A1286 not booting

[Very Nervous]

Macbook no longer starting up. It gets halfway through the splash screen and quits.

I have tried to boot in safe mode (shift key) to no avail.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be awesome as I can't afford to lose this computer or the memories on it.

Thank you in advance!

 

[honestone]

We need a lot more information:

1. What exact Mac book model is it?

2. What Mac OS are you running?

3. Have you ever done any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, from a software perspective? You actually can do a good amount of disk cleanup on your own, and there are some excellent programs available (both free and commercial) that can help you with those tasks.

4. Along with #3. how much free space is on your internal drive?

5. This is critical: are you making backups to an external device? If (hopefully) you are, what software are you using for that task?

Once we have that information, we can help you better.

Oh, and one more thing: how are you making posts here? Is it with another Mac?

 

[Very Nervous]

Thanks for the quick reply!

1. MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.66 15" Mid-2010
A1286 (EMC 2353*)
MacBookPro6,2
500 GB HDD

2. OSX High Sierra

3.I have used Disk Utility booted in recovery mode to try and First Aid the HD with an error message. Willing to try any suggestion.

4.102GB of free space

5. I have made external backups but it has been quite some time ago. I don't remember how long . . . but there are recent files that would be lost. I am kicking myself for not staying more on top that!

Happy to provide any additional information.

Thank you very much for your help!

 

[honestone]

First, while Disk Utility is OK, that is nowhere near enough when it comes to disk cleanup.

Secondly, without a recent backup, whatever can be suggested to help you would be very risky. Additionally, there is the issue of the age of your internal drive. If it is the original one, and especially if hardly any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs have been done, that is not good.

Can you use the machine at all? If not, how are you making posts here?

Also, what was the error message you got when you ran Disk Utility?

 

[Very Nervous]

I was afraid that you might say that.

Unfortunately, it is the original hard drive and the only software that i have been using is Disk Utility and CCleaner.
What would you suggest, in the future, that I use for disk cleanup?

The machine will not boot. I have only been able to get it to go into recovery mode.
I am posting from a work computer that I borrowed to try and figure this out.

When attempting to run "First Aid" in Disk Utility:
The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely.
File system check exit code is 8.
Restoring original state found as mounted.
Problem -69842 occurred while while restoring the original mount state.
File system verify or repair failed.
Operation failed

 

[honestone]

I have never seen any reviews of CCleaner, so it's difficult to say how good/effective it is. Myself I use the excellent freeware program Onyx: https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html, and the very good commercial program Tech Tool Pro: https://www.micromat.com/products/techtool-pro. I also make a concerted effort to do as much disk cleanup on my own. In fact, I am doing it daily a number of times, with most of that being having deleted EMails permanently removed. Here are some additional excellent free programs you can use:

AppCleaner - Available from here: https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/

A stellar performer! As you can see via that link, it will get rid of most stuff associated with an application that you wish to delete.

GrandPerspective - Available from here: http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/

Nifty graphical way to see which files are on your drive. Good way to identify large ones that you might not need.

Malwarebytes - Available from here: https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

Good to use if you see adware and/or suspect you might have a virus. It also is good to run it every so often, even if nothing is wrong.

ClamXAv - Available from here: https://www.clamxav.com/

More extensive than Malwarebytes in terms of finding viruses. You can use it in demo mode, and it still has just about full functionality.

It definitely sounds like it's the hard drive, and most likely needs to be replaced. Is the machine you borrowed a Mac or a PC? If it's a PC, do you know anyone who owns a Mac? Using a Mac, it should be possible to get as many of your critical files (ie, documents, spreadsheets) copied to an external device.

 

[Very Nervous]

Thank you for the suggestions.

In the future I will definitely do a better job of maintaining the drive!

I have a friend that I can borrow a mac from. Are you referring to Target Disk mode with a thunderbolt cable? I have tried using Disk Utility to create a hd image and back up to an external hard drive (that is formatted for macs) without any luck.

Sounds like I really goofed.

 

[honestone]

Yes, Target Disk Mode is what I am referring to. You stated above that you have a "prior" Time Machine Backup, so I am assuming you would want "stuff" from it. Also, while connected to the other Mac, you should (hopefully) be able to get as many critical files/folders/documents etc. as you can onto an external device.

If and when you do a recovery, starting with the Time Machine backup, the software you had at that time is what you will get (I am referring to third party programs here. Apple software will be installed with whatever OS you install). Then of course you can retrieve those files/folders/documents, etc. you saved above.

If you do decide to either replace the hard drive inside your current machine, or purchase a newer Mac, this project will be somewhat of a challenge. Just make sure you have a good plan and you should be ok.

 

[Very Nervous]

Bad news:

I have started my mac in target disk mode with thunderbolt cable connected to both machines. However, on my friends mac I cannot see the my hd as a connected device?

Secondly, I have looked into time machine while in recovery mode to verify the last backup date and it has been in a loading loop for the past half an hour.

Should I lose all hope?

 

[honestone]

Unfortunately, that does not sound good. I don't use Time Machine (I prefer SuperDuper!), so I have no idea why that is occurring.

I guess the only other thing to try is to remove your internal drive, enclose it in an external case, and then connect it to your friend's Mac. But that is a 50-50 proposition, as one would have expected it to be seen.