Copying a file in Single User Mode

Hi all,
I was in the hospital, trying to backup files from my 15 inch Macbook Pro (new in November, running the latest OS), when I knocked over a cup of coffee, burning me. I knocked the computer onto the floor as I jumped up and now it is locked and read only, no matter what I do (original attempts to fix can be found here: https://discussions.apple.com/message/21633118#21633118). I can boot into single user mode, or holding down 'option' when I push the power button, but not boot normally to save my life.
I need to copy the entire user file ("Liz") from the damaged HD in single user mode to an external drive ("passport"). Is this possible? I tried using disk utility to copy the files, but it gives me an IO error. Being a novice, I am unsure if this is possible. It's the last chance I think I have to save the files I was *trying* to backup when I spilled the coffee. Some of it is critically important, so if you have any ideas, PLEASE let me know.
Thank you in advance.
Liz

There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to fully boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
1. Boot into Recovery (command-R at startup) or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in the support article linked below, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
How to back up and restore your files
2. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode by holding down the key combination command-T at the startup chime. Connect the two Macs with a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable. The internal drive of the machine running in target mode will mount as an external drive on the other machine. Copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
3. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.

Similar Messages

Back up files through Single user mode

Hello there,
it seems that I have problem with my hard drive. I tried to repair it with disk utility and the fsck command in Single user mode with no luck. The fsck command gives me the "Exited with signal 8" message and it won't start up the usual way or under Safe boot so I came to the conclusion to back up my files on an external drive and reinstall the system. I need step by step instructions how to back up the entire hard drive onto the external drive in Single User mode.

Do you have another mac with firewire?
Try target disk mode.
If you have a second Mac computer, you may want to try to copy over as many files you can. One way is to use target disk mode.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
http://lowendmac.com/misc/06/0710.html
This requires you to use your installation disk. With errors from fdsk, I do not think you will be able to copy all directories. I used a flash drive. A harddrive should be the same. To copy everything, use the directory /Volumes/Macintosh-HD
You may try to recover your data by booting up an installation cd/dvd and using the terminal.
You could try getting into the Unix command line interface and copy some files or directories.
You can copy files on the Unix command line interface if you placed the flash drive the USB port before powering on your machine.
Boot up your installation CD or DVD. To do this, place to the CD or DVD its drive. Power off the the machine. Hold down the c key then power on your machine. After you specify the language you will come to the installation panel. Do not install. Go to the top of the screen and click on the tools menu item. Click on Terminal to use the command line interface.
You should verify that the files have been copied correctly by trying them in another Mac before it the deleting the original.
*Here is an overview of the commands.*
Lets assume that the problem account has a short user name of mac.
#Copy directory "/Applications/Applescript files" to
# directory "/Volumes/Spotless/Applescript files".
# "Spotless" is my flash drive.
ditto -X -rsrc /Applications/Applescript\ files /Volumes/Spotless/Applescript\ files
#cd is change directory
cd /Volumes/COPYIT/answers/
# pwd is print working directory
pwd
#the ls command is for list
# l is long
# a to show hidden files. not shown in this example.
# F is type of file where / is directory
sh-2.05b# # Please note ls is the list command. l is a lower case L
sh-2.05b# ls -lF
Here is what these commands mean:
cd is change directory
pwd is a print working directory
ls is list
sudo is Super user do
# The sudo command will ask for your administration password. No characters will appear when typing your password. Press return when done typing.
cp is copy
copy a file example:
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# cd /Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# pwd
/Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# cp -i answers.txt /Volumes/SpotMore
Will copy the file answers.txt in the directory SpotMore.
Some files have a space in the name. You need to escape. see example:
mac $ ls -l ~/"see it"
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 3171 Oct 26 23:38 /Users/mac/see it
mac $
mac $ cd /Users/mac/Desktop/ttt\ html\ copy/
Do you know about tabing? Type in a few letters of a name then press the tab key. The computer will type out the rest of the name if it is unique.
The up arrow key will retrive the previous command. You the left arror and right arror keys to move around. Use the delete key to delete a character to the left.
<eol>
*More examples and moving around*
sh-2.05b# pwd
sh-2.05b# ls /Volumes
.Trashes Classic Macintosh-HD
._.Trashes Mac OS X Install DVD SpotMore
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
/dev/disk4s3 2.6G 2.5G 89M 97% /
devfs 121K 121K 0B 100% /dev
fdesc 1.0K 1.0K 0B 100% /dev
<volfs> 512K 512K 0B 100% /.vol
/dev/disk5 467K 9.0K 435K 2% /Volumes
/dev/disk6 95K 64K 27K 70% /private/var/tmp
/dev/disk7 95K 14K 77K 15% /private/var/run
/dev/disk3s1 3.7G 1.3G 2.5G 34% /Volumes/SpotMore
/dev/disk0s10 1.1G 1.1G 3.4M 100% /Volumes/Classic
/dev/disk0s12 70G 45G 25G 65% /Volumes/Macintosh-HD
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# cd /Volumes/SpotMore/
sh-2.05b# pwd
/Volumes/SpotMore
sh-2.05b# # Please note ls is the list command. l is a lower case L
sh-2.05b# ls -l
total 880
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 6148 Sep 10 2010 .DS_Store
drw------- 4 unknown unknown 136 Aug 25 2010 .Spotlight-V100
drwxrwxrwt 3 unknown unknown 102 Sep 3 2010 .TemporaryItems
d-wx-wx-wt 3 unknown unknown 102 Sep 10 2010 .Trashes
drwx------ 3 unknown unknown 102 Sep 3 2010 Desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 18944 Aug 27 2010 Desktop DB
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 2 Jul 29 2010 Desktop DF
-rwxrwxrwx 1 unknown unknown 26281 Oct 27 2009 Warranty Information.PDF
drwxr-xr-x 13 unknown unknown 442 Aug 4 2010 backup
drwxr-xr-x 13 unknown unknown 442 Aug 4 2010 backupPrior
drwxr-xr-x 7 unknown unknown 238 Aug 27 2010 cons
drwxr-xr-x 65 unknown unknown 2210 Sep 4 2010 iMac-back
... clipped ...
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# cd /Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# pwd
/Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# # Please note ls is the list command. l is a lower case L
sh-2.05b# ls
Z2300 iMac
.DS_Store move
.FBCIndex new Belward
.FBCLockFolder primary-comments-new copy.doc
Consolidate-rc primary-comments-new.doc
Downloads psc 1200
... clipped ...
sh-2.05b# ditto -X -rsrc iMac /Volumes/SpotMore/iMac-back
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# # Please note ls is the list command. l is a lower case L
sh-2.05b# ls -h /Volumes/SpotMore/iMac-back/
total 2800
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 24K Sep 12 2010 .DS_Store
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 2K Apr 18 2010 Differentiate Between Models .html
... clipped ...
sh-2.05b# pwd
/Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# ls
Z2300 iMac
.DS_Store move
.FBCIndex new Belward
.FBCLockFolder primary-comments-new copy.doc
... clipped ...
sh-2.05b#

Transfer file in Single User Mode (Command S)

Can I mount my iPod as external drive and transfer my documents in Single User Mode? or any other mode? I just cannot login as normal. I want to backup my docs before refresing the OS.

You say 'Documents' not 'Music' so I hope you mean files stored on there using it in Disc Mode not iTunes files?
Boot in Single User Mode
at the root# prompt enter
CD /Volumes
ls
And see if a) the iPod shows and b) your backup drive shows
If so, the basic command is cp source destination but you must give the complete and correct paths here so post the drive names if you need clarification.

Cannot edit sudoers file in single user mode.

I did not back up my sudoers file on my pro.
I made a change to it, adding my "test" user to be able to use sudo, but upon restarting, it didn't work, and I cannot edit the file via cd in single user mode.
I mounted the drive, changed permissions, but it seems that I don't have the option to use vi, visudo, vim.
Thanks for the help.

I mounted the hdd using the command below.
I then made sure I could get to the file by cd to it.
Then once I was there, i would attempt to type vis <tab> to complete, and visudo does not show up. Typed in visudo, nothing. This was on a brand new mb pro. I can wipe it out, but I would rather figure out why its not working.
The reason for all this is I have to give it to a user at my job. We don't want them to have admin rights to install anything they want, but they need to use sudo in X11 for compiling and such. I read online that I can edit/add their username to the sudoers file, and allow them the right to sudo for compiling, starting apache on their laptops, etc.
Thanks.

HT1492 Start-up disk is full and can't go past the blue screen; can't delete read-only files on single-user mode. Please help.

I have had my Mac mini for about 6 years and I guess it had enough of me (haha), so the start-up disk got full and it shut down before I could empty files on my drive. Unfortunately, all these years I hadn't backed up anything and now I can't access anything since it won't boot past the apple logo (and the blue screen for that matter). I have tried rebooting (holding shift as the mac mini loads), but that didn't help since the start-up disk will still be full and stuck on the blue screen. I am now trying the single-user mode (holding command key+s), and I tried to delete files in the trash bin but all of the files are read-only and access is denied! so I basically can't delete anything on the mac mini (it says "Root device is mounted read-only"). So the key here is to change the permissions but I don't know how to exactly do that. Can someone help me figure this out? (and type the command in the unix language please!!) [ Note: We have two users on this mac mini if that helps.]

Run the following command:
mount -uw /
This isn't a permissions issue.
(87807)

How to move files using Single User Mode

I messed up this one task that i didn't read all the way through and messed up. I Moved SecurityAgent.app (not SystemAgent.app my bad) and instead i moved my desktop to the CoreServices folder and renamed it SecurityAgent.app
How do i put the Desktop Back and put SystemAgents back into the CoreServices. Actually just the CoreServices. I have more than one account on my comp. so i will just fix my Desktop using that account.
Message was edited by: Connor.K

Run the following commands:
mount -uw /
cd /System/Library/CoreServices/
mv SecurityAgent.app Desktop
mv Desktop/SecurityAgent.app SecurityAgent.app
exit
(50685)

Single User Mode : Read Only Filesystem

I can't edit files in single user mode as Root. When I try to edit them I get a msg saying "Read Only Filesystem".
I have tried chmod with no evial. I want to change my .profile as root so cls='clear'.
Any ideas?
Also when I try to login to my account in single user mode it says that account does not exist. However I'm in that accunt right now!
Thank You.

When you boot up into single user mode, there is a single recognized user -- root. That's why they call it single-user mode and not multi-user mode.
When you boot up into single user mode, the disk mounts as read-only. You have to make it writeable in order to do anything to it. I forget the actual command but it displays on the monitor nearby where it gives the "fsck" command syntax when you first boot into it. It's something like "mount -uw /" or something to that effect. It is saying to mount the root drive ("/") with user write privileges.
Then just "pico /Users/Mephux/.profile" (although I profess that I don't understand why you have to edit this file as root).
(if you find that this solves your problem, or is actually helpful towards arriving at a solution to your problem, please consider clicking on either the "helpful" or "solved" buttons above)

Saving from Single User Mode???

ok, so my computer *****, and i just want to reformat the drive and start from scratchville.
is there any way to have a USB Thumbdrive or external hard drive attached and move files from single user mode to the thumb drive to store it. and then once i get my system disk reformat or reinstall the operating system.
i cannot login to my computer any other way besides single user. i have run FSCK and nothing.
all im trying to do is move files so i dont have to worry about losing all of my music, photos, and documents.

WeeManG4:
i cannot login to my computer any other way besides single user.
Have you tried Firewire Target Disk Mode?
cornelius

How to edit a time machine backup to make it bootable in single user mode

I am away from home and do not have snow leopard install disk. My MacBook just keeps loading. I have my time machine backup and I was wondering if I could make my time machine backup bootable by deleting and editing files in single user mode and then booting from the external hard drive. I have already tried a lot of things like fsck and haven't gotten it to work so I thought all you command lovers could help me edit my time machine backup to make it bootable. Maybe I could somehow install applejack from the command line too?
P.S. Right before it broke I restarted my computer and when it was turning off, There was a blue screen with a loading symbol and when it started to turn on it just kept loading with the apple symbol, if that helps you fix the problem.

To begin with, there is no way to make a Time Machine backup bootable.
You say you've tried a lot of things; does that include a safe mode boot? (hold down 'shift' during startup)
I'm not myself familiar with Applejack, so you'll need someone else to confirm this, but I believe that it should be possible to install from the command line.

Single-User Mode Copying Files/System Does not Boot Past Apple Logo Screen

I have a Macbook 2.0GHZ, 2GB RAM, that recently tried to download a secuirty and keynot update. Following the download the system will no longer boot past the Apple Logo Screen with the spinning wheel. I do not have access to a OS disk yet or to a firewire cable either. I've have seen posts from others that describe how to use traget disk mode to reinstall the secuirty update manually and then they can boot their computer. Safe mode will not work. I did boot into single-user mode and run the disk utility there and it says my HD is OK. Since I do not have a firewire or an OS Disk, I am wondering if there is a way to copy those files i need to a USB pen stick then install them onto the computer via single-user mode, considering this is the only way I can boot and manipulate the machine at this time. If this is not possible please let me know so I can find a way to scrounge up a firewire cable or disk. Thank you in advance for any assistance.
Ted K

Thanks to Limnos and BDAqua I know you guys have helped others with these kind of problems from the other posts I read. I just want to list what I did exactly in case anyone wants to try to do this with a usb drive or does not have access to a boot disk or firewire cable.
1: Install security update on a pen drive
2: Boot in single user mode, CMD-S on startup
3: /sbin/mount -uw /
4: mkdir /Volumes/usb (usb can be any name, name of usb drive or anything you want)
5: ls /dev (you need to get the drive listing for the usb drive to mount it appropriately, it should be disk#s# but this is close to what the HD and Cd drives are listed as so you may need to list once before you put the usb stick in and once ater. I had issues inserting the usb drive in single-user mode and it would freeze up the root drive)
6: /sbin/mount_msdos /dev/disk1s1 /Volumes/usb (this mounts the usb drive, i had to use msdos because of how my usb drive was formatted, you may need to check your usb drive format, hfs is the apple format for usb drives but it did not work for me)
7: cp /Volumes/usb/SecUpd2009-001Intel.dmg (this copies the files from the usb drive to the root drivel, at this point you no longer need the usb drive)
8: hdiutil mount /SecUpd2009-001Intel.dmg (this mounts the disk image)
9: cd /Volumes/"Security Update 2009-001" (after i mounted the image this is how it appeared in the Volumes directory, you might need to do ls /Volumes to get the name, the quotes are important to get the whole file directory changed)
10: installer -pkg SecUpd2009-001Intel.pkg -target / (this installs the acutal update, i used the SecUpd2009-001Intel.pkg and it worked though I think you might be able to use "Security Update 2009-001" with quotes as well.)
11: reboot
i hope this helps anyone looking to do this. Thanks again to those who helpes and all the other posts that had information that helped me identify and then fix my issue! I still love my mac.

Single User Mode - mount external drive and copy user files to there

I have an iBook G4 running (I think) Tiger (although it may be Panther). AHT reports a bad HD and it will not boot from that drive. Mounting it via Target Disk to another Mac won't permit me to even see beyond the root directory; just a spinning sunburst at the bottom of the Finder window.
If I boot into single-user mode, I can "ls" and "cd" to see the files and folders in the home folder. Assuming the HD is named "Macintosh HD" and I have a USB-connected hard drive named "Backup", what are the commands I need to use in single-user mode in order to mount "Backup" and copy the user's home folder (there's only one on this drive) over to "Backup"?
As I indicated above, I'm not absolutely sure whether this iBook is running Panther or Tiger.
Thanks in advance for any assistance!

I'm in the middle of copying things.
I did a chmod -R ug+w (IIRC) to the 300GB volume and this made it writable.
I then CD'd to the Pictures folder on the Macintosh HD.
I then did a cp *.jpg /Volumes/300GB/ and found that it managed to copy all of the jpegs that were sitting loose in the Pictures folder. Some of the photos were corrupted but I expected this as the drive is reported to have a hardware issue by AHT.
I'm now in the process of copying the iPhoto Library using the cp -r command. Some files are being reported as bad and can't be copied but, again, I'm expecting this.
Whatever I can get from this drive will be a bonus. I'll mention that I used Drive Genius to duplicate the HD to a disk image and, while this was done successfully, it resulted in a "no filesystem" error when I attempted to mount it. However, I -did- ask for it to be mounted anyway and then used DiskWarrior on it (even though it didn't appear in the Finder). It took a few hours for DiskWarrior to come up with a "preview" of the disk (as the filesystem was thoroughly hosed). The User folder was nowhere to be found and every file that was displayed was corrupt. That's why I'm trying this "out of the GUI" process.
I'll thank everyone who made suggestions; they all pointed me in the proper direction.

Disable file service in single user mode?

After a failed (with an error) attempt to install the latest security update, the iMac won't get past 'waiting for apple file service' during boot. I presume the botched install left something bad, so I'd just like to get it booted so I can retry the install to see if that fixes it.
Safe startup doesn't work - it just reboots part way through.
So I'm trying to figure out how to disable the service altogether, from single-user mode.
Does anyone know what file(s) I need to modify, or what 'defaults' incantations I need to do, to disable it?
iMac G3, 600MHz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

I managed to disable it - moved the AppleShare folder out of /System/Library/StartupItems - but it just hung on some other service.
The CD/DVD drive is toast in this thing, so I can't boot from the O/S disks either. Target disk mode doesn't work either, even though it is supposed to for this model.
I'm looking into netboot now.
iMac G3, 600MHz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Data back up from Single User Mode

Hello,
I have a problem with my 700 MHz iBook, dual USB, with OS X 10.3.9.
Unfortunately the OS doesn't start up because of "overlapped extent allocation" problem...
I would like to re-install the complete OS but before doing it, I would like to back up some directories.
Is it possible to save some data, by connecting an Ipod or some sort of external peripheral, from the Single User mode?
If yes, how can I do it?
Thank you in advance from your kind support.

Before giving up the ghost check out these:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25770.
Manually fix Overlapped Extent Allocation Errors without Disk Warrior
Overlapped overlapped extent allocation errors can be the bane of any Mac user's existence. Often, these errors go unnoticed until the problem becomes visible: your Mac might refuse to boot, crash unexpected, or worse, critical data might disappear from the Finder. Disk Utility can detect, but not fix overlapped extent allocation errors, and certain third-party utilities, such as Alsoft Diskwarrior, can fix them, but generally without reporting the consequences.
Overlapped extent allocation error occur when the file system thinks that two files are occupying the same area on the hard disk, hence overlapping on the same "inode," which is the structure which holds the location of the data blocks the file occupies, and also file permissions and flags.
Clearing the "overlapped" or "overallocated" extent allocation essentially means that you'll have to lose some data, because the only way to remove the overlap is to delete the file that's occupying the inode. So, if you suspect, or find out, that the guilty file is a critical system file that resides in one of the hidden system directories such as /etc /var /usr/ or visible system directories such as /System or /Library, and you don't want to reinstall the whole OS (which might not fix the overlapped extent allocation anyway), it's good to have another disk available to copy the files back to your original disk if necessary: a second bootable hard drive or a firewire drive connected to your Mac when you remove the misbehaving file. Just make sure that when you copy the file back to your boot disk that the permissions are correct, so it's best to use the "ditto" command, so that all sticky bits, flags, and permissions are preserved.
In case you didn't know, you don't have to boot from an install CD in order to check for overlapped extent allocations. All you need to do is restart your Mac, while holding down command + S to boot in "single-user mode."
At the command prompt that appears, type:
$ fsck -fy
If you have an overlapped extent allocation, you'll see:
"Overlapped Extent Allocation" (File 123456d)
No matter how many times you run fsck -fy, you'll never be rid of the error.
So, simply issue the following command:
find / -inum 123456 -print
Note the "d" was dropped, or any extra letter that appears after the inode number.
The find will return a file name that matches with the inode number, and the path to that file. If you remove the file then the fsck will not return this error next time you run it.
However, before you can delete the file(s) in single-user mode, you'll need to mount the file system. Type:
$ mount -uw /
When done, issue the "sync" command, and that will flush the write cache so that all pending writes are written from memory to the disk. Also, since most OS X 10.3 Macs use the HFS+ Journaled file system, it might be a good idea to disable the journal before booting into single-user mode by typing:
$ sudo diskutil disableJournal /
then re-enable it when done fixing the overlapped extents and rebooting normally:
$ sudo diskutil enableJournal /
Chris Anderson is a long-time Linux propellerhead who just got his first Mac, an ibook G4, and can't keep his hands off of it. He currently works as a "The Architect" and general visionary for a maker of world-class collectibles.
If you own Disk Warrior then it should be able to repair a drive with overlapped extents.
There are two backup utilities included in Unix - psync and rsync. You will find them in the /usr/bin/ directory. For documentation simply enter: man psync or man rsync. In order to write data while in single-user mode you need to issue the command: /sbin/mount/ -uw / (Note: there is a "space" between the "uw" and the "/".) To mount an external drive you will need to provide the mountpoint for it in place of the "/", e.g., "/Volumes/volname") without the quotes.

How do i repair my hard drive in single user mode when disk is full?

Hi there Apple Community!
I have an old Macbook Pro 17" with an upgraded 500GB harddrive and 4GB memory. I'm running Mac OSX Lion.
Was hoping you could help me out. THis is the situation:
Long story short I spilt wine on my macbook and the screen went a bit blobby. Switched it off for a few days, removed the battery etc. etc. Opened it up cleaned out as much of the wine as possible, but unfortunately some of it came in behind the LCD, so now the screen has a nice red stain. Obviously I'm not going to try to clean that out of the LCD.
My Macbook Pro still worked for a few days after that, but then my harddrive gave up. I booted in the Recovery HD menu, verified the drive and I got the error "Keys out of order - This disk needs to be repaired, click Repair Disk." I attempted to repair the disk but got the error "Keys out of order - Disk Full Error - The volume could not be repaired".
Unfortnately of this 500GB I only have about 7GB free on it, as I have a huge iPhoto and iTunes library. I did make a TIme Machine backup of my user directory, but not the system files. I don't really want to do a clean install because:
1) I'm paranoid that there's something I did not fully back up
2) I don't want to have to download the whole Mac OSX Lion again. I should have made a USB bootable backup when I had the chance. I don't have access to a broadband connection.
What I feel are my viable options, are as follows:
1) I did buy a replacement internal 500GB harddrive, so I can probably try to make an image of the hard drive to this new drive, but not sure how. I believe it's through the Disk Utility with the "New Image" option but not sure how to go from there.
2) Start up in Single User Mode and delete some unnecessary files and re-attempt to run the fschk -fy utility again (I tried this earlier and got the same Disk Full Error). - the problem with this is, I'm not familiar with the command line and have no clue how to delete files. I don't know my way around Unix.
3) I can also probably attempt to make a Ghost Image or Acronis Image of the failed drive to this new drive, but not sure if Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image will be able to read this HFS drive - I believe it's possible as it's a simple hard drive clone.
If you can guide me in the best option - probably there is a better solution than my proposed ones above, I appreciate any feedback and comments you might have!

hi Baltwo,
So I ended up copying my user folder to another harddrive. I managed to download the whole osx lion again, reinstalled, and recovered my home folder using this discussion:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428
I have managed to get all my files back. My iTunes library works fine, but my iPhoto library when I open it, get the following error:
iPhoto cannot be opened because of a problem.
Here's the error log
Process:         iPhoto [1540]
Path:            /Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/MacOS/iPhoto
Identifier:      com.apple.iPhoto
Version:         8.1.2 (8.1.2)
Build Info:      iPhotoProject-4240000~8
Code Type:       X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [209]
Date/Time:       2012-09-19 19:56:45.528 +0200
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.7.4 (11E53)
Report Version: 9
Sleep/Wake UUID: 7948ABE2-5294-4F87-B6E3-777095A2F2EE
Interval Since Last Report:          4780 sec
Crashes Since Last Report:           9
Per-App Crashes Since Last Report:   9
Anonymous UUID:                      70117D38-03EA-4F9C-B810-50B743864B9E
Crashed Thread: 0
Exception Type: EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000
Application Specific Information:
dyld: launch, loading dependent libraries
Dyld Error Message:
Library not loaded: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iLifeSlideshow.framework/Versions/A/iLifeSlid eshow
Referenced from: /Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/MacOS/iPhoto
Reason: image not found
I've done an Apple Software Update but it didn't find an update for iPhoto.
One thing to note is, this library was originally created on iLife 08, upgraded to '09 and it stayed on that version. It hasn't een upgraded to iLife '11. It worked fine on my previous install of OSX Lion. How do I recover the library without upgrading to '11 ?

Wipe a HD via Unix in Single User Mode?

Is it possible to wipe a hard drive using diskutil or another method when booting up in Single User Mode? We routinely need to wipe drives and if possible, this would be the easiest.
I suspect because the OS that boots in Single User Mode is on that same drive will make this impossible.
Thanks in advance for your tips and comments,
Doug

Yes, you cannot erase an OS while it's 'hosting' the erasure. Single user mode is part of Mac OS X, so it's on the hard drive, not in the firmware or anything super-low-level like that. Oh well. So... you might be able to erase the vast majority of user, application, and even OS files, but it won't be complete and won't be 'as good as' a volume-format.
A couple alternatives come to mind (sorry if you know all this. Not trying to be pedantic or patronizing, just making sure you know your options).
We keep host computers around just for running wipes, backups, and diagnostics that cannot run from a drive holding the booted OS. You simply restart the to-be-wiped Mac holding the 't' key, connect it via firewire, and treat it as an external hard drive.
You could also just boot from a Mac OS X install disc and wipe from the copy of Disk Utility included on the disc. Better yet, throw a +bona fide+ copy of OS X onto a pocket hard drive, boot the victim-Mac from that (hold option while it is first starting up), and wipe the internal HD normally, now that it's not in use. You could maybe even use single user mode in the booting OS, like you'd imagined, and format from there (I'm not sure that would be faster than letting it boot normally, though, as you might have to use "dd" or some other similar low-level wipe method, as I don't think the frameworks required for Apple's cli "diskutil" are available in single user mode).
I haven't tried to use it on a Mac, but I have a 256 MB USB flash drive with, er, ['Darn' Small Linux|http://tinyurl.com/5md7t] on it for diagnosing Windows boxes. It runs a script on boot which, if you don't intervene to run utilities or what-have-you, will wipe all attached hard drives and shut down. I keep it locked up for understandable reasons, but its super useful just as a time-saver, booting most machines and beginning the countdown-to-wipe in under ten seconds.
Anyway, let us know what your goals and thoughts are.
Cheers, Joel

Copying a file in Single User Mode

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for