Help! I can't boot

[ChristianV89]

Hi.

I have a big problem.
I've wanted to update my macbook pro with some app store system updates (I can't remember which)

When the update began it all looked fine. But when it said "less than one minute remaning" it froze. I waited for 3-4 hours but nothing happend. I've read on several forums that other people had the same problems, and they eventually had to force shutdown the mac. So i did so too (knowing it could have potential risks). And it did.

After the force shutdown, i wanted to start the mac again. The screen with the apple logo and the procesbar appeared as usual, but just before reaching half way, the screen started flickering and the mac froze again.

I then tried to boot in safe mode, but i couldn't.
I can boot in single user mode and in startup manager.

The thing is, I have some files on the mac, which really means alot. Are there a small chance that i somehow could get those file copied to a external drive or something??? I really really hope someone can help me.
It doesn't matter if the mac works afterwards, I just really want those files.

Please help me.

 

[Kissmyne]

To get files off of a Mac if it won't boot, you would need to either have a bootable OS X usb drive, or you can try Target Disk Mode (https://support.apple.com/kb/PH10725?locale=en_US)

Boot to recovery(CMD +R), go to disk utility, verify disk, if necessary, repair disk, repair disk permissions as well(I have seen lots of disk permissions issues with OS X update failures), attempt to reboot after completing these steps, if it worked successfully the computer will take a few minutes to complete the initial update/upgrade.

If that doesn't work then you can go back to Recovery, and click reinstall OS X. This typically will not delete your documents or files, but will reinstall all OS X components. Ideally your Mac will be up and running at this point, with files intact. If this doesn't resolve then you may need to do an Erase and Reinstall(https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201376), Keep in mind that this will wipe all data off the disk.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

I realize this doesn't help you now, but your experience demostrates why a savvy Mac user ALWAYS maintains a separate external bootable backup drive.

If you had one, it would be a matter of connecting the drive and rebooting, and you would be booted to the finder again in a couple of minutes.

Again, I realize this doesn't help you now.
But go forth from this day, and learn.

Having said that, what kind of Mac do you have?
If the internal drive is "accessible", it's probably a matter of taking the drive out of the non-booting computer, putting it into a USB3/SATA dock, and connecting it to ANOTHER Mac -- after which you should be able to access the files.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Hi.

I have a big problem.
I've wanted to update my macbook pro with some app store system updates (I can't remember which)

When the update began it all looked fine. But when it said "less than one minute remaning" it froze. I waited for 3-4 hours but nothing happend. I've read on several forums that other people had the same problems, and they eventually had to force shutdown the mac. So i did so too (knowing it could have potential risks). And it did.

After the force shutdown, i wanted to start the mac again. The screen with the apple logo and the procesbar appeared as usual, but just before reaching half way, the screen started flickering and the mac froze again.

I then tried to boot in safe mode, but i couldn't.
I can boot in single user mode and in startup manager.

The thing is, I have some files on the mac, which really means alot. Are there a small chance that i somehow could get those file copied to a external drive or something??? I really really hope someone can help me.
It doesn't matter if the mac works afterwards, I just really want those files.

Please help me.

See if resetting PRAM will help: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063