Data recovery MacBook Hard drive

Hello, my hard drive died, and Apple replaced it because it was covered under extended warranty. But I do have photos I'd very much like to recover from the old drive....any hints on good ways to go? The info online is not very helpful so far. Thanks!

Hi Scott, thanks for the info. I am not sure what an external enclosure is exactly, though I'm getting the importance of having a very sealed static-free environment, and will probably have to pay a professional service to do it....but several thousand dollars won't be worth it! Thanks, Julie

Similar Messages

Data Recovery - External Hard Drive

Hi,
I have recently copied over a folder on my iOmega (Prestige Portable) External Hard Drive with a folder from my Power Book Hard Drive, with the replace all.
What I need to know is there a way to step back to the point before I copied over this folder?
Ok so here comes the Dumb bit, I have never set up Time Machine! Yes I know, very stupid!
So I'm now in the process of seeing if it is possible to step back with data recovery software and if this is possible what do people reccomend! I have tried SanDisk RescuePro but It comes up with a message saying that the drive is too big, I think it is meant for Flash Drives!
Have I posted this in the right Discussion thread? If not were do you think I would be best to post this?
Thanks

Johno11111 wrote:
Ok so here comes the Dumb bit, I have never set up Time Machine! Yes I know, very stupid!
Us mere mortals do tend to learn things the hard way, don't we?
So I'm now in the process of seeing if it is possible to step back with data recovery software and if this is possible what do people reccomend!
FIrst, stop using the drive immediately. If the files haven't been overwritten already, the more you use it, the more likely that is.
There are several Data Recovery apps for Macs; +Data Rescue II+ seems to be the one mentioned here most often, but others get good reviews, too. I've not used any, so can't say one is better than another.
I understand you'll need another external disk to receive the recovered files. (But you'll probably need one anyway for Time Machine or other backup app that you'll be using regularly from now on, right? You can use a second internal HD, Time Capsule, or in some cases back-up over your network.)
I also understand that some of these apps have a trial version that will tell you whether there's anything to be recovered, and perhaps recover a single file, so you don't spend the $$ for nothing.
Look for +Data Recovery+ via Google, VersionTracker.com or MacUpdate.com. The last two have user reviews. Just be certain whatever you use is compatible with Leopard.
And/or, search for +Data Recovery+ in the Using Leopard forum.
Once this is sorted out (or to explore Time Machine options), you might want to review these:
Time Machine Tutorial
Time Machine 101
How to back up and restore your files
Time Machine Features
Apple - Support - Mac OSX v10.5 Leopard Time Machine
and perhaps browse the Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.

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.

Data Recovery external hard drive - Stellar Phoenix or Disk Drill?

Hi guys
This might not be the right location for my post, sorry, but I didn't know where to put it elsewhere.
This is the situation: My Finder keeps telling me that copying a huge folder to my My Book Studio Edition II is imposible, so I tried to reconfiger the external hard drive. Result: all my data is lost on that one (stupid me, indeed )
Luckily, I have another external HD with a back-up from the 1st of july, and the most recent files are on my computer. Only some folders an files are lost, or not up-to-date anymore, since I stored them on the external hard drive without making a back-up on the other external HD.
Google told me that Stellar Phoenix and Disk Drill can help, and indeed, Stellar Phoenix already showed me the map structure I had on my My Book Studio Edition II before completely erasing it, and this after only having scanned less than 5 %, but before continuing, I wonder if this software (and Disk Drill) are reliable, and they won't do anything bad to me beloved MacBook Pro
Thanks for your opinion!
Bob

Apparently, I found the solution.
Doing the below procedure I was able to access the files and copy all the content of My Documents.
To resolve this issue, you must turn off Simple File Sharing, and then take ownership of the folder:
Turn off Simple File Sharing:
Click Start, and then click My Computer.
On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View tab.
Under Advanced Settings, click to clear the Use simple file sharing (Recommended) check box, and then click OK.
Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message, if one appears.
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click your user name, Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group.
If you want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, click to select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
Click OK.
You may receive the following error message, where Folderis the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of:You do not have permission to read the contents of directory Folder. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control? All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.
Click Yes.
Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and the folder contents.
Disclaimer: Not my idea, but I learned from this page:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810881/en-us

Data recovery after hard drive crash.

I've been using Palm Desktop Software 4.1.4 basically as a great Index Card app. My hard drive died but I recovered my DAT files from backups. On a new computer (Windows 7 x64) I reinstalled PDF 4.1.4 and added my .DAT files, but the software doesn't recognize them--nor will it allow me to use the User Names from the original installation. I tried re-installation x3 with no success--I repeated the process with the 6xx version of PDF, again with no success.
Is there any way I can retrieve my data and avoid having to re-type all of them?
Thanks. Haddox Sothoron
Post relates to: HP TouchPad (WiFi)

1.
If you can boot, try using a linux liveCD like systemrescue. Use a flash drive to copy everything to the flash drive.
2.
If you can't boot, then you can try connecting the drive from another computer - not sure how that works, but it has
been done before.
Here's some links from my website,
http://shengchieh.50webs.com/tuxslinks.html
http://www.sysresccd.org/ (non-commercial; SystemRescueCd)
http://www.mondorescue.org/ (non-commercial; Mondo)
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk (non-commercial; TestDisk)
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec (non-commercial; PhotoRec)
https://grc.com/ (commercial; SpinRite)
These links are for linux systems, but some may be applicable for your machine.
http://www.antrix.net/journal/techtalk/reiserfs_data_recovery_howto.html (ReiserFS)
http://linuxshellaccount.blogspot.com/2008/08/recovering-deleted-files-by-inode.html (Recovering Deleted Files By Inode Number In Linux And Unix)
http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/397719-repair-a-linux-file-system-and-reclaim-deleted-files (Reclaim Deleted Files and Repair Filesystems on Linux; 1/25/11)
If you need more, do a search for "data recovery".
Regardless, look at system rescue link first. And ask questions in their forum if you still have questions after reading
their docs, et.al.
Sheng-Chieh

Data recovery from Hard Drive using external USB adaptor

Hi all,
Satellite L655D-S5066BN laptop.
My moderboard or processor failed the other day. (Computer power is on, but it would not boot at all, only the fan seems to run at full speed. Other than that, it is totally dead, not even the Toshiba BIOS logo, no hard drive activity at all).
I removed the hard drive and pluged it in an external adaptor and tried to read it from my desktop.
It seems to work fine, as I was able to access it and copy all the pictures and music files.
They were under c:\Pictures and respectively c:\Music directories.
However, when I try to access My Documents forlder I get an error telling me that I don't have credentials to access that directory.
The computer did not have any passoword protecting the User Account, and didn't use any encription software.
Only my daughter was the only user.
Questions:
Is any way to access those folders that seem to be protected?
Would it be worth trying to replace the motherboard / processor ? If so where would I find such a motherboard?
Thank you for your feedback.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Apparently, I found the solution.
Doing the below procedure I was able to access the files and copy all the content of My Documents.
To resolve this issue, you must turn off Simple File Sharing, and then take ownership of the folder:
Turn off Simple File Sharing:
Click Start, and then click My Computer.
On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View tab.
Under Advanced Settings, click to clear the Use simple file sharing (Recommended) check box, and then click OK.
Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message, if one appears.
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click your user name, Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group.
If you want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, click to select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
Click OK.
You may receive the following error message, where Folderis the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of:You do not have permission to read the contents of directory Folder. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control? All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.
Click Yes.
Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and the folder contents.
Disclaimer: Not my idea, but I learned from this page:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810881/en-us

Data Recovery from Late 2008 Macbook Hard drive?

I have a late 2008 Macbook. It was recently dropped by a child, resulting in it no longer turning on. (It worked one time when tried within about 12 hours after the fact and then wouldn't get past the Apple logo and spinning wheel on startup). I brought it to the Apple store and was told they were 99% sure it was just a failure in the hard drive cable. Unfortunately, I received a call sometime later saying it was not the cable, but the hard drive itself.
I am planning on having Apple replace the hard drive, but I am hesitant to pay them the requested $99 to retrieve data from the hard drive (which they say they believe they could do). I do not have an up-to-date version of Time Machine because I had been traveling for nearly a year with my Mac and had left my hard drive at home and, of course, this incident happened right after my arrival.
I was hoping I could do something like Firewire Target Disk Mode using my iMac ( http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661 ), but cannot do so because my Macbook does not have a Firewire port.
Does anyone have any solutions? If my only option is to pay Apple then I am resigned to that, but as I already have 95% of my data backed up & I only want a few files from a project I had invested quite some time into, I am hoping there is a way to recover the data myself.
Thanks in advance for your help.

I may have missed it ... late 2008 there were still the plastic-bodied macbooks and the aluminum-bodied macbook. I'm told the plastic macbooks have a max disk drive capacity of 500GB, and the aluminum-bodied macbooks are good upwards of 1TB. An important point to check is the drive height. Normal is 9.5mm (I believe all WD Scorpio Black drives are 9.5mm). Some are 12.5MM and some are less than 9.5mm. See what you have today, and likely it's 9.5mm, so replace with same. If you're in the US, you might confirm max capacity with OWC who also sell hard drives.
One other option .... a little more expensive, however, you could install a solid-state drive in your macbook. If you're able to use a smaller size, a 240GB drive is around $240 at OWC. Significant speed pickup for disk operations. If you consider this, remember for capacity you need to allow 10% or more for systems usage.
Going from Leopard to Mountain Lion, you may want to upgrade to current iLife programs. The only one no longer offered is iDVD, however. If you want a Snow Leopard level of iLife, Amazon or hardcoremac.com should still have the iLife package available.

Recover data from external hard drive that was Windows format and connected on a Macbook Pro. Did I lose everything? What happened?

Hi there this is my first question here!
I connected my external hard drive originally formatted on PC on my new Macbook. The first time I connected it I could see all my files but today I connected it and after I couldn't see any file nor even on my pc appears as NO NAME with a different name and nothing on it. I think was reformatted, any help to recover all my data?
It's really important stuff for me

If the Apple Store couldn't get files off of the drive, it is unlikely that you will be able to. If you have backups, those would be the best way to go. You could also try booting up the computer and holding down T to boot into Target Disk Mode. Plug the broken computer into another one with FireWire and see if it works to recover data from external hard drive. If you can see it, try booting up the broken computer while holding down Option. Choose Recovery HD from the menu, then choose to Reinstall OS X.
It is unlikely that this will work, because I'm pretty sure that the Apple Store would have tried this. You could try using expensive software to get files off the drive, but it would be risky and the results might not be any good.
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4273

I was given the wrong macbook when I gave mine in for repair. I want to complain. Also, they wiped ALL my data off the hard drive. I want to complain to someone in authority. How?

I am extremely disappointed and angry with Apple service. I am a writer and booked three weeks in Spain so that I could finish my book. On the second day my laptop cut out on me asI was working on it, so I took it to Goldenmack in Cadiz. Not only was I given someone else's macbook when I went back to collect it, but then when I returned to the UK, the Apple shop in Brighton managed to delete ALL my data from the hard drive because I was unlucky enough to get a trainee on her first day. I have since learned she should not have deleted my data without even running a diagnostic. She told me she was going to 'restore' the drive. I took this to mean she was going to restore my work. But no! She erased the lot.
I complained and eventually was put in touch with a supervisor, who I was told had authority to resolve the issue. She said she would get the shop to phone me. That was ten days ago and I'm still waiting.
Ok so there's nothing I can do now to get back the three chapters of my book that I have lost and didn't back up, but the hard drive on this laptop is still faulty. I try to back up my work every time I use the machine but as soon as I attach an external drive, the whole thing shuts down. I can't use it any more as I can't risk losing any more work. This laptop is only just over a year old and this is just not acceptable, especially since I have really looked after it.
This is an appalling service I have encountered from Apple, and I am not going to ignore it. I have contacted the young chap whose laptop I was erroneously given, and the repair of which I paid for! (although I did eventually get a refund), to ask him if he had been given mine as well. He said he had been completely unaware that his laptop had been given to me and he is furious as he had loads of "sensitive material" on it." I have no idea in whose hands my laptop has been either, or indeed what damage it sustained while it was supposed to be in for repair.

Contact Apple Support:
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/
Apple - How to Contact Us:
http://www.apple.com/contact/
Be sure to refer to the repair ticket number.
Sounds like a terrible mixup.
Good luck & happy computing!

Recovering data from "crashed" hard drive - white macbook

I have a 13" white macbook (my daughter's macbook). It looks like the hard drive crashed. She took it to Apple store they told her they can replace the hard drive (still under Apple care), but I am trying to get the data from the hard drive.
I pulled the hard drive out of the macbook, and put it in a external hard drive enclosure, with USB2 connector. Unfortunately I have to connect the USB to a Windows PC, since that's what I have (she took my PowerBook for school work). The wondows machine does not recognize the hard drive. I tried to connect to a Vista machine and an XP machine same problem.
Do I have to connect it to a Mac to be able to recognize this hard drive? I thought as long as I put it in a external disk enclosure I will be able to recognize it even with Windows machine.
I would appreciate any help.
p.s. I do hear (faint) clicking noise from the hard drive - both when it is in the macbook and when it is in the external enclosure.
Thanks.

The enclosure is format "agnostic". A drive could conceivably be formatted in several different Apple formats; HFS+ (aka Mac OS Extended) is likely what you have. There's Windows based FAT32 or NTFS.
Windows doesn't properly recognize Mac drive formats unless you add software. There are a couple of commercial tools that might work.
http://www.macdisk.com/mden.php3
tp://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows/

The logic board on my MacBook Pro has failed. How do I retrieve all my data from the hard drive?

The logic board on my MacBook Pro has failed. How do I retrieve all my data from the hard drive?

Remove the drive and put it in an external enclosure. Backup the drive completely. Repartition and format the drive. Replace the drive into the computer. Take the computer in for the logicboard replacement.

Have old MacBook Pro running tiger 10.4 want to save date to external hard drive and buy newer MacBook and still use same drive. Any suggestions, most WD drives say nothing about os tiger 10.4.

Have old MacBook Pro running tiger 10.4 want to save date to external hard drive and buy newer MacBook and still use same drive. Any suggestions, most WD drives say nothing about os tiger 10.4. The OS compatibility is much newer on the data. Totally confused. Not a computer person.

I haven't checked reviews recently but there's a difference between bare drives and drives with enclosures. Western Digital made some of the most reliable drives last time I checked, though the enclosures weren't all that great. It is convenient to get both in one package but I usually buy a highly rated enclosure and then put a highly rated drive in it myself. OWC sells some good enclosures but if they put a so-so drive inside of it then the package is only as good as its weakest component. If you get a package from them, ask them what drive is inside (some vendors have no idea what's inside - went to an Apple Store recently and they couldn't tell me what was inside some of their Apple brand enclosures). My first thought if buying a new drive would be to buy a OWC enclosure with a WD drive, but chek around because I may be out of date.
10 years ago Seagate was one of the best drives. Now they rate poorly in reviews.

2007 Macbook Hard Drive

My 2007 Macbook hard drive has crashed (I don't know all the specs at the moment - the computer is not with me currently). I've just learned that Apple offered a replacement program for this era of hard drive a few years back.
Does anyone know if this offer still stands? I'm just a little frustrated that I was never notified that my hard drive could need replacing back then. It seems that Apple should've done a better job notifying anyone that purchased a Macbook during that time frame. I would've gladly had it replaced then to prevent this from happening.
Also, if this offer is not still available, does anyone have an estimate of how much it would cost to have apple replace the hard drive?
I've read a lot about replacing it myself, and while i'm not opposed to that, I'd rather have someone else do it. I don't mind spending the extra $$.
Thanks!!

You're welcom. There are methods of data recovery available in the event your HDD is completely crashed. Most are costly. One (simple and cheap) method to attempt, if your machine isn't booting, is Target disk Mode. This makes your computer act as external HDD, so potentially data can be recovered from the drive and transferred onto another storage device. The Apple store can assist you with this process at the Genius bar. See more below, best of luck.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1661

I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

In the Mac side of things, backups usually come in two flavors: clones or incrementals.
A bootable clone is a bit-for-bit copy of all essential files in the startup volume. If using the Lions, clones can be made using CarbonCopyCloner or just plain old Disk Utility. These backups represent the safest protection of your info, but take the longest to do. Recovery is an inverse process: you copy the clone back into the internal drive.
Incremental backups start with a complete backup of the startup volume and only copy whatever changed from the previous run. OS X includes the fully integrated Time Machine backup utility to do this. It is extremely easy to do and takes the least amount of time. Recovery is another matter altogether since you have to start with a freshly installed instance of the OS and have to apply all intervening backups to bring the result to the latest saved version.
As for where the backup takes place, the recommended media is an external dedicated drive or drives connected via the fastest interface available on your Mac: Thunderbolt, USB3, Firewire, or USB2. Network-based backups, wired or wireless, are attractive but may not offer the same performance and hence take longer. Also important to note that the entire drive need not be completely dedicated to a single backup. The Mac's EFI firmware infrastructure allows for an unlimited number of partitions on a hard drive and each can be used for either type of backups.
Holler if you need specifics on how to do each. This was just an executive summary.

What All Do I Need If I Want To Upgrade My Macbook Hard Drive?

hey guys.
i've tried reading up a little but i was hoping someone (or a few people) could give me some straight up answers.
if i want to upgrade my macbook hard drive what all do i need? just the hard drive? or are there other pieces?
also.. whats a good 250GB one? i found this one on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-2-5-Western-Digital-250GB-SATA-Harddrive_W0QQitemZ220271 134397QQihZ012QQcategoryZ158853QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
is that one any good? i just know the name (Western Digital) and have heard good things about them...
any comments are welcome.
thanks!
beau

I got a 320GB sata 2.5" hard drive and installed it myself, its easy. I also got a caddy so I can use my old 120GB drive as a back up. Make sure u have everything backed up! Seagate and western digital drives are most popular. I asked similar q and got this answer"
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.
If your backup is bootable, then boot from the external drive and use SuperDuper to clone it back to the newly installed drive.
Mac Pro 2.66 Ghz; MacBook Pro C2D 2.33 Ghz; MacBook Pro 2.16 Ghz Mac OS X (10.5.4) Intel iMac C2D 17 "; MacBook 2.0 Ghz.
And
Now, to install the hard drive, follow http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Core-Duo/Hard-Drive-Replacement/86/5/

Data recovery MacBook Hard drive

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