Is there a way for me to do a back up if I am unable to view my computer?
Yes, but you will need an external drive. Since you are unable to log into your main drive or the recovery drive you will need to get some assistance from another Mac.
Part 1:
- Attach the external drive to a working Mac. Use Disk Utility to format the drive. Select Erase as Mac OS Extended Journaled.
- Partition the external drive. Make the two partitions. The first partition should be the largest. It will be for cloning your old drive. Make the second partition for installing macOS. Depending on the size of the external drive you get, you can make this as small as 50GB or large enough to do a clean install of your data. Name the second partition "Sierra"
- Download and install Sierra on this drive instead of High Sierra. Unless you have a newer Mac with SSD drive, I highly suspect you will be better off in Sierra.
- After installing Sierra on the external drive, log in and do a setup but do not select to import any data.
- Eject drive
Download Sierra
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208202
Part 2:
- Attach the drive to your Mac while it is shut down.
- Press the power button and hold down the Option key. This will bring up the startup manager. Select the Sierra drive from the choices using your arrow key.
- Once you have logged into your external drive, you will be able to see the contents of your internal drive.
You can manually drag over your data
You can make a clone backup of your data
Software used to Clone:
CarbonCopyCloner http://www.bombich.com/download.html (All options are available free for 30 days)
SuperDuper! http://www.shirt-pocket.com/ (Free forever to do an erase and install. Purchased version allows for smart updates and schedules)
Part 3:
- Run Disk Utility on your internal drive.
- I suggest you erase your internal drive and clone back the Sierra partition so you start with a clean Sierra install.
- Since your current drive has issues, I would not use migration. It might bring back problems with corrupt files on that drive.
Let me know if there are any questions.
SUGGESTIONS FOR EXTERNAL DRIVE
The 3TB or 4TB drive is often the best buy. You can partition large drives to use for multiple purposes.
Check out the Western Digital & Seagate drives. Comes Mac and/or PC. Get the one that is cheapest. You will format with Disk Utility to use on the Mac and not use the WD or Seagate software. Prices vary so check first.
Check the warranty when comparing drives. The longer the warranty the better the drive. Look for a drive with a 2 or 3 yr warranty.
BestBuy, Staples, Office Depot will match Amazon pricing.
Current best buys on Amazon
WD 4TB Black My Passport Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBYFT0040BBK-WESN
3TB $95.99
4TB $109.99
Comes in colors
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LQQH86A/
WD 4TB Elements Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBU6Y0040BBK-WESN
This drive is smaller and does not need to be plugged in to electrical. Runs off USB
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017IGERDE/
3TB $88.95
4TB $107.00
WD 4TB My Book Desktop External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBBGB0040HBK-NESN
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LQQHL4E
4TB $97.99
Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0, Black (STDR2000100)
Comes in colors
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FRHTSK4
(could use this as a second Photo drive)
2TB $68.80
4TB $106.99
Seagate Expansion 2TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0 (STEA2000400)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017KE8OG0
2TB $69.99
4TB $109.99
Don't get a WD My Cloud drive. Does not work well with clone and Time Machine.
USB 3.0 drives work on USB 2.0 but you do get 2.0 speed. They are cheaper because they are popular PC drives. If you get a new computer you'll get the bump to 3.0 speed. I don’t recommend FW. The newer computers don’t have FW ports. You would need a connector in order to use the drive on a newer computer.
