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What does this mean on my iMac?
- Thread starter DotCom2
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Prohibitory symbol
When you see a circle with a slash symbol instead of the Apple logo, it means your Mac couldn't find a valid System Folder to start up from.
If you're using your Mac at a school or business, it might be trying to start from the wrong version of macOS. Contact your IT department for more help.
If this is your personal Mac, try reinstalling macOS using macOS recovery.
This is from an Apple website.
When you see a circle with a slash symbol instead of the Apple logo, it means your Mac couldn't find a valid System Folder to start up from.
If you're using your Mac at a school or business, it might be trying to start from the wrong version of macOS. Contact your IT department for more help.
If this is your personal Mac, try reinstalling macOS using macOS recovery.
This is from an Apple website.
Backup your data now!
...just in case your drive is about to die.
...just in case your drive is about to die.
I have Time Machine setup. Is that good enough?
I am fairly new to Mac and I've never had to use TM so hoping that will suffice in case of a prob?
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When I rebooted everything was fine but I just don't know why it happened. It's only 2 1/2 years old.Prohibitory symbol
When you see a circle with a slash symbol instead of the Apple logo, it means your Mac couldn't find a valid System Folder to start up from.
If you're using your Mac at a school or business, it might be trying to start from the wrong version of macOS. Contact your IT department for more help.
If this is your personal Mac, try reinstalling macOS using macOS recovery.
This is from an Apple website.
I always recommend two backups, regardless if it's a Mac or Windows PC or other.
I would also recommend using Carbon Copy Cloner (will make a bootable backup of your drive, which TM doesn't do). As EugW stated, it is best to have a backup of your backup. Most of the time Time Machine works well. However, there have been numerous times where the Time Machine backup will be corrupted and you may not know it until it is too late.
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Hard drives sometimes fail slowly. Just keep in mind as you are working with your mac. Be prepared. Might not happen but always be prepared. Hard three teammates windows hard drives fail within 3 weeks. All failed slowly. Not fun. One didn't have backups and lost lots of work. Lesson learned.
I'll add a vote for SuperDuper. While I do use time machine, the process involves reinstalling the OS, and then restoring the backup from the Time Machine disk. It seems like it takes a long time.
Having SuperDuper allows you to back up to a bootable disk. When it fails, then you can boot off the SuperDuper version and copy the system, files and settings in one fell swoop.
The down side of SuperDuper is that if your system was somehow corrupted, it will be corrupted on the copy.
That is why many people (myself included) do both on a regular basis. Depending on how the drive fails, one might be superior.
But while you are getting the drive replaced, you can continue to work off the copy.
In fact, I had a 2011 iMac and got a Thunderbolt external SSD that I used for about a year as my boot drive just because it was way faster than my spinning drive.
Having SuperDuper allows you to back up to a bootable disk. When it fails, then you can boot off the SuperDuper version and copy the system, files and settings in one fell swoop.
The down side of SuperDuper is that if your system was somehow corrupted, it will be corrupted on the copy.
That is why many people (myself included) do both on a regular basis. Depending on how the drive fails, one might be superior.
But while you are getting the drive replaced, you can continue to work off the copy.
In fact, I had a 2011 iMac and got a Thunderbolt external SSD that I used for about a year as my boot drive just because it was way faster than my spinning drive.
Thanks for all the tips guys.
One more question though.
If my drive does go out, can it be replaced in an iMac? Can they take it apart or replace the whole computer? I still have a lil over two months left on my AppleCare.
Is it possible to lug the whole thing (27") down to an Apple Store and can they run some diagnostics on it?
One more question though.
If my drive does go out, can it be replaced in an iMac? Can they take it apart or replace the whole computer? I still have a lil over two months left on my AppleCare.
Is it possible to lug the whole thing (27") down to an Apple Store and can they run some diagnostics on it?
I found out that Apple has an online diagnostic tool which I ran and it showed NO PROBLEMS, so don't know what was up with that screen but in any event, I ordered a new external hard drive and am getting Carbon Copy Cloner for it as well as running TM so keeping my fingers crossed.
Sometimes it could happen that a Mac gets confused what startup disk to use and doesn't boot into any if you don't hold option(alt) for the "boot manager" to show up before you see that sign.
Going to System Preferences and set it to the correct one again, even if there is only one listed (Recovery is hidden there), should help when it's just a software issue.
Going to System Preferences and set it to the correct one again, even if there is only one listed (Recovery is hidden there), should help when it's just a software issue.
You're probably fine if the diagnostics checked out. Usually, I just use the first aid tool in the disk utility if I have any suspicions.
Sometimes there really is just a weird glitch and everything is fine. But putting a solid backup strategy in place is a necessary prophylactic measure in any case.