Fix ‘Mac With Question Mark Folder’ Issue – Guide
If your Mac won’t boot up and you’re seeing a blinking folder with a question mark, don’t panic. This guide will help you troubleshoot the issue before calling in professional help. The cause of the problem could be either software- or hardware-related.
A guide has been released to help Mac users resolve startup issues caused by the question mark folder. It covers both software and hardware solutions.
Causes of Mac folder flashing with question mark
Mac users may encounter a folder with a question mark on their screen, indicating that the computer is unable to find the startup disk. This can be caused by an issue with the hard drive, an outdated operating system, or a corrupt system file.
Your Mac is unable to locate its boot disk, preventing it from booting up. This could be due to having previously started up from an external drive and then shutting down, or a hard drive failure that has caused difficulty in locating the system folder or boot directory.
The hard drive crashed, causing irreparable damage.
You can’t boot from an external disk if it’s been turned off or disconnected.
The ribbon cable connecting the optical drive to the system board may be damaged, potentially causing issues if the bottom case has recesses in the same area.
Boot your Mac from an installation DVD (for older Macs)
To force your Mac to boot from an installed DVD, follow these steps: Restart your Mac and hold down the “C” key until the Apple logo appears. This will cause your Mac to boot from the DVD in its optical drive.
Restart your Mac with the installation DVD that came with it, or use a newer disc if you have a more recent version of macOS.
Once the startup bell sounds, press and hold either the C key on the keyboard or the Option key until you see either the installation disc or Apple logo.
When your Mac starts up, select a language and press Return. Then, bypass the installation window that appears and open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
If your hard drive appears in the list, select it and click the First Aid tab on the macOS partition.
To fix a problem on your hard drive, click the macOS partition and run Repair Disk. If the green OK appears, run Repair Permissions for further protection.
If your Mac’s hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility, it may be dead. To check, use a boot disk to restart the computer from the hard drive.
Put your Mac into recovery mode
Shutting down your Mac and restarting while holding Command + R will put it into recovery mode, allowing you to select the startup disk from the Apple menu.
If your Mac won’t boot up normally due to a damaged or corrupted startup disk, the Recovery Mode can help.
Mac users can experience unexpected issues, but a simple restart of their device can often fix them without the need for more extreme measures like reinstalling macOS.
Replace the disc
If your disk has failed and the Mac folder with a question mark appears, the only solution is to replace it and use a backup device such as Time Capsule to restore your data.
Back up your data and reinstall macOS
To ensure your data is safe, back up all important files on the startup disk to an external drive before reformatting. To do this, connect the external drive to your computer and follow the steps outlined in Disk Utility.
Connect an external drive of equal or greater size than the boot disk, then use macOS Recovery to erase it and install macOS. Be sure to select the external drive for erasing, not the boot disk.
Once macOS is installed, your Mac will restart from the external drive. The Setup Wizard will appear; select the option to move data from another disk and choose your Mac’s boot disk as the source.
After the migration process is complete, follow the setup wizard until you reach your desktop. Once there, check that all your data has been successfully transferred to the external drive.
Erase your startup disk and reinstall macOS using macOS Recovery. Once complete, the Mac will restart and the setup wizard will appear. Copy data from an external drive or Time Machine backup to the boot disk.
Final note
If you’re having trouble with your Mac’s question mark folder, this guide can help. Got questions? Reach out to us. And don’t forget to share the love and spread the word!
