Hello
I cannot startup anymore from my iMac 2010. I found the install disc (containing Snow Leopard) and I can boot up via that. However, Disk Utility says that the disk cannot be repaired and I should backup as much as I can from the HDD. I tried making an image to be out on an external HDD but it stops giving an error: "input/output error" Is there anything else I can do?
iMac, macOS High Sierra (10.13.2), iMac mid-2010
If you did not back up the computer then the data store on the broken HD is likely gone for good. Your only hope is to take the HD to a data recovery service and have them recover what they can. Expect this to cost in the many hundreds of dollars to many thousands of dollars.
You should NEVER operate any computer without a sound backup plan. Apple includes Time Machine with every Mac sold, so there is zero reason you should not have at least a TM backup. Please carefully review How to use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support
recover data from broken internal HDD
