So I installed a second HDD that I plan on eventually using as my main system disk and did a fresh install of Yosemite on it. The thing, is that I'd like to boot back into the original Macintosh HD so I can start going through what needs to be migrated. I can browse the disk through finder (at least the folders I have permission for), but I can't boot off of it anymore. When I go to Systems---> Settings--> Startup disk. Only the new drive is listed. Even if I reboot and hold down option, it's the same thing.
Did something happen to to the original Macintosh HD disk after installing Yosemite on a separate drive?
I'm just worried that even if I can't boot into it anymore, I'd still like to be able to pull stuff from my old home folder, but it's saying I don't have permission. What's the workaround for that? I'm using the same login credentials on the new installation that I was on the old one.
Best Answer
Open up Terminal.app, in
/Applications/Utilities, and enter the following:It should show both of your drives and give you information about partitions. You may also want to try:
On Yosemite, some of the volumes are defaulting to Core Storage, which can span multiple drives. I'm not saying you did this, in fact I rather doubt, or at least hope you didn't, was inadvertently convert both drives to a single, huge volume that's really two drives.
I use Scannerz and it comes with another drive management tool called Phoenix. In their release notes for the Yosemite version they said that some systems earlier than Mavericks may not fully be able to see or manipulate files on a Yosemite volume, but a Yosemite volume is supposed to see and be able to manipulate. In other words, if you boot from, say Mountain Lion, you may not be able to do what you want to on a Yosemite volume. I know this is true for stuff in the low level system directories, but I'm not sure it effects user volumes. Maybe they'll put something about this on their web site, but then again, maybe not. I'm not convinced this isn't a Yosemite bug of some sort.
If it looks like your volume is intact using
diskutil, you might want to restart the system, and immediately hold down the alt key and keep holding it down. A list of bootable volumes should show up and with luck you should then be able to select it and boot from it. Be careful though trying to copy some stuff to the Yosemite volume because like I said the preceding paragraph, it may not work.