Lecter
09-30-2006, 02:18 PM
My Mac hard drive recently died, which prompted me to gather the following solutions together in one place. I've been using this information forever, but finally felt that it was worth documenting.
First, consider setting up a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive [or Independent] Disks) mirror before failure is an option. This provides constant, ongoing backup. If one disk fails, you can replace it, and the mirror restores in the background. This can be set up with Apple's Disk Utility.
Otherwise, consider a back-up utility like Retrospect (http://www.emcinsignia.com/) or Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html) or Super Duper (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html) or Déjà Vu. (http://propagandaprod.com/dejavu.html)
If you didn't have an adequate back-up plan in place, and your hard disk is showing signs of failure, then try the following:
Start up in Single User (or Verbose) Mode:
1. Shut down the computer if it is on.
2. Press the power button to start the computer.
3. Immediately press and hold the Command (Apple) key and one of the following:
—the "s" key for single-user mode.
—the "v" key for verbose mode.
4. To exit single-user mode type: reboot
5. Press Return.
At the command-line prompt, type /sbin/fsck -fy
Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found:
** The volume (name_of_volume) appears to be OK
If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message:
***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return. Your computer should start up normally and allow you to log in.
If that fails, try Apple's Disk Utility.app
Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
Click the First Aid tab.
Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
Select your Mac OS X volume.
Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
Tip: Always start up your computer from an Install or Restore disc when using Disk Utility to verify or repair your startup volume. Otherwise, you might see some disk error messages. I always have an additional drive with the OS and disk utilities on it to boot up from so that the utilities can operate on the faulty disk without it being the boot/startup volume.
If that fails, try Alsoft's Disk Warrior (http://alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/) • Disk Warrior has saved me from otherwise disastrous situations.
If that fails, try MicroMat's Tech Tool Pro (http://www.micromat.com/)
If that doesn't work then consider a recovery utility like Data Rescue II (http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_info.php) or VirtualLab (http://www.binarybiz.com/vlab/mac.html) (expensive) or the open source DDRescue, (http://www.gnu.org/software/ddrescue/ddrescue.html) which will do a block level back-up of the entire drive.
If all of the above fail, or you hear nasty clicking sounds from the drive, then consider a data recovery service like Drive Savers. (http://drivesavers.com/) Drive Savers comes highly recommended for recovering burned, soaked or crushed hard drives. They perform miracles. They also charge a arm and a leg, and a extra finger or two. Mention MacWorld for a 10% discount (even with that, expect a bill of several thousand dollars). Other services include ECO Data Recovery (http://www.ecodatarecovery.com/) and Disk Doctors. (http://www.diskdoctors.com/)
After recovering your data, consider buying enterprise level drives from Western Digital to replace your faulty drive(s). And while you're at it, set up a RAID1 mirror or better redundant array.
All of the above may seem like a lot of fuss, but tell me that after your photos, music, movies, documents, books, bookmarks, addresses, programs and other data (basically, your digital life) all vanish in a nanosecond.
RAID 0 : Striped Disk Array without Fault Tolerance
RAID 1 : Mirroring and Duplexing
RAID 2 : Hamming Code ECC
RAID 3 : Parallel transfer with parity
RAID 4 : Independent Data disks with shared Parity disk
RAID 5 : Independent Data disks with distributed parity blocks
RAID 6 : Independent Data disks with two independent distributed parity schemes
RAID 7 : Optimized Asynchrony for High I/O Rates as well as High Data Transfer Rates
RAID 10 : Very High Reliability combined with High Performance
RAID 53 : High I/O Rates and Data Transfer Performance
RAID 0+1 : High Data Transfer Performance
First, consider setting up a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive [or Independent] Disks) mirror before failure is an option. This provides constant, ongoing backup. If one disk fails, you can replace it, and the mirror restores in the background. This can be set up with Apple's Disk Utility.
Otherwise, consider a back-up utility like Retrospect (http://www.emcinsignia.com/) or Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html) or Super Duper (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html) or Déjà Vu. (http://propagandaprod.com/dejavu.html)
If you didn't have an adequate back-up plan in place, and your hard disk is showing signs of failure, then try the following:
Start up in Single User (or Verbose) Mode:
1. Shut down the computer if it is on.
2. Press the power button to start the computer.
3. Immediately press and hold the Command (Apple) key and one of the following:
—the "s" key for single-user mode.
—the "v" key for verbose mode.
4. To exit single-user mode type: reboot
5. Press Return.
At the command-line prompt, type /sbin/fsck -fy
Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found:
** The volume (name_of_volume) appears to be OK
If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message:
***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return. Your computer should start up normally and allow you to log in.
If that fails, try Apple's Disk Utility.app
Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
Click the First Aid tab.
Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
Select your Mac OS X volume.
Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
Tip: Always start up your computer from an Install or Restore disc when using Disk Utility to verify or repair your startup volume. Otherwise, you might see some disk error messages. I always have an additional drive with the OS and disk utilities on it to boot up from so that the utilities can operate on the faulty disk without it being the boot/startup volume.
If that fails, try Alsoft's Disk Warrior (http://alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/) • Disk Warrior has saved me from otherwise disastrous situations.
If that fails, try MicroMat's Tech Tool Pro (http://www.micromat.com/)
If that doesn't work then consider a recovery utility like Data Rescue II (http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_info.php) or VirtualLab (http://www.binarybiz.com/vlab/mac.html) (expensive) or the open source DDRescue, (http://www.gnu.org/software/ddrescue/ddrescue.html) which will do a block level back-up of the entire drive.
If all of the above fail, or you hear nasty clicking sounds from the drive, then consider a data recovery service like Drive Savers. (http://drivesavers.com/) Drive Savers comes highly recommended for recovering burned, soaked or crushed hard drives. They perform miracles. They also charge a arm and a leg, and a extra finger or two. Mention MacWorld for a 10% discount (even with that, expect a bill of several thousand dollars). Other services include ECO Data Recovery (http://www.ecodatarecovery.com/) and Disk Doctors. (http://www.diskdoctors.com/)
After recovering your data, consider buying enterprise level drives from Western Digital to replace your faulty drive(s). And while you're at it, set up a RAID1 mirror or better redundant array.
All of the above may seem like a lot of fuss, but tell me that after your photos, music, movies, documents, books, bookmarks, addresses, programs and other data (basically, your digital life) all vanish in a nanosecond.
RAID 0 : Striped Disk Array without Fault Tolerance
RAID 1 : Mirroring and Duplexing
RAID 2 : Hamming Code ECC
RAID 3 : Parallel transfer with parity
RAID 4 : Independent Data disks with shared Parity disk
RAID 5 : Independent Data disks with distributed parity blocks
RAID 6 : Independent Data disks with two independent distributed parity schemes
RAID 7 : Optimized Asynchrony for High I/O Rates as well as High Data Transfer Rates
RAID 10 : Very High Reliability combined with High Performance
RAID 53 : High I/O Rates and Data Transfer Performance
RAID 0+1 : High Data Transfer Performance