Installing Mavericks from an external hard drive (very specific issues here)

[Amber]

Ok this is a complicated mess. My husband has a Macbook Pro with OSX on it. I am great with PCs, but I know nothing about Macs really. He downloaded Mavericks from the App Store and didn't realize it would automatically start installing. I don't know what he did, but he's sort of in limbo here. He was able to stop it and keep it from wiping his computer (all of our business information is on it.) I told him a million times to BACK UP HIS DATA, but of course he didn't.

Anyway, he can't do anything but recovery mode with the disk utility basically. I had to download a torrent version of Mavericks on my PC, because I couldn't find a way to download it from Apple directly. I have the DMG file and everything. I did this tutorial (http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-create-an-os-x-10-8-mountain-lion-install-drive/) and created a bootable disc on our external. He tried restarting it and holding down option, but it isn't recognizing the bootable disc on the hard drive.

If he does it this way, it should just update his computer and keep his data. The data on that computer is extremely important. It's years and years of research, personal memories, etc. I'd like some opinions or instructions on how to do this correctly here. I have yet to find any kind of tutorial relating to this. There must be someone out there who has suffered this same issue.

 

[oldscribe]

Hi and welcome,

Firstly

I had to download a torrent version of Mavericks on my PC,

Extremely dodgy do not use this.

I told him a million times to BACK UP HIS DATA

Yes an absolut must.
Try Command -R during startup, it lets you choose from common utilities: but bottom line is I feel you need to take the drive out and connect this to another Mac via external caddy then copy any or all your date from it, then reinstall OS X

 

[Amber]

Oh yay. We don't have any other Macs and my husband is a rare breed among everyone we know. He's the only Mac user. I'll see if he thinks he can do that. Maybe we can find someone who has one. We can't afford to pay for anyone to help with this, so I'm trying to find any way I can. Thank you for the reply.

 

[oldscribe]

Hi,

Please keep us posted.

 

[tompatrick]

Ok this is a complicated mess. My husband has a Macbook Pro with OSX on it. I am great with PCs, but I know nothing about Macs really. He downloaded Mavericks from the App Store and didn't realize it would automatically start installing. I don't know what he did, but he's sort of in limbo here. He was able to stop it and keep it from wiping his computer (all of our business information is on it.) I told him a million times to BACK UP HIS DATA, but of course he didn't.

Anyway, he can't do anything but recovery mode with the disk utility basically. I had to download a torrent version of Mavericks on my PC, because I couldn't find a way to download it from Apple directly. I have the DMG file and everything. I did this tutorial (http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-create-an-os-x-10-8-mountain-lion-install-drive/) and created a bootable disc on our external. He tried restarting it and holding down option, but it isn't recognizing the bootable disc on the hard drive.

If he does it this way, it should just update his computer and keep his data. The data on that computer is extremely important. It's years and years of research, personal memories, etc. I'd like some opinions or instructions on how to do this correctly here. I have yet to find any kind of tutorial relating to this. There must be someone out there who has suffered this same issue.

I will tell you what I did on my Mac when upgraded to OS X 10.9.
First create a partition of about <=100Gb with the help of Disk Utility. Now plug in the bootable usb or dvd to Mac. Your Mac will start and let it know you want to have OS X Mavericks installed in newly created partition. Once you decide to install the OS X on new volume, the Mac will not mess with the already installed OS X or system files. I am afraid if you overwrite the present OS X then you will end up loosing important files from it. To let you know, formatted files are only recoverable through a data recovery software. To get more on the safer side, use a clone software to backup important file so that even if a disaster occurs, your data remains intact in the form of a cloned disk. I am letting you know some good clone my Mac software: Carbon Copy Cloner, Stellar Drive Clone, SuperDuper. These software are paid but saves lot of bucks in case you looses data and choose recovery software. Hope this helps!!!!