Cannot mount Hard Drive

[RipleyB]

When I turn on my Powerbook G4, OS X 10.4.3 does not start. Instead, it shows a gray screen with a folder alternating between the Finder icon and a question mark. There has been a series of events leading to this situation, so here is the background and what I have subsequently done.

Hardware Overview:
Machine Name: Powerbook G4 15”
Machine Model: Powerbook3,5
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (3.2)
Number of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory 1: GB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot Rom Version: 4.5.3f2

Initial situation:
My Powerbook was low on hard drive space (<1GB). Tiger was crashing during ordinary procedures (i.e. opening Safari and typing into a search engine). I deleted just enough space and reinstalled Tiger. Rebooting went as it always does (chime>gray apple screen>blue screen), however, startup would freeze on the blue screen.

Tiger Install DVD Troubleshooting:
1) I cannot reinstall tiger, because I have no hard drive space. In fact, my hard drive no longer appears in the ‘Select a Destination’ window during the installation process.

2) Quit Installer - Restart – just begins the installation process again.

3) Startup Disk – When I choose ‘Mac OS X, 10.4.3 on the volume Mac OS X Install DVD’ and press the Restart button, my computer initiates the installation procedure just as if I had inserted the Install DVD and turned the computer on. I think I may be doing this incorrectly. My intent was to use the DVD as a boot disk, but it continues to initiate the install; however, I don’t think there are very many options/ways to screw this up.

4) Disk Utility –

a.Verify Disk
Verifying Volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus Volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid record count
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit.

1 HFS volume checked.
Volume needs repair

b. Repair Disk
Verifying Volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus Volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid record count
Volume check failed.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit.

1 HFS volume checked.
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error

5) Have not tried Erase, Partition, RAID, or Restore

Other Tricks:
1) Reset Firmware

a. Hold ALT-COMMAND-O-F
b. reset-nvram (enter)
c. set-defaults (enter)
d. reset-all
e. system again reboots to the blinking finder and question mark

2) Safeboot

a. Holding Shift shortly after the chime does nothing, back to the blinking finder folder.
b. I should also note that a Safeboot was one of the first things I tried. Even before I reinstalled Tiger, the Safeboot would not work.

3) Zap PRAM

a. Hold COMMAND-OPTION-P-R
b. Chimed 4 times
c. system again reboots to the blinking finder and question mark

4) File Systems Check

a. Hold Command-S
b. fsck –y (enter)
c. repeat until no errors are found
d. shutdown -r now (enter)
e. system again reboots to the blinking finder and question mark

5) Search for Bootable Systems

a. Hold Option
b. No bootable systems available.

At this point, I would like to simply erase the hard drive and reinstall Tiger; however, I would first like to rescue files on the hard drive if possible. I feel like this is my only option. I have downloaded ProSoft’s Data Rescue II Boot CD Image, which was about 182 MB. It was only $5, and you can upgrade to the full version if you find that it has potential to restore your system. I just can’t get it to work. I basically burned the .dmg onto a CD from a PC. I cannot find any instructions on how to create or load this boot CD. When I insert the disk and reboot, the same blinking finder icon comes up. Holding ‘C’ during the boot does nothing. When I hold option to select bootable systems, the disk does not come up.

As you could probably gather, I am not very skilled with macs, so I feel like I could be missing something simple (like you can’t boot from a disk image or something of this ilk). I sincerely appreciate anyone who has made it this far in my synopsis. I would love to access the data on the hard drive. Any help, directions, or suggestions are most welcome. Thanks.

RipleyB

[tlarkin]

My inital guess with the detailed info you have provided is that your problem lies with in the file system. Probably from constantly crashing due to lack of virtual memory space on the HD. If you have a copy of diskwarrior boot off it and run it to fix the problem.

I don't think disk utility is going to help you. You may also try target mode booting your powerbook into another mac. If the OS is the only thing corrupted you should be able to mount the drive and at least copy your data over and then do a wipe and reload.

[TrumpetPower!]

Quote: Originally Posted by RipleyB 1 volume could not be repaired because of an error

This is bad. Very bad.

If you have a backup you trust, just initialize the hard drive, re-install the OS and applications from original media, and copy user files back from the backup.

If you don't have a backup...well, then, the data wasn't that valuable, was it? But if you've still got some sort of attachment to it, your best bet for do-it-yourself is to put the PowerBook into Firewire Target Mode and attach it to another computer. I can never remember the recommended sequence for holding keys, attaching cables, and the like, so I won't try to give you specifics, but the end result will (if you've lived a pure life) be your PowerBook's hard drive showing up on the other computer's desktop.

Other options include various third-party disk utilities (avoid Norton on principle, but there're others), and commercial data recovery services. The former sometimes are able to do more than Apple's. The latter can cost a lot...but, at the extreme, some might even be able to open the disk in a clean room and put the platters in an entirely different kind of mechanism to read what data's left on them.

It's also worth noting that OS X very rarely corrupts its filesystem, and almost never to the point that it can't be repaired (as is the case with your disk). Very often, this sort of thing is a symptom of hardware failure. Assuming you get the disk working again, treat it as suspect--make backups often and budget for a replacement. Don't actually buy a new disk unless you need more space (which it seems you probably do).

Good luck.

Cheers,

b&

[hayne]

Quote: Originally Posted by RipleyB My intent was to use the DVD as a boot disk, but it continues to initiate the install

When you boot from the DVD, there are only a limited number of things you can do - run Disk Utility, run Terminal, reinstall Tiger.
It sounds like it all was working as it is supposed to.

Quote: Hold Command-S b. fsck –y (enter) c. repeat until no errors are found d. shutdown -r now (enter) e. system again reboots to the blinking finder and question mark

You probably needed to do:
fsck -fy
(the "-f" option is needed since the filesystem is journalled)
Maybe try this again and note the errors it reports. And of course keep repeating until it says the disk is okay.

If 'fsck -fy' can't fix the filesystem, then you might consider buying DiskWarrior - it has a good record of being able to fix filesystem problems that 'fsck -fy' can't fix.

Quote: At this point, I would like to simply erase the hard drive and reinstall Tiger; however, I would first like to rescue files on the hard drive if possible. I feel like this is my only option.

I don't know how the Data Rescue CD image is supposed to work - maybe you should ask ProSoft for help on this - or re-read their instructions.

Another thing you could try is connecting your powerbook to another Mac with a firewire cable and using "target disk mode" to access the disk.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
This might also be a way to fix the filesystem - e.g. using Disk Utility or DiskWarrior from that other Mac.