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Mac Mini home computer won't boot

buckeye

buckeye

Well-known member
Tried safe mode and single user mode but to no avail. Ran Disk Utility from the install disk and got the error "Reserved fields in the catalog record have incorrect data." Did a google of the error and pretty much the consensus is that a third party utility, such as DiskWarrior, would be needed if I wanted to salvage any of the data. To save $95, I could just reformat and reinstall everything but I don't have any of the data backed up. My question is, if Disk Utility can see the hard drive, but it won't mount, would the Mac Mini hard drive show up and be accessible if I ethernet it to another computer?
 
Instead of networking them w/ ethernet, I would try booting the mini in Target Disk mode. Then use another Mac via FireWire to try to access and repair the disk.
 
MacTwidget,

No dice on the Target Disk mode. The firewire icon came up on the Mac Mini but the Mini never would show up on the other computer.

Erik
 
What that error indicates is that somehow the filesystem have become horribly corrupt. Without going into very techy details, your hard drive has an index, sort if like a map to where all your data is. Without that index, it's just s garbled mess. You will definitely need some kind of recovery software. I recommend Data Rescue 3 Mac Data Rescue, Mac Disk Recovery, Macintosh File Recovery - Prosofteng.com. It will recover data that Disk Warrior or Tech Tools can't. It's a very slow process, but I have had very good luck with it.
 
graficworx,

Thanks for the info. I already ordered DiskWarrior a couple days ago. Hope it does the trick. As far as the corruption, I guess that would explain why when I booted up from the Install Disk and it asked to select a destination, the hard drive wouldn't even show up to restore or re-install the operating system? I'm also guessing that it probably would have let me erase or reformat though?

Erik
 
What a freakin waste of money DiskWarrior was. It still wouldn't show up in the list of hard drives. Does it at least mean the hard drive is functioning properly (spinning up) since I can see it with Disk Utility and am able to erase it?

Erik
 
I would try booting the Apple Hardware Test DVD and see what it says about the disk. Also, if you can see it with Disk Utility you boot from the install DVD but instead of installing, start Disk utility and see if it will repair the HD.
 
Joe,

I already booted up from the Install CD. I ran Disk Utility from there and got the error "Reserved Fields in the Catalog Record Have Incorrect Data." I googled the error and most of the links said a third party utility would be needed to fix the catalog/directory. Nowhere did I get the impression that it could be a bad hard drive but my paranoia meter is making me think so. Will run the hardware test when I get home. Thanks.

Erik
 
Yes, said it couldn't fix it. No unusual noises either. I'm still waiting on a response from DiskWarrior's support department. At this point, it'll be a bonus if I can just erase/reformat and then reinstall everything. Was hoping I could salvage photo's and song's but it's not looking good.

Erik
 
If you haven't yet, try booting into single user mode and running /sbin/fsck -fy. I have read that it fixes this particular problem. I also have read that DiskWarrior should fix this problem as well.
 
Tried Safe, Single User AND Target Mode. Was really thinking DiskWarrior would do the trick though. I know how important my backups at work are, I just wish I would have followed suit at home.

Erik
 
Single user mode produced the error "Invalid sibling link (4, 2633) Volume check failed." I googled that error and one forum reply was two options: Reformat or get DiskWarrior. I did the latter.
 
In Disk Utility do you see the name of the drive in the left panel or just the hard drive manufacturer info? If you see the drive name, chances are the drive is working or semi working. HFS+ rarely gets screwed up, but when it does, it's major. You may still be able to rescue the data if necessary, but formatting it from Disk Utility is always an option. If you chose to format it, I recommend creating a new partition instead of using the old one.
 
I have seen where Disk Warrior works on this and I have also seen where I had to boot up in target disk mode and use Data Rescue II and pull everything off the Mini hard drive a folder at a time to another disk that was mounted to the computer I was using. Took forever and then after pulling everything off and reformatting the drive the dumb thing still did not run. I had to have the guy that I was fixing it for buy and external drive to set up and run off. It is still running like that today.

That's what I encountered. Is it a G4 mini?
 
Yes, I can see the name of the hard drive in the left panel of Disk Utility and yes it is a G4 Mini.

Erik
 
I booted up from the OS X CD so I could go to Utilities in the menu and run Terminal like the link said to but I don't see Utilities in the menu anywhere. WTF?

Erik
 
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