Foolishly let my 2010 13" MBP HD get too full, and it stalled, then wouldn't reboot (blank screen after user login). So I figured I'd just boot from the Install disk and weed the drive. But it only wants to go to Install OS X, and the other options (Disk Utility, Startup Disk, etc.) do not run the OS. This is the original Snow Leopard Install disk (I've been running Mavericks).

I can initialize, but this is a travel computer, with Documents sync'd to my desk iMac, so it's not backed up. But naturally there are some files (not docs) that should have been transferred but weren't. And anyway, nuking and paving is a time-consuming pain, requiring OS updates, application installs, etc.

Shouldn't I be able to run SL from the Install disk? This is probably the first time I've used it since I bought the computer.

/Mr Lynn

---

"Hillbilly at Harvard"
Honky-tonk Country and Bluegrass
Founded in 1948 by Pappy Ben Minnich
Saturdays 9am - 11am Eastern
WHRB-FM, Cambridge, MA
Streaming at [www.WHRB.org]
Be there!
The HAH weblog: [hillbillyatharvard.wordpress.com]

Topical weblog: [walkingcreekworld.wordpress.com]

On the river in Saxonville.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2015 03:11PM by mrlynn.

That model has firewire, right? Start in TDM and connect to your desk top to retrieve files off the MPB, then you can reformat as needed.

Can you run in 10.9 safe mode?

In my ill-fated attempt to install Mavericks last year, I was unable to start from the SL disk. Was glad Mavericks started in safe mode.

=wr=

Quote
RE:up
That model has firewire, right? Start in TDM and connect to your desk top to retrieve files off the MPB, then you can reformat as needed.

Hmm. . . That's an idea. Main job is to delete a bunch of stuff that I put on to share with people and never removed. Can do that from TDM, I assume. But I don't want to reformat. Should work OK once I clean up drive.

But—shouldn't I be able to boot from the Install CD? Always could in the past.

/Mr Lynn

MrLynn,

The last time I was able to boot off an install CD and actually use the machine was way back under OS 9.x. Beyond that, the disc booted into an installer from which I could in turn open Disk Utility. Quit that and it goes back to the installer. Either way, it doesn't get you to the desktop. If you want to boot off a different drive and then purge items off the internal drive, then you'll need to use something other than a install CD/DVD.

Do you have a spare external hard drive handy? Can you get to a local store and purchase a higher capacity USB 3.0 flash drive such as a SanDisk Extreme 32GB USB 3.0 flash drive? If you have a spare drive, boot off the install disc, wipe and install the OS on it. Once that's done, you can boot off the newly created startup disk and purge data of the internal drive.

I'm hoping other forumites can suggest a better course of action but that's how I'd do it under the circumstances.

Robert



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2015 04:04PM by Robert M.

Quote
mrlynn
Shouldn't I be able to run SL from the Install disk? This is probably the first time I've used it since I bought the computer.

No, it doesn't work that way.

As mentioned, if you're not at home and don't have access to an external drive that you can install the OS on, try booting from safe mode.

Quote
mrlynn
I figured I'd just boot from the Install disk and weed the drive. But it only wants to go to Install OS X, and the other options (Disk Utility, Startup Disk, etc.) do not run the OS. This is the original Snow Leopard Install disk (I've been running Mavericks).…Shouldn't I be able to run SL from the Install disk?

You are running SL if the Installer comes up. You probably can't use its version of Disk Utility because Maverick's logical volume format* is not recognized by the older version of DU included on the installer DVD.

* Core Storage:
[en.wikipedia.org]
[www.apple.com] (PDF, p.11)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2015 04:37PM by Article Accelerator.

Quote
wave rider
Can you run in 10.9 safe mode?

In my ill-fated attempt to install Mavericks last year, I was unable to start from the SL disk. Was glad Mavericks started in safe mode.

=wr=

Ah, =wr=, that worked! I had forgotten about Safe Mode (F8 in WinXP, if I remember). Booted in Safe Mode, deleted all the photos that were copies of those on my iMac, and gained back 70+ GB on my 250GB HD. All is well. Thanks.

Robert, I should make a boot drive, as you suggest.

AA: Was able to run DU from the SL install disk; repaired permissions.

/Mr Lynn

What's TDM?

target disk mode

Quote
mrlynn
Foolishly let my 2010 13" MBP HD get too full, and it stalled, then wouldn't reboot (blank screen after user login). So I figured I'd just boot from the Install disk and weed the drive. But it only wants to go to Install OS X, and the other options (Disk Utility, Startup Disk, etc.) do not run the OS. This is the original Snow Leopard Install disk (I've been running Mavericks).

When you installed Mavericks, it created an invisible "Recovery" volume on your hard drive.

You can access this Recovery volume by rebooting and holding down the Option key on your keyboard immediately after the boot-chime.

However, as with the Snow Leopard installer, the Recovery volume only lets you do a few limited tasks (including reinstalling the operating system). One of the tricks you can do in an emergency is launch the Terminal from the Recovery volume and use that to delete a few files from your Mac to make some room. (No need for that now.)

You can also run the Disk Utility from the Recovery volume and this is an important tool. Since you filled up your boot drive, you probably corrupted a few files on the drive, including directory information. (You may have gotten lucky, but probably did corrupt your boot drive's directory structure.) It's a good idea to run a disk repair from the Disk Utility while booted from the Recovery volume to repair such damage before the corruption spreads.

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Quote
mrlynn

Quote
wave rider
Can you run in 10.9 safe mode?

In my ill-fated attempt to install Mavericks last year, I was unable to start from the SL disk. Was glad Mavericks started in safe mode.

=wr=

Ah, =wr=, that worked! I had forgotten about Safe Mode (F8 in WinXP, if I remember). Booted in Safe Mode, deleted all the photos that were copies of those on my iMac, and gained back 70+ GB on my 250GB HD. All is well. Thanks.

Robert, I should make a boot drive, as you suggest.

AA: Was able to run DU from the SL install disk; repaired permissions.

/Mr Lynn

Ooaahh, I love the smell of a successful troubleshoot in the afternoon...

Yay!

=wr=

Quote
Onamuji

. . . You can also run the Disk Utility from the Recovery volume and this is an important tool. Since you filled up your boot drive, you probably corrupted a few files on the drive, including directory information. (You may have gotten lucky, but probably did corrupt your boot drive's directory structure.) It's a good idea to run a disk repair from the Disk Utility while booted from the Recovery volume to repair such damage before the corruption spreads.

Thanks, Onamuji— MBP was acting weird (Finder blanking out repeatedly), so followed your suggestion, and that seems to have solved the problem.

Now my Copy.com synchronization between my iMac and MBP seems not to be working. Got to figure that out. . .

Oh— Will reinstalling Mavericks from the Recovery volume just install a fresh copy of the OS and leave the data alone? Or will it wipe the drive?

/Mr Lynn



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/2015 05:53PM by mrlynn.