Data recovery

First off I want to apologize because I am not computer literate so I will try to explaine my problem and hope someone can help me. The motherboard died on an older Compac with Vista 32 bit. I have tried to connect the hard drive as a second drive in
a newer Compac Windows 7 64 bit. I cannot get the system to give me access to this drive so I can transfer all my financial data off. I even tried to use the BlacX device to hook the drive up through the USB port. I can find the drive under Devices and printers
and it says it is working properly and I can also see it under Disk Management (Drivers are up to date) but it will not create a drive letter so I can access it. How can I recover the data from the old Compac drive??

Thank you for the articles. I am in practicality doing the opposite. I am trying to transfer data from a 2nd drive from an old computer to the primary drive on a newer computer. Am I to assume that I have a partition damage or missing if Disk Manager
shows the disk space as "Unallocated"? It is a 160 GB hard drive but it shows 149.05 GB Unallocated.
Hi,
Contact the professional in Data recovery service would be better if the data is very important.
Kate Li
TechNet Community Support

Similar Messages

Data Recovery from Partitioned and formatted Bit Locker Encrypted Drive

Recently because of some issues in windows 7 installation from windows 8 installed OS. it was giving as the disc is dynamic windows can not be installed on it. so at last after struggling hard no other solution i partitioned and formatted my whole
drive so all data gone included the drive which was encrypted by bit lockers.
For recovery i used many software such as ontrack easy recover, get data back, recovery my files professional edition but still i couldnt able to recover my data from that drive. then i found some suggestion Using CMD to decrypt my data first
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee523219(WS.10).aspx
where it shows it successfully decrypt my data at that moment my drives were in RAW format excluding on which windows is installed and then in CMD i check Chdsk which also shows no problem found. but now problem is still i coudnt able to recover
my data then i format the drive D and again tried to recover data using above software after decryption still no result.
Now i need assistance how i can recover my encrypted drive as it was partitioned and also formatted but decrypted also as i have its recovery key too. thanks

Hi ,
I am afraid that we cannot get the data back if the drive has been formatted even if use the
BitLocker Repair Tool.
You’d better contact your local data recovery center to try to get data back.
Tracy Cai
TechNet Community Support

Time Machine Recovery (after data recovery)

Several months ago, Disk2 and Disk3 in my 2007 MacPro 1,1 (OSX 10.7.5) became unreadable by the computer. To make matters worse, the Time Machine external backup became equally as unreadable. All at the same time! Drive 1, with the operating system, seems to be unaffected. The two unreadable drives showed up as "media" in disk utility, but didn't show up in Disk Warrior or any other similar programs (partition repairing) using the "terminal." I sent the Time Machine drive (WD Mybook Essential 3Tb) to DataRecovery.com and they found no phyical issues with the drive. There was, however,"Data Corruption in the file tables and data area" (according to the evaluation report). This was corrected and the TM drive was supposedly completely recovered.
Upon receiving the external drive (now replaced by a newer 3Tb Mybook), I replaced disk2 and disk3 with new 1TB drives (formatted with a single partition) and tried to perform a restore for these two drives. No such luck.....The drive was readable by the computer but would not actually enter into "Time Machine." I examined the actual drive and found an inordinate amount of Unix executable files, especially when going into the individual backups. The drive does show that they recovered 870Gb of information, but nothing seems to be readable much less recoverable.
I'm wondering if there is a workaround for any of this or whether I should contact the data recovery people to resolve this. I appreciate any help on this as it's become expensive and a bit deflating.......I still hold out some hope, though. Thanks. The drives were most likely corrupted by a generator that kicks on once a week (automatic maintenance) and temporarily cuts power long enough to turn the computer off...I've since gotten a UPS.

A general look at backup files......

Using Bitlocker Data Recovery Agent (DRA) on Surface Pro 3

We currently have the Data Recovery Agent (DRA) configured in our Bitlocker Policy for our Windows 7 Systems, and it works fine. In situations where the Recovery Key for the computer object was not backed up to AD correctly for whatever reason or the computer
object was deleted, our HelpDesk can connect the encrypted drive to another system, and then use the certificate for the DRA to unlock the drive.
I'm wondering if the BitLocker DRA Certificate unlock method will work for Surface Pro 3 devices, in the case that that their computer object and normal BitLocker recovery key is deleted or missing in AD for whatever reason. Seeing as how our helpdesk can't
easily remove the internal HD from a Surface Pro 3 (I think only MS can do this?), I'm wondering if this BitLocker recovery option is still an option for Surface Pro 3's and if it is not then if there is another recommended option for Surface Pro 3's and/or
other Windows 8.1 Tablets used in an enterprise environment.

noctlos wrote:
Using linux-3.18 and -3.19 kernels, with wayland/weston v. 1.7. In its own tty, i try to run weston, and I get the following stderr:
Could anyone help me to figure this out? Thanks.
Seems that the problem lies in libinput. Maybe you can report that upstream. I suggest you recompile libinput with debug info and do not strip the binaries to obtain better backtraces.
Edit:
I have also tried running `swc-launch -- velox`, and get the following error:
Running on /dev/tty2
velox: error while loading shared libraries: libinput.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Server exited with status 127
Restoring VT to original state
So, perhaps I am having some libinput trouble. Does this seem correct?
Well, that's a different problem. libinput has several soname bumps because of API and ABI incompatibility. You have to rebuild swc against the newest libinput. (Although I'm not sure if swc developer updated the code to new API)
Edit 2:
Just to tack this on here for `gnome-session --session=gnome-wayland --debug`
I'm not expert on this, it may be related to libinput problem. If you don't include GDK_BACKEND=wayland environment variable when launching gnome-wayland.
Last edited by jdbrown (2015-03-01 08:04:39)

Macbook - Dead Hard Drive? Data Recovery?

A friend has asked for my help - his Macbook (1st generation - about 4 years old) suddenly refuses to start but displays a grey screen, sometimes with a question mark. You can also (sometimes) hear a few clicks from the hard drive. I'm assuming the drive has died - is that most likely?
The machine will not start in target disc mode (my laptop cannot see it and there's no firewire icon on the screen) but it will start quite happily from an install DVD, Disk Warrior DVD (DW could not see the internal drive at all) and an external firewire drive. Can it be anything other than the internal drive itself - any other tests I can try?
Now, I have to whisper this bit - he has no backup! I'm comfortable with fitting a new drive for him but is there any way I can try to retrieve data other than a specialist company who are talking around £600.

The only other thing I would try is physically removing the drive from the Macbook and, if you have one, installing it in an external FW enclosure, connecting it to a Mac using a raw SATA cable, or using a (preferably read-only) SATA drive dock.
If that doesn't do the trick, I would say you've tried everything that a non-data recovery specialist should try, so at that point my professional advice for him would be to judge the value of what's on the drive, and, if appropriate, seek the help of the data specialists.
Matt

Data recovery - HELP!

Hi there
I have done the stupidest thing EVER! I back up my entire MacBook on an external hard drive - so far, so sensible. Only I've updated what I've backed up by replacing folders with newer versions and I've only just realised. I've lost four years' worth of digital photos and I'm praying there's some way of recovering them. Please help me! I'll name my future children after you and put you in my will!
Here's what I've done in full:
- I upload all my photos to iPhoto, edit them and then save them into a folder within a folder on my desktop
- I started getting very low on operating memory so I got an external hard drive with a fire wire and began backing everything up. I took all my photos in the Photos folder off my desktop altogether and trashed them, so I had more operating memory.
- I did this in May/June
- I also had photos from 2004/2005/2006 on there which were from before I had a Mac and uploaded to iPhoto
- I've since overwritten this folder with a new (thus virtually empty with only a few recent photos) version and I think I've done it twice since I originally backed everything up, but I've only just realised I've been overwriting everything.
- I've looked in that iPhoto library in Pictures that I have and I can recover some photos, but there appears to be a lot missing and because I'm a keen photographer who is anal about editing and organising (the irony!) my photos, they're all mixed up - which is why I had them in separate folders in the first place
Is there ANYTHING I can do?
Can they be recovered from the hard drive itself?
Is there software that can be downloaded free or paid for to do this?
I've googled it a bit and it looks like there's stuff you can download for a PC. I have access to a PC, so I can have a go on that if that's what it takes.
If they can't be salvaged from the hard drive, will I perhaps be able to find them in a secret place on my MacBook from the time I trashed the original folders a couple of months ago? 'Secret place' is about as technical as I get!
I can't get an appointment at the Genius Bar for a while. Any help on this would be much appreciated. I know I'm an idiot - but I was half way to being a non-idiot by backing up in the first place...so small victories...!
Thanks,
Rachael

Basics of File Recovery
If you simply put files in the Trash you can restore them by opening the Trash (left-click on the Trash icon) and drag the files from the Trash to your Desktop or other desired location. OS X also provides a short-cut to undo the last item moved to the Trash -press COMMAND-Z.
If you empty the Trash the files are gone. If a program does an immediate delete rather than moving files to the Trash, then the files are gone. Recovery is possible but you must not allow any additional writes to the hard drive - shut it down. When files are deleted only the directory entries, not the files themselves, is modified. The space occupied by the files has been returned to the system as available for storage, but the files are still on the drive. Writing to the drive will then eventually overwrite the space once occupied by the deleted files in which case the files are lost permanently. Also if you save a file over an existing file of the same name, then the old file is overwritten and cannot be recovered.
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.
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.
Since it sounds like you overwrote files and folders then the data that were overwritten are gone for good and can not be recovered.
In the future you should make multiple backups including an archival backup on DVD media that can be stored away safely. It's good that you have some backups, but your backup plan is obviously inadequate.

Data Recovery On an iBook G3

I had an iBook G3 in college (2002, exact model @ http://bit.ly/VGVpSh), and when it died I purchased a new Mac and shoved the iBook in a box (About 7 years ago). It died from the logic board/display issues that all those dual-USB iBooks had. I actually had one, or maybe even two, logic board(s) replaced under warranty, but it eventually went out again, and I just bought a whole new laptop. I know I have a ton of photos from college on there, and that's really the data I'm now after! I can get the screen to work most of the time by placing a clamp under the 'Option' key on the left half of the keyboard. New problem though, as fired it up to take a stab at finding my data; I'm getting a flashing question mark when it boots up, which a little research shows is indicative of hard drive failure... My photos!!! So I've messed around with the computer for an hour or so, and haven't had any luck.
First and foremost, does the flashing question mark mean that data's dead and gone for good, period? Or could the drive itself be fine, but the controller/cables be bad? Sadly, ten years later I don't have the install CD, so that's not an option. I used a random OS9 disc I found online, but it wouldn't boot off that either; I'm guessing because it's not the original OS CD for this model... I also can't get the 'Firewire target' to work. The oldest computer I have in the house is an Intel 2ghz core duo 2 (exact machine @ http://bit.ly/LqDkzw) running 10.6. I'm guessing the new machine/OS won't do the Firewire target mode, as I've been unsuccessful when I've tried. I just read there are different Firewire 400 vs Firewire 800 cables, so I guess I could just be using the wrong cable as well..? I found an old Firewire cable to even try this in the first place, but I have no idea if it's 400 vs 800. Or would a bad hard drive preclude the Firewire target mode anyway?
I've also tried random things like Ethernet connections, but no luck. I'm guessing the probably-wide OS gap won't allow them to communicate anyway.
I found a bunch of these laptops on ebay for $45, So I guess I could just buy one used, and swap the hard drives? That way, if the HD it self’s ok, moving it to a new home might help (plus it'd fix the logic board issue). Downside is that the hard drive swap doesn't look easy at all, and I could end up messing up the HD even more.
I've never used a data recovery business, but is that possibly my best bet? I have no idea how much they cost, but I think a friend said his data recovery cost like $250. In all honestly I think I'd pay $250 for my old memories, I'm just not sure where to go from here. If anyone has suggestions on fixing it, or ANY suggestions on who’s a good merchant to handle this, I'd greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks all!

I use the external caddy as edex67 has suggested you try. This is probably the cheapest and easiest way to recover the pics providing that the hard drive is working. The only catch is you must remove the drive in order to attach to the adapter. Since you are not trying to resurect the iBook, the drive removal would be easier as disassembly would not have to be as cautious. Below links to disassembly and a source for an adapter.
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/iBook_G3_12%22
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/

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.

Formatted external hard drive from PC to Mac - Data Recovery Needed

I formatted an external hard drive configured to (PC) for a Mac.
I clicked erase data by accident during the process of formatting -- My old files are no longer there now.
Is there a way to recover the old files that I had on there before the reformat?
Someone please say yes and tell me it's possible......

Not very likely.
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.

Data recovery from external hard drive

I'm sick! I was attempting to format my flash drive and I accidentally chose the wrong drive and formatted my Toshiba 3.0 external USB hard drive with over 350GB of data on it. Is there any way at all to recover my files?

Lots of programs out there from which to choose. In the meantime, don't access the drive.
18 Free Data Recovery Software Tools
-Jerry

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.

My computer somehow restarted then deleted all my progress from Word documents. Is there any way to get these documents back without purchase of a data recovery software?

Recently when I open my Mac the screen stays black until I press the start button a few times. Usually at this point it's in sleep mode. This time, however, the computer restarted completely, losing any word documents that I had left open prior. Is there any way I can recover these files without a purchase of a data recovery software? I've tried looking in the 'recent' tab, but it didn't save anything I have done in the last week, and finals are this coming week. Please help!

If the system just Restarted on it's own, Shut down while you were working on something then started back up all those changes, edits, you had done in that app, document, are gone.

Need help in oracle data recovery

Friends ,i need help in oracle data recovery.
I had an oracle 8i database running on windows.
For some reason Windows operating system crashed.
It is not booting up.
I dont have current backups.But my database physical files are in the disk.
Controlfile,datafiles and redo log files are there.
Is there any way I can recover my database?
Please help in this issue.
regards
Ajith

HI citrus,
thanks for the reply.
I have installed database 9i on the same PC after O/S reinstallation.
You are saying that ,I need to keep oracle root folder same as that of my old installation ,and copy control files,redo log and data files in exactly same folders as that of old database,and then start the database?
thank you for your patience and support.
regards.,
Ajith

Data recovery from a disk that is unmounted

Here is my problem:
disk utility had indicated that I had a couple of bad blocks in my start up disk and recommended that it be replaced. Since I already had a second internal hard drive with plenty of room on it, I simply installed OS 10.4 on the second hard drive and designated it as the startup drive.
Then I ran maintenance on the problem drive. After spending an hour or more grinding through every sector it appeared that the drive would pass master. However for some reason it hung up, stopped making progress and disabled my computer, i.e., I could move the cursor but could not click anything or select anything. Finally my only choice was to manually shut down and restart. Restart seemed to work fine except the disk on which I was performing maintenance did not show up on the desktop.
Finally I was able to locate it using disk utility and discovered that the mount point was missing and it was not mounted. Of course this is what I should have expected since techtool pro unmounts a drive while it performs maintenance and when I had to interrupt, it did not remount.
I spent three days trying to find a way to remount it, including downloading MountMe. Strangely when I ran MountMe it recognized the drive and gave me a successful remount message, but the drive was not actually remounted according to disk utility.
I have moved the drive to a different G-4 with no more success.
my greatest problem -- I had used Backup from .Mac but apparently was not careful enough about where the backup file was located. Generally I download to my desktop and then if I want to save a download I move it to an appropriate location. Unwisely I had done the same with backup which means of course that when the old startup drive crashed it took my desktop files with it.
Included among those backups were all of my financial records (Quicken) for the year. Three checking accounts, all of my credit card accounts, all of my business accounts, etc. I am talking about days of contacting credit card companies and banks for replacement of records for the year and, worse yet, they don't have the details in their files regarding the accounts to be charged nor do they have any info about inter account transfer, etc., etc., etc.
So, I am looking for a reasonably priced service provider to copy my defective hard drive for me. I don't think there is any problem with the data on the drive, I just can't get it remounted.
Maybe someone knows how to work around the mount point problem????
My main desktop computer is a G-4 quicksilver with dual 800, OS 10.4.3 and 1.4 GB of memory.
thanks,
John Cleek

Whenever someone reports issues with their drive my first question is always, "Do you hear any unusual noises coming from the computer?"
What I'm listening for is anything like grinding, scraping, what we always call 'ping-ponging' or other unusual clicking noises that would indicate a mechanical problem inside the drive. If you don't hear anything unusual then the problem is more likely to be corrupt volume information or a broken hard drive controller board.
If you hear noises then my recommendation is to stop trying to get anything off the drive because any more attempts would do yet more damage.
The only data recovery company I've used is www.drivesavers.com. I've called them multiple times to get quotes and their reps always seems to actualy have an idea what they're talking about. It is very expensive to use a service such as theirs but sometimes it is the only option available.

DATA RECOVERY for a hard drive that isn't recognized.

Hi,
I just found today that my hard drive is bad. I had one of those geek squad people come look at it and he was able to get it to boot from the Mac OS X Leopard CD, but my hard drive was no where to be seen.
I'm taking the hard drive to one of those places that specializes in data recovery. But, I was wondering...can they retrieve files that were on the desktop? Or are those files gone forever?

Hello Again! Now that there is serious soul searching going on now would be a good time to think about your backup plans for when you get everything up and running again. If the drive is going off to the recovery center worrying further won't help so I suggest coming up with a good recovery plan for times like these. Hard drives are going to fail and they always seem to fail at the most inopertune times but with a good backup plan this could have only been a restart. A second hard drive is a must if there is anything at all important on the computer. It can be an external or internal. I have 4 320 gig SATA drives in my G4 (and I really don't have anything very important on there) I usually keep two secondary bootable clones and rotate between them in case of a backup failure. Then I try to keep another clone on an external and finally I keep a partition with only a fresh install and my utilities for drive repair. I tinker a lot and I've screwed things up a few times but it really wasn't even a minor irritation. Good luck. Tom

Data recovery

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