind of issues.  I, in fact, purchased another replacement LaCie drive that until now worked fine without problems.  Using those instructions, I switched Time Machine OFF, I DESELECTED/REMOVED the LaCie as the backup drive, then I DELETED the apple.com.timemachine.plist before restarting the iMac and reselecting the LaCie drive as the backup disk.  When the TB Backup starts up it hangs up with the phrase PREPARING BACKUP.  I have waited at least three times for over half an hour without its ever finishing the backup.

  • by Bronco 01,

    Bronco 01 Bronco 01 Sep 27, 2016 12:44 PM in response to Bronco 01
    Level 1 (43 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 27, 2016 12:44 PM in response to Bronco 01

    I just uploaded the update, macOS Sierra, to see if anything changes.  Nothing did regarding Time Machine backup or the LaCie drive itself.

  • by Eric Root,Helpful

    Eric Root Eric Root Sep 28, 2016 10:05 AM in response to Bronco 01
    Level 9 (72,134 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 28, 2016 10:05 AM in response to Bronco 01

    Start with D1 in the 1st linked article.

     

    Time Machine Troubleshooting

     

    Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems


     

    Troubleshooting backup issues

  • by Bronco 01,Solvedanswer

    Bronco 01 Bronco 01 Sep 28, 2016 10:08 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (43 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 28, 2016 10:08 AM in response to Eric Root

    My Time Machine started backup after about six hours in PREPARING BACKUP status.  It has now caught up and has backed up at least twice since then.  For now, I believe my iMac is running properly, so the discussion posting is no longer relevant.  Thanks for helpful hints.