Disk with 2 Partitions. unable to boot Mac OS

[iamrawr]

Hey guys. i'm currently using bootcamp right now but I am unable to boot into the Mac OS of my hard drive. I have a 2010 Macbook Pro using a Momentus XT Hybrid SSD, which was installed in it 5 years ago. I hope it's not a symptom of a hard drive failure. my bootcamp side works as expected.

I am seeking help to be able to boot on El Capitan again. When pressing Alt to switch into bootcamp, the Macintosh HD drive name has changed to EFI boot. when i try to boot on Mac, the progress bar always stops at around 70%, and then it shuts off if it hangs around there for too long. I also tried holding command+R during boot to access recovery mode/disk utility, and it can't find my Macintosh HD OS. only my bootcamp.

Please help! Thanks!

 

[DeltaMac]

How much drive space is allocated to your Boot Camp Windows partition - and how much for that EFI partition?

How long have you had the boot camp Windows installed?
How long has it been since you last booted to your OS X system?
Have you been able to boot to OS X since you last installed Windows?

If you know that your OS X system was named Macintosh HD (the original default name), and the Disk Utility in Recovery mode does not show that partition (only the EFI partition and the boot camp partition), then the OS X partition was probably erased when you installed Windows. In that case, the only way back is to make a new partition, and restore from your most recent OS X backup. This is one of those times that a backup is a Good Thing™

 

[iamrawr]

500gb HD
350gb to Mac OS and 150gb to bootcamp. Bootcamp has been installed for as long as I've had the MacBook minus maybe the first few months I've had it, so practically 5 years. Last time I booted to the OSX system was just yesterday. I switch between OS systems frequently.

Fortunately I do have a backup disk ready. But that is my last resort. And if my laptop can't even see my Macintosh HD in the disk utility, will that be an issue? Thanks.

 

[DeltaMac]

Shut your MBPro off, wait until it is completely off.
Reset SMC by pressing Shift-Control-Option, along with the power button, just once. Release the keys and wait five seconds.
Boot and reset PRAM (holding Option-Command-P-R)
You should hear the boot chime sound. Keep holding the same 4 keys until you hear the boot chime 2 more times.
Release the keys, and hold Command-R to boot to your Recovery system.
Go to Startup Disk. Does your OS X boot volume show there now, and can you select it?
Restart.

If your OS X volume is not showing in the Startup Disk, go to Disk Utility.
If it does NOT show there, then you need a disk repair utility, such as Disk Warrior.

 

[iamrawr]

Thanks for your help sir far, DeltaMac. But I didn't have any luck. Disk utility tried to repair it but I guess I'm gonna have to go to the Apple Store or get a third party repair program..

I'm gonna try to use a time machine backup and see if that will work.

Update: scratch that. It can't even find my external HDD.

 

[DeltaMac]

I think at this point, I would make an attempt to reinstall OS X.
Boot to El Capitan installer (I keep El Capitan installer on a bootable flash drive, just for that occasional use), and see if the install will both see your OS X drive, and complete the reinstall without errors.
That SHOULD reinstall OS X, as something like a repair install for Windows, without losing anything.

However, you may also see that the OS X reinstall won't work, and stops with an error, or reports that the hard drive needs to be repaired, or some other bad result. But, I think it won't hurt anything at this point to try a reinstall. That will sometimes fix up hard drive directory errors - but it will also try to fix errors as you try the install, and may fail then. And now, you will know why it has failed.
Diskwarrior would be a good next step (you will get to buy that software, good to have around, too.)

 

[Fishrrman]

This is why I wouldn't touch BootCamp with a 10-foot pole!

 

[iamrawr]

This is why I wouldn't touch BootCamp with a 10-foot pole!

In its defense, I've been using Bootcamp for years with no problem lol. Bootcamp is able to boot up fine, no different than before and it's the OSX side that's giving me trouble. I prefer OSX but I use Bootcamp for programs that I believe work better or are exclusive to Windows.

As an update, the OSX install wizard recognizes the Macintosh HD drive, but all drives are locked. Any way to unlock them?

 

[iamrawr]

Bump for my last question.

 

[DeltaMac]

Here's the simple answer - it's in multiple parts.
1. Back up your Windows partition, if you don't already have it backed up
2. Back up your OS X partition, too.
3. reformat your drive - wiping all partitions.
4. Reinstall OS X, then restore your back up
5. Run the Boot Camp assistant to recreate your Windows partition, and restore the back up for your Windows software.
And, that's it. If you already have everything backed up that you need, then it won't take too long, possibly less than 2 hours, and you are back in business.

Or, alternatively, as Step 1 - try to repair the drive as it is now with Disk Warrior.
That may be all you need to do.

And, if you do need all the steps, you might consider replacing the drive after step 2 - as it could just be a failing drive.
After 5 years, it has served a good life, and full SSDs continue to come down in price. And, going to a (real) SSD will mean a noticeable jump in performance, better than new