Data recovery on failed HDD

Hi everyone,
So I have a rather common problem but I thought I would ask anyway. My friend gave me his MacBook Pro to fix because the HDD failed. The hard drive clicks when the computer is turned on and the computer will also not boot. When the power button is pressed the screen is white with no Apple logo. When plugging the disk into my computer (Using an HDD data transfer cable) the disk is not recognized in the Finder, Disk Utility or the Unix command line. The Mac will not boot into safe mode, single user mode or any others (I tried them all). Another issue that I found rather interesting is it would also not boot from the Mac OS X install DVD. There is some important client data on this HDD and was wondering if anyone could give me any advice on how to save this important data. Also no backups exist and I also cannot access the recovery partition by holding (option) at startup.
Thank you all in advance for your time!

Apple0sx7,
you’ll need to install a replacement HDD (or SSD) into your friend’s MacBook Pro. If your friend’s grey Mac OS X Install DVD is the right one for his model MacBook Pro (they’re model-specific), then you can try cleaning the lens of the SuperDrive to see if that will let the MacBook Pro boot from the DVD. If that doesn’t work, then it sounds as though its SuperDrive will need to be repaired or replaced.
Those client data are so important that no backups were made of them? Your friend will need to hire a data recovery firm to have a chance at recovering those data — note that their services tend to be expensive, and that they can’t guarantee recovery, since recovery depends upon the state of the disk where those data are located.

Similar Messages

Data recovery from failed HDD in my 2.16 Core 2 Duo black case?

I have a question mark upon startup and the OS never launches, and I tried using a new 10.6 DVD to install the OS again and use the utilities on the DVD. I quickly saw there was no recognition of the HDD. I ordered and am installing a new 320GB 7200 RPM HDD soon as it arrives here. I also am thinking of picking up a Newer Tech universal USB drive adapter to see what I can grab from my original HDD if possible. Is this the best route to go to recover data? Super Duper can also be used to clone the old drive, I think, during the install of 10.6 on the new HDD, but I'm unclear about that step. Why not just start the old drive as a target drive and pull files from it?
Am I crazy or will this work?
Your help is much appreciated in advance.

kklare wrote:
BTW Firewire is not faster but is perhaps more uniform in transfers.
-Ken
Minor correction (or just clarification, if you will):
The maximum transfer speed for the older Firewire was 400MB/s. The newer technology maxes out at 800MB/s. USB has a maximum of 480MB/s.
The important thing to note is that the average transfer speed for Firewire (the older version) is faster than the average transfer speed for USB in nearly every case. If you're moving a lot of data (dozens or hundreds of GBs) around, you'll want the higher average speed to save the time.
Some sources:
(even though I dislike Wikipedia in most cases!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#ComparisonwithFireWire
http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm
http://www.ehow.com/facts4869289firewire-vs-usb.html
~Lyssa

Data Recovery on Failed Drive

My son's iBook hard drive died with all his graduate school work on the drive. Apple is going to replace the drive under AppleCare, but we're trying to see how to get valuable files off before sending to Apple. DiskWarrior stalled. It was showing a SMART failure. One local tech shop said they couldn't recover anything. Right now the computer won't even show a startup screen. Are there any software options for recovering data off this kind of drive? Any recommendations on places to ship the iBook for data recovery. My daughter-in-law talked with TechRestore.com -- any experience with them?
Thanks for any help.
WK

With a hard drive mechanical failure such as you've had the only likely recourse is to send the drive to one of the various data recovery services (some advertise in the back of Mac World magazine) you might locate on Google. Recovery services will be fairly expensive - probably at least $500.00.
To avoid this in the future you should plan on purchasing an external Firewire drive and make regular backups. Much cheaper and less traumatic.
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Help with data recovery on failed MBP HD Please

Hello
My MacBook Pro 160 GB froze the other night and I had to hard reset it. Ever since I have not been able to turn it on and log into the OS (Mountain Lion). All I could do was get the Apple logo when you turn the MacBook on or a folder with a question mark (a couple times).
I took it to the Apple store even though I was out of warranty and they still helped (got to love Apple customer service!). The genious plugged in a cable and did his diagnosis and it froze tyring to load the into the hard drive but said that the OS was reconginzed in this diganostic machine so he said it was probably a harware issue and not software.
Long story short, they took it to the back and tried a new Hard drive cable, which was not the issue. They said that they were able to log into the HD in the back and that all my infomation was still on there but it was really slow to use and said I should replace the HD and transfer the data off of that failed drive onto the new one.
However, I dont now how to do this on a Mac. Do I get an enclosure or a "HD sled" as the genious recommended. Do I use software to recover, and is my data really safe? Please anyone, help me out. I have some pictures I really do not want to lose and form now on will make sure I buy an external HD to backup all my data via Time Machine.
Thank you so much.
Will make sure to give you 10 points if you can help me or 5 if you give input.

Buy an enclosure for your old drive, and you will need to buy a new drive to replace it.
How to replace or upgrade a drive in a laptop
Step One: Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
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, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
Step Two: Remove the old drive and install the new drive. Place the old drive in an external USB enclosure. You can buy one at OWC who is also a good vendor for drives.
Step Three: Boot from the external drive. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the external drive then click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Step Four: New Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your new 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. Otherwise, click on the
      Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from
      the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended
      (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to
      GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and
      wait until the process has completed.
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.
Step Five: Clone the old drive to the new drive
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Check the box labeled Erase destination.
5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the
      Destination entry field.
6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the
      Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the new internal drive. Source means the old external drive.
Step Six: Open the Startup Disk preferences and select the new internal volume. Click on the Restart button. You should boot from the new drive. Eject the external drive and disconnect it from the computer.
The above takes you through the entire process that you need to follow. This assumes you have removed the old drive, installed the new drive in the computer, and installed the old drive in an external enclosure.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
1. Cool Drives
2. OWC
3. Firewire Direct
4. California Drives
5. NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.
The above sites also sell replacement hard drives. You are looking for 2.5" SATA Notebook-sized hard drives and enclosures. If you want good performance spend a little extra on the hard drive. Look for 7200 RPM drives with 16 MB cache. You are looking for a drive with SATA 3.0 Gb/s support with a capacity of around 500 GBs that is not more than 9.5 mm high.
Any cheap USB enclosure will be suitable for the data transfer. You should find one under $25.00.

Best method/tool for cloning a failing HDD for Data Recovery?

I have been brooding over this subject "Which method/tool is best for cloning a failing HDD - including the system drive - for data recovery from the clone.Has anyone tried cloning for this specific purpose and achieved any results?I would be interested if they can share their experience or even air their views on the subject.

I recently review one of the tool, here's my blog/review : http://arnavsharma.net/4/post/2014/05/review-stellar-phoenix-windows-data-recovery.html
Arnav Sharma | http://arnavsharma.net/ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading
the thread.

Data recovery software that help recover lost partition due to using Disk Recovery Assistant on a 2TB HDD?

I Just use the Disk Recovery Assistant on my 2TB HDD and it wipe it clean. What are the best data recovery tool out there that allow me to recover the lost partition and see the file in folders view not files view like in some data recovery like Disk Drill?
using ML 10.8 something I tried appleXsoft but no luck.

My best suggestion is
Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery
http://www.macintosh-data-recovery.com/
Download the free trial version of the software and use the option "Search Lost/Deleted Volumes", It will scan the drive and show you all lost partitions list on preview. Once you click on the selected partition it will show you again 3 options ,
Quick Recovery- This option is very effective on case of volume corruption
Advanced Recovery- This option recovers data from formatted volume and scans each and every block of volume for lost data.
Deleted File Recovery.- It scans unused blocks of volume to recover deleted data.
On successful recovery the software will show the files in folders view with the folder structure..In case you are unable to see the desired results you would need to go for Raw Recovery which will show results on file basis.This option is only required incase the previous option does not give you the desired results.
Cheers !!

Macbook Pro hard drive failed, data recovery possible?

Hi everyone,
I have a 13 inch MBP i purchased in 2010. Late last year I experienced some issues with the computer generally slowing down and one day it would not start up, getting to the gray screen with the apple logo and loading wheel. Contacting apple support I was talked through the process of copying my hard drive contents onto an external harddrive, re installing the operating system, and then copying the contents from the external hard drive back to my internal hard drive. Then after up dating the operating system (I think to snow leopard :S) I took it to a genius bar appointment and the guy did a few tests and said my hard drives looks ok and suggested upgrading the RAM from 4gb to 8gb, which I did with no noticable improvement. But seemed to work ok for another 8 months or so.
So last week after using my MBP alot during end of semester, it suddenly turned off while using google sketch up. I tried restarting a few times which did not help. Then I searched through apple support to find an answer. I managed to get into disk utility, which told me the disk was OK. I then tried to re install my operating system which took a very long time and failed twice before getting no response at all I booked another genius bar appointment.
The guy did some tests a very quickly came to the conclusion that it was my hard drive that had failed. He gave me the option to replace the harddrive for $200, which I think I will do, however as STUPIDLY did not have any of my data backed up, I am desperate to try and recover a few important documents and my iphoto library, so have put off replacing the hard drive until I try to recover my data.
So the apple guy gave me two programs to try and recover my data. He said its a confusing an tedious process especially with no experience but I am willing to give it a go. The two programs are DISC WARRIOR and EASEUS. I know disc warrior costs money and easeus is free. He should me how to boot my MBP into target disc mode, and sold me the appropriate cable (initially a firewire cable, but then told me a thunderbolt cable would be more efficient and was cheaper.. Im sure they are right but can anyone confirm that a thunderbolt cable can be used for what I am trying to do) to connect my MBP in target disc mode, to another macbook pro, and it should connect as an external hard drive. Then with one of these programs try to recover some of my files
He said what I can recover just depends on the extent of the damage to the hard drive and what sections have failed. I am waiting for a friend to use their MBP in a few days to download one of these programs and connect my MBP.
Does anyone have any experience or advise with using either of these programs recommended by the apple guy or anyother programs that I could use? Or any advice at all in how I should go about trying to recover my files by using another Macbook pro and target disc mode? or anything else that might be helpful?
ANY help would be much appreciated guys!

If you think you can handle your own repair. your welcome to check out my User Tips on the subject
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https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents#/?p er_page=50

Satellite L850: HDD Firmware issue preventing data recovery

Am a bit confused and need a simple explaination
My L850 hard drive died under warranty and has been sent to data recovery people to attempt to recover data before I get new drive under warranty.
I am being told that my hard drive has a fairly unique combination of firmware and drive which is preventing recovery until they get this firmware. Now 6 weeks after it happened I stll am waiting.
Could someone at support explain in simple terms why this firmware is causing problem and cannot so far be obtained by your partner data recovery company?

Hi
I think you will not get here an proper answer why the data recovery people needs such firmware since this is user to user forum.
But from my knowledge the all the 2.5 HDDs and SSD drive supports different firmware.
Such firmware tells the hardware how to interact with the computer's operating system.
It seems that the data recovery people needs such firmware in order to get access to the HDD and I assume without the compatible firmware its not possible to recover the data.

Crashed hdd data recovery

Running 10.8.5, I dropped MacBook Pro 2012 and HDD never rebooted again. Replaced with SSD and MacBook Pro works fine. Tried crashed HDD via external USB but neither Disk Utility nor Data Rescue 3 recognize crashed HDD. Have also tried leaving crashed HDD installed and booting from remote HDD or from Data Rescue in DVD drive, in both cases where damaged HDD is left installed and an alternative boot method is used, I get from the all gray screen to the Apple with a progress bar on bottom. Progress bar hits about 15% and then screen goes black (but unit does not shut down). Damaged HDD makes no noises.
My question is: what's the best way to recover data off of the crashed HDD if neither Disk Utility nor Data Rescue 3 recognize it? I have some accounting docs and home movies/photos that are lost and don't want to spend thousands to recover. I've heard of Linux (Ubuntu) programs to read and transfer directories or is this a Genuis Bar or Disc Savers type problem? Thanks!

many HDD companies have data recovery services such as:
http://www.seagate.com/services-software/data-recovery-services/
You can read more here:
http://lifehacker.com/5982339/diy-data-recovery-tricks-for-when-your-hard-drive- goes-belly-up

Filevault repair failed, need advice on data recovery options.

As you may have seen from my previous posting, my main user Filevault account was corrupted and every attempt to repair it has failed. Since the repair was a failure, I would like some advice on what the best data recovery software would be. Since I don't feel like paying money for anything I would prefer you to give advice on software I can get for free. However if its absolutely necessary to use a purchased software to get best results then feel free to tell me. Often I hear that a lot of the Linux software have a great reputation in data recovery ability. I am able to get Linux on my Mac because I have a Knoppix CD and a Qemu emulator that would enable it to work so be sure to mention any of those options. Just try to tell me what the best way to recover the data would be. Thanks.

Internal SATA drives, preferably in a RAID configuration. You can fit up to 4 in a macpro, including the system drive. They're cheap and reliable, and you could easily fit the capacity you currently have with your externals into the three spare slots.
If you can't get enough capacity this way then you need to look into an external RAID like the G-RAID.
A firewire daisy chain is far from the ideal storage solution for HD.

Data Recovery - Failed HD on 2010 MacBook Pro

Hello, I have had a HD failure, or at least what I believe to be one on my 2010 MacBook Pro. I updated to Mavericks from Snow Leopard in October and everything appeared to run smoothly. 2 days ago I was watching a video in Itunes I my entire system froze, however the mouse was still moveable as was the dock. Rather stupidly, i tried to load a couple of applications, they did eventually load, but were not function able. The pinwheel kept spinning, and trying to move the page windows only resulted in lag. The system then crashed completely, and I had to restart. It would not go past the grey screen with the apple logo.
For the past day I`ve tried on and off everything that I know how to do. PRAM and SMC resets, Apple Hardware disk (which resulted in an issue with one of my memory sticks. I switched them out, ran the test again, and the system simply crashed part way through), and Disk utility. After running Verify and Repair permissions/disk permission in Disk Utility, I received the message relating to an "uncorrectable error" and "This disk cannot be repaired."
I`ve had issue with this machine on and off for nearly the past two years. Disk utility has appeared resolve the issues, but sometime later something else would crop up. Kernal issues have become more and more frequent as have crashes, and I`ve suspected the HD is to blame. Back in Aug 2012 I had the logic board replaced under warranty, due to graphic issues and problems display games/video or other media and lag. This fixed the issue for a few months, then the kernal problems started and I have frequently (every few days) needed to restart and gotten error messages. The machine will no longer start up, and though most of my date is backed up, some of it is not, and I really would like to get it back. The apple logo will appear on screen for 30sec-1min then crash and automatically restarts.
System Info: 15' 2010 MacBook Pro
2.66GHZ i7
5400rpm HD
etc.
Also, I have tried booting up with the "Shift" key held and the following message has appeared multiple times on the grey/apple logo screen:
panic(cpu 2 caller 0xfffff80189cd7d4): "Process 1 exec of /sbn/launched falled, errno 2"0/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-24422.1.72/bsd/kern/kern_exec.c:3836
Debugger called: <panic>
0xffffff8100e1bdf0 : 0xffffff8018622f69
0xffffff8100e1be7d : 0xffffff80189cb7d4
0xffffff8100e1bef0 : 0xffffff80189ab867
0xffffff8100e1bf20 : 0xffffff80189dfe51
0xffffff8100e1bf50 : 0xffffff8018620b2b
0xffffff8100e1bf80 : 0xffffff80186dc7d3
0xffffff8100e1bfa0 : 0xffffff80186f35d2
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: init
Mac OS version:
Not yet set
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 13.0.0: Thu Sep 19 22:22:27 PDT 2013; root:xnu-2422.1.72~6/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: 1D9369E3-D0A5-31B6-8D16-BFFBBB390393
Kernel slide: 0x0000000018400000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff8018600000
System model name: MacBookPro6,2 (Mac-F22586c8)
System uptime in nanoseconds: 4597800225
My primary concern is Data Recovery if possible, then dealing with whatever the issue may be. If the HD is in fact to blame, I can replace it, but I`d really like to get the remain date that is on the drive if possible. Looking through the forums I see that others have had similar issues. I appreciate any help or suggestions that anyone can offer. . Thank you to anyone in advance!

Appfan42,
you’ve now discovered where the value lies in making regular backups — to avoid data loss due to a “single point of failure”. If the data that’s currently only on your hard drive is irretrievable through ordinary means, there is still the possibility of hiring the services of a data recovery company, but their services are typically quite expensive. Should it be necessary for you to purchase a replacement hard drive (or SSD), I’d highly recommend that you also purchase an external hard drive for use as a Time Machine backup destination, so that you can make regular backups, and thus avoid a similar situation at some future date.
That being stated, there is a chance that the problem is due to a faulty internal SATA cable rather than a faulty hard drive. The way to check that would be to purchase either a SATA-to-USB or SATA-to-FireWire adapter or an external disk enclosure, and move your hard disk outside of its usual place within your MacBook Pro. After that, boot into Recovery mode and run Disk Utility from there to verify/repair your drive while it’s external, and see if it will boot normally afterwards. If it behaves itself externally, then that could point to the problem lying with your internal SATA cable; that would also be the right time to perform data recovery and start making regular Time Machine backups.

Help! Data recovery needed after lapse of thought... Suggestions please

All was going well with my Mini Server, but apart from the boot partition, I had no back-up plan in place which made me uncomfortable. So in seek of a performance upgrade and a back-up solution I ordered a larger 750GB HDD for bay 1 and a SSD for bay 2 along with 8GB RAM and an enclosure for the two existing drives to provide my core back-up solution for bay 1.
Installing the RAM and drives was sweet, but alas I had a lapse of thought at least twice. In my wisdom I decided that as the internal drives would form a core part of my back-up solution, I didn't need to back-up them up before the upgrade as I would clone across afterwards. In hindsight, I should have cloned them first and then put them in.
Anyway, my key oversight was putting the drives straight into a raid enclosure set for JBOD/Span and plugging the drive in. I did not initialize the disk when the window popped up, I chose ignore and then ejected from disk utility. I removed the drives and put them in individual enclosures, but alas simply turning on the drives in the raid enclosure did something to the file system as now they both flag up the initialize window when connecting.
I then purchased Data Rescue 3 in the hope it would recover the files. Unfortunately, on the first drive, whilst the software thought it had recovered most of the data, none of the files will open, with messages warning the file may be corrupt or it is an unrecognised format.
So, has anyone got any suggestions of how to reverse whatever the enclosure did when I switched the drives on? Or any other data recovery solutions I can try?

Good news, after a little more research and switching Data Rescue to expert mode and tweaking the allocation block layout, I managed to recover all bar one small partition for which I have a copy of the files elsewhere I believe the data could be retrieved if I spent time trying to get the file offset, but given I have the files elsewhere I am not going to spend time on it!
So thanks to Data Rescue I managed to recover 450GB of iTunes and another 50GB of other important data. What a life saver as 90%+ of my cd collection is in storage in another country, which would have been somewhat inconvenient!
Something else to learn from this experience though is partitioning a drive means the allocation block layout can be different across the drive, as the partitions can use different layouts. That was what caused me the most issues on one of the drives and why I failed in my initial recovery, as I was just using the base settings in Data Rescue.
I hope no one else needs this info, but someone may have a similar lapse in judgement and it may save some time if you know you may need to tweak the allocation block layout.

Corrupted iPod Classic data recovery? In need of a guru.

So, I have an iPod classic, and it seems to work almost entirely fine - it occasionally doesn't respond, but it has 11,000+ songs on it, and is a couple years old.
My issue here is that there is plenty (read: more than $10,000 worth) of store-bought CD music on there (some of it awfully rare) and I am going to lose it all if I can't figure out how to rescue it.
iTunes calls the iPod corrupted, Disk Drill and Drive Genius (free versions of both) don't seem to be doing much good.
The only thing that MAY have been progress that I did was copying the drive to a dmg file, but the dmg won't mount ("no mountable file systems" error).
I feel so close to being able to fix this issue, and the music is there to listen to, so why is it so hard to get to it??!!
I have done the following things to try to fix the issue:
Charged iPod fully before connecting
Connected in Disk Mode
Ran Diagnostic Mode
(HDD Smart test returned the following:
Retracts: 55
Reallocs: 56
Pending Sectors: 744
PorweOn Hours: 93
Start/Stops: 29303
Teamp: Current 34C
Temp: Min 10c
Temp: Max 50c)
At this point, I don't know what to do to either the .dmg on the computer or the ipod itself so I can have my music again.
I wouldn't be freaking out, but again, 10 grand is on the line.
Please help!!!
-Sam

From your Smartdata report, it looks like your iPod hardisk is dead, it is hardware like dying drive, or weak power to the drive.
The 3rd party HD repair tools, wont help, as the HD cant get the right spin to write/read the boot cluster, see the high Start/Stop numbers counts, the high pending is also indicative of bad clusters, failing to write data to the HD.
There MIGHT be some vendors who can recover your data, but the hardisk is a write off., I google "ipod hardisk data recovery" and got this site, so perhaps you can find one in your country.
Have a nice day!

OS X Snow Leopard Looking for an explanation for an DIY Harddisk data recovery procedure

Hi There,
Yesterday my 13" Unibody MacBook (A1278) popped up an "Invalid B-Tree Node Size" Mac OS X Error. searching the internet for on a solution and explanation so far gave me headaches. And did not provide me guidance for an proper Do It Yourself procedure. Off course I want to have data recovered for which no backup is available (a forced clean install now is not an option!). When booting with the install DVD and then using Diskutility fails (yes the simple recovery does not work in my case). I read about using third party software solutions (e.g. data rescue or DiskWarior) but the how to is not clear to me, which steps need to be performed ? How can such an data recovery process be performed ? What sort of hardware or wires are needed to do this ? The only Apple Machines I can use now are a other 15” MacbookPro and an Windows XP desktop. I bought a Sharkoon SATA Quickport XT (USB3) but this product is still wrapped because I am not sure it will (or I will get it to) run under OS X. So again can anyone provide me a walkthrough for such a (troubleshooting) HDD data recovery process?
The data that needs to be recovered concerns foto's and PhD writing material in the end process of some to be published articles.
Thnx in advance for your comment!

First order of busness is to get your data off the 13"
If this data is of extreme importance, your better off letting a professional computer support specialist handle it.
Do not use Disk Warrior yet, it could make matters worse. Your data needs to be recovered and it can be provided nothing further is done to the drive.
The first 3 methods below are designed to be passive, just trying to read the data and get it safely off the hard drive first.
There is no need to extract the hard drive from the computer yet. This in itself can cause further damage.
1: Unwrap the Sharkoon SATA Quickport XT USB 3 and stick a blank internal drive in it.
If you don't have one, then return that device and/or get yourself a external powered USB 3, 2 or 1 (3 is backward compatible with 2, 1) hard drive, runs about $100 for a 1TB drive.
Hook this drive up to the 15" MacBook Pro and in your Utilities Folder is Disk Utilities.
Select this new drive and Erase > format it HFS+ Journaled with Security Option > Zero all data. (going to take a bit to complete)
2: Use the Windows PC or the 15" MacBook Pro to download a ISO copy of PartedMagic. Burn it to a blank cd using Windows 7 right click and burn, or using the free ImgBurn for Windows. Or using Disk Utility on OS X.
http://partedmagic.com/doku.php?id=screenshots
Hook up the now finished USB external drive (or the Quickport) to the 13" MacBook and power up.
Once the cd is burned, stick it in the MacBook and reboot holding option and c, keep holding and you will have a option to load into RAM. DO so and the disk will spit back out.
In the screen on the left is a icon called MountDevices, doubleclick it twice to get two file transfer windows. Use the third window to mount your disks. Use the two file transfer windows to navigate and transfer your files off to the external drive using drag and drop methods.
Once that's completed, unmount the drives and use the lower left corner to exit. Reboot.
Take the external drive to the 15" MacBook Pro and verify your files are there.
3: Another method if the PartedMagic cd doesn't work, is to c boot off the MacBook install disks on the MacBook, use Disk Utility to format the external drive HFS+ Journaled and install OS X on it. It might be hold option bootable, but I'm not sure if older machines can boot from a USB, usually it's Firewire for them and you don't have Firewire.
Last would be to extract the hard drive from the computer if it's easily done through the battery port then stick it in the SATA Quickport port and hook it up to the 15" and transfer your files off. If your having disk reading errors, then on the 15" MBP download and install DataRescue, it will read the files directly via the 1's and 0's of the files themselves. Data Rescue and other recovery software needs another drive to send data to, can't recover back to the problem drive.
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
Once the data is off, you can hold c, boot from the OSX install disk for the MacBook and from the utilities menu select Disk Utility and erase (with Security option Zero all data) and format the drive HFS+ Journaled and quit, reinstall OS X again. Or you can try using Disk Repair/Warrior and see if that works. (only works from another boot drive/disk). Or use the 15" to format the drive and stick it back into the 13"

E9G80UA#ABA 17-j017cl Recovery attempt failed

I recently had the HDD fail on me. It was making clicking noises and would not boot up anymore, giving me the 3F0 error. I contacted HP since it's still under warranty and they verified it was a failed HDD. They sent me one to replace it with along with 3 recovery discs and 1 driver/program disc. I have tried 3 failed attempts to install the recovery discs and each has failed the same way. I get the failed recovery attempt message box along with 3 options, save log, view details and retry. I saved it and tried over and over with no luck. I read on here that someone said to change the BIOS date to 1/14/2014. I'm currently trying that as of right now, disc 1 is loading. If this doesn't work, what other options do I have?
I also have tried installing it like so:
install 3 recovery discs and when it asks for a supplemental disc to install it. I installed the supplemental disc at this time
Install 3 recovery discs and when it asks for the supp disc, I skipped it and let it reboot before attempting to install drivers.
Both ways I get the same error.

Try changing the date in the BIOS to 01/01/2014
****Please click on Accept As Solution if a suggestion solves your problem. It helps others facing the same problem to find a solution easily****
2015 Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience Consumer

Data recovery on failed HDD

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