My GF's MBP running on Mavericks broke down 2 days ago.
First I tried to copy the contents of her HDD to an external HDD but got the I/O error time after time.
Then I tried all the basic things like repairing the disk in Recovery Mode and try and verify/repair permissions in disk utility, cause I read that that could also help but that didnt do the trick either.
Now I am trying to repair the permissions through the Terminal and getting alot of detailed I/O errors. Also the progress bar is stuck @ 74% now. It doesnt advance only I get every 20 secs or so a new line with a new error. My original plan to try n save the data on the HDD has become too complicated for my skills so I'm in desperate need of help since it has been awhile since last backup.
Best Answer
I found a (quite easy) way to recover the contents of my HDD.
1) I got myself the MBP from my nephew. 2) Connected it with a FireWire cable to mine. 3) Booted our MBP up in Target Disk Mode (press 'T' when booting up) 4) Our MBP then behaved like any external storage device and the files could copied off just like that.
In that way i got all the important files, photos, and projects of the lady. Hopefully this can help people in the future if they are having similar issues.