Lost Data | Hard Drive Failure

hello,
after a series of unrecoverable crashes running safari, i tried running disk utilities from the start up disc, only to make matters worse.
it won't boot up now. simply stalls while loading for about 15 minutes and shuts down entirely.
i tried installing OS X on an external hard drive with a GUID partition table (an iPod as the only available one at the moment), but it won't boot from there either!
so, not having any backups and not being able to install OS X on the internal hard drive as it isn't recognized anyway, would anyone please suggest what could i possibly do to
-recover data from the hard drive
-install OS X on an external device so maybe i could access the internal drive
i couldn't find firewire800 cables today so i could hook up to another mac and run target mode.
any help greatly appreciated. thanks.

First, is this the Unibody model? If so, check the HDD connection by removing the bottom panel.
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/First-Look/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Unibody/590/1
Look at step 7
I assume that "Start up disk" is the gray Mac OS X Install disk?
Good luck.

Similar Messages

Link between iTunes and Library lost. Hard drive failure

Hi!
   I need help with the following problem. (i7 27" iMac/256GB SSD + 1TB of internal disk hard drive. (SATA/7200rpm/3.5"))
          The 1TB internal hard drive on my iMac failed the S.M.A.R.T. Utilities test so Apple called in the computer and I had to have the hard drive replaced. The technicians reloaded the system from a 1TB external Western Digital hard drive; I had backed up the everything on it using Time Machine.
          Unfortunately, the iTunes application cannot now locate my iTunes library. I create a lot of slideshows on Aperture and use music from iTunes on the audio tracks. The titles on the audio tracks are now inaudible and are preceded by a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark inside. Can anyone help me on how I should re-establish the original link between iTunes and its library. The music files are located in folders (name of artists), within a folder (iTunes Music), within a folder (iTunes), within a folder (Music), within a folder (declangreaney) on the 1TB of internal disk drive.
          In trying to solve the problem, I went through the folders and double clicked on one song. This opened iTunes so I highlighted and dragged all the other 'artist-named' folders on the iTunes interface and in doing so, I succeeded in accessing all the files. This is not wholly satisfactory, however, as I do not have my own playlists and more seriously, there is still no link between the Aperture audio tracks.
Sincerely,
     DG.

    Hi again!
     I saved the last message by accident which caused the reply to be sent off and so I had not finished what I wanted to write. Aploogies.
     I didn't find the new iMac hybrid SSD/Disk system easy to understand when it arrived over a year ago. I eventually decided that the 256 SSD section would be best suited to having the Operatin System for greater speed and I must have decided to put the music files on the 1TB internal hard drive along with photos and raw video clips. I can't honestly remember. There was a lot to take in. I wasn't even aware until this failure that iTunes had a default location.
     In addition to having the iTunes folder on the internal 1TB hard drive, I used Time Machine to store the entire computer contents on a 1TB Western Digital external hard drive. I had done my last Time Machine back-up on the 13 February and so I was hoping that by opening one or two songs on the back-up, they might reactivate the 'old' interface with the original playlists on it. That didn't happen but I then realised, while I was still in the Tme Machine back-ups on the WD external hard drive, that in the iTunes Media folder contained within the iTunes folder on the default Users/Username/Music location there was only an Add automatically to iTunes folder which was empty. While still still looking through the Time Machine back-upsI saw that the music instead was stored on the 1TB of internal hard drive as outlined on the first post:
     'The music files are located in folders (name of artists), within a folder (iTunes Music), within a folder (iTunes), within a folder (Music), within a folder (username) on the 1TB of internal disk drive.'
   The iTunes.itl file was last modified on Monday at 21:52. Created on 17th February, 2012. Size 386KB
     Regards,
     DG.

Hard Drive Failure, so I've lost ITunes Library. Ipod more up-to-date how do I transfer music from IPod to library?

Hi,
I had a hard drive failure on my old PC and I couldn't retrieve anything. I have purchased a new PC and downloaded itunes (Version I'm not use to which isn't helping) and signed in however it only has my purchased songs on the cloud which I need to download into my library from cloud. However I have thousands of songs that I imported into my old library from CD's etc which is no lost apart from all the data held on my ipod.
So my Ipod is more up-to-date then my library now. When I look to sync my ipod it says everything will be removed and will be replaced with content from the library. I've had a look around and I can't see a way to get my music from my ipod to my library.
Is there anything I can do, please help?
Thanks

See:
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive: Apple Support Communities
or
Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device: Apple Support Communities

Data Recovery After Hard Drive Failure!

Ok, basically, I've got a 2 1/2 year old iBook G4 with a bombed hard drive, and unfortunately, the last time I backed up was around 3 months ago. Here's what happened right before the crash: some applications like Widgets and Safari were acting fluky, and it wouldn't let me open Word documents, so I restarted, because I thought it might have something to do with the fact that i had downloaded the new version of itunes not that long ago and hadn't restarted since. well, when i restarted, the gray screen with the wheel and the apple symbol went on for a really long time, and then the blue screen came up with the cursor, but nothing else happened, and the blue screen just stayed there. as far as i know, the hard drive wasn't making any unusual noises, just the usual occasional soft sounds that my hard drive has always made (there are usual sounds, right?) a piece of information that might be useful is that the hard drive was almost full (it only had about 5 GB left, which i understand is how much you should leave) could this have caused the failure maybe? anyway, i tried using the hard drive as a target and tried getting another computer to recognize it and pull the files off, but that didn't work. so, i brought it into the apple store, and they got it to boot up but using some external hard drive, i think. they tried disk utility, but that didn't see my hard drive. then the tried disk warrior, and that saw it and repaired it or something, but then it couldn't get the drive to mount. so, i'm assuming that because disk warrior didn't work and couldn't get it to mount, then other software like data rescue, etc... won't either. like all computer users, i've got some REALLY REALLY important data on there, and all the data recovery places i've gotten quotes from are pretty pricey. if the drive doesn't require physical data recovery, only non-physical, as i hope, the cheapest is still $350. even so, the person on the phone there didn't seem to know nearly as much as the people at the more pricier places. so, are there any other options besides expensive data recovery? i read something about using dd - a unix thing, but i don't know the first thing about it (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050302225659382) so i'm not sure i want to risk messing it up even more. and, if worse comes to worst, then i'll use a data recovery place... but can anyone tell me if they've used any of the data recovery companies below, and which ones are good?
(first three do evaluation for free, and then you decide if you want to continue based on more accurate price idea)
MacintoshDataRecovery.com
$500 non physical
$1100-1600 physical
Heroic Efforts
http://www.heroicdata.com/data_recovery
$350 non physical
ships to another (very expensive) place if physical
ACS Data Recovery
http://www.acsdata.com/index.htm
$600-700 non physical
DriveSavers.com
(recommended by Apple, probably the best, but the most steep, too)
could cost anywhere from $500-$2700 and $200 evaluation fee even if data is unrecoverable
Since this is our fourth hard drive failure in four different iBooks in 2 1/2 years, i am starting to become seriously disillusioned about the quality of the hardware Apple uses...not that i would ever get a dell or anything, but still....
THANK YOU in advance for any tips you might be able to offer, and also for reading this extremely long post!
katie
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I have read good reports concerning Data Rescue although I have not used it myself.
Once you get your data back, focus on a regular (even daily) backup routine, because as you know only so well, the question is not if a drive will fail, it's when.
My condolences, by the way.

Hard Drive Failure on HP DV 6000 Pavilion laptop Windows-XPsp3 OS - Need Data Recovery Help

Hard Drive Failure on HP DV 6000 Pavilion laptop - Need Data Recovery Help
HP Pavilion DV 6108 NR, RG365UA, purchased in late 2006 at Best Buy, with Windows XP, upgraded to Service Pack 3. It has a Fujitsu hard disk, 60 gigabyte, partitioned into C: and a Recovery D:.
Windows tries to boot up, but goes to blue screen with the message: "Unmountable Boot Volume" for one second, then just keeps recycling until I force a shutdown.
BIOS Phoenix, hard drive test result: " #1-08 Fail "
I ran a disk analysis/recovery program on the Cdrive and it seemed to show the directory structure intact, and it was able to recover some files. I was using the free one from Seagate (which only recovers small files). The second pass didn't run so well, and during the third run the program said I should not proceed further, and I should contact a professional disk recovery company.
However, the D drive seems to be intact, so, I wonder if the disk is corrupted or just some aspect of the logical C drive is bad.
How can I get the D: to run the recovery software on it? The recovery disks, made by Best Buy, only proceed to the R / F / Q option screen, and when I press R, I get a blue screen every time.
Tapping the F10 key during startup gets me nowhere. Ditto the F11 key.
I dont care about the hard disk; it is the data (files, docs, images, etc) that I want.
I contacted HP to order recovery disks but they are no longer available for my computer.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Jon
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Update...
I found a website that offers the following:
http://www.computersurgeons.com/p-13442-recovery-kit-435422-001-for-hp-model-number-dv6108nr.aspx
Recovery Kit 435422-001 For HP Model Number dv6108nr
Price: $27.00
Recovery Kit Set (An Entire Image of the Computer hard drive when the computer was new)
But I wonder how useful it would be. Early XP , no doubt. And if my hard disk problem is a mechanical fault, would any recovery disk even work? The disks made by Best Buy when I bought mine new in 2006 don't do anything more than go to the R /F/ Q screen and then goes to a blue screen when I press R (to recover the OS and apps and data files). And, as I wrote, it is the data that I want, not the disk drive.

MacBook Pro hard drive failure- data recovery possible?

Hi everyone, I have a June 2009 MBP that stopped turning on the other day and it just sits on a gray screen when trying to boot up. I had it taken in to a small little authorized Apple repair shop since I am living out in BFE and they said it has a hard drive failure which is causing the problems. They said there is no way to recover the data. Is that right? I'd imagine there has to be someway to recover it. Is there somewhere I can send it in or something? At this point even if it were to cost a lot I'd like to get the data off of it if there is the possibility.
Inb4: should've backed it up!

You may be able to boot from an external hard drive and repair the disk enough to copy the data from it, even if it will no longer boot. There are a number of hard drive recovery services. Apple even lists a couple of them (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3974) that are authorized to recover data from hard drives without voiding the warranty. The warranty is not an issue with a machine from 2009, but those are high quality, reputable companies.
Most such companies have you send them the hard drive and they will give you an estimate of how much it will cost to recover the data, if possible. Some people have reported that Data Rescue 3 comes with a coupon for free diagnostics and $100 off data recovery from The Data Rescue Center. That was a couple of years ago. I don't know if the same deals are in place now.

Hard drive failure - options for data recovery and AppleCare coverage

I have been handed a relative's 12 month old MacBook Pro with a factory-installed 500GB hard drive which appears to have failed. When attempting to boot the MacBook I am met with the classic clicking and grating noise which I know is a tell-tale sign of hard drive failure. The drive will not boot and I am shown the question mark folder icon, indicating that the operating system cannot be found. Have booted into internet recovery mode, Disk Utility appears to have found no sign of the hard drive's existence and shows none of its partitions. I have attempted putting the MacBook into FW target-mode and mounting the disk from another laptop, but to no avail; while it will go into target mode the drive simply isn't visible. The SATA connection to the drive is definitely OK - I have tested with another 2.5 inch hard drive which showed up fine in Disk Utility and was bootable. Have run Apple Hardware Test/Diagnostics but this returned no errors. It seems like a pretty clear cut case of drive failure.
I put this all to the relative whose laptop this is and asked them whether the MacBook had been dropped recently, explaining to them that this is one of the likeliest causes for such sudden failure. Sheepishly they admitted that they had indeed dropped it, although not from too great a distance and onto a carpeted floor. Apparently in the days immediately after the shock the hard drive continued to boot but the system was very slow and beset by spinning beech ball hangups. It is only in the last few days that the hard drive has become completely unbootable, and seemingly unreachable.
I have two questions that I would be grateful for some help with.
Firstly, is there any possibility of recovering data from this drive without going to a data recovery specialist? The user did have backups of most important data, but some recently imported photos were not backed up. Is it any use me trying any third-party data recovery software utilities, bearing in mind that I can't even mount the drive in target mode?
Second, the MacBook is still covered by the extended AppleCare warranty for the next two years. Is it worth my relative's while making a Genius Bar appointment to see whether Apple would replace this drive for free, given that the damage was most likely user-inflicted? Is there any chance that this sudden failure could be unrelated to the drop the MacBook suffered the other day - perhaps just a result of the 'normal' failure rate? I am more than happy to exchange the drive for a new one myself and my relative is happy to pay for the new part (I was amazed at how cheap hard drives are now), but would we be better off trying an Apple Store? My prediction would be that while we might get lucky and have an obliging genius who agrees to swap the drive without asking too many questions, we could also have one who concludes the damage is not covered by the warranty and insists on charging for the new hard drive (at a mark-up I assume) and labour.
Any thoughts about these two issues or the hard drive failure more generally are very welcome. Thanks.

1, Data recovery software is your only alternative if there is no backup. It may or may not be able to revoker anything from that hard drive. If it does then the only other choice is to go to a data recovery service. If have to go that route expect to pay for it, like $$$$.
2, Yes. They will at least tell him what the problem is and the cost if any to fix. There is a good chance they will fix it for nothing and only charge for data recovery if they can do it.

Hard Drive Failure on HP DV 6000 Pavilion laptop (dv6108nr) with Windows-XPsp3 OS - Need Data Recov

Hard Drive Failure on HP DV 6000 Pavilion laptop - Need Data Recovery Help
HP Pavilion DV 6108 NR, RG365UA, purchased in late 2006 at Best Buy, with Windows XP, upgraded to Service Pack 3. It has a Fujitsu hard disk, 60 gigabyte, partitioned into C: and a Recovery D:.
Windows tries to boot up, but goes to blue screen with the message: "Unmountable Boot Volume" for one second, then just keeps recycling until I force a shutdown.
BIOS Phoenix, hard drive test result: " #1-08 Fail "
I ran a disk analysis/recovery program on the Cdrive and it seemed to show the directory structure intact, and it was able to recover some files. I was using the free one from Seagate (which only recovers small files). The second pass didn't run so well, and during the third run the program said I should not proceed further, and I should contact a professional disk recovery company.
However, the D drive seems to be intact, so, I wonder if the disk is corrupted or just some aspect of the logical C drive is bad. Or does the disk have a mechanical failure, in which case, is a recovery disk even helpful at all?
How can I get the D: to run the recovery software on it? The recovery disks, made by Best Buy, only proceed to the R / F / Q option screen, and when I press R, I get a blue screen every time.
Tapping the F10 key during startup gets me nowhere. Ditto the F11 key.
I dont care about the hard disk; it is the data (files, docs, images, etc) that I want.
I contacted HP to order recovery disks but they are no longer available for my computer. (But see below, "UPDATE")
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Jon
===============================
UPDATE:
I found a website that offers the following:
www.computersurgeons.com/p-13442-recovery-kit-435422-001-for-hp-model-number-dv6108nr.aspx
Recovery Kit 435422-001 For HP Model Number dv6108nr
Price: $27.00
Recovery Kit Set (An Entire Image of the Computer hard drive when the computer was new)
But I wonder how useful it would be. Early XP , no doubt. And if my hard disk problem is a mechanical fault, would any recovery disk even work? The disks made by Best Buy when I bought mine new in 2006 don't do anything more than go to the R /F/ Q screen and then my computer goes to a blank blue screen when I press R (to recover the OS and apps and data files). And, as I wrote, it is the data that I want, not the disk drive.
Any help here would also be appreciated!
Jon

Hi @goshenguy
Thank you for your inquiry, I am happy to help.
I grasp you tested the hard drive from the bios and it failed. This tests the physical aspcects of the hard drive and when it fails it does require replacement. You were able to retrieve some of your files using recovery software but not all.
Your recovery partition is still intact and when you try to do a recovery with the disks from Best Buy you do not get past these options R / F / Q but will not proceed.
Here is a link to Performing an HP System Recovery (Windows XP, 2006 or Later) that may assist you in performing a recovery.
Here is a link to the Maintenance and Service Guide HP Pavilion dv6000 Notebook PC. Please note chapter 3 page 42 for a replacement hard drive part number.
HP Parts, HP Replacement Parts
If you are still unable to do the recovery, you could try contacting Best Buy for assistance with the recovery kit they provide.
I don't know if it is possible, but you may want to check cloning software to see if you could clone the D partion to the new drive or connect both drives and try a drive to drive copy of the D partition.
If you were able to successfully put the D partition on a new hard drive you should be able to do a recovery from the D partition to take it back to factory.
If none of the above has allowed you to successfully do a recovery, I suggest contacting Best Buy to see it they have options other then purchasing a third party recovery kit.
Good Luck!
Sparkles1
I work on behalf of HP
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Lost 10.6.8. after a hard drive failure!

I lost 10.6.8. after a hard drive failure, can only update to 10.5.8? What are my options?
Thanks,
Amir

10.6.8 was the last update to Snow Leopard (10.6). Snow Leopard was never available as a download. After Snow Leopard is installed from the retail DVD, updates from the base install to the most current (10.6.8) are available as free downloads through software update (or a combo update). You will need to purchase the retail version of Snow Leopard.

Please could somebody help me I have an iMac which came with Tiger 10.4.10 installed I have lost my disks and I need to re-install after a hard drive failure. Where can I find this? I will upgrade to Snow Leopard after but I cannot go straight to SL

Please could somebody help me I have an iMac which came with Tiger 10.4.10 installed I have lost my disks and I need to re-install after a hard drive failure. Where can I find this? I will upgrade to Snow Leopard after but I cannot go straight to SL

You can go strait to SL, all you need is a retail SL DVD available from Apple for $20. The US online store has them at:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

After hard drive failure, need to sync data

Following a hard drive failure I need to re-establish syncing between my desktop and Firefox Home on my iPhone. None of the routines for "add a device" or "my account" seem to work as advertised. "Settings" on my iPhone shows me signed in but gives me no other options, e.g., the option to open my account. The only buttons on the "Settings" page are "Sign Out," "About," and "Refresh." "Sign Out" warns me that doing so will erase all my data on the iPhone. Any suggestions how to re-establish Firefox Home appreciated.

Hi!
It seems that your iPhone is properly connected to the Sync server and that you need to add your computer to your previous account. In order to do so:
# At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Firefox button (Tools menu in Windows XP) and then click Options. . In the Options window, click on the Sync tab.
# Click Set Up Firefox Sync
# Under I already have a Firefox Sync account click Connect and then select "I don't have the device with me" just below the three boxes.
If you have already created a new account in your computer and you want to log in with your Firefox Home application, "Sign out" and set up the application again. The data you are going to lose is the one in Firefox Home. If you have restored the information in your desktop browser the data will appear in your iPhone once the sync is done.
Unfortunately, Firefox Home doesn't have the ability to send the bookmarks stored there to your computer so if you need to restore them in your computer and you don't have the Sync Key to restore the account in your computer, your only option is to copy them manually.
I hope this information helps you.

Lost source fla, still have swf (hard drive failure)

A year ago I experienced a hard drive failure, lost a lot of
.fla files. I have a swf (my own work) that I want to import so
that I can access the asset files (images, video). Naturally, when
I open the swf, it plays, but if I attempt to import it, I get an
empty timeline.
Is there a way to import the swf and extract the assets? (I
seem to remember doing in Flash 5 long ago).

I've encountered the same issue and resultant needs in having
lost my original Flash "fla" files due to a burglary at my home.
I've retrieved the converted "swf" files from my website server,
and would LOVE to know if anyone can provide help in accessing them
within a Flash document ("fla").
I spoke with an Adobe tech (FYI) and found that as far as
"Adobe" can help:
1. You can import your "Library" from the previous ".swf"
files by:
a. Opening a new project in Flash.
b. Once inside your new document: Open: File > Import
> Import to Library (not "Stage").
c. Navigate to the ".swf" file you wish to access and select
it for Import.
d. Your "Library" items from the ".swf" file are then
imported to your new ".fla" document's Library.
e. I have not found a way of retrieving any other settings,
codes, timeline events, etc.
In my case I had selected the options for protection from
download, etc. when creating my ".swf" files––all so
that they would be "protected" on the web. Unfortunately, this has
made it very likely impossible for me to access them as well.
There may be some third-party product or workaround for this
situation.
DOES ANYONE KNOW OF A SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM?
("Backup, backup, backup!")
HINDSIGHT IS ALWAYS 20-20!

I recently had a catastrophic hard drive failure and had to replace it. At the time, I had a VERY extensive music library and it is now lost. This entire library was also on iTunes. Is it possible to recover that library, or do I have to download again?

I recently had a catastrophic hard drive failure and had to replace it. At the time, I had a VERY extensive music library and it is now lost. This entire library was also on iTunes. Is it possible to recover that library, or do I have to download again?

If your hard drive was not backed up then you can download items purchased from the iTunes Store.
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519 - enabled with iTunes 10.3 and newer; not available in all countries; apps, books (not audiobooks), music, t.v. shows, and movies (some - not all studios have permitted this). Movies currently available in the USA only. Downloading previously purchased movies and TV shows requires iTunes 10.6 or later. Discontinued items not available. For items not included in the iCloud list, or locations or computer systems where iCloud is not (yet?) available, you only get one download per fee paid. Apple notes it is your responsibility to back up your purchases.
Did you subscribe to iTunes Match service? If you did, your other music would be available too.
Note, this restores the music files themselves, not playlists, playcount, ratings, or other things associated with the actual library file structure.
You really should consider getting a backup drive. Hard drives failures are a certainty and it saves a lot of grief.

Multiple Hard Drive Failures

I purchased a MacBook Pro just before last Christmas and in late January or early February the hard drive failed and had to be replaced. I was told then that it was a fluke and not to worry about it that the chances of it happening again were very slim. Well, yesterday it happened once again.
That is now 2 hard drive failures within 4 months of each other, and within 6 months of being purchased new. This is simply unacceptable for a computer that costs nearly $3,000 with an extended warranty.
Until Macintosh figures out this problem, I would advise everyone to stay away from the MacBook Pro. From what I was told by the "Genius" at the Apple Store yesterday when I was having the hard drive replaced once again, "Apple knows about this problem". Well, they may know about it, but apparently they are not doing anything about it because the problem still exists.
I guess they assume its cheaper to just keep replacing hard drives every 2 or 3 months than to fix the problem and have a satisfied customer.
WARNING - Do not buy the MacBook Pro unless you do not mind spending several days reloading your software and files onto a new hard drive every 2 or 3 months.

Even with a backup, that does not reinstall all of the software onto the new hard drive, only the personal files and data. I have over $15,000 worth of software that I have to painstakingly reinstall each time this happens.
You are mistaken. If you've backed up by cloning the entire hard drive, everything on it is backed up and can simply be cloned onto a new hard drive. Nothing at all needs to be reinstalled from any other source. If you clone to a portable hard drive, you can take it with you on location. If your primary drive fails there, you'll be able to boot to your portable drive exactly as if it were the internal drive, and keep right on working without missing a beat. A 250GB Seagate FreeAgent To Go portable USB2 drive containing a clone of my MBP's internal drive goes everywhere I go, and is ready to step into the place of my internal drive in moments if ever it should go pear-shaped.
Believe me, I am not making this up, and there is no Catch-22. This is what cloning software is for, and it works beautifully. You may have good uses for other kinds of backups too, but a bootable clone of your primary internal hard drive would be invaluable to you as an additional protection against lost time and work in the field.
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
I've used both, and I prefer SuperDuper. It's simplicity itself to use, and costs under $30. Carbon Copy Cloner is free, offers more selective-copying options, and in the versions I've used, it presented more inscrutable messages that I didn't know how to interpret, leaving me wondering what had and hadn't happened. I'm told those rough edges have been polished off in recent versions, but I haven't tried them. SuperDuper works very, very well for me and never leaves me puzzled.

Hard Drive failure - various boot modes won't work, HELP!

Hello all,
First of all, sorry for the essay, but I didn't want to miss out on possible crucial details that could help!
A couple of weeks ago, my beloved 27" iMac had a hard drive failure. It won't boot, but instead goes to the grey 'no entry' sign when booting up. I tried holding Cmd + V on boot and this message repeated itself whilst failing to boot:
"rooting via boot-uuid from chosen/: D94DA2D5-DB38-3517-B05D-70A97AC6EE5B
Waiting on <dict ID="0"><key><IOProviderClass</key><string ID="1"> IOResorces</string><key>IOResourceMach</key><string ID= "2">boot-uuid-media</string></dict>
Got boot device = IOService:/AppleACPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/SATA@1F,2/AppleIntel5Serie sAHCI/PRT0@0/IOAHCIDiskDriver/IOAHCBlockStorageDevice/IOBLockStorageDriver/Hitac hi HDS722020ALA330 Media/IOGUIDPartitionScheme
BSD root: disk0s2, major 14, minor 2
jnl: unknown-dev: open: phys_blksz 4096 does not match journal header size 512, and journal is not empty!
hfs: late jnl init: failed to open/create the journal (retval 0)
cannot mount root, errno = 19"
I'm not sure how much of that is useful, but I thought I'd copy it all down anyway.
I googled error number = 19 and found articles on an invalid b-tree node and corrupt journals, leaving me to believe that because I recently deleted a Windows Vista partition and reformed the overall HD into a 2TB OSX volume, some windows data may have been left over and corrupted the journal?
So it fails to boot normaly, using Cmd V, and using the OSX install disk, as well as failing to boot from the DiskWarrior 4 DVD I purchased from my local Apple Reseller because I'd heard that it's very good at helping with issues such as what I think my HD is having. I tried Disk Utility whilst booting from the install disk, and tried to repair the drive, and each time I tried it said that invalid content was present in the journal but the disk repair had been successful.
Am I right in thinking that my data is on the drive, it's just that OSX won't register the drive's existence because of a corrupted journal? (the little I know of hard drives is shining brightly through at this point, I'm sure!)
I also tried to boot using target mode by connecting my iMac to a MacBook Pro also running Snow Leopard, but, whilst the iMac clearly went into target mode (bouncing firewire icon on screen), my HD never appeared on the desktop of the MacBook Pro, nor in Disk Utility.
Whilst I have AppleCare, I haven't tried taking it to a mac store yet because of two reasons; 1. The last time I did this I had HD failure on my old 2008 MBP and, whilst I told them to keep the data on it, the first thing they did was reformat the disk. Needless to say, it worked, but I lost all my valuable Data! The second reason is that it's bloody heavy, and I don't own a car!
Before people go on about the way I should have backed up my data, I did, and that's gone as well! D:
System Specs:
First generation of 27" iMacs
2.8Ghz Intel i7 quad core
2TB HD
ATi Radeon HD 4850 512mb VRAM
8GB DDR3 RAM
OS version: not the very latest snow leopard but the one before.
Thanks in advance, and once again sorry for the essay!
Westy

I'm not sure about the DW disk. Check that out at Alsoft's website. Apple doesn't provide data recovery services.
Apple has records of your iTunes purchases. However, the licensing for music only permits you to download it once. I'm surprised that you don't have backups.
If you get an external enclosure in which to put the drive then you might try accessing it from the MBP as an external drive. If you have an external drive you could try using recovery software:
General File Recovery
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive. Two free alternatives are Disk Drill and TestDisk. Look for them and demos at MacUpdate or CNET Downloads.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.
Beyond this you would need to send the drive off to a data recovery service which will be extremely expensive.

Lost Data | Hard Drive Failure

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