No System Folder after Reboot - B&W G3

[Finch]

This just started up yesterday. I have a B&W G3 400 which has been running OS X for some time now (10.3.2) which I use a file server for my home office. I needed to reboot the machine yesterday and upon start up all I get is the system folder with a quetion mark.

I booted from CD and within disk utilities I can see the Maxtor 40GB but the partion itself (Macintosh OS X) is grey'd out. I also tried to change start up disk, no luck and I'm getting errors when I try to verify the disk... Any ideas as to how I can boot?

I also have a PB G4 can I boot from that in target disk mode?

 

[JeffCGD]

Sounds like it's time for specialized Disc recovery tools. Your disc has obviously suffered some damage, although it is a good sign that you can still see the partition in Disc Utility, even if it won't mount. I would recommend Disc Warrior for OSX, as it has an excellent reputation for recovering data off damaged drives.
Fastest solution will be to boot your Machine off a recovery CD (ie: the Discwarrior CD), and recover the data to an external drive – perhaps your powerbook – then reformat your damaged drive using the error checking and zero all data options (zeroing may not be needed). The error checking will ensure that any PHYSICALLY damaged areas on the disc are never used, and should allow you to use the drive again. Once done you can reinstall your OS and copy your data back to that partition (assuming you have only one partition that included your install of OSX).