Mac os command r question mark folder flashing

#Mac os command r question mark folder flashing mac os x
#Mac os command r question mark folder flashing full

If you had to replace the drive, you could try installing Data Rescue III or a similar utility onto your new startup drive, then connect your old drive using any of the many available USB docking solutions (Amazon and have a good selection) and try recovering important data from your dead drive.

#Mac os command r question mark folder flashing full

If you still can't boot properly, it's time to put a new HD into your machine and restore from a backup (you DO have one, right?)-preferably a full one made with SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner.

After the process is done, you 'should' be able to boot into your regular volume. Boot into Recovery HD again, and select the 'Restore from Time Machine' option (you DO have a Time Machine backup, right?). If you still can't boot (flashing question mark you mentioned), then the next step would be to again boot into Recovery HD and try reinstalling OS X (Internet connection is required). Then see if you can boot from the normal Macintosh HD or whatever your regular startup volume is named.

Once in Recovery HD, launch Disk Utility and run the 'Verify/Repair Disk' and 'Repair Permissions' options. I prefer Option-R because it lets you see all boot volumes, whereas Command-R boots directly into Recovery HD. Reboot or startup while holding either Option-R or Command-R. To expand just a bit in case the OP doesn't already know (I'm sure Tom_N knows): to boot into the Recovery partition (assuming you're running OS X 10.8 or later and in fact did originally have a Recovery partition!): If all else fails, you may have to take it to an Apple Store or repair facility.

#Mac os command r question mark folder flashing mac os x

If you have an external USB hard drive with a bootable copy of Mac OS X on it (e.g., a backup that you created with a cloning program), you might try booting from it.

Another way to recover is by reinstalling Mac OS X from the Internet, but as you found out, that only works if you can make a network connection. That only works if whatever trashed your boot volume didn't also trash the recovery partition. One way to recover is to use the recovery partition. This doesn't necessarily mean that the hardware is broken it may just be that the contents of the interna drive got corrupted or erased. A flashing folder with a question mark, at startup time, means that the machine cannot find a valid boot volume.