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Hard drive not found but I can see files in linux

I turned my macbook pro off one day when leaving work. when I turned it back on I saw the apple logo and grey screen, but then the apple began to flash, turning into a circle with a cross through it. I assumed this mean't that it could not find the hard drive. My MBP then booted into OS X Utilities where i ran verifications and repairs on the disk that it could not find. This did not work, so i booted (linux) Knoppix from a cd to see if my files where still there. Everything was in tact. i had no problems getting into them. I have tried booting holding ($$&@) and that still does not help. My files are not important. I have them backed up, but i need programs on my computer to use for work and don't know what to do. Also, I can not reinstall OS X because i have not purchased mountain lion from the app store. (it came pre-installed). I have an old 2008 macbook, but i can not purchase mountain lion because it wont run on that system.

Thanks

-John

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Hi John,

When you say you booted into OS X Utilities, are you referencing the recovery partition?

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Hi Scott, I suppose thats correct. OS X Utilities loads automatically. How can i be sure?

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You're holding down the "R" key or holding down option and selecting the recovery partition? If so, you can reinstall Mountain Lion that way.

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It's probably not the hard drive, it's probably the cable. If you have everything backed up, try reinstalling the OS and see if that fixes the issue.

It's not very likely for the operating system to go corrupt between a shutdown and boot up, but I have seen my own personal laptop kill the hard drive cable going from "sleep" to "awake".

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i tried holding down "option" to load from my recover partition. I selected the recovery partition but it just sent me back to OS x utilities screen. I tried to reinstall the os on the recovery partition, but it appears to be "locked". I dont know if this will work though because i still am unable to purchase mountain lion from the app store. ( it came pre-installed )

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You should see something like this.

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yes that is what i see, but for mountain lion

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You can't install to the recovery partition as that is what you are booted from. Can you not see your main partition? You mentioned you can see it in Disk Utility? Try erasing it from there and then try to do reinstall.

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Yes, i can see my main partition. When i try to use my main partition to reinstall, it asks me to log into my apple id to verify that i have purchased mountain lion. My issue at this point becomes the fact that my laptop came with mountain lion pre installed, so i haven't purchased mountain lion. It will not let me install without buying the software, but apple does not offer me a way to buy the software.

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John Searles will be eternally grateful.
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