Reinstalling/fixing corrupted OS

[chscag]

Block by block cloning is a left over method used by Windows cloning applications. It's likely most folks who are familiar with Norton Ghost or Acronis might be thinking that all cloning software works the same way. However, there are Windows apps that can now clone using the file by file method - "Clonezilla", "EaseUS", Paragon, etc.

Speaking of fragmentation (mentioned above) the once expensive Mac program "iDefrag" is now open and free. The only problem is that it doesn't work with APFS and it's 32 bit.

[MacInWin]

honestone33, I think just about all of the "cloners" can do either way. I use CCC and I know it can do both. However the default is file-by-file. Sector-by-sector is, as Charlie said, an old Windows technique that even Windows no longer uses. I can think of two possible uses for sector-by-sector: 1) To make a clone of an encrypted drive without having to unencrypt it first. Since it is blindly copying whatever is in the sector to the same sector on the copy, that clone process would not care about the encryption. 2) To make multiple simultaneous copies of a drive image. Think about a company that has employees who all have identical laptops and desktops with identical drive models. The company has ONE image of a standard installation and does a sector-by-sector copy of the master to multiple copies in parallel. Those drives could also be encrypted with a standard security password that is given to new employees who all have to change it to their password to open it up.

And that's about all I can think of.

[PaulMerki]

Hey! So I could access the control menu at startup, the place where you can restore from time machine backup and whatnot. In that menu i tried to repair, but it didn't work.
Installing a new version of OS on the internal SSD didn't work because there wasn't enough space, so I installed it on an external HDD.

So when I boot up now, I log in like usual, the external HDD needs to be connected or else it won't start, the apple logo comes and the loading bar, then shuts off before completely loading. The external HDD does appear on the desktop, and I've gotten messages like "Please eject Macintosh HDD safely before you remove".

Accessing files are very slow as well, and it appears everything came with the installation of OS from the boot menu, as the external HDD has just as much space taken up as the internal SSD.

So, I need to get the external HDD copy onto the macintosh HDD, I think. But I'm a bit unsure if I'm completely off track in my thinking somehow as I don't know a lot about computers, and wanted to get some advice first. That's why I just tried making a backup first, or replacing the Macintosh HDD with the external one, where i get the "The source volume is readable and writable and cannot be removed from the desktop, so it cannot be copied block by block" error.

There is the delete Macintosh HDD option, but that's always a bit scary if you're not completely sure what's going on.

Hallo
I had the same problem: Macbook was not booting after I tried to reaload a CCC copy. There was a problem with the boot block (it looked like the SSD was nor more able to boot). Started with Apple Logo, but then shut down after ⅔ of the startup bar. When I tried to connect the MacBook to another one in T mode, that Macbook also shut down. Very wired.
The only help: reformatt your Macbook (hold cmd R when just after you pushed the startup button).
Paul

[Nighthawk4]

I had that problem with installing Mojave. I had to reformat and reinstall, using a backup as the source for my data.


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[Rod]

This I where the advantages of a bootable macOS installer really shine.
I too had a corrupted macOS Mojave boot volume on my MBP. CCC clone was also fried and could not boot. It appears that whatever happened to the boot volume on my MBP got copied to the clone. That can be avoided by running a data check as part of the cloning process but it's much slower.
I was saved a lot of time and effort by having a thumb drive with a bootable macOS installer. Even though it was a High Sierra installer I was able to boot, erase my internal drive (you have to do this to install an earlier OS) install HS then upgrade back to Mojave. All my personal data and apps on the clone were intact so just copied them back to the new version of Mojave.
As an emergency recovery tool a bootable macOS installer on a USB thumb drive is cheap, easy to create at each major upgrade (you must do it before running the upgrade installer app because it is erased after use) and can be created using Terminal or a free app like DiskMakerX.
It could also be used in conjunction with Time Machine to perform a retrograde install of a previous OS; erase with the USB drive, install previous OS, restore data from Time Machine.


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[pm-r]

@honestone33

I am going to use it to create a bootable Mojave OS installer on a USB drive right after I am done posting here.

You may have some problems getting DiskMaker X to work properly unless you have recently enabled your Spotlight to work as DiskMaker X relies on it as it tries to find the OS X Install program with Spotlight as you might have read at the developers sight.

And so, yet another reason for enabling Spotlight and letting it do its thing. It seems a lot of software uses the Spotlight database.

Just wanted to mention the fact in case you ran into problems as DiskMaker X tries to find the OS X Install program with Spotlight's database.


- Patrick
======

[Rod]

I must admit I had a feeling that Spotlight probably does stuff "under the hood" that i wasn't aware of. I was under the impression (rightly or wrongly) that the Finder was dependent on it as well. Whatever the case I would be loath to disable the system indexing system if, for no other reason, because I don't know exactly what it does or what might be dependent on it.

[Slydude]

How is that a defect in Spotlight?

[pm-r]

How is that a defect in Spotlight?

Well Sly, I guess that leaves at least both of us scratching our heads in bewilderment???

But I wonder if DiskMaker X provides a means of manually looking for the installer file instead of relying on a spotlight search find it??? I've never tried it as I don't need it with multiple bootable volumes readily at hand.


- Patrick
======

[pm-r]

Gheese...

You did not answer my question above, regarding "Where did you get this notion that Diskmaker X relies on Spotlight?".

Again, yes, just as I posted in my #30 post!!!

In case you missed it:

You may have some problems getting DiskMaker X to work properly unless you have recently enabled your Spotlight to work as DiskMaker X relies on it as it tries to find the OS X Install program with Spotlight as you might have read at the developers site.

And you could have checked at the developers site:

As soon as you launch the application, it tries to find the OS X Install program with Spotlight.

DiskMaker X

Luckily, it seems that it also provides alternate methods.

Amen.


- Patrick
======

[Nighthawk4]

Must do that before Catalina is released in case I need to go back to Mojave.

No idea if my software is 32 bit. I know how to check on iPad but not on Mac.

I assume a 32 GB memory stick is enough?


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[Slydude]

@Nighthawk4 A 32 GB stick will be more than enough. In fact, an 8 GB stick should be sufficient.

This article gives you two methods of finding 32-bit apps on your Mac. Personally, I prefer the first method.

[Nighthawk4]

Thanks


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[Nighthawk4]

Running Diskmaker now. I setup the Accessibility as advised in the PDF and it found the Installer file in Applications.

Not sure if Spotlight is on or not.


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[Rod]

I like method one as too. Good article as well, it mentions the delay in displaying the app list which put some people off initially because they thought it wasn't working. It can take a while but you just need to be patient.


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