iMac Drive Full / Target Mode / Read Only Filesystem

Question

iMac Drive Full / Target Mode / Read Only Filesystem

Ok -- I have an iMac whose drive is completely full and will not boot.

We connected it to another iMac using a Thunderbolt cable using Target Mode.

I can see the HD of the full mac on the desktop and navigate the file system from the OS.

We copied most the files we wanted to recover but there are a few folders that don't have permissions (Red stop icon): Movies, Pictures, etc.

We ran Disk Utility and it was unable to fix anything on the drive.

We wanted to delete items from folders like the Desktop and Downloads in order to free up space but we get an error saying the files system is Read Only.

We cannot delete files manually for via the terminal using 'sudo rm -rf' either.

The drive is set to 'ignore drive ownership' but when authenticating from the Get Info window we are unable to make changes to permissions.

We know ultimately that the machine needs to be wiped and reinstall the OS, but we need to recover files from the locked directories first.

Now what can we do?

Posted on Sep 10, 2018 10:23 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Eric Root

Level 10

684,105 points

Sep 28, 2018 12:29 PM in response to Brad Schwartz

I'm not sure this will work on another drive, but try enabling the Root User

Log in as the Root User. You need to be very careful while logged in as the Root User because you can delete any file and could potentially ruin your system. As soon as the files are recovered, log out and use your normal account.

Root User

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Answer 2

Sep 27, 2018 1:28 PM in response to a brody

The machine won't boot at all.

But when in Target Mode connected to another iMac I'm able to see details using Disk Utility.

See below:

As you can see the drive and volume are not Writeable and the drive is full to the last byte. 😟

We have been able to copy files from some of the directories on the bad machine, but the rest have the red stop sign symbol (not readable) and we cannot enter those folders.

I've tried sudo rm -rf on specific files to make space on the drive but it doesn't allow me to delete them because the volume isn't writeable.

Thoughts?

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Answer 3

Sep 28, 2018 12:04 PM in response to Eric Root

I don't believe I can make changes once it is unlocked.

I realize ultimately that I have to wipe this machine and start over, but I'm looking for a way to access the locked Photos and Movies folders to recover data before doing that.

I've since downloaded DiskDrill's demo version to try and recover the drive but it won't boot the machine from the thumb drive. Their website suggests that if the demo version won't boot the machine that their full version won't be helpful in recovering the drive.

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Answer 4

Oct 3, 2018 8:55 AM in response to Eric Root

I was able to get the host machine logged in as root.

This didn't affect the ability to forcibly remove files using rm -rf *

HOWEVER, it did resolve the issue where 4-5 folders had locked permissions, so I was able to copy the remaining files from the computer so I can wipe it and reinstall the OS.

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