MBP won't boot recovery USB drive, need help

HDD failed on 15" mid2009 MacBook Pro, purchased a Seagate 1TB hybrid drive (SSHD) to replace it with. Went to boot to USB recovery drive with OS X 10.8 using option/alt on boot and would only get the folder with flashing question mark. Tried command+R also. Tried different USB ports. Tried with HDD pulled out. The USB recovery drive does work because we were able to boot to it from a different MBP, and verified the files on it with Disk Utility. Just can't get any kind of recovery options or anything on this Mac with replaced HDD. Need help. Never encountered anything like this, can't find anything like it online, and none of my coworkers can figure it out. We've all been working comps for yrs, one even an ex apple-tech. Thanks for any suggestions!!

Sorry - missed that part about having used both USB ports...
Since you've verified that the USB thumb drive works on another Mac, and that it won't boot whilst holding down the option key, I would advise taking your machine to an Apple Store or an AASP to have them diagnose your machine (which will be free). They, too, should have USB sticks that they can use to test the machine.
Good luck,
Clinton

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MacBook Pro HD issues; won't boot to any drive; need to recover data

*Apologies in advance for the lengthy post. I just want to be sure I include as much detail as possible. Thanks in advance for reading all of this and offering any thoughts and suggestions.
I have a 13-inch late 2011 MacBook Pro running OS 10.7.
The computer recently began booting slower and slower until finally one day it did nothing but show the gray boot screen with the apple and a spinning circle and/or progress bar at the bottom. It won't do anything else. I assume it's the HD; no surprise there. What's killing me is that no matter what I do, I can't boot to any disk, internal or external, can't mount it in target disk mode, and can't repair it or recover data, which is a first for me with any HD. However, the computer still clearly sees the drive, and the drive sounds and runs normally (meaning no clicks; appropriate amount of whirs and such).
What I've done so far:
Reset PRAM — no help
Reset SMC — no help
Boot in Safe Mode — same result as regular boot: gray logo screen with spinning wheel
Disk Utility message:
Verify Disk — "Error: This disk nees to be repaired. Click Repair Disk."
Repair Disk — gets as far as "Checking catalog file" then shows "Keys out of order". Next is "Rebuilding catalog B-tree." Then "The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired."
fsck — same as Disk Utility: "Keys out of order (4, 22016)", "Rebuilding catalog B-tree", then "The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired." FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED." ...over and over again
If I hold Option while starting the computer, it gives me only two drives to boot from, regardless of any other external HDs or flash drives I have attached: Macintosh HD (internal), and Recovery HD (internal partition). If I choose Macintosh HD, it's hit or miss whether it prompts the Disk Utility screen or just gray-screens forever. If I choose Recovery HD, it successfully runs Disk Utility every time. Here's the thing, though — if I attach an external HD, it doesn't see it during the initial Option-startup. However, from Disk Utility I'm able to select a startup disk from the menu to restart into. It sees the externals in there every time and lets me select them as startup disks, but upon restart it returns to the gray Apple logo screen with spinning wheel and/or progress bar at bottom. Sometimes it also sees the internal Macintosh HD here, but selecting that is useless. I can't actually boot from any disk, internal or external, running full OS or even just recovery software.
I've tried using TechTool Pro 8's edisk and ProToGo bootable drives, but again, the MacBook only sees them from Disk Utility only (not on Option-start), and I can select them, but it doesn't actually boot to them; it reverts back to gray screen.
I've installed a full version of OS 10.10.2 on an external hard drive, complete with DiskWarrior 4 on it, but same problem as above — it sees it in the "Select Startup Disk" menu, but not in the initial Option-start or successful reboot.
I've tried booting from a DiskWarrior 4 DVD using C-startup. It recognizes and spins the DVD from the get-go. Eventually it boots to it (after about 20 minutes or so of reading the DVD). I'm able to launch DiskWarrior 4 and start a rebuild. However, it goes all the way through "Step 6: Constructing optimized replacement directory... Overlapped files detected: 7 ...Step 7: Finishing construction ...Step 8: Reading from disc, one moment please..." and then the computer kernel panicked. This happened several times. I reset the PRAM again, then retried DiskWarrior DVD boot, this avoided a kernel panic and it got as far as "Comparing directories... Step 9: Recording any file or folder differences; 3,449,089,956 tests..." and then DiskWarrior and the computer both freeze and I have to force shutdown.
The drive will not mount to another laptop in Target Disk Mode.
Disk Arbitrator immediately sees the the faulty laptop HD, but won't let me mount or unmount it. It's just there, grayed out.
Data Rescue 4 is able to see the faulty laptop HD through Target Disk Mode, even though the drive itself will not mount to my desktop. I am able to scan the drive using DR4, and start a data recovery process. However, DR4 is dumping all recovered data into "User Defined" ai (Adobe Illustrator) files, which makes absolutely no sense at all. What's more, the files aren't able to be opened by any program. Even files that it hasn't recovered into ai files, like txt and mpegs, cannot be opened. I've tried recovering from both the drive itself and from a clone of the drive (made through DR4), with the same result each time.
So, all of that said, I guess my first question is what the **** is going on? The drive mechanically is functioning fine, but there seems to be an issue with its readability (and the directory/files?).
What's more, why won't this laptop mount ANY drive? I should be able to Option-boot into any drive, especially if the USB ports, drives, and OS's are all fully functional, right? Is there any workaround I'm missing? Even if the internal drive and data are just screwed, what's causing a total lack of mounting or booting of any drive, internal or external?

Holy crap, I got it to work.
Essentially, I just waited until DiskWarrior reached Step 9 and told it to skip the step before it had a chance to freeze. It skipped successfully, moved on, rebuilt and replaced the faulty directory files.
So far the computer is booting like normal, I can log in, and I'm currently copying all of the data to an external as I type this.
I still have no idea why the computer wouldn't mount or boot to any drive, but I guess I'll deal with that later.

BootCamp won't boot with USB-drive connected

Hi everyone,
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I think your best bet is DiskWarrior from Alsoft, you'll need the CD to boot from if you don't have another boot drive...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
Your best bet is DiskWarrior, you need the CD/DVD though.
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
But others that may work…
Drive Genius…
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php
TechTool Pro…
http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=83
BTW, you might enjoy these DiskWarrior review/recommendations...
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9645801&#9645801
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10541019#10541019
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11918925&#11918925

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Hello,
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Jailbreaking is bad mmmkay.
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I never got a Mac OS X Lion Recovery USB Drive with my mbp

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You do not need it It was a buy product for those unable to use the download from the web at a charge of $69
see
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

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Downgrade OS X Lion To Snow Leopard [Video How-To]
http://www.cultofmac.com/110614/downgrade-os-x-lion-to-snow-leopard-video-how-to /
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How to create a system recovery USB drive?

My U845-S406 crashes every 15 minutes with a BSOD referencing iastor.sys.
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Multiple virus softwares say it is clean.
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So, how can I create a system recover USB drive (or make Recovery Media Creator find the HDD recovery Area...)
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Satellite U845-S406
Downloads here.
Please zip up a few of the corresponding *.dmp files from the C:\Windows\Minidump folder and attach them to your reply.
So the procedure in the section Creating recovery media (p. 53 in the User's Guide) doesn't work? Exactly where does it go wrong?
Satellite/Satellite Pro U800W Series User’s Guide
-Jerry

Cannot boot from USB drive!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi
I have 3-4 120Gb 2.5inch drives which I clone my MacBook Pro to on rotation.
I have always been able to boot from these drives UNTIL NOW!
Suddenly I can no longer boot from them, the boot process starts and gets well through and then the drives all seem to just 'hang'.
The only significant change is that a local Apple support company upgraded my stock 120gb drive to a 160Gb drive.
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Hi robster,
If the USB drive contains a valid OS you should be able to verify and repair the permissions on that drive, give that a try.
Also i suggest running DiskWarrior 4 on it.
The replaced internal drive should have no effect on this unless some settings got changed when the new OS got installed on it that now prevents the mac from being able to read your USB drive.
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Hello
Good question. You should ask this the Toshiba engineers.
However, I agree with Terentino and you can do nothing.
Greets

MBP won't boot recovery USB drive, need help

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