Boot to folder - hard disk fail - undetectable - what to do to recover data

Hi all
My Macbook Pro 13" (320GB Hard-Disk) 2.66GHz recently couldn't boot up. Had this question mark folder sign on a white screen, alternating with a no entry sign and the apple logo.
My MBP had Lion OS loaded onto it. When i called Apple Help Line, they asked me to press alt/option, only Recovery HD was available, not Macintosh HD anymore. tried to boot up onto Recovery HD, but this was unsuccessful. So the Apple guy on the phone asked me to bring it in to an Apple Authorised Service Provider.
Did so and the engineer diagnosis was: "tested with KGB HDD cable, unable to detect HDD, unable to backup data"
they said it's likely a physical problem.
I have a DVD of Disk Warrior 4.3 (http://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/) - i wonder if i should try to use it , but am worried what it could do to reorganise the directory etc, thereby causing future problems, e.g. other more expert data recovery professionals from recovering data.
DiskWarrior is not a disk repair program in the conventional sense. Instead of patching the original directory, it uses a patent-pending technology to quickly build a new replacement directory using data recovered from the original directory, thereby recovering files, folders and documents that you thought were lost and that no other program could recover.
any one has any suggestions? should i utilise more professional services like http://www.datasavers.com.sg/index.php?
the apple center quoted me a range of SGD 1000-2000 if they sent it to the Apple Data Recovery Center to try to recover the data..
thanks in advance!

thing is my timemachine (updated as of Oct 2011) also just failed!
it's a Western Digital 1TB My Book Media
- 1 partition is MS DOS FAT32 -- working well
- other partition is Mac OS Extended (journalled) - which is my Time Machine stuff
it can't mount
this is message when i used Disk Utility's First Aid
"Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files."
thing is , i cannot even mount it, so how do i back up as many files as possible?
hmm

Similar Messages

Should I boot from external hard disk and how do I achieve this?

I'm in a downward spiral and need advice about if booting off of an external hard disc is the right thing to do and how to go about it. How I got into this mess I'll write below. My immediate problem is that I want to be able to install a copy of osx 10.5 from the original disks that came with my computer onto a usb hard drive. Then I want to boot from that drive and install software such as disk warrior on the same external hard drive in order to repair and recover the files on my internal hard disk. Not sure if this is easy to do with the install disk that came boxed with my macbook. So is what I want to do feasible and how do I do it? Thanks.
How did I get into this mess?
For those with time to read more. A downward spiral (and my macbook was working fine)::
I have been backing up my work documents onto a 20 GB pendrive waiting to get the money to buy an nas to work with time machine for the two macbooks we have at home as a place to backup photos and video. I bought a network drive but it wouldn't work with my macbook; my time machine backup freezing at 3 gb, but works fine with wife's macbook pro.
I tried to do TM backup on a usb hard disk and got the same problem. Support forums indicated that hard disk problems could confuse TM, so although I was experiencing problem free computing I ran disk utility from internal osx. This indicated an <invalid node structure - file system verify or repair failed> at the checking catalog file stage. So I followed instructions to run disk utility and repair from the installation disk. When I ran disk utility from installation disk I get exactly the same <invalid node structure - file system verify or repair failed>. It gets worse.
After failing with install disk utility, I could not then boot from my hard disk (I had had trouble free computing up to my attempts to use TM) or eject the disk. At first attempt I had no option but to boot from dvd again as hd not offered as an option. Second attempt hd option available but fails. By reading advice given to others I managed to eject the dvd and have tried:
safe boot - it won't
boot in verbose mode and single user (indicates I have disk0s2:I/O error) and won't boot
try to use disk utility from install disk to create disk image on external hd, it won't (cites i/o error)
If I can boot from an external I will try to repair with Disk Warrior as forums indicate that this software has been able to solve <invalid node structure> issues (but am open to recommendations of other products). I also hope that I may be able to try again to burn a disk image sucessfully if this repair works. I'm still trying to save my photos and videos that aren't backed up.
I plan to try an archive and install installation but first I want to try a repair with disk warrior as I fear that archive and install won't work and I'll end up having to erase and repair my hard disk.
I feel like some perverse god is punishing me for trying to do the right thing and back up my hard disk.
Macbook 5.1 late 2008
Intel Core 2 Duo
OSX Leopard 10.5.8
85 GB of a 150GB hard disk needs backing up (saving)

I am not sure about this, but my memory is that if you try to partition the drive (in OS 10.5.8) it will erase the data.
But you can try. Go through the Add a partition steps, but watch for any warnings. If my memory is correct there will be a message to the effect that everything will be erased. If you see that, do not proceed. This page has info about how to do it, if it can be done: http://www.macworld.com/article/1164643/live_partition.html
With respect to DW on an external, I do that. I have a 80 GB external - I call it Emergency - with an OS, DW and TechTool Pro on it. (Since I have is a recovery partition built in with all new OS, Emergency would be of use only if I need to run DW or TTP.) I have never yet had to use it, but it's there. It is not usually connected - I just did that for this screen shot.

Dual G5 hangs while booting from internal hard-disk

Hi,
When I switched my Dual G5 (2x2.5GHz around 15 months old, 1.5GB ram, 160GB hard disk, OS 10.4.6) on yesterday, it wouldn't boot from the internal hard disk. The spinning "wheel" (under the Apple logo) didn't show up and after a couple (5? 10?) of minutes the fans started making more noise than they ever did. I tried again with the same result.
It did boot from CD though and the disk was accessible. Disk Utility didn't report a problem and the hardware test neither. Subsequent rebooting from the internal hard disk failed again.
Then I reinstalled 10.4 (with archive & install), but with the same result. Then I got a Firewire drive from the computer support department, formatted it, installed 10.4 and copied (nearly) the entire internal hard disk's content to it. I was able to work normally from that disk.
Then I booted again from the 10.4 installation disk, formatted the internal drive, reinstalled 10.4 and then it did boot from the internal drive. I migrated all my files and now everything is working again (although a few things might have gone missing). And I lost nearly a day of work.
I conclude from this that it wasn't the disk, but that somehow an essential part of the boot software got damaged.
My question: how did this happen? What could have caused it? Is there someone with a similar experience (i.e., failure to boot from disk while the disk is still ok)? Is there any way to prevent it from happening again?

we have g5s the same as you. the few times we've ever had an issue with them refusing to boot up have been solved by running diskwarrior. it's an utter 'must have'.
it's a harsh fact that drives (and the operating system that sits on them) do fail from time to time. careful housekeeping (repairing permissions regularly, running disk utility repair and/or diskwarrior) will help to prevent any major problems.
if you have an issue that can't be fixed by doing these things (and we just had one with a file sharing problem) the best course of action is a full reinstall.
we keep a fw800 drive with the latest installers of every application we use handy in each room for this purpose. it's time consuming to stay on top of but worth it when it all goes pear-shaped.

Hard disk failed

what is the major isu can make macbook pro hard disk failer ..??

Please repeat your question with complete words.

Satellite C660-1J2 hard disk failed

I've got some problems
First i can't write very well english
Second and the true problem is that when i use my laptop it can't go to the windows seven because it can't boot the the hard disk
The hard disk sounds oddly (a cyclic sound like "pchuk tak, pchuk tak")
And finally i live in Antananarivo Madagascar, there no Toshiba partner here
Thank you!!!!!

Hi
Sounds (!) like the HDD is faulty.
I think you need a new one ;(
Usually you can use any 2.5 SATA HDD.
You could order the HDD and could replace this yourself its not very tricky as you can see this here:
http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/ann.jspa?annID=138

How to boot Linux USB Hard Disk from Windows Machine?

*Dears,,*
I have XP windows Machine . . .
My laptop is Qosmio F20 155
I need to boot Linux USB Hard Disk .
I tried to enter setup menu to arrange the boot perority to make The USB Hard Disk FIRST but i cannot enter setup menu
Please, help me ASAP
*Many Thanks & Regards,,*
Message was edited by: eng_mohammedmostafa

*Dear,,*
FYI , , ,
We have another laptop (VAIO) and we can enter BIOS and edit the priority boot and it run successfully . . .
But in laptop (Toshiba) We can't make it.
*Thanks & Regards,,*
*Eng Mohammed Mostafa*

14 Months and the Hard Disk Fails!!!!!

Well I am raging, I have had the Mac for 14 months now, and at the 12 month point I had the option of extending the warranty, because of Christmas I had only one opportunity to buy over the phone, from a cold call!! Now I never do this and told them that, they said its a one chance only because they are closed over Christmas.
So 2 weeks ago my hard disk failed, its damaged beyond even data recovery!! I have tried to find an online complaints procedure, err none to be found. I think it is shocking that a piece of equipment should fail less than 2 months out of warranty!!
Anyone with any advice for a complaints procedure would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Andy

Had one lady opt out of one on an iPod , Apple only covers for 15 days , something happened on the 17th day , she was out almost 200 bucks and nothing could be done. SOL
Why did you rip off the old lady? Just because she didn't buy the extended warranty?
You are obviously cluelss. The iPod warranty is for one full year, not 15 days.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304869#faq2
"How long is my iPod covered by Apple’s warranty?
Your iPod or iPod shuffle is covered for one year by Apple’s Limited Warranty for iPod. Warranty service for eligible repairs is available at no charge for twelve months from the date of original retail purchase (”date of purchase”). If you have purchased an AppleCare Protection Plan for iPod, there will be no shipping and handling fee. A $29.95 shipping and handling fee will apply to all warranty repairs performed six months after date of purchase."

External USB hard disk fails to boot

I installed Arch Linux on an external USB Lacie 1 TB Hard Disk. I followed instructions on WiKi: "install from exisiting linux", method 2, since I already have Linux installed
on the internal HDD of my laptop (dual boot with Windows, also with Grub as bootloader).
Problem: The external HDD stalls during boot right after the "Welcome to Grub!" - message. I can only hard-reset my laptop from there.
The external HDD has msdos Partition Table. It is recognized by BIOS just fine, since I can choose to boot from it. It has following (very simple) partition setup:
[root@arch-laptop chris]# fdisk -l /dev/sdb
Disk /dev/sdb: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x000c9610
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 2048 40962047 20480000 83 Linux
So there's just the root partition, no boot or home partition defined. Grub installed to the external HDD with no errors.
Here's the grub.cfg auto-generated, without anything adapted. The UUID of the external HDD /dev/sdb1 is correct.
[root@arch-laptop grub]# cat grub.cfg
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
insmod part_gpt
insmod part_msdos
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
set default="${next_entry}"
set next_entry=
save_env next_entry
set boot_once=true
else
set default="0"
fi
if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
menuentry_id_option=""
fi
export menuentry_id_option
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi
function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
function load_video {
if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
insmod all_video
else
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod ieee1275_fb
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
fi
if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
font=unicode
else
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348
fi
font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi
if loadfont $font ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
set lang=en_US
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_input console
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
set timeout_style=menu
set timeout=5
# Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
else
set timeout=5
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_archlinux ###
menuentry "Arch Linux pkg-linux kernel" --class arch-linux --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
insmod all_video
fi
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod ext2
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348
fi
echo 'Loading Arch Linux pkg-linux kernel ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348 rw quiet
echo 'Loading Arch Linux pkg-linux kernel initramfs ...'
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
menuentry "Arch Linux pkg-linux kernel (fallback initramfs)" --class arch-linux --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
insmod all_video
fi
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod ext2
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348
fi
echo 'Loading Arch Linux pkg-linux kernel ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348 rw quiet
echo 'Loading Arch Linux pkg-linux kernel fallback initramfs ...'
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
### END /etc/grub.d/10_archlinux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Arch Linux' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348' {
load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348
fi
echo 'Loading Linux linux ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348 rw quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
submenu 'Advanced options for Arch Linux' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348' {
menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux linux' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-linux-advanced-5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348' {
load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348
fi
echo 'Loading Linux linux ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=5fe1d28c-2640-4b5c-b98b-75d147479348 rw quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/60_memtest86+ ###
### END /etc/grub.d/60_memtest86+ ###
the internal HDD (/dev/sda) also has GRUB installed, without any problems, with a graphical console menu.
GRUB version is 2.02
laptop: dv6-6b41ed
Legacy BIOS (no EFI / UEFI).
Any ideas on how to solve / troubleshoot this?
Last edited by christopher72 (2014-04-21 15:05:21)

Any hooks in particular? I don't know which hook to add other then the 'blocks' hook, which is there already:
HOOKS="base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems keyboard fsck"
Also, I don't think that could be the problem since loading the initramfs image takes place after choosing something from the Grub Menu. That menu never appears, I just get "welcome to grub!" with a blinking cursor underneath.
I did add "insmod usbms" in grub.cfg, but that didn't change anything.
What strikes me as odd is that in grub.cfg, the disk is referred to as "hd1", where I think it could just as well be "hd0" if that's the first hard disk the BIOS boots from. But I'm not sure if that really matters since the search is done with the UUID.
Another thing I tested earlier: I dd 'd the Arch Live image to the external usb HDD, and then it boots fine...

Mac Mini Not booting due to hard disk being full

Hello All,
I have a Mini and has worked well for the past 12 months, last week i upgraded to the OSX Lion which also went very smoothly. However yesterday i had a message on my screen stating the my startup disk was full and i needed to make space. finding this a little odd as I have a TB external hard drive that everything goes to.
the mini frose during the deletion process after leaving for approx an hour i attempted to reboot. from this point i have only been able to access the disk utility through the DVD that came with the mini I have done a disk check and repair, also check permission all are ok exept for only having 49mb of hd space left.
I cant access safe mode as this will not boot either (tried to load for 8 hours) re install will also not work due to the amount of hd space available
has anyone got any ideas how i can clean the hard disk without formatting as ideally i would like to know what is causing the problem.
like a not very bright thing i left the time machine turned off so this isnt an option either??

Ok, basically it would involve the following
Boot from the DVD
Launch the Terminal.app probably from a Utilities menu which also lists Disk Utility
In Terminal you would need to type cd /Users/accountname/.Trash followed by pressing the return key
Then you would type ls -l and again press return
It would then list what is in the trash for that user account. If it begins with a D it is a folder, otherwise it is likely a file. The big number before the data would give an idea of the size of the item.
When you have found the one you want to delete (remember you cannot undo this) you would type the following to delete a file rm filename and then press return again.
The do ls -l again to see if the file has gone.
If you want to delete a folder that is in the trash then the command would be rm -r foldername and then again press return. Using rm -r is a particularly dangerous command if you do it in the wrong place or the wrong way you could delete everything on the hard disk.
Normally in single user mode (which you said was not working) you have to type some other commands beforehand to allow modifying the contents of the hard disk. I have not tried this via the DVD so I do not know if the same applied. If it does it is likely to refuse to delete the file and you should come back to me and we can work out the process.

Hard disk failing?

Hello everybody,
My computer started having problems this morning.
I have a Macbook Pro Unibody from 2008 running Lion (the first unibody that came out) with 320 gb hard disk and 4gb RAM.
Yesterday, everything was doing just fine, I put on some music before going to bed and set up an app called iTaf to stop iTunes automatically after an hour. I didn't ask it to shut the computer down though.
When I woke up this morning, my computer was stuck on a grey screen and was completely unresponsive. I could'nt do anything else but force shut it down with the power button.
After rebooting, my computer was extremely sluggish and was pretty much unresponsive. I force shut it down a couple of times (it wouldn't shut down properly), but the problem was remaining.
I tried starting it up in safe boot mode, but after 2 hours, my computer still hadn't booted and the loading circle kept spinning.
Now, everytime I turn my computer on, I still have the safe boot mode screen (grey screen with the circle spinning and the loading bar filling a little bit, then disappearing and the circle keeps spinning, without anything else happening) and it won't reboot like it did before I started safe boot mode.
I ran Disk Utility through Internet recovery (I don't have a Super Drive anymore) and it says that everything's ok with my hard disk. Mackintosh HD is not mounted though and locked (I have Filevault enabled). When I try to unlock the drive, it won't accept my password (I have an azerty keyboard and the layout was set to US. I changed it back to French, but it still won't accept my password, probably because it contains the letter " à " and the french layout doesn't kick in.).
So I tried running single user mode, and when I type in the fsck -fy command, this is what I get:
CoreStorageGroup: :complete IORequest - error 0xe00002ca detected for LVG "Macintosh HD" (E97F03A2-D03C-48C0-85D2-B470539CC780), pv F0B573D5-41D5-42E9-8B1D-7E432E4C99F6, near LV byte
disk1: I/O error.
Invalid record count
(4, 279)
** The volume Mackintosh HD could not be verified completely.
/dev/rdisk1 (hfs) EXITED WITH SIGNAL 8
What is strange though, is that I can still run my computer under guest mode and surf the internet...
I don't understand what's going on, can anyone help me?
If the hard disk is failing, do you think I could still recover some important files I added this week and had no time to back up?

As an FYI, the only product on the market for drive/system testing on CoreStorage components on a "live" system to the best of my knowledge is Scannerz:
http://www.scsc-online.com
Don't go out and buy it, because that's likely not your problem. What the system is telling you is that you have an INDEXING problem.
Consider the following: You go to a library and you want to find a book on a topic. How do you do it? Do you start at the first shelf you see and then sequentially search from shelf to shelf to shelf, possibly from hundreds of thousand (or even millions) of books until you find the book? Of course not. You go to the libraries catalog, look it up and then go to the right shelf. Hard drives use index files the same way. When a file is requested, the drive looks at its index, then moves directly to the sectors containing the information.
Now, suppose you go to the library and you go to look up a book in the index files, and someone has stolen some of them (or if they're on a computer, they've deleted them...same thing). There's no information available at all. There's no way to find out where the books associated with the index files are. This is essentially what's happened to your hard drive. Some of the index files are corrupt, and in your case the index files that are missing are associated with the OS actually in the process of loading, hence the failure to boot.
This problem can be caused by the following:
1. Some of the sectors containing the startup information are corrupt (essentially a drive failure).
2. An application you have somehow or another managed to overwrite the indexing or startup files with information that doesn't make sense.
Like I said, Scannerz is, to the best of my knowledge the only application that can currently test CoreStorage components on a "live" system which would be needed in your case because you're using fully encrypted volumes, but it's of little value to you at this point. Even if you mounted and booted from an external drive and ran Scannerz on it and it confirmed that the sectors in the startup section of the drive were bad, all that would do is identify the source of the problem for you, not correct it. There is no utility on Earth than can properly recover information from a completely damaged sector (although some claim they can ... they're lying) any more than you can recover information from a paper page that someone set on fire and burned to ash.
The only option for you that MIGHT work would be Disk Warrior which can HOPEFULLY rebuild and remap the index files. Be forewarned of the following though:
1. It can't perform miracles. It may or may not be able to re-generate the index files for you.
2. It's a fairly old utility and how much they've kept up with changing technology, file system changes, etc. is unknown to me. Core Storage is NEW technology and I have no way of knowing how something like Disk Warrior will handle it. I would like to think they'll get around to dealing with it in the near future if they haven't already.
Here's a link to their website:
http://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior
I hope this helps you make your decision, and good luck!

Windows HP laptop won't boot Windows - possible hard disk failure!

Hi there!
A month ago my HP Pavilion dv6-6b57sa completely froze mid-use, and was unable to move the mouse or get any sort of response.
Naturally I held the power button to hard shutdown and restarted. Ever since then I have been unable to boot Windows 7 (the original OS) properly, and all I could get to was a Startup repair which took days to try to fix the issues, eventually coming up with a message saying it was unable to fix the errors.
Today I decided to ditch the data I had stored and do a fresh install - using the HP wizard by pressing F11 on boot and using a newly created USB Windows 7 install drive. After getting to the point of install process of Windows just loading the files, after choosing a hard drive partition successfully etc. the installation quit, citing a number of issues (screenshots link are below).
So I then try to restart the computer, and get a 'SMART Hard disk error' (screenshot link below) and when I select continue startup from there, it says Windows failed to start (screenshot link below) and then leads to me to the Startup repair manager again - which fails again - (screenshot link also below!)
So after doing a hard drive test, it says it has failed (screenshot link also below).
So what can I do? Is there a serious hardware related issue linked with the hard drive (which is bound to cost lots of £££ I bet), or are there further steps I can take?
Screenshot links: http://1drv.ms/1jnjviU
Many thanks for your help in advance,
Max

Yes and you had to at the moment since you won't have a key unless you buy one from Microsoft for about 99 dollars.
Try you best to get the key readble I mean try to read it, good luck!
Sorry because of different timezone I might not be able to help/reply you right away.IF that happens I deeply apologize!
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Macbook Pro crashes then hard disk fail

I'm a weathered mac user and have had macs for the last 15 or so years. I bought a new Macbook Pro 4 months ago and it has crashed more times than all of my previous macs together.
A month after buying it with SL installed, the beach ball of death came up on the screen more often and then a day later the computer froze and the hard drive was corrupted. I reinstalled OSX and it worked fine (all data backed up using a time capsule phew!) until a month later it started getting slow again. I went to disk utility and this told me the hard drive need a repair. Then it tried to repair and said it could not and OSx could not be loaded onto the hard disk. Apple directed me to a service centre and replaced the hard drive.
Then a week ago (Xmas eve to be precise) the same thing happened. The hard disk froze and said it needed to be repaired. I took it to a genius bar where the guy (who seemed knowledgeable) said that it was not a hardwear but a software problem and reinstalled OSx. Fair enough I thought and rather than using the migration assistant I dragged over my emails, photos and doc etc.
If you've got this far well done! My problem now is that this evening it has once again started crashing for no apparent reason. I have no dodgy programs loaded, in fact all of them are on both mine and another mac. Two things have also happened, Front Row keeps loading up for some strange reason and I'm unsure why. Secondly the hard drive started making some really bizarre clicking noise whilst time machine was backing up.
Has anyone any ideas what to do next or had similar problems?

Well, if there isn't a hardware problem then there must be a software problem. Of course the diagnostics test may not detect a problem especially if it's random unless you run the test over a prolonged period of time - 24 hours, for example.
If it is a software issue then I would start by doing the following:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Quit DU after formatting is completed and reinstall OS X.
In answer to your firmware query: No, you cannot return to the previous version.

Hard disk failing SMART test

Hi,
It's been 2 days my imac is much slower to boot (about 2min from the startup sound until I get to a responsive desktop).
After checking the system with Techtools and Smart Utilities is turns out SMART status is failed.
Smart Utilities shows only one problem: Reallocated bad sectors with value=8, threshold=36, gross value=3760.
I wonder if 3760 is the number of bad sectors on the disc or just a coded value in the hdd firmware.
The most worrying thing is that the count of reallocated bad sectors seems to be increasing slowly but steadily over time.
Everything works fine once the start up sequence is complete but it seems clear from the system indication that The hdd must be replaced sooner rather than later.
Imac 27" i7 late 2009 with 1To hdd, still under Apple Care plan
My questions are:
- At this stage can the hdd fails anytime or do I still have some time to change it ?
- Will this S.M.A.R.T failure and the hdd replacement be taken care of by Apple Care immediately or will they want to wait until it fails completely ?
- How easy will it be to restore my entire system on a new hard disk from the time capsule ? (iphoto collection, itunes library, installed third party apps, emails... All of this will work fine after a restore on a brand new hard disc ?)
- After restoring from time capsule will the ipad or ipod be able to synchronize with itunes as if nothing happened ?
Maybe someone in here had similar troubles with their hdd and can shed some light on this.

My questions are:
- At this stage can the hdd fails anytime or do I still have some time to change it ?
- Will this S.M.A.R.T failure and the hdd replacement be taken care of by Apple Care immediately or will they want to wait until it fails completely ?
- How easy will it be to restore my entire system on a new hard disk from the time capsule ? (iphoto collection, itunes library, installed third party apps, emails... All of this will work fine after a restore on a brand new hard disc ?)
- After restoring from time capsule will the ipad or ipod be able to synchronize with itunes as if nothing happened ?
Maybe someone in here had similar troubles with their hdd and can shed some light on this.
Your HD is failing. Backup immediately!!!
Yes AppleCare will take care of it, contact them immediately.
It's very easy to restore your system, if you bring your Time Capsule in when the repair is done the Apple Store or AASP should be able to help you do the restore. Do not repeat do not do it wirelessly though!
After the restore has been completed everything should be back to normal including your syching the iPod & iPad.

HELP! Hard disk failing

Hi
Need help here.
my iMac's hard disk is failing! I ran disk utility and indicated a fatal hardware and ask that I backup my drive.
I am planning to buy a hard disk and run time machine. But I'm new to this. can someone provide a sep by step on what I need to do. I will have to buy an internal harddisk to replace the one in iMac too.
Once I time machined my stuff. How do I get it transferred to the new HD?
Also how do I make my hard drive a bootable drive? I am no expert in this.. please help.... SOON !

It depends on how much data you change.
My iMac has a 320gb drive and I use a 320gb external drive for backup which lasted about 4 months before filling up.
Time machine works incrementally, so let's say you have 100gb of data on your iMac, the 1st backup will be 100gb. After that, let's say you update 1gb of files everyday, Time machine would add 1gb to the current 100gb each day, so tomorrow the total would stand at 102gb, then 103gb etc etc.
Once the drive is full, it starts deleting the oldest information to enable it to continue backing up.
I would say the best approach would be to get something at least twice the size of your 'stored' data, so if you have 250gb of data on your machine, then get at least a 500gb drive to give you a few months run before it starts deleting data from the backup.

RT Controller not booting from the hard disk

Hello,
I am using an 8176RT controller with LV8.5 RT when i am trying to boot from hard disk my monitor shows Loading Labview Real Time ...... and halts there only. But when i boot thro a floopy disk its booting properly. What might be the problem can one comment on this.
Regards
Aks
(Appreciate answers by giving KUDOS)
Hit the stars.............. sky is not the limit.

Hello Daniel, I tried with the floppy only to format the controller but still the problem persists.
Message Edited by AHK on 07-02-2009 07:16 AM
Message Edited by AHK on 07-02-2009 07:16 AM
Regards
Aks
(Appreciate answers by giving KUDOS)
Hit the stars.............. sky is not the limit.

Boot to folder - hard disk fail - undetectable - what to do to recover data

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