Snow Leopard Recovery Mode | How to Recover Data from Mac OS X

How to boot into recovery mode on Mac? How to go into recovery mode with Snow Leopard? This post shows you how to enter OS X recovery mode and how to recover lost or missing files from Mac OS X and macOS.

Table of Contents

Page Navigation Contents
Part 1. About Recovery Mode OS X Recovery enables you to restore or reinstall...Full steps
Part 2. Boot into Recovery Mode Turn off your mac and press and hold...Full steps
Part 3. How to Reinstall Mac OS X Select "Reinstall macOS" to start...Full steps
Part 4. Recover Data from Mac OS X  Download EaseUS data recovery for Mac...Full steps

About Snow Leopard Recovery Mode

Pre-installed into Mac, OS X Recovery is a facility provided by Apple computers that enables you to restore or reinstall Mac OS X without using a physical recovery disk. For Mac Snow Leopard, there is also the Snow Leopard recovery that helps you

  • Restore Mac from a Time Machine backup
  • Install or reinstall Mac OS X
  • Check internet connection and get help online using Safari
  • Repair or erase a hard disk or other storage devices with Disk Utility

snow leopard recovery mode

Mac OS X recovery has two modes: standard and internet-based. The standard OS X recovery mode means working on your own computer, while Mac internet recovery mode refers to working from the Internet.

Mac OS X Internet Recovery

Newer Macs have the ability to start up directly from an Internet-based version OS X Recovery. When the Recovery System on the startup drive isn't available, your Mac will automatically use this feature. If the startup disk is damaged or replaced, Internet OS X recovery mode is very useful and lets you start your Mac directly from Apple's servers. You can perform a quick test of your memory and hard drive to check for hardware issues.

Mac Internet Recovery downloads and starts from a Recovery System image, which provides the same utilities and options as the Recovery System on a startup drive.

How to Boot into Snow Leopard Recovery Mode

  • Turn on your Mac. Simultaneously press and hold Command and R keys.  
  • Release the keys when you see an Apple logo, spinning globe, or other startup screens. If a window pops up and asks you to enter a password, do as required.
  • After your computer finishes starting up, choose the option you want to use from the OS X Utilities menu.

Note: Command R not working? Snow Leopard Recovery mode not working? Try the following methods to reinstall macOS if Recovery won't work.

  • Use Internet Recovery to reinstall macOS on Mac
  • Create a boot drive to install a copy of macOS from
  • Use your Time Machine backup as your start-up drive
  • Create a Recovery partition on an external hard drive

How to Reinstall Mac OS X

Select "Reinstall macOS" to start reinstalling macOS directly. Follow the instructions on the screen to proceed.

  • If the installer doesn't see your disk, or it says that it can't install on your computer or volume, you might need to erase your disk first.
  • Don't put your Mac to sleep or closing its lid until the installation completes.
  • The specific device model determines whether you can install the latest macOS. 

See More: How to Recover Data from Mac OS X 

EaseUS data recovery program for Mac provides you with the easiest solution to recover deleted or lost files on Mac (from Mac OS X 10.9 - latest macOS version) by scanning, previewing, and restoring. Read on and see the details.

When Do You Need Data Recovery on Mac OS X

  • Files loss caused by installation or update in Mac OS X
  • File system crash makes the data on Mac inaccessible
  • Virus attack leads to data loss
  • Hardware failure unexpected results in data missing
  • Mistakenly delete some crucial files  

It is depressing when experiencing data loss on Mac as the data recovery is rather tricky if you are a Mac user. However, if you turn to a professional Mac data recovery software, things will get very simple. And EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is such a powerful Mac data recovery tool that enables you to recover deleted files on any Mac devices effortlessly.

Overview of EaseUS Mac Data Recovery Tool 

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is an advanced and professional file recovery software for Mac devices. It is qualified to salvage, rescue, and recover lost data from hard drive/disk as well as many other storage devices, such as USB drive, SD card, digital camera, pen drive, and more. All the data lost due to file system corruption, hard drive volume deletion or corruption, disk formatting, operating system corruption, erroneous file deletion, and virus infection is recoverable.

The supported file types are DOC/DOCX, XLS/XLSX, PPT(PPT/PPTX ), PDF document, photos, videos, music, emails, archives, etc..

How to Recover Data from Mac OS X with EaseUS Data Recovery Software

Step 1. Search for lost files

Select the disk location to search for lost files (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) on macOS Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, and the latest Sonoma. Click the "Search for lost files" button.

Note: Before data recovery, you'd better click "Disk Backup" from the left sidebar to create a backup of your Mac to avoid further data loss. After backing up, the software can recover data from the Mac backup, and your computer can wirte new data again.

Recover Data Step1

Step 2. Go through the scanning results

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results.

Recover Data Step2

Step 3. Select the file(s) and recover

In the scan results, select the file(s) to preview and click the "Recover" button to have them back.

Recover Data Step3

Snow Leopard Recovery Mode FAQs

1. Does Snow Leopard have recovery mode?

Yes, you can enter Snow Leopard recovery by restarting your Mac and holding down the Command and R keys at startup. Hold these keys until the Apple logo appears. If you succeed, you will see a desktop with an OS X menu bar and an OS X Utilities window on your screen.

2. How long does it take to install Snow Leopard?

The Snow Leopard installation can take 45 minutes to an hour. This does not include the time to restore your Time Machine backup (depending on how much data there).

3. How do I do a clean install of Snow Leopard?

Boot from the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Install DVD, and from the "OS X Utilities" menu, choose "Disk utility". From there you can reformat your hard disk. After this, you can choose Re-install OS X and perform a clean install.

4. How do I reinstall Snow Leopard without a disk?

You can reinstall Snow Leopard without a disk in three steps: first is creating the partition in Disk Utility, then copying the installation media; at last, booting into the installer.

Steps to copy the installation media and boot into reinstaller: 

  • Open Disk Utility, and drag the Snow Leopard . dmg installer into the pane on the left.
  • Select the Snow Leopard .dmg, and click the "Restore" tab.
  • Drag the Snow Leopard .dmg into the "Source" field, then drag your newly created "Snow Leopard Installer" partition into the "Destination" field. 
  • Make sure "Erase Destination" is checked. Then, click the "Restore" button to proceed.
  • Once you have set up Snow Leopard Installer partition, restart your computer and hold the "Option" (or alt) key at bootup and select 'Snow Leopard Installer' from the list. The Snow Leopard Installer should successfully boot up and you can upgrade to Snow Leopard!

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Updated by Cedric

Cedric Grantham is a senior editor and data recovery specialist of EaseUS. He mainly writes articles and how-to tips about data recovery on PC and Mac. He has handled 10,000+ data recovery cases and is good at data recovery of NTFS, FAT (FAT32 and ExFAT) file systems, and RAID structure reorganization.

Read full bio

Written by Daisy

Daisy is the Senior editor of the writing team for EaseUS. She has been working at EaseUS for over ten years, starting as a technical writer and moving on to being a team leader of the content group. As a professional author for over ten years, she writes a lot to help people overcome their tech troubles.

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