? Start Up

[deppy24]

Hi. I'm trying to help a colleague who has a ? folder on start up. Mac book pro 13inch 2012, operating mountain Lion.

We've booted in recovery mode and opened disk utility to find no disk other than Disk(0) and the Mac OS X Base System.

My next step was to reset PRAM which as expected did nothing, its a HD problem right?

So I've gone into target mode using my Mac and can see his HD, I can even open files to play a song or movie on my Mac from his HD.

2 questions now. I want to copy his desktop and documents folder (which is the bulk of his work) which I do not have permission to access (red minus in the corner) so how do I access these?

What is going on? Do I suggest fresh Mac OS install or does he need a new HD or something worse?

Any help or suggestions appreciated.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

The ? means it cannot find a valid version of OS X Lion to startup from.

When in TDM, you can do a Get Info on the HD of the MBP, scroll down to Permissions section, click the lock and enter your user password, then you should be able to check Ignore ownership on this volume. That should allow you to the data in those folders.

It could be a failing HD, or just a corrupted OS. I would definitely try to get the data off before doing anything like reinstalling Lion.

C