2017 iMac. Flashing folder with question mark. Any way to get stuff off the drive?

[iMas70]

This morning I was greeted with the dreaded flashing folder with a question mark. The machine has been flawless since new. I followed the info I found below. When I click on Disk Utility it takes me to macOS Base System. The only thing I can do there is click on first aid and partition. If I click reinstall macOS. It takes me to that screen. I click continue. It gives me the option to agree or disagree. Then it tells me to select the drive where I want to install macOS. There isn’t anything listed.

I’m thinking the drive has checked out. And a lot of stuff is stored in the cloud. But I believe I still have things on the Drive that I would like to get if possible. Is there a fix for this? If not, any way to access what is on the drive. My time capsule stopped updating a while ago. My fault for not following up on that.

This is what I followed -

Here's a quick way to tell:
Boot to INTERNET recovery.
Command-OPTION-R
at boot

If you connect via wifi, you'll need your wifi password.
The internet utilities take a little while to load, be patient as you see the globe spin.

Try this... I suggest right now.
Then... get back to us.

Does it boot to internet recovery?
If so, your logic board is good.

While you're booted that way, try this:
Open disk utility.
Check to see if there's a "view" menu. If there IS, go to it and choose "show all devices".

Now look at the list on the left.
The top line should be your internal drive.
Does it show up?

If it does, click on it and click "first aid".
Does that go through ok?
If so, click the NEXT line down and repeat.
Etc...

 

[Nermal]

Once you're in Recovery, open Terminal from the menu and type "diskutil list" then supply the result here. You'll likely need to take photos of the screen.

 

[iMas70]

Once you're in Recovery, open Terminal from the menu and type "diskutil list" then supply the result here. You'll likely need to take photos of the screen.

 

[kagharaht]

Is this a Fusion Drive?

 

[iMas70]

Is this a Fusion Drive?

Yes, pretty sure it is.

 

[DeltaMac]

Probably not a fusion drive. The diskutil only shows a variety of different size images, all very small, and nothing that appears to be useful for any storage -- likely just a result of trying to boot in different ways, and then trying to find a usable drive to format and install a system. AND, there appears to be nothing internal that you can successfully use for storage. The diskutil list does not show anything other than what it thinks is an SSD, and does not show anything that might be a hard drive (the spinning platter part of a fusion drive), nor does it show the SSD device that would be the other device that is part of a fusion drive. So... it appears to be a 1TB SSD, and that would seem to be dead... All files that are not already backed up are lost, unfortunately. You can contact a data recovery service, such as DriveSavers, and see what they have to say.

 

[Nermal]

The diskutil only shows a variety of different size images, all very small, and nothing that appears to be useful for any storage -- likely just a result of trying to boot in different ways

Those tiny volumes are normal when booted into Internet Recovery. However, like you say, the real drive isn't showing up and therefore has likely failed.

 

[iMas70]

Yeah, I figured it is done. I looked into DriveSavers. Reviews say most things cost $3000 or more. Looking into https://rossmanngroup.com/. I don’t think there’s anything I really need on there. I believe important stuff is saved in the cloud and I put pictures on an external drive. But I would like to go through what is on there if possible. I was talking to a friend who has computer knowledge. She told me she can just pull the drive from a Windows computer and she has readers to access them. Wondering if it’s possible to do the same with this.

I looked up how much I paid for this in 2018. It was $2819. That same friend was blown away by how much we pay for Apple computers.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

I'm the person who posted the info that you copied in the original post.

Something else to try (target disk mode):
Power down, all way off (pull the plug out of the wall if you must).
Put your finger on the "T" key (only!) and hold it down and KEEP holding it down.
Touch and release the power-on button.
Keep holding down the T key.
Can you get to a point where a flashing icon (I believe it's thunderbolt) is displayed?
If you can, this is target disk mode.

Now use either a thunderbolt or USBc cable (I believe it needs to be USBc) to connect to another Mac.
Does the internal drive show up on the OTHER MAC's desktop?

Another thing to do:
Boot back into INTERNET recovery as you did before.
Open disk utility.
Go to the "view" menu and choose "show all devices".
Look at "the list on the left".
What is the "topmost line"?
TAKE ANOTHER PIC of what that screen shows and post it here.

The top line tells us what KIND of drive is inside.

The iMac might very well have a platter-based HDD inside.
Or, it could have a fusion drive.
If the internal is an SSD, and it has failed, the drive might not "show up at all" -- so I'll guess it's either a fusion drive or an HDD.

As you have discovered, data recovery can be VERY expensive.
You probably DO NOT want to pay to have it recovered. Businesses can afford this, but for many ordinary users it may not be worth the cost.

Perhaps now you have learned what the concept of "backing up your drive" is all about.
Go forth from this day, sadder, but wiser.

More thoughts...
Looking at the images from terminal above... all I can think is... that's way WAY "too many volumes".
Don't know what's been going on with this drive in the past.
Also, look at the size of each and every one of those "volumes". NONE of them are "large enough" to be a bootable Mac drive with apps, accounts, etc.

Something ain't right here.
Do you have a brick n mortar Apple Store nearby?
Might be worth taking it to them to have a look.
I realize it's 9 years old (and they may not touch it for that reason), but if this is software-releated (which I think it is), they might be able to help you find out where your main OS volume went...

Other than that, the iMac may still be usable, but I'm thinking it's going to require
- boot to internet recovery
- ERASE the internal drive
- Re-install whatever OS the Apple servers offer you
- Start again from there.

Good luck.

 

[kagharaht]

Yeah, I figured it is done. I looked into DriveSavers. Reviews say most things cost $3000 or more. Looking into https://rossmanngroup.com/. I don’t think there’s anything I really need on there. I believe important stuff is saved in the cloud and I put pictures on an external drive. But I would like to go through what is on there if possible. I was talking to a friend who has computer knowledge. She told me she can just pull the drive from a Windows computer and she has readers to access them. Wondering if it’s possible to do the same with this.

I looked up how much I paid for this in 2018. It was $2819. That same friend was blown away by how much we pay for Apple computers.

I've used that company way back in the late 90's or early 2000's if my old brain can remember. Twice. They recovered all the data that we thought was gone. It wasn't $3K back then. I think under $1K, but it was worth it since we needed some critical data from company I worked for at the time. Those guys are legit!

 

[iMas70]

OP:

I'm the person who posted the info that you copied in the original post.

Something else to try (target disk mode):
Power down, all way off (pull the plug out of the wall if you must).
Put your finger on the "T" key (only!) and hold it down and KEEP holding it down.
Touch and release the power-on button.
Keep holding down the T key.
Can you get to a point where a flashing icon (I believe it's thunderbolt) is displayed?
If you can, this is target disk mode.

Now use either a thunderbolt or USBc cable (I believe it needs to be USBc) to connect to another Mac.
Does the internal drive show up on the OTHER MAC's desktop?

Another thing to do:
Boot back into INTERNET recovery as you did before.
Open disk utility.
Go to the "view" menu and choose "show all devices".
Look at "the list on the left".
What is the "topmost line"?
TAKE ANOTHER PIC of what that screen shows and post it here.

(snip)

Good luck.

First, thank you for the info you have posted. Very helpful! I rebooted in target disk mode. It get a thunderbolt icon moving around then display. I then connected the computer to my MacBook with a USB-C. The drive doesn’t show up on there.

And this pic is from disk utility.

 

[DeltaMac]

Why is the boot drive (on your MacBook that you are booted from) also not appearing in your Disk Utiliry?
Click on the View icon (top left corner of the Disk Utility window) and choose All Devices from the View drop-down.

 

[iMas70]

Why is the boot drive (on your MacBook that you are booted from) also not appearing in your Disk Utiliry?
Click on the View icon (top left corner of the Disk Utility window) and choose All Devices from the View drop-down.

The photo was taken without the iMac being connected to my laptop. Just shows what the iMac sees.

 

[Ruggy]

What you need to do is run hardware diagnostics.
I think for a 2017iMac that's Reboot and hold down D (lower case works) straight away
Keep holding it until you see a progress bar or language selection. Follow on screen commands
If you have problems with this it maybe you need Option +D (can be marked alt)
They do change these things so you may have to check and you may need an ethernet connection.
Once you've got into hardware diagnostics, choose advanced mode if you have the choice or do the most detailed inspection you can and it will tell you if your hard drive is dead or dying .
You probably have a hard drive problem. If it's severely damaged it may mount but still be unusable because too many sectors are damaged. I spent ages trying to reinstall like this only to find the HD was dying.
From memory, the screen is held on with magnets (again, they change these things) - and there are videos showing how to get the screen off and change out the HD.
Usually it's easy, in the old days you needed a special cable to make the fans work properly is all
Definitely check you don't have a hardware problem before you do anything else in any case otherwise you can easily waste 10 hours playing with it getting nowhere.

 

[Fishrrman]

From reply 13:
"The photo was taken without the iMac being connected to my laptop. Just shows what the iMac sees."

Boot to target disk mode again.
Connect it to another Mac again.
Open disk utility
IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT
Go to the "view" menu and choose "show ALL devices"
NOW take a pic of "the list on the left" and post it here.

Some thoughts:
The iMac internal drive is either broken (mechanical or circuit board failure), or it's hopelessly "munged up" through software. Hmmm... maybe a bad connecting cable (but you'd have to open it to find out).

Whatever files are on the drive probably cannot be saved. Perhaps if you're willing to spend THOUSANDS of dollars for data recovery -- not worth it.

You MIGHT be able to completely erase the internal drive and start over "fresh". This assumes there are no hardware/controller board failures on the drive.

If you can't revive the internal drive, the iMac is still VERY usable -- IF you connect an external SSD (I recommend USB3.1 gen2), put an OS onto it, and set it to be "the new boot drive". It will have years of life left in it.

 

[iMas70]

What you need to do is run hardware diagnostics.
I think for a 2017iMac that's Reboot and hold down D (lower case works) straight away
Keep holding it until you see a progress bar or language selection. Follow on screen commands
If you have problems with this it maybe you need Option +D (can be marked alt)
They do change these things so you may have to check and you may need an ethernet connection.
Once you've got into hardware diagnostics, choose advanced mode if you have the choice or do the most detailed inspection you can and it will tell you if your hard drive is dead or dying .
You probably have a hard drive problem. If it's severely damaged it may mount but still be unusable because too many sectors are damaged. I spent ages trying to reinstall like this only to find the HD was dying.
From memory, the screen is held on with magnets (again, they change these things) - and there are videos showing how to get the screen off and change out the HD.
Usually it's easy, in the old days you needed a special cable to make the fans work properly is all
Definitely check you don't have a hardware problem before you do anything else in any case otherwise you can easily waste 10 hours playing with it getting nowhere.

It didn’t give me an option to choose advanced. I ran a diagnostics test that came back as no issues found.

 

[iMas70]

From reply 13:
"The photo was taken without the iMac being connected to my laptop. Just shows what the iMac sees."

Boot to target disk mode again.
Connect it to another Mac again.
Open disk utility
IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT
Go to the "view" menu and choose "show ALL devices"
NOW take a pic of "the list on the left" and post it here.

Some thoughts:
The iMac internal drive is either broken (mechanical or circuit board failure), or it's hopelessly "munged up" through software. Hmmm... maybe a bad connecting cable (but you'd have to open it to find out).

Whatever files are on the drive probably cannot be saved. Perhaps if you're willing to spend THOUSANDS of dollars for data recovery -- not worth it.

You MIGHT be able to completely erase the internal drive and start over "fresh". This assumes there are no hardware/controller board failures on the drive.

If you can't revive the internal drive, the iMac is still VERY usable -- IF you connect an external SSD (I recommend USB3.1 gen2), put an OS onto it, and set it to be "the new boot drive". It will have years of life left in it.

I just tried target disk mode and connected my laptop again. After about 5 minutes I got a message on my laptop that said “The disk you attached was not readable by this computer”.