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Mid 2015 Macbook Pro Question Mark Folder & Target Disk Mode Question
- Thread starter MacGekko
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Yes, it's OK.
But you will need to format the drive anyway. I don't think it makes any difference to boot from something external or Internet Recovery.
I am reading that with High Sierra, internet recovery does not work because of an Apple error, something about http vs https and a series of steps to correct it, not sure why I am having a problem with internet recovery on Monterey.
OP:
If you want to try High Sierra first, I will offer you another path to walk.
(just be aware that HS is getting long in the tooth, and that Monterey is considerably "more recent" and more compatible with things today)
You will need a relatively RECENT Mac to do this. I believe you said you have access to one above.
First, go here and download the free utility called "Mist":
(you want the "Mist.0.20.dmg" file)
Release 0.20 · ninxsoft/Mist
Added preliminary support for macOS Sequoia 15 Fixed a bug that prevented retrieving Apple Developer Signing identities from the keychain correctly Fixed a bug that prevented CSV output being expor...github.com
Mist is a VERY nifty and useful utility that enables you to download all versions of the OS, and even create bootable installers.
Once you have Mist, if you scroll down towards the bottom of the list of OS versions it offers, you'll see one for High Sierra.
Download HS.
(you may get a msg that you have to install the privileged helper tool. Go ahead and install it).
NOTE: Mist can't create a bootable installer for High Sierra,
BUT it will download (hopefully) a "good copy".
Now, you need to create the installer.
Get a USB flashdrive 16gb or larger.
Now, download BOTH of the following:
Install disk creator:
AND
Make a Bootable USB macOS Installer Download the update for Big Sur compatibility -
What’s needed for a clean install on a Mac A backup of the disk before it’s erased. Two options are to use Duplicate (a free utility which can copy and paste an entire bootable volume), or Mac Backup Guru (a paid, fully featured backup utility with unique incremental backups capability) for...macdaddy.io
Diskmaker X:
Both are FREE tools that will create bootable installer drives.
WHY download both?
Because if one doesn't work for you -- TRY THE OTHER ONE.
Both are EASY to use -- they should create a bootable flashdrive with a few clicks of the mouse.
I suggest trying Install Disk Creator first.
Then, if that fails, try Diskmaker.
Once you have the install flashdrive ready:
Power down
Insert flashdrive
Hold down OPTION key (don't let go)
Press and release power on button.
Let go of option when you see startup manager
Choose flashdrive and see if you get a good boot to the installer.
If you get that far, try installing a fresh copy of the OS WITHOUT erasing the drive.
Good luck.
OP:
If you want to try High Sierra first, I will offer you another path to walk.
(just be aware that HS is getting long in the tooth, and that Monterey is considerably "more recent" and more compatible with things today)
You will need a relatively RECENT Mac to do this. I believe you said you have access to one above.
First, go here and download the free utility called "Mist":
(you want the "Mist.0.20.dmg" file)Release 0.20 · ninxsoft/Mist
Added preliminary support for macOS Sequoia 15 Fixed a bug that prevented retrieving Apple Developer Signing identities from the keychain correctly Fixed a bug that prevented CSV output being expor...
Mist is a VERY nifty and useful utility that enables you to download all versions of the OS, and even create bootable installers.
Once you have Mist, if you scroll down towards the bottom of the list of OS versions it offers, you'll see one for High Sierra.
Download HS.
(you may get a msg that you have to install the privileged helper tool. Go ahead and install it).
NOTE: Mist can't create a bootable installer for High Sierra,
BUT it will download (hopefully) a "good copy".
Now, you need to create the installer.
Get a USB flashdrive 16gb or larger.
Now, download BOTH of the following:
Install disk creator:
ANDMake a Bootable USB macOS Installer Download the update for Big Sur compatibility -
What’s needed for a clean install on a Mac A backup of the disk before it’s erased. Two options are to use Duplicate (a free utility which can copy and paste an entire bootable volume), or Mac Backup Guru (a paid, fully featured backup utility with unique incremental backups capability) for...
Diskmaker X:
Both are FREE tools that will create bootable installer drives.
WHY download both?
Because if one doesn't work for you -- TRY THE OTHER ONE.
Both are EASY to use -- they should create a bootable flashdrive with a few clicks of the mouse.
I suggest trying Install Disk Creator first.
Then, if that fails, try Diskmaker.
Once you have the install flashdrive ready:
Power down
Insert flashdrive
Hold down OPTION key (don't let go)
Press and release power on button.
Let go of option when you see startup manager
Choose flashdrive and see if you get a good boot to the installer.
If you get that far, try installing a fresh copy of the OS WITHOUT erasing the drive.
Good luck.
So just messing around with this, I tried the bootable installer all in 1 Monterey deal with Mist but that failed at a certain point, now I am going to try downloading the High Sierra file to my Macintosh Hard Drive, originally I thought I should download it to my external hard drive, but after installing Disk Creator, it reports that I need to erase everything on the external hard drive and place the installer there, so I assume once I do that, I can grab the High Sierra file from my Hard Drive but I am not certain.
OP:
If you want to try High Sierra first, I will offer you another path to walk.
(just be aware that HS is getting long in the tooth, and that Monterey is considerably "more recent" and more compatible with things today)
You will need a relatively RECENT Mac to do this. I believe you said you have access to one above.
First, go here and download the free utility called "Mist":
(you want the "Mist.0.20.dmg" file)Release 0.20 · ninxsoft/Mist
Added preliminary support for macOS Sequoia 15 Fixed a bug that prevented retrieving Apple Developer Signing identities from the keychain correctly Fixed a bug that prevented CSV output being expor...
Mist is a VERY nifty and useful utility that enables you to download all versions of the OS, and even create bootable installers.
Once you have Mist, if you scroll down towards the bottom of the list of OS versions it offers, you'll see one for High Sierra.
Download HS.
(you may get a msg that you have to install the privileged helper tool. Go ahead and install it).
NOTE: Mist can't create a bootable installer for High Sierra,
BUT it will download (hopefully) a "good copy".
Now, you need to create the installer.
Get a USB flashdrive 16gb or larger.
Now, download BOTH of the following:
Install disk creator:
ANDMake a Bootable USB macOS Installer Download the update for Big Sur compatibility -
What’s needed for a clean install on a Mac A backup of the disk before it’s erased. Two options are to use Duplicate (a free utility which can copy and paste an entire bootable volume), or Mac Backup Guru (a paid, fully featured backup utility with unique incremental backups capability) for...
Diskmaker X:
Both are FREE tools that will create bootable installer drives.
WHY download both?
Because if one doesn't work for you -- TRY THE OTHER ONE.
Both are EASY to use -- they should create a bootable flashdrive with a few clicks of the mouse.
I suggest trying Install Disk Creator first.
Then, if that fails, try Diskmaker.
Once you have the install flashdrive ready:
Power down
Insert flashdrive
Hold down OPTION key (don't let go)
Press and release power on button.
Let go of option when you see startup manager
Choose flashdrive and see if you get a good boot to the installer.
If you get that far, try installing a fresh copy of the OS WITHOUT erasing the drive.
Good luck.
So now I am in a quandary, Disk Creator is not working, it keeps giving me an error message that it can't unmount my external drive but whenever I unhook the drive and bring it back, the same loop, so I try Diskmaker X, that won't run because it reports that my user account is not an admin account, which is true, back from the old reccomendations, my every day user is never an admin, I go into my admin account and Mist won't download anything, gives me an error message about my cache.
Is there another recommended program that can create a bootable installer drive?
You can partition the drive for a bootable installer and only that small partition needs to be formatted. If I remember correctly it only needs 8GB, could also be a little more.
Do you have a backup and tried to format your internal drive? If this is not working it's a hardware damage. And if it works, installing a clean macOS should also work.
You could also try to install macOS on an external drive. That even should work from within macOS. If the Installer is supported.
I don't know what those admin things mean.
But you don't need Mist to download.
Do you want to install High Sierra or Montery? You can still download the 10.13.6 intaller from the AppStore if that Mac supports it.
There is strangely no direct link to an Apple server for the installer on the where website I am always looking for those links, what is strange because there are links for Sierra down to Lion and all the newer ones. Only Mavericks is missing everywhere. I wonder if it's still in my purchases.
Also the AppStore link has "itunes' written in it instead of "apps" for all the other versions:
macOS High Sierra
New technologies at the heart of the system make your Mac more reliable, capable, and responsive — and lay the foundation for future innovations. macOS High Sierra also refines the features and apps you use every day. It’s macOS at its highest level yet. Easily organize, edit and view your...
itunes.apple.com
There seems to be something special about that version. I think it was the first one that didn't appear in purchases and so wasn't linked to an Apple ID.
If you want Montery 12.7.6 you can download it directly from an Apple server. After running the InstallAssistant it's in the Applications folder and you can create a bootable installer with whatever is working for those version now.
InstallAssistant.pkg
The last time I created an external installer was High Sierra, also with DiskMakerX I think or something called Install Disk Creator. I often used those things for 10.7 to 10.13 but that's a while ago.
I recently tried to create several bootable installers on an external SSD with one partition for each version from 10.7 to 15.1, but can't remember how. I think for the newer versions I used Mist and for the older versions DiskMakerX. In Disk Utility it looks like it works, but I didn't try booting from it yet. Also this is an M3 iMac and doesn't support many older versions.
You can partition the drive for a bootable installer and only that small partition needs to be formatted. If I remember correctly it only needs 8GB, could also be a little more.
Do you have a backup and tried to format your internal drive? If this is not working it's a hardware damage. And if it works, installing a clean macOS should also work.
You could also try to install macOS on an external drive. That even should work from within macOS. If the Installer is supported.
I don't know what those admin things mean.
But you don't need Mist to download.
Do you want to install High Sierra or Montery? You can still download the 10.13.6 intaller from the AppStore if that Mac supports it.
There is strangely no direct link to an Apple server for the installer on the where website I am always looking for those links, what is strange because there are links for Sierra down to Lion and all the newer ones. Only Mavericks is missing everywhere. I wonder if it's still in my purchases.
Also the AppStore link has "itunes' written in it instead of "apps" for all the other versions:
macOS High Sierra
New technologies at the heart of the system make your Mac more reliable, capable, and responsive — and lay the foundation for future innovations. macOS High Sierra also refines the features and apps you use every day. It’s macOS at its highest level yet. Easily organize, edit and view your...itunes.apple.com
There seems to be something special about that version. I think it was the first one that didn't appear in purchases and so wasn't linked to an Apple ID.
If you want Montery 12.7.6 you can download it directly from an Apple server. After running the InstallAssistant it's in the Applications folder and you can create a bootable installer with whatever is working for those version now.
InstallAssistant.pkg
The last time I created an external installer was High Sierra, also with DiskMakerX I think or something called Install Disk Creator. I often used those things for 10.7 to 10.13 but that's a while ago.
I recently tried to create several bootable installers on an external SSD with one partition for each version from 10.7 to 15.1, but can't remember how. I think for the newer versions I used Mist and for the older versions DiskMakerX. In Disk Utility it looks like it works, but I didn't try booting from it yet. Also this is an M3 iMac and doesn't support many older versions.
Unique situation over here, mid 2015 Macbook Pro reported a question mark folder upon startup around September 15th, I have a Time Machine backup from August 31st, so I can live with that but there is a TextEdit rtf document that I would like to try to obtain, to get the changes made in those ensuing two weeks, if I lose it, not the end of the world but I would like to retrieve it.
I am trying to do a reinstall of either High Sierra or Monterey, I was on High Sierra when it crashed but Monterey is the last supported OS for that 2015 model.
I am working currently from an M3 2024 Macbook Air, so I need Mist to download a High Sierra reinstall OS version, right now I'm currently trying another go at downloading a Monterey bootable installer through Mist.
If I can successfully reinstall an OS and retrieve that file, great, if after I have tried everything and I can't pull it off, then I am going to erase the disk and try a complete new install as I would like to keep that 2015 computer going a little longer to see what Apple offers as far as the M4 chips go.
All of this is not mission critical but I want to try everything first and right now I am reaching out to see if someone recognizes something that I am not doing correctly to get this bootable installer, I have already tried internet recovery through the Command-Option-R recovery mode, but that gives me an error message at some point in the process as I have documented in earlier posts.
If you changed the default location of Mist’s cache, change it back to the default location.
This is the error I just got on Mist, not sure if this particular download was just the IMG file or it included the bootable installer, I think the latter: ditto: /Volumes/***-****/Applications/Install macOS Monterey.app/Contents/SharedSupport: Operation not permitted
Error creating macOS installer in disk image.
Tried the MDS app and had some other problems, you know there are some frustrating things with macOS, keychain, it brings your passwords over but none of them run, you have to reenter them all on Safari, you enable Filevault and it gives you some message that your school or adminstrator has the recovery key, do some research and you find out this is a glitch if you are running off a Time Machine backup with filevault enabled.
In past attempts to upgrade to a new Macbook Pro, this stuff would work better although keychain was always a bit of a disaster, makes me think I should copy all my documents to a neutral word processor, save all of my bookmarks to Firefox, use a neutral password manager, and at least have an option to move to a Windows PC, even though I don't want to deal with Windows.
Is there a 15 or 16" screen, preferably matte style, PC, that has a comparable slick trackpad and keyboard to a Macbook Air or Pro M3, but under $1200, because if I ever did move, no point for me in doing that if it is going to cost the same as an Air or Pro.
Anyway I digress, it should not be this difficult to get a bootable installer for an older Macbook Pro. My unfounded theory is that 15 or so years of prioritizing the Iphone over the Mac has created some quality issues with macOS, my theory could be built on a house of cards of course.
One of the reasons I prefer macOS is the community is generally very helpful, thank you all for taking the time to help out, going to try a day or two more of resurrecting this mid-2015 Macbook Pro, if anyone wants to chime in with an idea of how to accomplish this, thanks in advance.
The other question is, I was just in recovery mode and Terminal, I was following some Google advice on how to open the Textedit file in question, I was able to invoke the Macintosh HD/users/my username command and Terminal accepted it, on another Google search it says I can input:
- Navigate to the file:
Use the cd command to change directory to where your RTF file is located.
- Example: cd /Users/yourusername/Documents
- Example: cd /Users/yourusername/Documents
- Open the file with TextEdit:
- Type the command: open yourfile.rtf
- Replace "yourfile.rtf" with the actual name of your RTF file.
- Type the command: open yourfile.rtf
Hope this worked for you.
Not sure what was the problem with Mist and DiskMakerX. It's all a little confusing.
You can also just create a bootable installer of High Sierra in Terminal with just one command if you still rather want that one instead of Monterey. You just need to format an external drive or a partition on one correctly.
I found an archived High Sierra installer that can be downloaded to any Mac if you still need that. But I think you already got it from Mist. It doesn't have to be moved into the Application folder, what has a special protection. You could also put it in the download folder for example and replace the folder name in the Terminal command.
macOS.High.Sierra.10.13.6.dmg from archive.org
Step 1. Insert a USB flash drive larger than 16 GB into your Mac.
Step 2. Use Disk Utility to format your USB drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Note that you should leave the scheme as GUID Partition Map.
Step 3. Execute the following command in Terminal to create a macOS High Sierra bootable USB. (Don't forget to replace MyVolume in the command with the name of your USB flash drive.)
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
Step 4. When you see the message "Install media now available at /Volumes/Install macOS High Sierra", quit Terminal.
Here is also some more information from Apple:
support.apple.com
Not sure what was the problem with Mist and DiskMakerX. It's all a little confusing.
You can also just create a bootable installer of High Sierra in Terminal with just one command if you still rather want that one instead of Monterey. You just need to format an external drive or a partition on one correctly.
I found an archived High Sierra installer that can be downloaded to any Mac if you still need that. But I think you already got it from Mist. It doesn't have to be moved into the Application folder, what has a special protection. You could also put it in the download folder for example and replace the folder name in the Terminal command.
macOS.High.Sierra.10.13.6.dmg from archive.org
How to Create a macOS High Sierra Bootable USB Installer
When the macOS High Sierra full installer is ready, follow these steps to create your bootable USB.Step 1. Insert a USB flash drive larger than 16 GB into your Mac.
Step 2. Use Disk Utility to format your USB drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Note that you should leave the scheme as GUID Partition Map.
Step 3. Execute the following command in Terminal to create a macOS High Sierra bootable USB. (Don't forget to replace MyVolume in the command with the name of your USB flash drive.)
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
Step 4. When you see the message "Install media now available at /Volumes/Install macOS High Sierra", quit Terminal.
Here is also some more information from Apple:
Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support
You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system.
I don't think so. Could be worth a try.
@MacGekko
I just wanted to remind you that you can always just install High Sierra to an external drive or a partition of it on your old Mac. Just make sure it's formatted the same way like in my instructions above. You could do the installation either from Recovery or a bootable installer.
In an installed macOS you can do more to the internal drive like from Recovery, where you only have the Terminal and Disk Utility. Like simply try to access the drive in Finder. Or use Recovery Software like Disk Drill for example, if there's a version for High Sierra.
Looks like there are older versions to download.
Disk Drill - Top-Rated Data Recovery Tool for Windows & Mac
Disk Drill is a powerful data recovery software for Windows and Mac. It can recover lost files from any type of storage device, including hard drives, USB flash drives, memory cards, and more.
4.7 is the latest version that should work on High Sierra.
https://dl.cleverfiles.com/diskdrill4.7.dmg
Don't know if there is a Trial for all features. It's in Setapp, what has a Trial, but might not run on High Sierra.
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OP wrote:
"that won't run because it reports that my user account is not an admin account, which is true, back from the old reccomendations, my every day user is never an admin"
Hmmm....
I'll bet this has at least something to do with your "problems".
Get thee into an administrative account, and THEN try some of the solutions you've been offered above...
"that won't run because it reports that my user account is not an admin account, which is true, back from the old reccomendations, my every day user is never an admin"
Hmmm....
I'll bet this has at least something to do with your "problems".
Get thee into an administrative account, and THEN try some of the solutions you've been offered above...
Yesterday I did just that, gave Admin access to my standard user account, using Mist and downloading the Monterey full installer package, it cleared one more hurdle but failed to "bless the drive" were the actual words used when it got to the installer part of the process which was close to the end.
On Diskmaker 7, after changing my Admin status, it gives me this: The disk could not be created because of an error: An error occured: -10006. Finder got an error: Can’t set alias "Install macOS High Sierra:Install macOS High Sierra.app" to {425, 76}.
Last edited:
Hope this worked for you.
Not sure what was the problem with Mist and DiskMakerX. It's all a little confusing.
You can also just create a bootable installer of High Sierra in Terminal with just one command if you still rather want that one instead of Monterey. You just need to format an external drive or a partition on one correctly.
I found an archived High Sierra installer that can be downloaded to any Mac if you still need that. But I think you already got it from Mist. It doesn't have to be moved into the Application folder, what has a special protection. You could also put it in the download folder for example and replace the folder name in the Terminal command.
macOS.High.Sierra.10.13.6.dmg from archive.org
How to Create a macOS High Sierra Bootable USB Installer
When the macOS High Sierra full installer is ready, follow these steps to create your bootable USB.
Step 1. Insert a USB flash drive larger than 16 GB into your Mac.
Step 2. Use Disk Utility to format your USB drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Note that you should leave the scheme as GUID Partition Map.
Step 3. Execute the following command in Terminal to create a macOS High Sierra bootable USB. (Don't forget to replace MyVolume in the command with the name of your USB flash drive.)
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
Step 4. When you see the message "Install media now available at /Volumes/Install macOS High Sierra", quit Terminal.
Here is also some more information from Apple:
Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support
You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system.
Thank you, so I have the Install High Sierra on my desktop, after I put in the Terminal command, is it as simple as just moving the High Sierra file to my properly formatted external hard drive?
Hope this worked for you.
Not sure what was the problem with Mist and DiskMakerX. It's all a little confusing.
You can also just create a bootable installer of High Sierra in Terminal with just one command if you still rather want that one instead of Monterey. You just need to format an external drive or a partition on one correctly.
I found an archived High Sierra installer that can be downloaded to any Mac if you still need that. But I think you already got it from Mist. It doesn't have to be moved into the Application folder, what has a special protection. You could also put it in the download folder for example and replace the folder name in the Terminal command.
macOS.High.Sierra.10.13.6.dmg from archive.org
How to Create a macOS High Sierra Bootable USB Installer
When the macOS High Sierra full installer is ready, follow these steps to create your bootable USB.
Step 1. Insert a USB flash drive larger than 16 GB into your Mac.
Step 2. Use Disk Utility to format your USB drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Note that you should leave the scheme as GUID Partition Map.
Step 3. Execute the following command in Terminal to create a macOS High Sierra bootable USB. (Don't forget to replace MyVolume in the command with the name of your USB flash drive.)
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
Step 4. When you see the message "Install media now available at /Volumes/Install macOS High Sierra", quit Terminal.
Here is also some more information from Apple:
Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support
You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system.
After entering that command it reports back, "command not found".
Might have a breakthrough right now, I created a 16gb partition, tried MDS one more time and it successfully created the bootable installer on the external drive, drive is now attached to the 2015 Macbook Pro, and it gave me a message to wait a few seconds, (this was after I clicked install High Sierra), and now the progress bar with Apple logo is moving, so this could be it.
After progress bar, now I am at the scren for Install macOS High Sierra, it gives me three options, my Macintosh HD with zero KB available, the external drive with its 2tb available, I am just trying to do this once to retrieve my file and not erase the entire hard drive, I'm thinking that once I click the original drive, it will ask for my password and not erase it?
Although after clicking it, it asks e to unlock the Macintosh HD, but nothing is happening.
Update I: Ok, I am starting the progress bar "macOS High Sierra will be installed on the disk "Macintosh HD"."
I don't believe this will erase my original files, of course right now there has been zero progress made on the progress bar but so far everything has been really slow, every step, asking to unlock the drive, super slow, so it just might be the way it goes for the entire process.
Update II: It said "the data couldn't be read because it wasn't in the proper format". And it stopped the installation try.
Update III: In a sense, I don't know what happened, I am trying now to figure out how to save the entire drive to my external drive, some guidance on Google but I am in disk utility right now and it does not seem easy, I mounted the hard drive and it is all there, now just need to figure out if it is possible to save it to my external drive.
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I just tried Monterey from a boot drive and it started the process but then stopped with an error:"Permission Denied", for anyone reading this who has had problems getting a boot installer, I used the MDS program, first to download the installer image, put it in the Applications folder, created a seperate partition with 16gb available, used MDS to then create the bootable installer to that partition of the USB external hard drive, that worked to get me the bootable installer of both High Sierra and Monterey.
While I try to see if I can get an OS on this mid-2015 Macbook Pro, I just used Disk Utility to save an image of my entire 2015 hard drive to my USB external drive, that was a success, I will place that USB drive on the 2024 Macbook Air to see if I can actually extract files from it.
I have my 2015 "Macintosh Hard Drive" on the 2024 Mac as an image (dmg) file, it has the 100 plus GB's there, do I need one of those disk recovery programs to pull files from it, the GB's are reported in "Info" but when you click on it, nothing shows up.
The image file is APFS, while the USB external drive I transferred it to was formatted in Mac OS Extended Journaled.
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I don't think so. Could be worth a try.
@MacGekko
I just wanted to remind you that you can always just install High Sierra to an external drive or a partition of it on your old Mac. Just make sure it's formatted the same way like in my instructions above. You could do the installation either from Recovery or a bootable installer.
In an installed macOS you can do more to the internal drive like from Recovery, where you only have the Terminal and Disk Utility. Like simply try to access the drive in Finder. Or use Recovery Software like Disk Drill for example, if there's a version for High Sierra.
Looks like there are older versions to download.
Disk Drill - Top-Rated Data Recovery Tool for Windows & Mac
Disk Drill is a powerful data recovery software for Windows and Mac. It can recover lost files from any type of storage device, including hard drives, USB flash drives, memory cards, and more.www.disk-drill.com
4.7 is the latest version that should work on High Sierra.
https://dl.cleverfiles.com/diskdrill4.7.dmg
Don't know if there is a Trial for all features. It's in Setapp, what has a Trial, but might not run on High Sierra.
Can I use one of these: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsun...HLk98IcHxSP8nxq6GSxoCj6oQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
To run the entire macOS from that external ssd, so in a sense it seems from Google, I can boot into High Sierra or Monterey with this external ssd drive and it will work the same way, I can then still have my original file preserved on the internal drive, it will give me time to work on trying to extract it, but do you recommend this drive, I'm trying to keep the price under $200 or $150 for this stopgap measure, thank you.
This was another one I found: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...&linkId=bbf97ecd05740ff19a64e516e16a2509&th=1
This thread has gone on so long and the OPs replies have become so convoluted, that "a refresher" is needed -- at least for an old guy like me.
OP:
What do you have?
2015 MBP that suddenly froze up and won't boot, is this correct?
You've been flopping around like a fish out of water. You aren't going to solve the problem, the way that you're going now.
At this point, so long as you have a backup -- ANY backup -- it's time to "start over" if that's even possible.
If you have a hardware problem -- perhaps a failed SSD -- the only way you're going to "fix" that is to replace the drive.
but...
If you have a software problem -- a damaged OS -- the best path at this point is to COMPLETELY ERASE the internal drive, REinstall the OS, then restore your data from your "last backup".
A very important test to try:
Try booting to INTERNET recovery:
Command-OPTION-R
at boot.
(this is NOT THE SAME as "Recovery" -- it's different)
Can you get the internet utilities to load?
If so, come back and tell us.
Just see if this works, before going further.
IF you can get to internet recovery, you can erase the drive and re-install and completely new copy of the OS.
If doing that DOESN'T WORK, it might indicate a failure of the internal drive, which will require replacement.
Do you have a brick-n-mortar Apple Store anywhere nearby?
If so, have you thought of taking it to them and seeing what they say?
OP:
What do you have?
2015 MBP that suddenly froze up and won't boot, is this correct?
You've been flopping around like a fish out of water. You aren't going to solve the problem, the way that you're going now.
At this point, so long as you have a backup -- ANY backup -- it's time to "start over" if that's even possible.
If you have a hardware problem -- perhaps a failed SSD -- the only way you're going to "fix" that is to replace the drive.
but...
If you have a software problem -- a damaged OS -- the best path at this point is to COMPLETELY ERASE the internal drive, REinstall the OS, then restore your data from your "last backup".
A very important test to try:
Try booting to INTERNET recovery:
Command-OPTION-R
at boot.
(this is NOT THE SAME as "Recovery" -- it's different)
Can you get the internet utilities to load?
If so, come back and tell us.
Just see if this works, before going further.
IF you can get to internet recovery, you can erase the drive and re-install and completely new copy of the OS.
If doing that DOESN'T WORK, it might indicate a failure of the internal drive, which will require replacement.
Do you have a brick-n-mortar Apple Store anywhere nearby?
If so, have you thought of taking it to them and seeing what they say?
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I know, I know, I am all over the map, but I have updated good news, I am sure you are all riveted with the drama.
Currently I am working in High Sierra on the mid-2015 MacBook Pro off of a Samsung T7 external ssd drive, Monterey gave me a "firmware could not be updated" error message, apparently other people have had problems with Monterey if they are using non Apple ssd in their Macs.
The reason why I did not just retry my normal internal Macintosh HD with my Time Machine backup from August 31st, is that there was one document file that had two weeks of writing that was not backed up, saved in TextEdit but not backed up, so I have kept my original drive untouched, this entire time I have been booting into internet recovery, I can see my original drive with all of the documents and files, but every time I tried to boot into High Sierra or Monterey, I was given errors, even when I tried the USB external drive boot loaders, I was given errors.
Another poster wrote, if I was able to get in with an external drive, as I am right now, that would give me more options to try to get that RTF or TXT TextEdit file, that is where I am at now, does anyone know how I can pull it from the original hard drive?
If I can do that, then I will try to wipe the original drive and install the macOS fresh and then install the Time Machine backup, hopefully that makes sense, thanks again for your help.