Irony dealt my Mac a cruel hand
March 8, 2007 8:06 PM Subscribe
I can't boot my MacBook in any way, shape, or form that I try. Much more info inside!
So here's what happened: I was creating a backup of my hard drive to a .sparseimage file, but I decided to stop the backup and continue it when I got home. I stopped the backup program and trashed the file then tried to empty the trash, but it said the file was in use, so I forced the trash to empty. I then noticed that my free drive space just kept going down even after the backup had stopped, so I rebooted, then instead of starting up I got the kernel panic.
I can get into single-user mode just fine and see the drive in read-only mode, but when I try to mount the drive for any use (AppleJack, for instance), I get a panic. I also can't boot to my OS X install disc for some reason - I get the blank blue screen.
Essentially, is there any way for me to get my system to boot? If not, I absolutely CANNOT lose my Users directory, so is there a way for me to back that up from the shell? I have an external USB/FireWire hard drive and also a laptop-size hard drive enclosure if I need to take the drive out completely - but I don't have another Mac and I don't know anyone who does.
What am I to do? This isn't hugely urgent, I suppose, but I'd like to get my computer back ASAP.
So here's what happened: I was creating a backup of my hard drive to a .sparseimage file, but I decided to stop the backup and continue it when I got home. I stopped the backup program and trashed the file then tried to empty the trash, but it said the file was in use, so I forced the trash to empty. I then noticed that my free drive space just kept going down even after the backup had stopped, so I rebooted, then instead of starting up I got the kernel panic.
I can get into single-user mode just fine and see the drive in read-only mode, but when I try to mount the drive for any use (AppleJack, for instance), I get a panic. I also can't boot to my OS X install disc for some reason - I get the blank blue screen.
Essentially, is there any way for me to get my system to boot? If not, I absolutely CANNOT lose my Users directory, so is there a way for me to back that up from the shell? I have an external USB/FireWire hard drive and also a laptop-size hard drive enclosure if I need to take the drive out completely - but I don't have another Mac and I don't know anyone who does.
What am I to do? This isn't hugely urgent, I suppose, but I'd like to get my computer back ASAP.
Response by poster: Yeah, I would do that but I don't have another Mac - if worse comes to worse I could take it into the Apple store early next week and get the geniuses to do that, but I was wondering if there was anything I could do on my own...
posted by joshrholloway at 8:24 PM on March 8, 2007
posted by joshrholloway at 8:24 PM on March 8, 2007
...but I don't have another Mac and I don't know anyone who does...
I don't think he has access to another Mac.
Good luck to you...that really doesn't sound good. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if you can't save it yourself, you might be able to put the laptop drive into the enclosure, and somehow access the data from a Windows machine.
Sounds like you need to make a friend who owns a Mac :)
posted by DMan at 8:26 PM on March 8, 2007
I don't think he has access to another Mac.
Good luck to you...that really doesn't sound good. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if you can't save it yourself, you might be able to put the laptop drive into the enclosure, and somehow access the data from a Windows machine.
Sounds like you need to make a friend who owns a Mac :)
posted by DMan at 8:26 PM on March 8, 2007
If you hold down command-v while booting, it should go into verbose mode. It might help (or not) to see exactly what it is doing when it panics (though I suppose it is probably mount). Also, this page has a whole bunch of troubleshooting steps that may be useful for your situation.
posted by advil at 8:31 PM on March 8, 2007
posted by advil at 8:31 PM on March 8, 2007
If you can get an external drive mounted, you can backup the Users directory with ditto:
$ ditto /Users /Volumes/ExternalDriveName/Users
posted by Armitage Shanks at 8:42 PM on March 8, 2007 [1 favorite]
$ ditto /Users /Volumes/ExternalDriveName/Users
posted by Armitage Shanks at 8:42 PM on March 8, 2007 [1 favorite]
When it complained about the file being open, it was complaining because the .sparseimage was still mounted, even if you couldn't see it in the GUI.
From single-user mode you might try running `df` and see if it spits out anything about the volume being mounted. Also do an `ls /dev/*disk*` - If you see a disk1 or rdisk1, the .sparseimage is still hanging around.
Also try looking at the end of /var/log/system.log, the kernel logs there as it boots.
When you try to mount the drive, are you doing `fsck-y`? If you can get it mounted you can delete the Kernel Extensions cache and a number of other possible fixes.
posted by blasdelf at 1:32 AM on March 9, 2007
From single-user mode you might try running `df` and see if it spits out anything about the volume being mounted. Also do an `ls /dev/*disk*` - If you see a disk1 or rdisk1, the .sparseimage is still hanging around.
Also try looking at the end of /var/log/system.log, the kernel logs there as it boots.
When you try to mount the drive, are you doing `fsck-y`? If you can get it mounted you can delete the Kernel Extensions cache and a number of other possible fixes.
posted by blasdelf at 1:32 AM on March 9, 2007
I would have suggested fsck from single-user mode, but Advil's link recommends Disk Utility first. Directions for both are on that page.
Do you have another computer handy, with a Firewire adapter? Those should be able to at least see the disk, although Windows would probably not really do much. It looks like Knoppix & the SystemRescue CD both work with HFS+, so you'd be able to read the disk & copy specific files over.
Also, if you're cautious, the SystemRescue CD would let you image the disk as it is right now to the external storage, so you have a safety net if other solutions fail.
(I'm a Linux geek, & I'm fond of the forensic backup.)
posted by Pronoiac at 1:40 AM on March 9, 2007
Do you have another computer handy, with a Firewire adapter? Those should be able to at least see the disk, although Windows would probably not really do much. It looks like Knoppix & the SystemRescue CD both work with HFS+, so you'd be able to read the disk & copy specific files over.
Also, if you're cautious, the SystemRescue CD would let you image the disk as it is right now to the external storage, so you have a safety net if other solutions fail.
(I'm a Linux geek, & I'm fond of the forensic backup.)
posted by Pronoiac at 1:40 AM on March 9, 2007
This isn't much of a suggestion, but try holding down the option key as you startup. This will drop you in to a screen where you can choose what startup disk you want to use - and you'll be able to see if the boot cd is recognized as a valid boot option. Sometimes when I try to boot from cd, it doesn't "take".
posted by wearyaswater at 5:53 AM on March 9, 2007
posted by wearyaswater at 5:53 AM on March 9, 2007
Response by poster: Okay, two updates: I have tried everything suggested so far (except the SystemRescue CD, which I will probably try next), and nothing has worked. I can see that the panic occurs right at the beginning of mounting the drive, so I know that's the problem for sure. No, I can't boot from a CD, though I can see it when holding down Option at boot - but when I choose it it just hangs at the blank blue screen.
So two questions though - I do see several things when I run 'ls /dev/*disk', about 14 actually - anything I can do based on that info? And also, how would I go about mounting the external drive from the shell? I've mounted it on this system before, and I know its volume name, but it's not showing up in /Volumes.
Any more suggestions based on all that info?
posted by joshrholloway at 6:21 AM on March 9, 2007
So two questions though - I do see several things when I run 'ls /dev/*disk', about 14 actually - anything I can do based on that info? And also, how would I go about mounting the external drive from the shell? I've mounted it on this system before, and I know its volume name, but it's not showing up in /Volumes.
Any more suggestions based on all that info?
posted by joshrholloway at 6:21 AM on March 9, 2007
You did read the Apple troubleshooting page Advil linked to? It has info on safe boot, Disk Utility, & fsck.
The second comment here talks about mounting external drives. I can't look into the diskutil suggestion right now; I've gotta go to work...
posted by Pronoiac at 7:37 AM on March 9, 2007
The second comment here talks about mounting external drives. I can't look into the diskutil suggestion right now; I've gotta go to work...
posted by Pronoiac at 7:37 AM on March 9, 2007
Actually, the Ubuntu live / install CD may have been QAed more for this, because of popularity. The SystemRescue CD has a fairly minimal interface.
I wish I had more time to work on this.
posted by Pronoiac at 7:50 AM on March 9, 2007
I wish I had more time to work on this.
posted by Pronoiac at 7:50 AM on March 9, 2007
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 8:20 PM on March 8, 2007