IMac g5 will not mount in target disk mode

I am trying to recover data from an iMac G5 with a failing hard drive. The mac recently stopped booting and does not get past the grey startup screen before just turning off. There have been many other cases like this that I have looked at, but I still have not found a solution. I have started up from the install disk and can see that disk utility still regonizes the disk (althought it is marked as failing) but no options for repairing or verifying are available (greyed out). System Profiler on the non-target mac can see the drive (under firewire tab), but I don't know if I can mount it because Disk Utility can not see it. Is there anything I can do to extract the files? Thanks for any help you can offer. Sheldon

If the HD has failed on the old computer then you can either recover from your backup, however I'm assuming from your post you were not backing up. If that is the case then you can purchase Data Rescue 3 (Google it) and see if it can recover some data or you will need to take it to a data recovery service which will be extremely expensive.
As a general rule of thumb ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have a solid backup plan! Beginning with Leopard 10.5.x there is no excuse to not at least be using Time Machine. If you are not familiar with TM then please watch the Time Machine Tutorial.

Similar Messages

Not mounting in target disk mode

I have a 2.2GHz MBP that has recently experienced the dreaded graphic card failure. Before I send it away to be fixed I'd like to copy some files I need on to my old Mac Mini. However when I try this the optical drive mounts but not the hard drive. The Mini is an old power pc model running Tiger. The MBP is running Snow Leopard. Any ideas?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1661
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1922537 hope this helps.

Can you install tiger on a power mac g4 with out a DVD drive if so how, I do have have a 2011 iMac can I use that in target disk mode with a FireWire cable any help would be appreciated

Can you install tiger on a power mac g4 with out a DVD drive if so how, I do have have a 2011 iMac can I use that in target disk mode with a FireWire cable any help would be appreciated

Hello,
You need to put the Tiger Install Disc in the 2011 iMac, boot the 2011 uMac into Target mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Boot the G4 holding the Option or alt key, hopefully the Install Disc in the 2011 iMac will show as a boot choice.
We just want to use the 2011 iMac as a big expensive FW Optical drive, it cannot be installed osing the 2011 iMac itself.

Macbook Pro won't mount during target disk mode

I don't know what to do.
I was using Safari today when the whole computer froze. Nothing was responding, so I had to force shut down.
When I went to restart, I got a gray screen with the apple logo and a progress bar; the bar will take a while to fill, then the computer shut down completely. Happens every time now.
I tried booting in safemode and it didn't work; the command prompt details said "Incorrect number of thread records. (4, 29503)" and "Incorrect number of extended attributes (It should be 381007 instead of 381008)"....... What does that mean????
I tried booting the backup drive and running disk utility to diagnose the problem, and it said the disk is unable to be repaired etc.
Now I'm trying to salvage my important files by using the firewire target disk mode with another mac. My macbook pro won't even mount; disk utility said it can't be mounted and is damaged.
Please help--what do I do to save these files???

My workflow was like this:
Partitioned fresh hard drive into 2 partitions: 1 for OS clone, 1 for data recovery
Used Carbon Copy Cloner (an excellent tool) to clone working OS to 1st partition
Attached harddrive to malfunctioning MBA
Held Option on malfunctioning MBA and booted to cloned drive
Once booted, I used old-school Data Rescue II to salvage data from MBA internal drive to my data recovery partition. (Probably need a newer / better data recovery program, as this one changed file names, moved things around, was generally not that awesome...)
Used Disk Util from booted clone to format MBA internal drive.
Used Carbon Copy Cloner to clone to formatted MBA internal drive.
Shut down, disconnected external drive, MBA booted normally.
Think that's everything. I've been touting the excellence of Carbon Copy Cloner for a while now for backups. In my opinion it's much more thorough than Time Machine backups, as you don't need a functioning OS. You can boot to a clone -- time / life saving!

Data recovery options if drive not accessible through Target Disk Mode

I have the classic data recovery question: my computer seems to have failed, and I'd like to save some data. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Details:
- Most recent backup was about a month ago to Time Machine (unfortunately, this laptop went off on a long trip and didn't have access to the destination disk, and then when it came home was running very slowly and my wife halted the TM backup thinking it was slowing the computer down). Some documents have been backed up more recently via Dropbox and/or Mozy, but not a couple important ones
- When booted in Target Disk Mode, no drive shows up on the computer to which I connect it
- When I boot from an OS X CD, a drive appears in Disk Utility with no volumes on it, and the options to 'repair disk' and 'verify disk' are greyed out.
- When I try to just start the computer up, it gets to the grey screen with the apple and just spins.
Questions:
- Should I attempt anything else myself? I've never learned about Lion's Recovery Mode; can it be used to copy some data off, in the unlikely case that this computer would boot into that Mode? Would any further attempts to boot, etc. potentially reduce the chances of a professional company recovering data?
- I'm planning to take this to an Apple Store today to confirm that this is indeed a hard drive problem and not a failed mother board or something; is there a way for me to do this myself? In the past I've used Hardware Test CDs from Apple and stuff; I don't know if those still work on modern computers.
Thanks again for any help!

I know I used to have a copy of Disk Warrior, but can't find it and it's probably out of date. I downloaded the Data Rescue demo, but it only got partway through scanning the disk and then failed. It told me to 'clone' the disk, but after about three days of trying still wasn't making much progress on it, so I gave up.
However, I was able to recover the few important files I needed simply by removing the drive, putting it in an enclosure, and connecting it via USB. After 10 or 20 minutes, Finder gave me a message that said something like, "this disk cannot be repaired, and is probably damaged. You can still access the disk, but copy everything off ASAP because it will probably fail soon." Some files indeed couldn't be copied, but I could copy the things I needed.
I assume that this is a hardware problem. To confirm, I assume that I can check it without having DiskWarrior simply by trying to reformat it? If it can't be reformatted, I assume there's no chance that it is a functioning drive. Is that right?

Cant seem to get my older Macbook G4 to mount in Target Disk Mode on my Macbook Pro.

I'm trying to solve a boot up issue with my Macbook G4, seems there's a kernal panic trying to boot up and when trying to boot from a hardware test cd, it shows an error that there's a 'No driver for this platform." error.
Did all the reset nvram/pram, tried to start up in safe mode with no luck. So I booted up in Target Disk Mode to my Intel Macbook, ran disk utility, repaired a couple errors, but the hard drive wont mount. It says "try running disk repair and mount again."
Any ideas what could be the issue?

Thank you jeffd55,
I followed the steps in the article you attached to your reply and it worked perfectly. I should add that I followed exactly these steps previously EXCEPT that I had a portable 2 Tb USB 3.0 external drive attached to my 2014 MacBook Pro previously, as my new MacBook Pro has a much smaller capacity than my old 2007 MacBook. But today I didn't attach the external drive and the 2007 MacBook's HDD appeared on the 2014 MacBook Pro's desktop as promised. I don't know if or why the external drive should make a difference; I'm just very pleased it worked!
Thank you.

Firewire Drives not showing and no Target disk mode

Strange problem. My two g4 450's one dual and one single will not start in Target disk mode, will not recognize Firewire drives and yet WILL recognize my iSight camera. What's going on?
Have 6 different drives to choose from but none mount. They all work on my G5 & MDD Dual
Enio

PROBLEM AND SOLUTION:
One computer does not recognize the other, which was booted into Firewire Target Disk Mode (either by holding the T key on start up, or by selecting FTDM in system preferences as the start up mode).
My particular case: older MBP to newer MBP unibody. I have a cable that is firewire 400 with a firewire 800 tip on the other end (6-9 pin cable). This cable is needed, for instance, if you machine only has firewire 400 but your new machine only has firewire 800 (like the new Unibody MBP). Well, they sold me this 6-9 pin cable at the store, when they should have just given me a firewire 800 cable straight across, because both machines have FW 800. Anyway, I tried the 6-9 pin cable, where the old MBP was connected via its 400 port to the Unibody's 800 port.
No dice. Would not mount, nothing. Repeated restarts, checked the cable and it does work... called Apple tech support, nothing. Researched the web until finally I think I know what it is.
There is not enough power coming from the 400 port to power the 800 port. I tried this 400-800 with my new Mac Mini as well, and it does not work. It does, however, get picked up on the older MBP when using a straight FW 400 cable. I then came across an article saying that someone was told by Apple that the FW bus can, in some machines, not provide enough power for FWTD mode. The solution for 400-800 is to go 800-800, or 400-400 if you can. If these latter don't work (FWTD mode fails to mount the connected computer's hard drive), us a powered firewire hub and connect Computer A to it, then connecting the hub to Computer B.

G4 450 Sawtooth - Won't Boot to FW Target Disk Mode

Running 10.5.8
Upgraded NewerTech 2G Processor
ATI 9800 Pro Video Card
Original WD 20G Drive with 10.5.8 (Back Up Boot Disk)
New Seagate 500G SATA - Primary Boot drive
FirmTech SATA Controller Card
New Seagate 1.5T - Misc Storage
Disk Utility and Disk Warrior both report no problems on either boot drive.
The machine will boot in any form I choose.
Any available boot drive / disk using Start Up > Option key
To the Install DVD using Start Up > C key
Using single user mode - Start Up > Comm and S key
Using USB Thumb Drive (Has 10.5.8 and Disk Warrior)
The machine will not boot to Target Disk Mode using the T key. Before getting beyond the Black screen the computer shuts down.
I've tried:
alternately using each boot drive while the other is disconnected
removing RAM
removing the SATA controller card
checked all connections
Zapped Pram and reset PMU (had to reset Mac OSX Firmware for the NewerTech Processor after pram set)
The only other thing I can find is a reference to Firmware Password Protection, but from what I read the computer should show start up problems beyond just TDM. Additionally, I am not familiar with FPP. All I know is it would be set (reset) from the Install Disk.
Any thoughs please?

Make sure there is a hard drive available as Master on the ATA 0 bus.
FireWire Target Disk Mode: Target Computer Shuts Down at Startup
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode

Connect 2 Macs w/ Firewire. Not Target disk mode.

I have a PowerBook and an early 09 iMac 24". I used to connected them via firewire to transfer files. Suddenly... the iMac won't recognize the PowerBook... but the Powerbook will recognize the iMac. Actually, the iMac does recognize the PB, but only shows the "drop box" folder.
Is there anyway to configure a firewire connection or something else I might have overlooked? I'm not interested in target disk mode.

Sorry to take awhile to get back to you. I had no experience with connecting two Macs with FireWire, except with TDM. But today I have played around with connecting my iMac and my Mac mini with a FW cable directly.
I assume that you did two things in System Preferences that facilitate this connection; 1. you have created the FireWire network in the Network pane, and 2. you have enabled File Sharing in the Sharing pane. The only other thing to do is make sure that you have selected Bonjour computers in the Shared section of the Sidebar pane of the Finder Preferences.
Then, no matter which style of windows you use for the Finder; icons, list, columns or Cover Flow, you should be presented with a Connect button if you highlight the other computer in a Finder window's Sidebar.

Target disk mode is not detected

I have a Mini running the latest Snow Leopard (and also a MB Pro - same OS rev.). The same (non)result is happening on both.
I am trying to connect, via Firewire, to an old PB G3 (running 10.3) - after plugging in the Firewire cable I start the PB-G3 in target disk mode. Its screen shows the firewire logo.
However, system preferences on the Mini (or MBP) does not show the Firewire connected to anything.
The Mini and the MBPro use different Firewire cables (the MBP uses the old 400-400 cable style & the Mini needs the 800-400 style cable). So I don't think it's the cable. Also, the Mini can use that cable to successfully mount a Firewire hard drive. That drive mounts and System Preferences on the Mini shows that it is happy with that drive under Firewire.
The PB-G3 is operational - i.e., I can boot it up successfully. I just want to mount it as a target drive to copy off some files.
Any ideas how I can get the PB-G3 to mount in Target Disk Mode via Firewire?

baltwo wrote:
If the G3 shows the FW icon on the screen,
It does.
all you have to do is connect it to one of the others with the appropriate FW cable, and it should pop up on the screen as a FWHD.
and that is precisely what I reported is NOT happening. It does not mount -- not on the Mini and not on the MBP.
Disk Utility does not "see" it. Neither does Disk Warrior. And System Preferences/Firewire does not show anything connected.
The FW cable is good because when I use it to connect to a HD, that shows as expected.
Indeed, I have read the KB article. Yes, I have never had this happen. That's why I'm reporting/asking about it.

Can't exit Target Disk Mode

I tried to login to my brand new iMac (running Lion 10.7) via Target Disk Mode so as to transfer my data from my old machine. However, the passwords didn't work. This is not a disaster, however, I am now unable to exit Target Disk Mode. I have tried removing RAM and restarting holding down alt+cmd+R+P to reset the PRAM but it just goes straight back to Target Disk Mode. No matter whjat I do it goes back to Target Disk Mode with the padlock and opassword box. Any ideas anyone? Thanks very much.

Is it a USB or wireless KB?
Does it boot to Single User Mode, CMD+s keys at bootup, if so try...
nvram boot-args=""

Internal Drive Performs Strangely in Target Disk Mode

I am trying to use one of my internal HDs on my MacPro Mac Pro (2x3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon) as a destination for a HD clone using SuperDuper.
I startup my MacPro in Target Disk mode using FW800 cable and 2 of my internal HDs show up instantly. My 3rd internal HD shows up after maybe 3 minutes for some reason. When I select it as a destination using SuperDuper, the files just don't want to copy at an acceptable speed and the app eventually errors out. Why would one internal HD not work in Target Disk mode when the 2 others do? The HD works fine when I access it from my MacPro and DIsk Utility returns no errors on the drive.
Here is the internal HD info:
*WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B0:*
Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,204,886,016 bytes)
Model: WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B0
Revision: 05.00K05
Serial Number: WD-XXXXXXXXXXXX
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Bay Name: Bay 3
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
*Bay 3:*
Capacity: 724.64 GB (724,641,513,472 bytes)
Available: 723.98 GB (723,975,241,728 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s2
Mount Point: /Volumes/Bay 3
BOOTCAMP:
Capacity: 275.22 GB (275,217,645,568 bytes)
Available: 224.02 GB (224,015,097,856 bytes)
Writable: No
File System: NTFS
BSD Name: disk0s3
Mount Point: /Volumes/BOOTCAMP

Hi, problem solved! Thanks very much for the help. As soon as I opened up the G4 I remembered what the back of the hard drives looked like and after quickly changing the jumper blocks and hooking the computer back up everything worked as you said it would. Again, thanks! I am curious, though, is there no way to have both drives show up while in Firewire mode. It's no big deal, the migration assistant seems to have worked flawlessly but it might be handy to have both drives show later if it's possible.

Using Target disk mode from hard drive which is starting to fail, when I move files, I get a preparing to copy message but nothing happens. Any ideas?

Hello, i have a MacBook Pro. The hard drive is failing to such an extent that I can't currently use the computer, only things like utility mode etc. I have connected it unto my iMac and using a Firewire in target disk mode, I am attempting to move files across using that mode. The HD of the Macbook Pro appears in the IMac devices menu and I copy and paste the appropriate folders/files but as I do this I get a progress bar which says "preparing to copy" but then nothing appears to happen. Any ideas on what to do? Is there a password or other issue here that I am over-looking. Perhaps the hard drive of my macbook pro is so corrupted that I can't move files over. Any help would be great?

Try moving smaller groups of files. I' guessing that you don't have a backup huh?

G4 PM will not boot after using Target Disk mode connected Intel iMac.

Hi,
We have some new Intel iMacs and have transferred some information from our previous G4 PM (one MDD and one Quicksilver) to the new iMacs. For some reason the G4's will now not boot up and kernal panic on the gray Apple boot screen. This has happened to all the G4's we have in our office. They are running OSX 10.2.8 and the iMacs are running OSX 10.4.4. We can still mount the drives from the G4's using FireWire Target Disk mode.
I have tried zapping the PRAM etc but they still wont boot. I have also tried running the OSX 10.2 Installer disks to try and reinstall OSX on the G4's but the installer cannot see the drives?
Anyone have any idea what is wrong. Never had this problem before using the FireWire transfer.
Thanks,
Nick.

I had an experience with a mini mac after booting in target disk mode while connected to a blue and White G3 via Firewire. After attempting a restart, all I got was a blinking ? which usually means the startup disk or system folder can not be found.
I fixed this problem by booting using the originall install CD and then using the startup disk menu to reselect the original system disk/system folder as the startup disk. On reboot. all was good. Only took a couple of minutes.....

New IMac is crashing randomly because of "Panic Kernel Error." Now IMac startup disk is not visible and will not mount. What the story with this machine. Running 10.6.7

New IMac is crashing randomly because of "Panic Kernel Error." Now IMac startup disk is not visible and will not mount. What the story with this machine. Running 10.6.7

Almost certainly, some sort of hardware problem on your logic board.
Make an appointment and take it to your local Apple Store: http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

IMac g5 will not mount in target disk mode

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