[kcjamesx]

I am having a problem with my Mac right now, it won't boot, but thats not my main worry right now.

I can boot into Single User Mode, and I see all my files are still on my hard drive and I can cat the text files. I am wondering if there a way I can mount my iPod (firewire cable or usb cable) or a different powerbook with that powerbook in firewire target disk mode. Like I said, I can see all of these files, so if I could just copy them off of that drive, that would really help!

I am pretty well limited to just Single User Mode for right now. I can't boot off any known working installer CD, or off my iPod, and I can't use the system as a disk in firewire target disk mode. Boot off iPod/Apple Installer Disc will just go to the white screen with the grey apple logo and then will show a grey Circle with a line through it that flashes. Firewire target disk mode just locks up the second I plug it into the other computer.

All I want right now is the data, so help on mounting an iPod or firewire target disk model harddrive would really help and I could copy the data from there.

If you have any idea's on why my computer won't boot, that'd help too. I can't run disk tools, diskutil, fsck and stuff like that. I can browse my files tho. I can not get into the sbin folder though. It tells me there is a disk i/o error when I try that, basically the same thing it does when I run fsck or diskutil.

Thanks

[[APi]TheMan]

Originally Posted by kcjamesx

I am having a problem with my Mac right now, it won't boot, but thats not my main worry right now.

I can boot into Single User Mode, and I see all my files are still on my hard drive and I can cat the text files. I am wondering if there a way I can mount my iPod (firewire cable or usb cable) or a different powerbook with that powerbook in firewire target disk mode. Like I said, I can see all of these files, so if I could just copy them off of that drive, that would really help!

I am pretty well limited to just Single User Mode for right now. I can't boot off any known working installer CD, or off my iPod, and I can't use the system as a disk in firewire target disk mode. Boot off iPod/Apple Installer Disc will just go to the white screen with the grey apple logo and then will show a grey Circle with a line through it that flashes. Firewire target disk mode just locks up the second I plug it into the other computer.

All I want right now is the data, so help on mounting an iPod or firewire target disk model harddrive would really help and I could copy the data from there.

If you have any idea's on why my computer won't boot, that'd help too. I can't run disk tools, diskutil, fsck and stuff like that. I can browse my files tho. I can not get into the sbin folder though. It tells me there is a disk i/o error when I try that, basically the same thing it does when I run fsck or diskutil.

Thanks

Hmmm... you've got pretty much all the angles covered... I think what I'd try to do would be, zip up all my files and upload them to a server somewhere. You can start the appropriate daemons needed for a functional system as follows:

1. Mount root as read/write -> mount -uw /
2. "Register mach" -> /usr/libexec/register_mach_bootstrap_servers /etc/mach_init.d
3. Start netinfod to handle local users/groups -> cd /var/db/netinfo; netinfod -s local
4. Start the rest of the system (minus aqua) -> SystemStarter. I'm not sure if this step is needed to get networking going, and I know that your system is buggy in its current state, so you may not need to get to this state...

This should get you a fully functional shell with networking. If your network has a DHCP server, then your Mac should grab an IP, etc. I'd use one of SSH's file transfer methods (scp or sftp), or hell, even ftp, to transfer your files. If you need help zipping or tarring from the command line, let me know...

Good luck.

[Detrius]

The i/o errors say pretty plainly that you've probably got a hardware problem--specifically a dying hard drive. If your machine is capable of booting from firewire, plug up the other machine in target disk mode and boot from it. Get all the files off that you can, and then expect you'll probably need a new hard drive.

If you can boot into OS 9, the Drive Setup Utility has a quality surface scan in the Test Disk menu option. Otherwise, Tech Tool Pro 4 is your best option for a surface scan.

[[APi]TheMan]

Originally Posted by Detrius

The i/o errors say pretty plainly that you've probably got a hardware problem--specifically a dying hard drive. If your machine is capable of booting from firewire, plug up the other machine in target disk mode and boot from it. Get all the files off that you can, and then expect you'll probably need a new hard drive.

He said "Firewire target disk mode just locks up the second I plug it into the other computer," but that he was somehow still able to get into single user mode (which is why I suggested what I suggested).

I find it weird that his system will not boot to a CD or do target disk mode, but that it will go into single user mode. If I had that machine in my shop I'd probably take that hard drive out and stick it into a firewire caddy and see what files I could scavenge. Then I'd start swapping and unplugging parts out of the machine to isolate the problem.