Live CD that can read OSX partitions

[b0redom]

@PeterB, I'll give installing OSX to an external drive a go, but from what I've read, it only installs the drivers for the device you're installing to, so that might be problematic given I only have a macbook pro apart from the iMac.

@DancesWithUnix, I'm sure it's the drive (or controller, or SSD) as the built in Apple Diagnostics say there's a SATA problem.

@Biscuit, I don't have a Thunderbolt <-> Thunderbolt cable, but that's the last thing I'll be able to try if PeterB's suggestion doesn't work out.

Thanks for all the help so far guys, I really appreciate it!

[peterb]

try fsck.hfsplus to check the filesystem integrity. (As always, use at your own risk)

[DanceswithUnix]

Looks like 2TB+ support is disabled due to issues corrupting files: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HFS_Plus#Linux

Wonder if there is a way to force mounting read only, which on a possibly flaky drive is going to be what you want anyway.

[directhex]

Nothing works, if you installed OSX 10.10

10.10 silently replaces your HFS+ partitions with a new LVM-like wrapper, which Linux doesn't know how to deal with (but Apple still labels the partition as HFS+)

[b0redom]

Well for posterity.....

I grabbed a copy of the OSX installer on my wife's MacBook Pro, and installed it to an external USB3 enclosure.
I booted from the enclosure, and am currently copying files from the internal disk to the external enclosure.

Every so often the internal disk unmounts itself, so rsync is a godsend!

To do list:

1) Take iMac for repair
2) Buy dedicated external USB3 enclosure for TimeMachine

Lucky escape it seems!

[peterb]

Well for posterity.....

I grabbed a copy of the OSX installer on my wife's MacBook Pro, and installed it to an external USB3 enclosure.
I booted from the enclosure, and am currently copying files from the internal disk to the external enclosure.

Every so often the internal disk unmounts itself, so rsync is a godsend!

To do list:

1) Take iMac for repair
2) Buy dedicated external USB3 enclosure for TimeMachine

Lucky escape it seems!

Excellent, glad you found a solution! I created an HFS petition on my Linux server and after a bit of faff got Time machine to back up to it - but it was a faff and an external USB drive is simpler.

[b0redom]

I am toying with the idea of TimeMachine over iSCSI, but the OSX client which was free is no longer. Is that how you're doing it?