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dekko · Dec 12, 2009, 07:37 PM

Hello.

I used Boot Camp to make a windows partition and rebooted in order to proceed with the installation. When the lists of partitions appeared it didn't showed all the partitions, only one was appearing and with a size that didn't matched none of them.

I rebooted in order to re-check in my OSX, but i couldn't: It seems I don't have an OSX partition anymore!

I googled the problem, and i found that other people had the same situation in the past: Boot Camp corrupted OSX. [Archive] - Mac Forums (my problem is quite the same as described by IanF0729)

I definetly need to recover the data I had on my OSX, and ASAP.

Can anyone help?

Thanks,
dekko

Cold Warrior · Dec 12, 2009, 07:41 PM

hold down the option key after you hear the Mac's startup chime. Keep holding until you see a choice to boot from. Your Mac partition may just be hiding, not deleted.

cgc · Dec 13, 2009, 12:00 AM

Have you booted from your OSX install disc and tried verifying the disk via DiskUtility (go to the menus when the OSX installer windows appears)?

dekko · Dec 13, 2009, 09:09 AM

I insert the MAC disk, and tried to do a repair via disk utility: It won't let me select the option.

I holded the shift (by option key you mean shift?) key while booting, only a windows partition appeared.

Any more ideas on how I could recover my data?

TETENAL · Dec 13, 2009, 09:53 AM

The Option key is the key with the railway switch ⌥ on it.

dekko · Dec 13, 2009, 10:42 AM

Oh ok.

But nope, still the same, only a windows partition appears.

Should I loose hope on recover my data?

TETENAL · Dec 13, 2009, 12:22 PM

If you have a Time Machine backup, you can restore your data from that.

If you don't, you can try third party data recovery software. I have never had to use such, so I can't recommend any.

Art Vandelay · Dec 13, 2009, 12:42 PM

You will only have a Windows partition appear in the Startup Manager if you have Windows installed on it. A blank partition created by the Boot Camp Assistant will not appear. Are you sure you didn't install Windows onto your OS X partition?

EndlessMac · Dec 13, 2009, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by dekko

I used Boot Camp to make a windows partition and rebooted in order to proceed with the installation. When the lists of partitions appeared it didn't showed all the partitions, only one was appearing and with a size that didn't matched none of them.

I rebooted in order to re-check in my OSX, but i couldn't: It seems I don't have an OSX partition anymore!

Your description of what you did is kind of vague. Did you actually finish installing Windows or did you just see that the Windows installer didn't show the partition that Boot Camp made for Windows and you then decided to restart to check your Mac partition? Also what version of Windows are you trying to install? I also had a problem with the Windows intstaller not showing all my partitions when I tried to install XP Service Pack 1. The problem was service pack 1 was not supported by Boot Camp so when I used XP Service Pack 2 all my partitions showed up correctly and I was able to choose the Boot Camp partition to install Windows. Maybe you are trying to install a version of Windows that is not supported by Boot Camp?

Originally Posted by dekko

I insert the MAC disk, and tried to do a repair via disk utility: It won't let me select the option.

I holded the shift (by option key you mean shift?) key while booting, only a windows partition appeared.

Any more ideas on how I could recover my data?

Are all your partitions showing up in Disk Utility? If so then you still have your Mac partition. The Option key is also called the Alt key. I don't know what keyboard you are using but the English American keyboard has the key labeled both Alt and Option and it's next to the Command and Control key. Hold down the Option/Alt key when starting up the computer and it should let you choose to boot into either Mac or Windows.

Also when I installed Windows XP it made itself the default OS to start-up with so when I booted into Mac OS I had go into System Preferences and in the Startup Disk preference I just choose Mac OS for start-up to make it the default.

Originally Posted by Art Vandelay

You will only have a Windows partition appear in the Startup Manager if you have Windows installed on it. A blank partition created by the Boot Camp Assistant will not appear. Are you sure you didn't install Windows onto your OS X partition?

Another quick way to tell is when you are in Windows just look at how large the hard drive space is. If it's the same size as the Boot Camp partition he gave to Windows then his Mac partition should still be there. If it's the size of his Mac partition or larger then he probably installed over his Mac OS.

dekko · Dec 13, 2009, 04:06 PM

I'm sure that I *did not* install windows. I just made the partition with boot camp, it rebooted in order to proceed with the installation, and when I saw that there was only one partition appearing I rebooting in order to recheck in OSX.

I did not install windows; The OSX partition should be there (at least that's what I hope!)

I tried to install the SP1 (I intended to upgrade after...). From what you tell me, maybe that's why my partitions didn't appear correctly; but it still don't justify why I can't find my OSX partition...

Nope, only one partition appears in Disk Utility. (and it don't let me select repair).

When booting with the option key pressed, only the Windows partition appears. If I select it don't boot, it just hangs in a black screen (which is quite the expected, since I *did not* installed windows)

I guess I just lost all my data... :|

Chuckit · Dec 13, 2009, 04:21 PM

Did you have Time Machine set up?

CharlesS · Dec 13, 2009, 04:37 PM

You could try running Data Rescue 3 to see if it can find any of your files. It may or may not work, but since it has a demo mode that lets you scan the disk and see what can be recovered before you register, there's no harm in trying.

Next time, though, you'll want to have a backup in place to prepare for things like this.

reader50 · Dec 13, 2009, 04:45 PM

Can you post a picture of what Disk Utility shows you? Select the hard drive icon in the left pane (not the volume(s) below it), and click the Partition tab. Then take the shot. It may show the missing OS X partition, or tell us where it has to be.

EndlessMac · Dec 13, 2009, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by dekko

I'm sure that I *did not* install windows. I just made the partition with boot camp, it rebooted in order to proceed with the installation, and when I saw that there was only one partition appearing I rebooting in order to recheck in OSX.

I did not install windows; The OSX partition should be there (at least that's what I hope!)

I tried to install the SP1 (I intended to upgrade after...). From what you tell me, maybe that's why my partitions didn't appear correctly; but it still don't justify why I can't find my OSX partition...

Nope, only one partition appears in Disk Utility. (and it don't let me select repair).

When booting with the option key pressed, only the Windows partition appears. If I select it don't boot, it just hangs in a black screen (which is quite the expected, since I *did not* installed windows)

I guess I just lost all my data... :|

You did pretty much the exact thing I did except I was able to boot into Mac OS when holding down the option key on startup. In other words I had the choice to boot into Mac or Windows. Did you properly cancel and quit the Windows installation or did you do a hard reboot by holding the power button?

I don't know what else to tell you. Boot Camp does require XP SP2 and I believe SP3 now works also. I don't know what versions of Vista or 7 is needed. If you don't have a backup and you really need the files on your Mac then you might want to bring it into an Apple store and see if they can recover the data before you reinstall Mac OS.

seanc · 06:53 PM

If you have a pre-SP1 installation disc of XP, it won't understand drives larger than 128GB. It may not display a partition, it may display them correctly or it may not display them at all.

Now, it shouldn't have touched the drive, unless you tried to perform an action, such as selecting create partition. If you did, that might be your data went.

If it doesn't say Service Pack 1, Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3 - it's pre-SP1

dekko · Dec 14, 2009, 03:12 PM

Well I manage to solve

I booted with a linux live cd, played a bit with GNU Parted and voilá.

Bottom line: Never insert a Windows XP SP1 on your MAC, even if you're not going to install it!

Thanks for your comments dudes.

64stang06 · Dec 14, 2009, 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by dekko

Well I manage to solve

I booted with a linux live cd, played a bit with GNU Parted and voilá.

Bottom line: Never insert a Windows XP SP1 on your MAC, even if you're not going to install it!

Thanks for your comments dudes.

Boot Camp
requires Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista (sold separately).

Apple - Mac OS X Snow Leopard - Technical specifications

ghporter · Dec 14, 2009, 08:47 PM

I was pretty well certain something had borked your partition map, but I got distracted by the whole "which version of XP was he messing with" thing. Parted and a number of other Linux-based utilities are extremely helpful, but sometimes you have to use several of them to find the one that will not only help identify the problem but will also correct it. It looks like Parted is one we need to write down as "capable of fixing a current Mac's partition map." Very good to know.

mellowk · Jan 1, 2010, 11:03 PM

hi everyone, i actually got the same exact problem as dekko and I'm trying to resolve it. i downloaded and burned knoppix live and tried playing around with GParted but I have no idea how to fix the partition. It doesn't seem like GParted has any options for that. I tried the rescue command in regular Parted but I don't think I'm doing it correctly. Anyone have any suggestions?

ghporter · Jan 2, 2010, 10:44 AM

Welcome, mellowk! Why do you think you're not doing the rescue command in Parted properly?

mellowk · Jan 2, 2010, 05:04 PM

either i'm not doing it correctly or it's just not working. i'm a linux noob so you'll have to excuse me. I first run the "print" command to have it list me all my partitions. I do see the /dev/sda2 partition listed there and the start = 210MB and End = 138GB.

So I then run the "rescue" command and I assume that it wants the start and end in MB so I put 210 for the start and 138000 for End. It processes for a split second then just spits me back out to the parted command prompt. So, basically it's not finding anything. Am I doing something wrong or is it unrecoverable? I see the partition there when I use the print command. Also, when I run GParted, I can also see the partition there so I know the data is still there.

tupsy0 · 09:22 AM

sorry was supposed to be a new post.

mellowk · Jan 3, 2010, 05:33 PM

omg i think i fixed it! so here's another solution for you guys out there. I used an open-source disk utility called. Test-Disk and followed the steps the guy listed here:

BootCamp/SP1 White Screen of Death: A Solution | PHail [dot net] Blog - Design, Programming, and other things.

However, the setup for the fix need not be so complicated, I didn't need to mess with any hardware. I simply downloaded and burned a Ubuntu CD and booted my MacBook up with that and then downloaded Test-Disk.

Anyways, after coming close to losing my 3rd harddrive in a year, I'm definitely going to backup from now on!