Bless a System Folder

Pre-X MacOSs used to have this thing about 'blessing' a system folder, before the folder could be used for booting. Does OSX have the same kind of thing?
I used Carbon Copy Cloner to take the contents of a NetInstall image as the source and cloned it to the iMac that I used to create the image in the first place. I erased the destination iMac's HDD first, choosing GUID as the partition structure and HFS+Journaled as the file system, but after cloning the drive back, it's still not bootable.
Viewing the root directory of the drive with Terminal ($ls -laF) lets me see that the Mach_Kernel and the typical etc, bin, private, tmp and other such Unix folders are there, yet it still isn't bootable.
I did enable Ownership for the drive too. When I try to Repair Disk Permissions, Disk Utility tells me "Error: No valid packages".
Any thoughts as to how to make this drive bootable?
(Using CCC is an intermediate step for me until I can get the problems with System Image Utility, referenced in another thread in this forum, sorted out.)
Thanks!
Woody

So, just to confirm the technique...
I boot the non-OSX-bootable machine in target disk mode, then using the finder of a working machine, I locate finder.app of the target-mode machine, and double click that finder in order to get the target disk mode machine's system folder to be blessed as bootable?

Similar Messages

Blessing Cloned OS 9 System Folder

I have a strange problem. I cloned over my OS 9 drive to a larger hard drive. My original OS 9 drive will boot OS 9, but the clone drive will not. In my OSX System Preferences, Startup Disk sees it as a bootable OS, and the Classic Pane sees it as bootable for Classic Mode (I tested it, it works). But if I tell Startup Disk to start on the cloned OS 9, it won't do it. Instead, it will try booting, fail, then reboot using the original OS 9 volume. If I reboot while holding the Option Key, the cloned OS 9 volume does not appear.
I seem to remember using a repair utility piece of software once (when I'd cloned over the OS 9 from a previous drive) which came up with a message that it was blessing my OS 9 system folder, but I can't remember which software that was, it was so long ago.
I have gone into Terminal and typed:
bless -folder9 "/Volumes/HD Volume/System Folder"
where "HD Volume" is my cloned volume name. No luck booting the cloned OS 9.
I have gone into the cloned OS 9 system folder and removed the Finder and System Files, closed the System Folder window, put those two files back into the System Folder. (It was something that several people seem to do when I googled "bless OS 9".) Still no luck.
I have tried simply copying the Finder and System files from the original to the clone on the desktop level. No luck.
Why is the OSX System Preferences able to see it as a bootable drive plus able to launch it in Classic Mode, but I can't boot from it? How can I make this cloned OS 9 boot?
BTW, the OS 9 version is 9.2.2, and I've not had any problems booting from the original OS 9 HD (nor any problems using that original OS HD for Classic Mode).

The 500GB is ultra-ATA. The reason I bought this machine was because it was going to be the last OS 9 bootable machine made. At the time, I had way too many OS 9 programs I still used a lot to trust Classic Mode to work.
I was messing around with iPartition instead of re-cloning/re-partitioning my drive. I created a 10GB partition with it (checking the checkbox that is supposed to make it OS 9-friendly) then dropped my wife's relatively new OS 9.2.2 System folder on it. Still didn't work! So then I tried fresh-installing it onto that new partition (in Classic Mode, of course, since I don't have a working 9.2.2 to boot in), starting with 9.0 then upgrading with on-disc upgraders I have. During my 9.2.1 upgrade, the "Installer Engine unexpectedly quit" before it finished! Ugh!!
Do you happen to know if the 9.2.2 install discs that are sometimes available on Ebay are machine-specific or even bootable? I was considering doing that to have a bootable 9.2.2 readily available just in case.
I still have to try the master/slave relationships you mentioned, but what strikes me odd is that my original OS 9 boot volume (which worked fine) was on the same configuration that it is now with everything being Cable Select (well, that is was before I switched drive docks around--I haven't put them back in their original spots yet. Though it seems unlikely, that could be a variable in this mess).
Beyond that, it seems my only other hope is to use the Software Restore discs that came with the machine. That's a pain because it will only restore to the boot drive, which would mean I'd have to install OS X onto that new partition in order to get OS 9 on it!!! I could just abandon the idea of having OS 9 on a separate partition and put it on my boot drive, but I think that volume is not <190GB (I'm not on that machine right now to re-check it).
I wouldn't even care about OS 9 at this point except there's a version of After Effects with certain plug-ins that I sometimes need, and that version is prone to crashing in Classic Mode.
Going to the beach today, so it may be either tonight or tomorrow that I even have a chance to mess with this again.

Classic will not recognize system folder

I have installed Classic from the cd that came with my computer. The system folder for os9 shows up in root next to the osx folder, but there is no 9 on the folder. When I try to run classic in system preferences, it says os9 is not installed. I've seen other postings saying to "bless" it by dragging the finder from the os9 system folder to the desktop then back again, but this does nothing.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Hello berne04,
Did you try this (from the link that Texas Mac Man posted)? Try it instead of dragging and dropping the Finder.
No "blessed" Mac OS 9 System Folder
If Classic doesn't start, but Mac OS 9 is installed, the System Folder may not be "blessed".
Open System Preferences and choose Classic from the View menu. You may see an alert box with the message:
"No startup volume: There is no volume with a system folder that supports starting Classic. Please install Mac OS 9.1 or later."
It may not be necessary to reinstall Mac OS 9. Try these steps:
1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. From the View menu, choose Startup Disk. The Startup Disk pane appears.
3. Note the current Startup Disk selection, which is a Mac OS X volume.
4. Click the Mac OS 9 System Folder you want to bless.
5. From the View menu, choose Show All.
6. From the View menu, choose Startup Disk.
7. Reselect the volume you noted in Step 3.
8. From the View menu, choose Show All.
9. Quit System Preferences.
Hope This Helps,
Jeff
Mini 1.25, 12 Al PB 1.5, PTP 250, WS PB G3, 3xiMac 400 (OS 9.1) Mac OS X (10.3.9) Wireless KB/Mouse, AEBS, 80 GB OWC FW HD

Can'tget Classic to recognize system folder

I did a complete clean re-install (disks 1-3 & additional sofware) from my original bundled install disks onto my ibook g4 1.2 GHz. When I go to the sytem pref panel and into classic it does not indicate that any system folder is present. When I click on my hard disk icon, I see the system folder there as well as the folder containing OS 9 applications. I have done the complete re-install 3 times and still no luck. I have several other macs and have never had a classsic problem before
Any help out there?

Hello berne04,
Did you try this (from the link that Texas Mac Man posted)? Try it instead of dragging and dropping the Finder.
No "blessed" Mac OS 9 System Folder
If Classic doesn't start, but Mac OS 9 is installed, the System Folder may not be "blessed".
Open System Preferences and choose Classic from the View menu. You may see an alert box with the message:
"No startup volume: There is no volume with a system folder that supports starting Classic. Please install Mac OS 9.1 or later."
It may not be necessary to reinstall Mac OS 9. Try these steps:
1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. From the View menu, choose Startup Disk. The Startup Disk pane appears.
3. Note the current Startup Disk selection, which is a Mac OS X volume.
4. Click the Mac OS 9 System Folder you want to bless.
5. From the View menu, choose Show All.
6. From the View menu, choose Startup Disk.
7. Reselect the volume you noted in Step 3.
8. From the View menu, choose Show All.
9. Quit System Preferences.
Hope This Helps,
Jeff
Mini 1.25, 12 Al PB 1.5, PTP 250, WS PB G3, 3xiMac 400 (OS 9.1) Mac OS X (10.3.9) Wireless KB/Mouse, AEBS, 80 GB OWC FW HD

How do I install all my old programs and data from an old system folder after I have reinstalled the same OSX system after a crash?

The system is OSX10.5.8 Leopard on a 2009 imac. A new system was installed from the installation disks and the original system saved to a folder.
I need to use my Adobe programs, rescue my email, i-tunes and iphoto data. The disk utility indicates that my Time Machine back-up disk is damaged and I don't want to take a risk of having Time Machine erase my hard drive and try to reinstall the exact system existing at the time of the crash. There was over 650 gb of stored files that I was copying and removing from the drive at the time it crashed. The total size of the original system file is still about 650 Gb.
I would prefer to go back in Time Machine and only rescue the programs as most of the files have been copied to external hard drives, but I can't access the back-up hard drive from the new version of the Time Machine. Or by I don't want the Time Mchine to start copying the new operating system which would include all the data in the old system file. Time Machine was working fine at the time of the crash.

No, the disk was backed up with time machine a few hours prior to the crash. I was unable to open the computer when I tried to restart it- got a grey screen with the spinning disk- after a few minutes the screen would go black and would reboot continuously, but not load any images or programs. I started the computer from the 10.5.4 installation disks and checked both the time machine external hard drive and the Imac internal drive with the disk utilities. Both showed as damaged --the internal drive and permissions were repaired, but the external drive (time machine back-up) was damaged and not repairable by disk utilities. I don't believe that the external drive for Time Machine was connected to the computer at the time of the crash as I was copying files to a different hard drive drive. And I was not having any problems with the TM back-up drive prior to the crash.
I accessed the Imac internal disk by firewire (as a target disk) and copied as many data files as I had room for on my external hard drives available. And I deleted quite a few files from the imac internal drive (mostly just jpegs, duplicate tifs, etc--nothing that was used by i-photos, i-tunes or the Mail program).
Then I installed a new OSX10.5.4 system from the installation disk and the old system was moved to a folder on the hard drive. I previousy had had the option to reinstall the complete system from Time Machine when I connected that drive and booted with the installation disks with the C key depressed. But it didn't seem like a good option because I was unsure of the condition of that external disk and whether it would be able to reinstall my data correctly, once it had erased my internal hard drive.
I'm considering buying some new external hard drives and backing up the present system to time Machine (so I'll still have my old data in the old system folder). And then I would try using the old Time Machine back-up to try to reinstall the sytem previous to the crash. That back-up would reinstall about 700gb of data and operating software and programs which sounds like a lengthy back-up. Since I have never used Time Machine to do a full reinstallation (I've only used it for individual files), I'm reluctant to do anything rash.
I'm a professional designer (with a deadline) but I can still use my Illustrator and Photoshop by opening them from the old system folder and saving the files to an external drive. So it's not neccessary to do anything hasty except to delete some of the excess art and document files that were causing the computer to run slowly and the Adobe programs to crash when I tried to save my work. I have quite a few books on tape in the i-tumes folder which is probably talking up tons of space but I don't where the i-tunes files live.
Thanks for any help. Peggy
Message was edited by: peggy toole

System Folder errors after I changed all permissions on HD to read & write

Hi,
Two things may have caused probs on my new 2010 iMac (Snow Leopard), and Applecare is shut so I would really appreciate some help as I have urgent work.
1) INCORRECT PERMISSIONS
I have been stupid. I clicked on Macintosh HD and changed all permissions to read & write because I wanted to be sure I could open and edit all documents on other computers.
I ran Disk Utility Repair Permissions from the install disc, but I am still getting system error messages, and my HP printer won't work.
The first message, in Repair Permissions, said: Warning: SUID file System/Library/Cores has been modified and will not be repaired. I have read a support doc on this which says no need to worry but I don't like it and would like to fix this.
More importantly, my HP printer won't work, displays error beside the document in print dialogue box.
Deleting the printer and readding it didn't work, so I downloaded new drivers and tried to install them, which is when I got the second system error message: System extension System/Library/Extensions/BJUSBLoad.kext was installed improperly and cannot be used. Please try reinstalling it or contact product's vendor for an update.
I checked the permissions on the file and they were still wrong despite Repair Permissions, allowing everyone to read & write. So I have now clicked on the entire System folder and changed the permissions to: System read & write, admin read only, everyone read only.
Will this fix it or do I need to do something else, such as check ownership, to make sure all permissions on the computer are now correct?
2) MEMORY STICK SHUT DOWN MY IMAC
Additionally (though I don't think this had anything to do with my problems), I inserted a Sandisk USB memory stick the other day and it immediately shut down the computer. When I inserted it into my Macbook it initially rejected it and gave me a message saying the device wanted too much power so it had ejected it to prevent damage to my computer. When I tried again it was OK. I totally reformatted the stick in case there was something harmful on it, but should I now bin the stick as faulty? Scared to use it again.
3) IS IT BEST TO REINSTALL ENTIRE SOFTWARE?
If I do a reinstall of all the software from the install disc, will it wipe out all my data, such as Mail, documents, bookmarks and other apps?
I would back-up, but if I try and back up files on my external drive it will automatically do a Time Machine back-up and I don't want to do that in case it backs-up all the corrupted files. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind starting again just to be sure all is well.
Expert advice would be very much appreciated.
Thank you
Sarah

Oh, silly really. I was in a hurry and working on docs that I needed to take to the office and open on another computer there.
But when I checked the permissions on the doc it said I could read & write but everyone else was read only.
I thought if I opened it on another machine I'd be stuck with read only access and not be able to work on there. I think I couldn't change it, so I thought to avoid any future problems like that I would change everything on machine!
Yikes. Won't do that again
Sarah

OS 9.2.2 system folder not recognised in tiger

Hi,
I'm a bit lost here. I'm trying to get Classic to run in OS X 10.4.11. which has no previous copy of OS9 on it. The OS X was a clean install.
I installed a copy of OS9.1 onto a USB dongle and then managed to boot the G3 through this and install OS 9.2.1 and then 9.2.2. It had to be installed on the dongle so that I could boot the iMac into OS9 and then install the updates.
Now, when I start Classic from System Preferences it will find the OS 9.2.2 system folder on the dongle and quite happily run, but it is obviously a lot slower than if the system folder was on the OS X HD.
So I copied the contents of the USB dongle to the root of the OS X HD and now it will not find the folder.
Do I need to do anything to enable the OS9 folder now it is on my hard disk. I thought maybe the disk is formatted differently if it is set up exclusively for OS X when carrying out a clean install.
Interestingly, the machine found my OS9.1 system folder on the HD and tried to run Classic from that, but it just hung on start-up which is a known error between OS 9.1 and Tiger - Hence why I updated from 9.1 to 9.2.2

Don't worry. I've managed to resolve it.
I restored my OS9.1 system folder and then copied the contents of the 9.2.2 folder into this. Classic picked it up and work fine.
The only problem is that now I have discovered that iMovie 2 is not supported in a Classic environment. That was the only reason I was attempting this anyway.
Oh well....

How to open local system folder from the browser

Hi All,
I'm working on some stuff, wherein the user downloads the files from internet to his local machine. I'm able to catch the path of the folder where user wants to download the file from SaveAs prompt. Now my requirement is , i want to provide a link button or
a button on the web page and assign this is folder path dynamically so that when the user clicks on it, it should open the local system folder where he has downloaded the files.
string myDocspath
=Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);
string windir
= Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("WINDIR");
System.Diagnostics.Process prc
= new System.Diagnostics.Process();
prc.StartInfo.FileName = windir + @"\explorer.exe";
prc.StartInfo.Arguments = myDocspath;
prc.Start();
Work fine with local system, if i host the application in IIS , the above code snippet wont work
Thanks in advance,
Suraj Kumar
Software Engineer

Hello,
local resources is disabled in all modern browsers due to security restrictions.
if the reply help you mark it as your answer.
Free No OLE C#
Word, PDF, Excel, PowerPoint Component(Create,
Modify, Convert & Print)

System folder no longer recognized! Please Help!

Hello,
I'm usually able to handle all my mac related problems, but this time I'm stumped. I'm writing this from my old ibook, as my main iMac is now very sick.
Essentially, my system folder is not recognized anymore. I get the flashing "?" symbol at start-up. So I start with the Apple CD. Disk utilty diagnosis: no problem at all, all permissions alright.
I set the start-up folder to the one on my main HD and restart. It works.
But as soon as I have to restart again, same problem.
So I tried the old trick of resetting the start-up disk in the system prefs. No help.
(((I'm writing now because things went from bad to worse. After restarting with the CD 10 mins ago, I went to Disk Utility and discovered that the main HD is not even recognized. -- But while I was typing this, after another CD restart, the HD finally appeared in Disk Utility. Some problem were found and fixed. Restarting now.)))
So, can anyone offer some advice?
Thanks
Loa

Doesn't sound good. FIrst, back it up if you possibly can.
Then boot from your Leopard install disk (insert it, boot while holding the "C") key.
Once it starts, choose your language, then select Utilities from the top menubar, then +Disk Utilitiy+ and do a +Repair Disk.+
Then try again.

Where did my Previous System folder go?

I upgraded my G5 yesterday from 10.3.9 to 10.5. Everything works fine after the upgrade. But I can't find the Previous System folder that should be on my hard drive.
When I upgraded, I planned to do an Archive and Install and preserve user settings, but I never saw that menu in the installer (I missed the "Options" button, duh). After the upgrade all my user accounts and data were still on the G5, so I'm assuming the installer did an "Archive and Install -- Preserve User Settings" by default.
But I don't have a Previous System folder anywhere on my hard drive. Any ideas what happened?
BTW, I have a clone of my 10.3.9 system on an external hard drive. I am considering doing an Erase and Install on the 10.5.7 internal G5 volume and using Migration Assistant to pull my user accounts from the clone to the internal hard drive. But my 10.5.7 system isn't broken, so maybe I shouldn't try to fix it. :-D

But I don't have a Previous System folder anywhere on my hard drive. Any ideas what happened?
The default installation method preserves your user accounts, data, and applications, but deletes and/or overwrites the previous system files.
(45924)

How do I install OS9 system folder on an eMac?

I have a brand new eMac. It has OS 10.4.4 installed. I need to install an OS9 system folder in order to run Classic. I have an OS9 CD, but the eMac can't boot to it or run anything from the cd from OSX. The eMac didnt come with a CD that says anything like additional software or Classic Support. I tried booting to the OSX install CD's and doing a customized install. Classic support or OS9 was not an option.
Any ideas?

No new Macs can boot in OS 9, which is half the reason Classic was invented to emulate 9 while your Mac is booted in X.
The disk set that came with your eMac does contain installers that will give you a System Folder for use with Classic over X, but not on the main disks…
It's probably on one labelled Additional Software and Mac OS 9 but sorry, these things change from time to time and I haven't seen a recent eMac…

Want to make a backup of system folder/start up disk

I have a PowerBook 4 that just gave me a start up scare. Things are working well again, but I realize that I need a back up plan.
It is running 10.4.11 and has had several upgrades to the hard drive and os, so nothing is original and I do not have original install disks. All the other computers we have are Intel with newer OS so they are not helpful as start up drives. And, the DVD drive does not work anymore so none of the OS disks I have are useful.
But I would like to make a back up of the start up software or system folder in case I ever have a start up problem again. I understand I could put a start up folder on a Fire Wire Drive and use that to start in target mode. But I don't know how to make that file, any ideas? Seems like when we were in System 9 you could just make a copy of the system folder.
Thanks for any tips!
Melanie

Basic Backup
Get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
SuperDuper!
Synk Pro
Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
Cool Drives
OWC
WiebeTech
Firewire Direct
California Drives
NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.

Missing System Folder in Classic

I really need some help here
Purchased an I BOOK G4 notebook .. mostly as a back up for some graphic programs.
It is running a clean copy of OS X version 10.4.11
Classic is missing the system folder and as a result i cant seem to install anything???
Do not have any OS disks with the machine
What are my options??

Hello, and welcome to Apple Discussions!
You will need a source for a valid and installable OS 9.2.2 system for use
as Classic before you can install and use any pre-OS X applications...
And you really need to have an OS X (tiger 10.4) retail or correct install
disc set to support and maintain the system, and its license in the iBook.
The computer model shipped with a machine specific series of install-restore
discs and the OS 9.2.2 Classic would have been on one of them; usually not
the main disc, that has OS X installers on it. Since that computer did not boot
OS 9.2.2, the installer would be specific to the computer; about the only way
to get an OS 9 from an optional OS X install disc, if you have software but no
computer, the OS X has to see and recognize an appropriate installer, though.
Since OS X is primary and OS 9 does not boot an iBook G4, you have to find
a way to install OS 9.2.2 by drag and drop; or get ahold of a correct original
install-restore disc set for that computer from some online source. There is a
small chance that someone may have the right one for your build model iBook
Used to be, you could call Apple sales support at 1-800-MY-APPLE and ask to
speak to a product specialist about replacement original discs for the iBook G4
and provide them with the product's serial number, and order a new replacement
set of install discs, for a reasonable fee. The correct Apple Hardware Test is on
those discs, so that was the best deal going. The original software could have
been a version of Panther 10.3.9, and if the computer CPU was faster than
800MHz it would not dual boot OS 9 and OS X. This is where details matter.
You may be able to identify your iBook by serial number by using the search
link in everymac.com, to help find which iBook G4 model it really is, and then
know more about upgrading it, getting replacement or upgrade software, and
other important facts. Such as what Apple Hardware Test was in original s/w.
Any other OS 9.1 or 9.2(.1) install disc would not work, since they either would
be for some other computer and made to install when booted (C key held on start)
or, would be too old for the direct install method to work, it won't under OS X if
not the correct disc set for the computer.
You may be able to find a way to install an OS 9.1 or OS 9.2 on an external HDD
or flash USB drive, and update it to OS 9.2.2 using download update files, and
then copy (drag/drop) it into an iBook G4, for use as non-boot Classic 9.
On a trial basis and to test some hardware, I was able to use a newer iBook G4
second install disc which contained an OS 9.2.2 install, and use it as Classic in
a different computer running OS X, by use of Pacifist utility. This takes a packet
of data out of the disc and then installs it from the desktop, directly. It can work.
But there are so many variables some of the things that Could Work, may Not.
Some suggest you may be able to make a copy of a working OS 9.2.2 system
folder and an Applications 9 folder from a working computer and use them as
Classic in some other OS X PPC model of Mac that does not boot OS 9.2.2.
You may be able to use a USB flash drive to copy an OS 9.2 system and its
applications (9) folder. You may even be able to test it as a working idea,
while it still is on the USB memory drive; by pointing the Classic preference
panel (in System Preferences) to look for a Classic system there. Or drag
and drop it into the computer. The good about old OS 9.2 & before, is the
simple way to move a system around; and OS X won't allow that method.
And of course, OS X 10.5 Leopard can't use an OS 9.2.2 Classic.
The original install disc set would be the best bet. Is there any chance the seller
may have misplaced the software set belonging to the computer you bought?
These are considered a part number of the computer, as such, part of the sale.
If bought from a company who fixes and resells computers, do they offer any
optional software for an additional fee? The discs should be included, but in
several instances, people buy a computer second-hand and have no software.
You may have to contact resellers and maybe even auction sites, once you can
identify the exact set of software you need; companies such as welovemacs or
others you can search for may have something; most are overpriced, to me.
The ebay auction tales are enough to scare me into keeping the original discs
and include them when I forward the computer to some other future user.
I have not bought any replacement software online, and OS 9.2.2 installers for
a specific OS X running computer, to be used as Classic, narrow the field; since
the OS 9 system installer on iBook disc media is often made for that model.
Well, I have ideas. And they seem to work better for me in person than when
I've told some persons about them online. Just as well, if there's some glitch
you can avoid by finding the correct discs (in the land of plenty) that's good.
To *search " OS 9.2.2 install CD " in google* may bring up some choices,
but I have no experience with retail resellers of old or used software.
In a few cases, if you get very good at identifying iBook G4s, you may
be able to find a broken one exactly like yours with the original software.
These should be relatively inexpensive; but have very limited use discs.
Hope this may help, somewhat...
Good luck & happy computing!
+PS: I think I need a little more coffee!+

Restore from Time Machine backup doesn't install working system folder

A routine restart turned into a major problem this morning. I'm runnning 10.8.5. on a MacPro tower and a 480GB SSD for a boot disc. Been running fine for the past 2 years.
I restarted the machine and when I came back to it I was dropped into the Recovery / OSX Utilities screen. This was unexepected!
Tired restarting again, and it gave me the circle+line through icon ( / ) a couple of times and then the apple as it apparently located the Recovery partition.
Running Disk Utiliites "Repair" and "Repair Permisions" on the SSD came back with flying colors, so I assume it's not a hardware issue. That said, multiple reboots and nothing. I was basically dead in the water. I only have a boot USD stick, which just launches you into recovery mode.
Knowing that I was going to be out for a few hours and that I have regular Time Machine backups of my drive, I opted to perform a System Restore on the main SSD, using a backup from earlier this morning.
After 4+ hrs of "restoring", I optomistically rebooted the machine. It's still gave me the "system folder not found" icon, and booted into Recovery mode.
This time I quit the application and specifcially went to select the SSD as a Startup Disk and it's not even showing a 10.8.5 folder on the SSD!!
I just booted up my Mac Pro in target disk mode and plugged it into my MacBook Pro to examine the drives. I can see all 4 drives on my MacPro, including the boot SSD. My boot disk appears to contain all the files it had before, but won't boot! I can verify that the backups are the exact folder structure that I had before, so what's going on?
Should I:
Wipe the SSD again, and install OS X from my laptop? Can I do that through Target Disk mode? Or just do that through the Recover Tool?
Some people with similar issues were told to perform clean installs and use migration assistant to pull the files over. But I really would like to know why using Time Machine backups aren't doing what they are supposed to – the files are all there!
Is there something I can do to my restored SS
Obviously this is a desperate time for me, so any assistance is greatly appreciated.

So far, the closest to a solution has been that I've since reformatted the drive. Installed a fresh copy of 10.8, and now I'm trying to migrate over all my content from the Time Machine backup using the Migration Assistant. In an hour I'll find out if I just wasted the last 2 hrs.
I guess I have a "Quad Core", I have two many machines to keep all the specs straight. I've been using it for over two years. It's not an OS issue.
I'm still blowaway by the fact that I could actually just restore from a Time Machine backup. When connecting to the TM via the system utils, it should be handled like a byte-for-byte clone. I think that's a rather major failure on Apple's part, but not the last one of late.
I still am not confident enough in Mavericks to take that plunge.

Missing files, user folder, application folder and system folder

I am using a MacBook Pro 2011 model with OS X 10.9.4.
Since I bought the machine several years ago, I have had only a few small problems with it. Yesterday I wanted to reduce the size of a video, so I downloaded a video compressor/converter software, and left the computer on and the program compressing my video whilst I went off to work. When I returned home, the compressing program had a pop-up saying ''Could not complete compression, system full'' or something along those lines.... After trying to play the movie without success, I decided that I would restart my computer, as it had been on all day.
When the computer restarted, it came up with the grey loading bar, which usually comes up when I have done a software update. It disappeared quite soon and several minutes later, my user profile appeared. I logged in as normal, and then tried to open my browser. An error message popped up stating"Can't open user profile directory, because you lack sufficient privileges. You might want to contact the administrator of this machine". I then tried to open other programs and they all came up with similar messages and did not open. Skype stated "Can't create a lock file at Users/Lauren/Library...etc".
I then went to Finder to look at my applications and they were ALL GONE! Then I went to a folder I have with all my files called "My files", and although the primary folders were visible, "SCHOOL,WORK, HOLIDAYS PICS, etc", these folders were empty. I then checked my User folder, and my systems folder and these were empty too. However, the Desktop and Documents folders still contain the documents that were previously there, and my background images remained the same.
I tried to open Word, and although it is also missing from the applications folder, and it opened, also allowing me to open a document which I know is located within the 'empty' folders. I have a feeling that my documents and files are still on my computer, but I don't know how to access them!
Please if someone could shed light on the situation! All my work files and personal files are on this computer and I would be devastated to loose them!
Let me know if you need any more ino or screen shots!
Kind regards,
Lauren

OS X- Gray progress bar appears under Apple logo during startup
You need to start by doing the following:
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks without erasing drive
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Bless a System Folder

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for