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I'm dead!! :,( how can I restore to yesterday my MacOS Leopard?! all work files gone!

Screen shots

Just a little tip to the OP: there's a utility on your Mac called Grab that you can use to take screen shots rather than taking photos of your monitor.
 
Denarius said:
Just a little tip to the OP: there's a utility on your Mac called Grab that you can use to take screen shots rather than taking photos of your monitor.
Click to expand...

The OP did use that in later screenshots.

And while booted from the installer DVD, one can't make screenshots via Grab or CMD+SHIFT+1/2/3/4.
 
it didnt work as well :( it just boots up from main macos...

ps, icons are from http://iconfactory.com/freeware/preview/flrs

spinnerlys said:
Shut down the computer.

Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.

On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.

Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.

Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Click to expand...
 
Do you have access to any other Mac?

Doesn't matter if it is PPC or x86 (Intel), it just has to have Firewire.

Or if it is an x86 Mac, try to boot from the USB HDD on that one.

Maybe the facepalm poster has another suggestion later on.
 
I don't understand why your "theme" or whatever you did is not allowing you to boot normally, but make sure you don't shut down the machine or use it for anything until you retrieve some files.

You could also take your hard drive out of the machine and see if you can do something with it that way, like take it to a mac store.

But don't take it out of the machine until you check it with the smarter people on these boards than I am.

You are going to have to spend money on this. It is never cost effective to not have back up. The cheapest backup I've seen is you get a bare hard drive and use one of those Apricot adapters, you just plug it straight into the hard drive without a case. They are like 30 bucks, but you also need a bare hard drive.

If you are stuck, I'll sell you mine. You can plug in SATA and PATA both desktop and laptop drives but it is only USB, you cannot boot from USB, only back up.
 
off! why can't I see my USB plugged items at start up (ALT pressed panel)?! external HDD, pendrive, etc.

it is snow leopard, and there is nothing like enabling usb for boot up as I found out from googling.

I'm going to loose my mind very soon!!!!
 
OP, based on the current status of the situation and your inability to resolve certain issues, I would say your best bet is to seek a professional service to help in recovering your data... assuming it is truly as important as you indicate, because it won't be cheap

As a wise man once said, "you gotta know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em"

If that is unacceptable to you, then I would strongly suggest you retrace your steps and start over with spinnerlys post from earlier, taking your time to make sure you follow each step precisely and accurately in formatting and installing the OS

There should be no reason you cannot do a clean install of the OS on your external USB drive and boot from it, unless we are missing some information or there was something not right about the installation

spinnerlys said:
Just connect the external HDD to your Mac, put the Mac OS X install DVD into your SuperDrive, boot from the DVD via pressing and holding C during startup.

Select your language, go to Utilities > Disk Utility, select the external HDD, format it with Mac OS Extended (Journaled), quit the Disk Utility application and choose that external HDD during the installation process to be the one the OS gets installed on.

Further reading on how to use Disk Utility: http://macs.about.com/od/applications/ss/diskutilformat.htm
Click to expand...
 
MacDawg said:
If that is unacceptable to you, then I would strongly suggest you retrace your steps and start over with spinnerlys post from earlier, taking your time to make sure you follow each step precisely and accurately in formatting and installing the OS

There should be no reason you cannot do a clean install of the OS on your external USB drive and boot from it, unless we are missing some information or there was something not right about the installation
Click to expand...

I already found some professionals who makes recovery, but they want my hdd for a week or more. Nowadays I'm working on a very important and tight deadline project. I can't give my laptop even a day :( that's im forcing to sort out myself!

I made the steps from sctract maybe 10 times since yesterday. Everything is going well until booting up. Mac OS installing to external HDD complete successfully. i see success message, i see system files in hdd. i see it at Startup Disk list... but somehow I can't see that at bootup at ALT key pressed option screen!

here is the latest info for the hdd
20100316-ejy45uwfiaswitkdadq13j19yt.jpg
 
*Subscribe*

Sorry for your pain, I hope you get it sorted soon! I don't know the solution, but after reading this would like to see you get it sorted out :)

Denarius said:
Just a little tip to the OP: there's a utility on your Mac called Grab that you can use to take screen shots rather than taking photos of your monitor.
Click to expand...

I didn't know this, so thanks :)
 
thanks for good luck wish. ps I so often use skitch.com for screenshots, etc... and LittleSnapper for collection. you may interest.

AdamA9 said:
*Subscribe*

Sorry for your pain, I hope you get it sorted soon! I don't know the solution, but after reading this would like to see you get it sorted out :)



I didn't know this, so thanks :)
Click to expand...
 
One thing that did occur to me, is there any reason why he shouldn't install the program to the external HD, but boot into his normal OS and run it from there?
 
Denarius said:
One thing that did occur to me, is there any reason why he shouldn't install the program to the external HD, but boot into his normal OS and run it from there?
Click to expand...

unfortuneately i cant run Data Rescue 3 for the hdd I'm running on. :/
 
macmania82 said:
unfortuneately i cant run Data Rescue 3 for the hdd I'm running on. :/
Click to expand...

No what I meant was install the software on the external, boot to the internal and then execute the program from the external while booted from the internal.

Edit: sorry I just understood what you meant.

Here's a desperate measure I can think of. Try creating two partitions on the external, and see how that does. I was just thinking that perhaps forcing the system to rewrite the partition table might help.

Edit (again): Have you tried connecting to a different USB port?
 
Denarius said:
No what I meant was install the software on the external, boot to the internal and then execute the program from the external while booted from the internal.

Edit: sorry I just understood what you meant.
Click to expand...

I just tried, it doesnt allow. :/
 
Denarius said:
One thing that did occur to me, is there any reason why he shouldn't install the program to the external HD, but boot into his normal OS and run it from there?
Click to expand...

Thank you. That should work too.
Could'a/would'a/should'a thought of that earlier. ;)

macmania82 said:
unfortuneately i cant run Data Rescue 3 for the hdd I'm running on. :/
Click to expand...

Why can't you run Data Rescue for the HDD you're running your current OS on?

Maybe I'm a bit daft right now, but what is the problem there?
 
Time Capsule Save Us

When our house was burglarized in December, our 24" iMac and 12" Powerbook were stolen. The thieves didn't find our Time Capsule which was hidden in another room and had been faithfully backing up our data every hour.

When we purchased a new 27" iMac Migration Assistant put everything exactly in place. We sat down and started computing like nothing had happened.
 
Ray38 said:
When our house was burglarized in December, our 24" iMac and 12" Powerbook were stolen. The thieves didn't find our Time Capsule which was hidden in another room and had been faithfully backing up our data every hour.

When we purchased a new 27" iMac Migration Assistant put everything exactly in place. We sat down and started computing like nothing had happened.
Click to expand...

wow! that's good one! I envy that!!!
 
Ray38 said:
When our house was burglarized in December, our 24" iMac and 12" Powerbook were stolen. The thieves didn't find our Time Capsule which was hidden in another room and had been faithfully backing up our data every hour.

When we purchased a new 27" iMac Migration Assistant put everything exactly in place. We sat down and started computing like nothing had happened.
Click to expand...

Not sure how that is relevant to the OP's problems in restoring his data now

macmania82 said:
is there any altervative application to Data Rescue that you guys can advise? an app that I can run from my current hdd.

just found
# DiskWarrior http://www.alsoft.com/Diskwarrior/index.html
# FileSalvage http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1

i dont know if they are any good.
Click to expand...

Disk Warrior and FileSalvage are both recommended
But you will probably face the same issue as with DataRescue
 
I's not quite fubar yet though.

Do you think you can get another USB or FW HDD for installing Mac OS X on it?

I have the same Mac as you and I have successfully booted from a USB HDD before several times.

And MacDawg is right, you will not get the other programs to run a scan of your system disk, therefore the need for the Mac OS X on an external HDD.

Thus my previous comment about my daftness was quite ... whatever. Still tired.


One other thing though.

You could use CarbonCopyCloner to clone your internal HDD to the external (after the HDD is erased again), and then try to boot from the external HDD, but I think that the USB "chipset" of the external HDD is a little bit stupid in the silicon.
The cloning process will however not transfer the overwritten files. In my logic at least.
 
spinnerlys said:
I's not quite fubar yet though.

Do you think you can get another USB or FW HDD for installing Mac OS X on it?

One other thing though.

You could use CarbonCopyCloner to clone your internal HDD to the external (after the HDD is erased again), and then try to boot from the external HDD, but I think that the USB "chipset" of the external HDD is a little bit stupid in the silicon.
The cloning process will however not transfer the overwritten files. In my logic at least.
Click to expand...

I have already asked my friends for firewire, but i could not find. and it is not very cheap thing :/ and i dont know if it worths to pay that much money for a thing not sure will work :/

I just started CarbonCopyCloner . I will try to boot that way after its completed. Also I will try to scan with Data Rescue that HDD. I think no file can be recovered will be transfered with CCC. anyway, i will give a try. I try everything.
 
the one i use is from old laptop, 2.5". gets power from usb, there is no external power supply.

i just read the support document at your link, also read the linked pages from the one you sent. I have already tried all them. and no success...

Denarius said:
Is the USB drive you're trying to work with USB bus powered or does it have an external power supply?

Quoted from this support document.
Click to expand...
 
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