Single user mode to delete backup directory - mackbook air

i have some problm about backup directory in my macbookair, which keeps increasing volume in disk. now my startup disk is full due to backup files. i cant login on to delete them. i would like to know how to delete them to free some space then i could login again from singleuser mode? one of the user names is this laptop is <<asd f. dsa>>
thanks in advance

Well, I assume English isn't your main language because I'm having difficulty understanding you. However, boot into single-user mode. At the prompt enter:
/sbin/fsck -fy
If you receive a message that says "*** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED ***" then re-run the command until you receive a message that says "** The volume (nameofvolume) appears to be OK." If you re-run the command more than seven times and do not get the OK message, then the drive cannot be repaired this way.
If you were successful then enter:
/sbin/mount -uw /
rm -rf "/Path To/File Name"
Press RETURN after each of the listed commands.
Be very careful to enter the correct and full path to where the file is located and correct file name. If you are uncertain about using the 'rm' command correctly then before you do use it enter: man rm followed by pressing RETURN. This will list the documentation for the 'rm' command.
If you have multiple files in the same directory it may be easier to first move into the directory by entering: cd "/PathTo/Folder" followed by pressing RETURN. Then enter: ls -al and press RETURN. This will list the contents of the folder so you can identify the filenames you wish to delete.

Similar Messages

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 ?

Command Line Expert Needed: Deleted hostconfig (+ others) - boots to single user mode only !

Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11
Deleted folders/files when logged in as root user. (don't ask!)
On restart , wont boot up , get grey screen with white apple logo the black screen with command line: localhost:/ root#
Started up from install cd - repaired permissions (ran twice) & verified hard drive . All okay.
Restarted but still goes back into command line with same localhost:/ root prompt
Tried a bunch of different things as per advice on these boards - discovered that there is no hostconfig file.
Restarted into verbose mode.
Here are the lines that i think may reveal exactly what I messed up - and hopefully someone out there has an idea how I can try to fix without having to do an archive/install.
BSM auditing present
disabled
rooting via boot-uuid from /chosen: (here a very long string of numbers and letters looks like a password)
Then a long line about
"got boot device = IOService:/MacRISC2PE ........."
Then, the following
"BSD root: disk0s3, major 14, minor 2"
"CSRHIDTransitionDriver::stop"
"IOBluetoothHCIController::start Idle Time Stopped"
(AND HERE'S THE BIGGIE:)
/etc/rc: line 93: /etc/hostconfig: No such file or directory
Apr 1. 06:01:44 launched: /bin/sh on /etc/rc terminated abnormally, going into single user mode
localhost:/ root#
I'm pretty sure I messed thing up pretty well - was mainly network/server folders and files - definitely samba, which I think I deleted, and under "network" in the finder, I also might have deleted my computer from the server list
As an aside in case this provides any insight, when I go to the terminal app when starting up from install cd, the prompt reads :
"bash-2.05b"
I'm also able to see the contents of my hard drive when using disk utility from install cd and and trying to "mount image" ---
Everything looks intact in terms of folders/files in my user account, but in the /root folder, there's only /library - which is empty.
Any help, insight, troubleshooting and even scolding - will be welcome! I need this thing booted
Cheers

I do not have a backup. Should I back up before I try doing a reinstall of the os x?
That's also known as shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted.
It can't hurt, but it's not going to help much.
Camelot: when you say "apps and user content should stay intact" - doesn't sound very definitive. Are there any variables that come into play?
No.. generally it's pretty reliable, but yours is an odd situation. I wouldn't expect to lose any user data, just CYA
I do have a start up disk along with some apps that I created in retrospect many years ago ....(I think it's os x 10.2.8) Can I use this to boot up and then just navigate to my user files so I can get some things done that I need to?
Unlikely. For one have you even tried restoring from your Retrospect backup? (it's not the most reliable system).
Secondly, you can't boot from your Retrospect backup, so you'll need to restore that system to boot from it. Have you got a second disk to restore to (you do NOT want to restore 10.2.x over your 10.4.x system).
in terms of "random deleted files" : not entirely random
Ok, maybe not entire random, but it's also somewhat unknown. You need to have some idea of what files you're trying to restore, but if you haven't got them in a backup where are you going to get them from?
You cannot just take old copies from your 10.2.x system and hope they'll work (in case that's what you're thinking).
The BEST solution is to boot from the 10.4.x installer disk and let it do its thing.
And for what its worth, Unauthorized access attempts, in and of themselves, are not a cause for concern since they were clearly caught by the OS. It's the access attempts that succeed (and are not logged) which are more of an issue.

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.

Backupping from single-user mode

I am currently only able to use the single-user mode, and am looking for possibilities to take some backup of certain files before I venture reinstalling or something.
Is it possible to write to disk from S-U mode? How?
Can I do it in another way, e.g. create a new partition? How?
I need to be enlightened

Yes, I used the install CD. Verification said my disk was OK. There were some inconsistencies with permissions, so I repaired those, but my problem still persists (se thread "Authentication error???"), so I am still interested in backupping before I try Archive & install or something.

I can only start my iBookG4 after deleting preferences. I have to go into single user mode to do so. If I don't go into single user mode, the computer shuts down during boot up. What might be the problem?

I can only start my iBookG4 after deleting preferences. I have to go into single user mode to do so. If I don't go into single user mode, the computer shuts down during boot up. What might be the problem? How can I fix this?

I do not have a startup disk. I did try fsck (based on what I learned from your reply-thank you). This failed (fsck); here is the message:
** Checking catalog file.
Invalid key length
(4, 8198)
** Volume check failed.
/dev/rdisk03 (hfs) EXITED WITH SIGNAL 8.
I am sure this is an easy fix; I just have no clue how.

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)

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.

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#

Why can't I enter single user mode on my Mac Mini for an admin password reset?

Hi,
I recently created a new user account for my mac and deleted the old one, not realising that this was the only account with admin priveleges. As such, I no longer have access to administrator priveleges, and cannot grant them to my new user account.
I have tried to boot in single user mode and recovery mode but neither command results in any reaction on the part of my computer.
This thread follows on from a previous, unrelated disscussion:
BDAqua: If you hold alt key at bootup do you see a lock in the middle?
Yenots: No...what does this mean?
BDAqua: If it did, it would mean Firmware Password Protection was enabled, which prevents booting in other modes, so that's not the problem, are you using a wired Mac KB, or Windows KB?
Yenots: I'm using an 'Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad' [ http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MB110B/B/apple-keyboard-with-numeric-keypad-br itish ]
If you find me here BDAqua, hit me with your knowledge!
Any other contributions are welcome and, now we're under the right heading, will hopefully help other users who have encountered this problem.
Thanks, Cristo

Hi,
Thanks for the link to MacPilot, and the sexy screenshot. I found an archived version for 10.4 on the koingosw website. That solves getting into single user/safe mode. Though I'd be interested to see whether sudo nvram boot-args="-s" will result in single user boot.
As for creating administrator priveleges for my new user account, I've found a method which looks good:
     \single user mode\
     cmd-s
     \mount drive\
     mount -uw
     \open 'directory access'\
     lauchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.opendirectory.plist
     \list users\
     ls /Users
     \change password\
     dscl . passwd /Users/<username> <password>
I think that this method intends that if I change the root users password I'll be changing the administrator password (as root is the only user with administrator priveleges), and subsequently be able to change my new user accounts priveleges using 'netinfomanager'. But I'm not 100%. Could you give me your opinion on this?
Furthermore, three keys 'L' 'O' and '(' aren't working on my keyboard, which means I can't try this until I find an intact keyboard to borrow. I was thinking maybe a mod version of the above instructions would work in terminal using sudo, so I could use the keyboard viewer to type the missing characters. If you have any ideas on constructing such a mod I would be interested to hear them.
Otherwise, Thank You for your help BDAqua! And enjoy your summer wherever you are.

Single-user mode: How to mount and access an external USB drive?

My MacBook Pro HD is acting up. Cannot boot normally or into "safe mode". Cannot reinstall OS without wiping out the HD. Need to recover some critical files but DiskUtil First Aid and Restore options cannot successfully complete. Problem traced down to "invalid node structure" which means I either have a hardware problem or my filesystem partition directory structure is corrupted. I need to recover some files that are not backed up (timin issue with my regular backup process).
I can boot into single-user mode, mount the root file system (/sbin/mount -uw /) and can see/navigate the rot filesystem structure via good UNIX command line. Here's what I would like to do (in single-user mode):
1. Mount an external USB drive (250 GB already formatted as Mac OS X Extended)
2. Copy various files and/or directories from my HD to the external USB drive (UNIX cp command)
I realize I could go spend $$ for the Disk Warrior or Data Rescue products (or something similar) that SHOULD help me recover my HD or files, but it seems silly to do this when I can see, touch and taste them from within single-user mode....
Comments? Suggestions?
TIA --
Trent
P.S. Once I've recovered my files, I'll try to reformat the HD and then reinstall the OS. And THEN go have Apple look at my machine (thank goodness for AppleCare coverage)!

Resolution:
1) Boot system in single-user mode (SUM) with external HD attached.
2) Execute the following UNIX CLI commands once SUM boot process is completed:
# fsck -fy
# mount -uw /
# mkdir /Volumes/target_directory
# mount -t hfs -w /dev/diskXXX /Volumes/target_directory
# cp -RXv /source_directory /Volumes/target_directory
Where XXX is the device-level name for your external HD's data partition. In my case this was /dev/disk1s2. It may take some experimentation to identify this device name if your system has multiple HD's.
3) Verify contents were successfully copied onto the /Volumes/target_directory.
Comments and observations:
- Do NOT use "/" as your source directory - cp will make a second (redundant) copy of /volumes/target_directory
- I was able to successfully copy ALL files off my HD despite the fsck command's "invalid node structure" error message with this simple procedure. YMMV, depending on the state of your HD.
- The repeated disk0s2: I/O error warnings displayed during the SUM boot process did not seem to have a negative effect on this procedure. I also received this same error warning intermittently as I navigated the mounted filesystem did not seem to be a problem, either. Again, YMMV.
Commercial software:
I downloaded ProSoft Engineering's Data Rescue 3 product (trial version) before spending $99 to attempt to recover my "bad" HD's data via mounting to a good system with FW target mode. It could not successfully complete its "QuickScan" process and immediately hung on block 0 of 390M during its "Deep Scan" process. The product did seem to function properly on an operational system. ProSoft's technical support was responsive and helpful but had no answer for my "Deep Scan" error.
I did not attempt to use Alsoft's Disk Warrior 4 product. I could not find any trial software available and was reluctant to spend $100 based upon the mixed reviews and comments on this discussion forum as well as other reviews. Alsoft does claim to address the "invalid node structure" error in their marketing materials. Hindsight being 20/20 - I saved $100 by using this simple procedure.
Final note:
Neither Leopard nor Snow Leopard's installation DVD could recognize the bad internal HD when trying to do a reinstall. While DiskUtil was able to "see" the bad internal drive it immediately failed when I tried to do an "erase and format". Took the system to my local Apple store and the Genius ran a tool called "SMART Utility" from Volitans Software (www.volitans-software.com). SMART utility confirmed that my HD was bad so it was replaced. AppleCare pays for itself (once again!).

Single User Mode - mount external drive and make it r/w

How can I access a USB disk and make it read/write?
I can't +mount -uw /Volumes/"Time Machine Backups"+ because it says that the disk is a special type.
Can I just use chmod because the disk is automounted?
When I attempt to chmod my USB disk, I get this message:
chmod: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups: Read-only file system
chmod: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/.autodiskmounted: Read-only file system
I know that I can cp from the internal disk, since I can cat the pictures to the terminal. But I can't make the external hard disk writeable.
I need to do this from single user mode, because the machine won't boot from the DVD.
-Michael

Just got back from the apple store. The genius found these things:
* My DVD is fine. It loaded in another computer
* My computer is mostly fine, except for the hard disk. It was able to boot off of an external Firewire disk.
* The DVD drive is fine. When the computer was booted off the external disk, it was able to mount my DVD.
* The internal HD is definitely bad. Drag/drop copy to an external HD was going to take 3 hours for about 30 files. Disk Utility shows it in red.
* He suspects that the failing HD prevented the machine from being able to load a DVD. (?)
His advice:
1 Buy a new 2.5" SATA disk at Frys.
2 Buy a USB sled for the old disk
3 Replace the failing HD in the laptop with the new, unformatted disk
4 Boot from the OS X DVD
5 Install the OS from the DVD
6 Reboot from the internal HD
7 Insert the failing HD in the sled, and connect it to the computer once it's booted off the new HD. Copy everything from the /users directory
8 But a new HD for the sled and use it for Time Machine backups
9 Teach the daughter the importance of regular backups
Let's hope this works.

Single User Mode: Searching for root...

My 2 year old unplugged my PowerMac iMac G5 (single) and now it won't start up.
I was finally able to boot up off of Disk Warrior and replace the directory, but it won't start up past the gray Apple screen. The fan comes on after about 45 seconds and blows hard. Then, I get the circle with a line through it, in gray. I've never seen that on a mac.. the international "no" sign.
When trying to start up in Single User Mode, I get a long list of stuff either disabled, not found, missing etc and then it starts writing to the screen every 30 seconds a line like:
Still searching for root.
I've tried pulling the back off, resetting the SMU, starting up in Safe Mode, etc.
This has happened with storms before and I can usually get it back.
I don't have original install discs.

When you say you have "OSX" but not the "original install disks" do you mean the mac originally came with an earlier version and you don't have those disks, but you have a retail copy of Tiger?
The circle with the slash means that Open Firmware cannot find BootX. Basically, I think this means that Open Firmware recognises the startup volume as such but cannot hand control to the operating system at all. BootX is what it uses to get the operating system going. Without this, as you've seen, you cannot make even single-user mode.
What is SMU?
*Is your data backed up? If not, prioritise that unless you can afford to loose it.*
Does DiskWarrior repair permissions? If not and you have the Tiger retail version, try running Disk Utility to do that. I don't think this will help, but it won't hurt.
Do you have another Mac? If so and you have the retail Tiger, you might be able to use Pacifist to replace BootX (in /System/Library/CoreServices). Alternatively, if the other Mac is running the same version of the OS and is also a PPC Mac, you could try copying the file from that machine.
Before you do any of this (with the exception of the permissions repair), try to backup any data you need if that's at all possible.
- cfr

Getting Data Off Harddrive in Single User Mode

When my PowerBook G4 running 10.3.9 boots after the white apple screen I just get a blue screen and my mouse. I am able to boot into single user mode and get to the data on my harddrive. My other computer at home is a linux box so if I could just get the network going in single user mode I could ssh all of my stuff to the other machine. Is there any way to do this. Is there any other good way to recover my data?

Hi dsignoff,
   This is likely to be more difficult than it sounds. If the problem isn't a failed hard drive, you might have an easier time simply doing an archive-and-install. Of course any installation except a fresh install will preserve your home directory but an "update" installation stands a reasonable chance of not fixing the problem.
   Even if you do succeed in moving everything to the linux box, you will likely lose the resource forks and file metadata of the files.
   Of course even if you do try an archive-and-install, it never hurts to have some backup. I'm a bit rusty with Panther but I believe that it requires the following as a first step:
/usr/libexec/registermach_bootstrapservers /etc/mach_init.d
That actually starts quite a bit of the system, possibly including the part that is causing Aqua to fail to start up. (meaning that it too could fail) However, if the above command succeeds, the next step is to execute:
/sbin/SystemStarter start Network
You may also need:
/sbin/SystemStarter start NetworkExtensions
If all of that works, you should have enough services available to ssh to the Linux box and move files. Of course there is a chance that if you find the error messages of the process that is failing in the /var/log/system.log, we could actually recommend a fix for the system.
Gary
~~~~
   "The wages of sin are death; but after they're
   done taking out taxes, it's just a tired feeling:"

IMac G5 only starts up in Single-User Mode

I am using an iMac G5 with the lastest version of Tiger.
I was trying to make a my.cnf file for MySQL for it to start logging queries, however was having some trouble doing so. After restarting MySQL a few times it would not start up any more, so I tried restarting the computer.
After doing this Personal Web Sharing (httpd) would say that it was running although would not serve pages. So I tried restarting httpd which got it running properly, however I still had the same problem with MySQL, where it would not start running (the Preference pane would not respond when clicking "Start".)
So I tried restarting again. Now my iMac will only boot into single-user mode.
I read somewhere about modifying the boot-args, however have not had a chance to try it yet. I don't see why this would do anything however, as I'm not sure why that would have been changed in the first place?
Has anyone heard of a similar instance, which is possibly related to MySQL?
Thank you in advance for any help.
- Jeff
G5 iMac Mac OS X (10.4.7)

I solved this. I was able to boot up in verbose mode and note that a certain missing file '/etc/hostconfig' was mysteriously missing and causing an error at the boot-up. I was able to boot this mac up in Target Disk mode and copy the file into the /etc/ directory from a backup through another Mac and now it's working fine, thank G-d!
- Jeff

Single user mode to delete backup directory - mackbook air

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for