Hard Drive Crash - Trying to restore info

Hello all,
About a year ago, my Powerbook G4 suffered a hard drive failure, and every bit of information was lost in no-man's land because I did not have anything backed up (trust me, I've learned my lesson). I was referred to DriveSavers, and after charging me a small fortune, they said that they had been successful in recovering 100% of my hard drive and sent it all back to me on 6 DVD discs. I got an iMac and a MacBook Pro to start over, and I have had some success in finding individual items on the DVD discs, like Appleworks and Photoshop documents, and uploading them to the iMac. However, I have never been able to actually "re-create" my old hard drive and access everything that was there before the crash. There are things like the Address Book, iCal and my notes on important meetings, and the Dashboard (which was full of important sticky notes) that I cannot figure out how to retrieve from the DVDs. I have deliberately left the MacBook Pro untouched & unused in the hopes that I can use it to reincarnate my old Powerbook using the 6 DVDs from DriveSavers. The MacBook Pro is currently a blank slate, and I'd like to know if there any way that I can use the DVDs from DriveSavers to make the MacBook Pro a carbon copy of the old Powerbook, with the same files and hard drive, etc.? Is this even possible? In the past I was referred to the article at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106941#2c about a manual backup and restore. I tried it, but it was unsuccessful. I'm certainly no expert on these things, but I think it wasn't working because the Powerbook's old hard drive (including the User folders) is spread out among 6 discs. I have to install the old drive in pieces instead of just one single item. If anyone has any suggestions, I would really appreciate it. Thanks! Oh, and both the Powerbook and the MacBook Pro are set up for Mac OS X Tiger (10.4.8)

Hello all,
About a year ago, my Powerbook G4 suffered a hard drive failure, and every bit of information was lost in no-man's land because I did not have anything backed up (trust me, I've learned my lesson). I was referred to DriveSavers, and after charging me a small fortune, they said that they had been successful in recovering 100% of my hard drive and sent it all back to me on 6 DVD discs. I got an iMac and a MacBook Pro to start over, and I have had some success in finding individual items on the DVD discs, like Appleworks and Photoshop documents, and uploading them to the iMac. However, I have never been able to actually "re-create" my old hard drive and access everything that was there before the crash. There are things like the Address Book, iCal and my notes on important meetings, and the Dashboard (which was full of important sticky notes) that I cannot figure out how to retrieve from the DVDs. I have deliberately left the MacBook Pro untouched & unused in the hopes that I can use it to reincarnate my old Powerbook using the 6 DVDs from DriveSavers. The MacBook Pro is currently a blank slate, and I'd like to know if there any way that I can use the DVDs from DriveSavers to make the MacBook Pro a carbon copy of the old Powerbook, with the same files and hard drive, etc.? Is this even possible? In the past I was referred to the article at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106941#2c about a manual backup and restore. I tried it, but it was unsuccessful. I'm certainly no expert on these things, but I think it wasn't working because the Powerbook's old hard drive (including the User folders) is spread out among 6 discs. I have to install the old drive in pieces instead of just one single item. If anyone has any suggestions, I would really appreciate it. Thanks! Oh, and both the Powerbook and the MacBook Pro are set up for Mac OS X Tiger (10.4.8)

Similar Messages

  • Hard drive crash, trying to get back to OSX 10.8

    I had a recent hard drive crash and had to reinstall from my disk. I am up to OSX 10.6.8. I purchased OSX 10.8 when it came out. It shows in my app store purchases. Does anyone know how I can get to it to bring my machine up to speed?

    Got it fixed!  I took a chance and got back on chat, this time with an agent who seemed to understand my problem.  He took me through a series of steps Shrink Volumes and Extend Volumes that then showed my total hard drive.  So, other than now having to go through the restore process again, I should be good!

  • Hard drive crash - How to restore data from my iPod?

    Hi there,
    I had to replace the hard disk and in my daughter's PC and now need to get the songs back from her iTouch to her computer. As you can imagine, I had no backup prior to this hard drive crash... Now how can I get the songs and applications from the iTouch back in the PC? I have authorized iTunes using the same account but it does not allow me to do any tranfer from the Itouch to the PC.
    Please help... I don;t want to loose everything we have purchase and installed on the iTouch...
    Thanks,
    Christian Dubuc

    That post of mine linked to above is quite an old one and isn't meant to specifically address an iPod Touch. You might want this more up to date information.
    If your iPod is set to sync automatically you need to take care connecting to an empty iTunes. You can use a keyboard command to prevent your iPod auto-syncing with iTunes. While connecting the iPod to the computer on Windows with iTunes installed hold down the Shift + Ctrl keys together. This will stop the iPod from auto-syncing with iTunes and the iPod will appear in the source list. Wait until you are sure the iPod has mounted, and that it will not auto sync and then you can let the keys go. This may take between 20 to 30 seconds depending on your computer: iTunes - Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows
    Alternatively open iTunes first and go to Edit>Preferences>Devices and check the box "Disable automatic syncing for iPhones and iPods" and choose Ok. Then connect your iPod.
    If at any point you get a message that your iPod is linked to another library and asking if you want to link to this one and replace all your songs etc, press "Cancel". Pressing "Erase and Sync" will irretrievably remove all the songs from your iPod.
    iTunes will only let you copy your iTunes Store purchases directly from an iPod to the computer, you'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer
    Purchased applications can be downloaded over again, see this article for details: How to redownload purchased applications from the App Store
    For everything else (music from CDs, other downloads and including iTunes purchases) there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod Touch or iPhone. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer data (such as playcounts and ratings), movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well.
    A selection of iPod/iPhone to iTunes utilities:
    Senuti Mac Only (iPod Touch & iPhone compatible)
    SharePod Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    TuneJack Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    iPodRip Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    Music Rescue Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    iGadget Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    TouchCopy Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)

  • Hard drive crash trying to update iTunes with my iPod

    So my hard drive crashed all data on it erased, have most of it backed up except for more recent songs in iTunes, which are on my iPod. How do I transfer my iPod data to my newly installed iTunes?

    There is a manual method of accessing the iPod's hard drive and copying songs back to iTunes on Windows posted in this thread: MacMuse - iPod to iTunes
    If you prefer something more automated then there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the files from your iPod, this is just a selection. Have a look at the web pages and documentation for these, they are generally quite straightforward.
    iPod Access Mac and Windows Versions
    YamiPod Mac and Windows Versions
    PodUtil Mac and Windows Versions
    iPodCopy Mac and Windows Versions
    PodPlayer Windows Only
    iGadget Windows Only
    If you haven't already done so, put your iPod into manual update mode. If you are using the iPod in manual update mode, your iPod is safe from being accidentally erased when you connect to an empty iTunes after reinstalling your operating system. However if your iPod is set to automatically update you will get a message that your iPod is linked to a different library and asking if you want to link to this one and replace all your songs etc, press *No*. Pressing "Yes" will irretrievably remove all songs from your iPod. Your iPod should appear in the iTunes source list from where you can change the update setting to manual.
    You can also use a keyboard command to prevent your iPod auto-syncing with iTunes. While connecting the iPod to the computer on Windows hold down the Shift + Ctrl keys (on a Mac hold down the Option and Command (⌥ and ⌘) keys). This will stop the iPod from auto-syncing with iTunes and the iPod will appear in the source list. Wait until you are sure the iPod has mounted, and that it will not auto sync and then you can let the keys go. This may take between 20 to 30 seconds depending on your computer. Then go to Preferences>iPod and check the "Manually manage songs and playlists" box: Managing Your Songs Manually
    Whichever of these retrieval methods you choose, keep your iPod in manual mode until you have reloaded your iTunes and you are happy with your playlists etc then it will be safe to return it auto-sync again.

  • Hard Drive Crashed - Help with restoring settings.

    My hard drive crashed a few days ago and after a couple hours on the phone with Apple, it was determined that I had to re-format it and start again. I'm using a third party software package to pull my files off of the corrupted drive and when I'm done, I'll be ready to run the install disks.
    I have an older iMac that I migrated most of my data and programs from last December and I was planning on using that computer to bring over most of my settings, etc...
    Right now, I'm thinking that there a few settings I'll need to bring over from the corrupted iMac becasue there were major changes from last year (iTunes, iPhoto, Mail, and the Keychain).
    What files would I need to search for to update the applications mentioned above (besides the actual itunes songs/videos and iphoto picture)?
    Also, is there anything else I'm missing?
    It's been a really streeful few days...
    Thanks

    Our white Intel iMac also froze and won't re-start; even in Safe Mode. Safe Mode accepts pass word; but the restart still alternates between blue and white screen with inoperative title bar and spinning B/W asterisk. The hard drive can be seen on other Intel iMac via Target Mode; but before I do clean install of O/S 10.4.4 and upgrade to 10.4.10 I want to ensure I don't lose preferences, settings etc.
    I also don't know what caused the freeze; when I imported the entire HD to an AL iMac; the AL began to display the same problem. Does not Apple software solve this; must I go to third party software?
    Apple tech support seems swamped with Leopard and iPhone callers; help here is appreciated.
    Mike

  • Hard drive crashed, hwo to restore bookmarks from external hard drive backup?

    I am running Windows7 64-bit with Firefox 6. I back up nightly with WD Smartware.
    two days ago my hard drive gave out. I now have a new drive with Win7 and Firefox reinstalled. I am trying to restore my bookmarks from the backup on the external hard drive. Is this possible?

    HP   Windows XP   need
    to replace hard drive The hard drive
    containing my I tunes library has crashed. I am
    using XP home edition on a PC. I need to restore the
    library of legaly purchased songs from the Ipod nano
    to my replacement hard drive. Since the Ipod is the
    only place the songs are at the moment, I need as
    risk free replacement method as possible. Any one
    out there actually done this?
    HP   Windows XP   need to
    replace hard drive
    I am in the predicament right now. Is there a way to do it?

  • Hard drive crashed - trying to repair

    Stay with me; this is quite a long-winded story:
    While I was using Finder on my MacBook Pro 2010 with Mavericks OS, it decided to freeze ... Then it crashed. I restarted it and got a flashing file folder with a question mark. I tried to recover the OS via the internet, but it wouldn't load. I thought the hard drive must now be bad (great...), so I bought a new terabyte internal that's compatible. I put it in and began internet recovery mode for Lion OS. It got to the screen for disk utility, but wouldn't let me partition the drive or even show up in the options. Ok ... Put the old hard drive back in. This time it showed up after internet recovery, but wouldn't let me repair it or anything. I can't find a single forum anywhere (to my disbelief) that described the problem or possible solutions. PLEASE HELP. I REALLY NEED THIS FOR CLASS.

    For future reference you might want to get something like Scannerz (http://scsc-online.com/Scannerz.html) to periodically check drives. Sometimes, as I suspect in your case, problems can be developing on a drive and you won't know about it until the problem area is hit. SMART checking won't help because SMART only reports problems after they occur....hardly helpful if you're drive is going to end up crashing. Scannerz can pick them up before SMART even detects them. It's saved my skin twice.
    With that little lecture out of the way, you need to format the drive, but the drive may also not be recognized by the system because it's new. When a new drive is added to a system, even if it's exernal it may need to have the NVRAM/PRAM reset. This is described and easily done as follows:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
    After you do that, try to format the drive again and hopefully it will show up.
    I doubt you would need to do the following, which is an SMC reset (also easily done) but it's worth looking at just in case:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
    Good luck!

  • Hard drive crashed need to restore iphotos from Time Machine

    I need some serious help. I have a 24inch intel imac and my hard drive failed. I thought I had everything backed up on my external hard drive via Time Machine (my last backup was April 11th) so I replaced the hard drive.
    Once I reinstalled Leopard 10.5 it asked me if I wanted to restore my data from Time Machine which I did. It seemed like it worked great but when I opened up iphoto all 43,000 pictures (cherished family pictures of our children) were gone!
    iphoto still has the Event Titles, how many photos, and the sizes but they are empty with nothing but a big exclamation point. I see the iphoto library under Time machine as well but the restore is grayed out I can't even go back in time because the arrow is grayed out.
    I named the new hard drive "new SG 1.0TB" and the old one was just named Macintosh HD. I read briefly somewhere that the old and new hard drives need to have the same name. Is this correct? Also does it make a difference that I had Leopard 10.5.6 when my photos were available and now I'm only on 10.5? Please help!
    I had some help from another forum and he told me to look under the Pictures Folder and find the iPhoto Library and right click on it and select 'Show Package Contents. All the folders are there (teasing me) but there are no pictures in the folders so nothing. But I was searching again on my external time machine backup and found iphotos under time machine backups/backups.backupdp/Ryan Gunter's Computer (2)/2009-01031-002706/Macintosh HD/Users/ryang808/pictures. It had all my iphotos from 1999 until the january 2009 but everything from this date to present is not there (the folders are there but nothing in them) could they still be hiding somewhere?? And how do I get the ones I do have back in iPhoto?
    Any help would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

    All the folders are there (teasing me) but there are no pictures in the folders so nothing. But I was searching again on my external time machine backup and found iphotos under time machine backups/backups.backupdp/Ryan Gunter's Computer (2)/2009-01031-002706/Macintosh HD/Users/ryang808/pictures. It had all my iphotos from 1999 until the january 2009 but everything from this date to present is not there (the folders are there but nothing in them) could they still be hiding somewhere??
    sorry but, no. if they are not there there is no other place they could be. for some mysterious reason TM didn't back them up. still you should restore what you can. quit iphoto, control-click on TM in the dock and select "browse other TM disks". this will let you browse your old backups via TM interface. locate the folder Macintosh HD/Users/ryang808/pictures on january 31 backup and restore its contents to your Pictures folder. start iphoto and it should have alll those pictures.
    Message was edited by: V.K.

  • Hard drive crashed - how to restore iTunes

    A bad sector hung up my hard drive. I have a new drive now, but need to restore iTunes and songs. I have almost all my songs backed up on an external drive. SO if I download iTunes and the add in the songs will I be good and can I synch between iTunes and teh iPod? I can't turn my iPod into a hard drive since I lost the drive in the computer with no warning.
    Also, there were a coule songs that I had just bought from Apple, they were not backed up is there any way to get those back into iTunes? Thanks.

    *there were a cou(p)le songs that I had just bought from Apple, they were not backed up is there any way to get those back into iTunes?*
    The policy on lost purchases is that you have to pay to download them again:
    "Once a Product is purchased and you receive the Product, it is your responsibility not to lose, destroy, or damage the Product, and Apple shall be without liability to you in the event of any loss, destruction, or damage." iTunes Store: Purchased content can be downloaded only once
    You could try contacting the iTunes Music Store Customer Service and you might be able to persuade them to sanction a second free download. There have been occasional reports in the iTunes forum of this happening, however just be aware that they are not under any obligation to do so. If you click on any of the links on this page you'll find a space at the bottom to email your query: iTMS Customer Service

  • Hard Drive failed trying to restore music

    Lost power and hard drive. I had a new hard drive installed and am now trying to reinstall everything!!! All my music was on my hard drive. I did back up my hard drive some time ago, but can I put the music from my ipod onto the new hard drive?

    When I hook the FireWire up, should something automatically pop up on the iBook, showing me that it recognizes the MacBook is now connected?
    The drive in the MacBook would mount like any other hard drive.
    Is it still a possibility that it's the data cable, or is that pretty unlikely?
    Given that Disk Utility in the installer disk won't see the drive, I think it most likely that the drive has failed, in which case Data Rescue will not be able to recover anything (it won't work if the drive won't even mount). Probably the only way you're going to be able to recover any files would be by sending the drive to a data recovery service, and those are very expensive.
    You can try removing the drive and putting it in an external case or using a drive adapter like the NewerTech unit (whatever's least expensive). That would verify that the problem is the drive and not with the drive circuitry on the MacBook. If you have an Apple Store near you, often they can perform such a test at the Genius Bar which would save you from having to buy a case/adapter yourself.

  • My hard drive crashed and I want to reinstall my personal itunes on another computer but I need to deauthorize my the original computer and I don't know how to reinstall.  Can someone help me please?

    My hard drive crashed and I restored my computer with my daughter's hard drive (her battery was dead) and I want to install my personal itunes on the new hard drive.  I was unable to deauthorize the original computer and I do not know how to reinstall my personal itunes.  Can someone help me with this?
    Thank you.

    Without a backup of your "crashed" HD you will have to download your iTunes purchases again. Make sure your restored computer is running the latest version of iTunes.
    Here is the procedure for your reference.
    On your restored computer, launch iTunes. Click on iTunes Store on the left
    On the right you will see this
    "Sign in" using the Apple ID used to purchase your songs, then click on "Purchased" (with the orange blob)
    On the summary page that appears select the tab "Not on This Computer" on the right.
    On the list that appears, select what you want and then click the "Download" button.
    When you want to play your newly downloaded music, you will have to "authorize" it. Don't worry about the lost HD until enough of your computers crash that you reach the limit of 5. Then you can "deauthorize all" and re-authorize as necessary.
    Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519

  • I have a copy of my iTunes data and I'm looking to restore it all back into a new version of iTunes reloaded after a hard drive crash.  How do I do this?

    After having a hard drive crash, I've reloaded Windows 7 and all of my applications on a new hard drive.  I have also downloaded and installed a new version of iTunes on my computer.  I now want to restore all of my iTunes tracks, videos, movies, books, podcasts and all my playlists into the new version of iTunes from a back up of all of my previous hard drive before it crashed.  I have tried importing the data but iTunes drops all kinds of data (artist names, album names, track number, etc.) and have to now manually go through all of my iTunes data (18,000 tracks) to restore the data.  The data consists of a combination of purchased tracks (approx. 6,000) and my own personal CDs copied into iTunes.  I need help badly here as I'm lost on how to proceed.  Thanks.

    Hi Toboggan,
    If you are looking to restore your iTunes data from a backup, you may find the following article useful (while it is focused on moving between computers, many of the steps should also apply to your situation):
    iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
    Regards,
    - Brenden

  • My hard drive crashed on my PC - how do I restore from iPhone back into iTunes?

    My hard drive crashed on my PC - how do I get the 24 GB of music off my iPhone and back into iTunes?

    You should be able to:
    Backup the device to the new installation
    Transfer your purchases into a newly authorized library
    Recover any other media using third party tools as suggested in this post from forum regular Zevoneer
    Restore the device from the backup
    This process should switch the association of the device to the new library, preserving the data and settings in your apps.
    May also be prudent to attempt a backup to iCloud directly from the device before you start... Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup > iCloud Backup > On. It won't save any media but it would preserve the general account settings and documents in case anything goes wrong while you are trying to extract your other data.
    When you get it all fixed, make a backup!
    tt2

  • Hard drive crashed and can't restore backups

    I have an older model Macbook (circa 2006).  The original 120GB hard drive crashed, yes I got the dreaded white screen of death, and I replaced with a new 500GB hard drive.  I had backups of all of my data stored to my Time Capsule, but am unable to restore my laptop because the backups were on OS 10.7 and I receive an error message that my OS must be updated.
    The install disks that I was able to reboot with after installing the new hard drive are 10.5.8. I found a Snow Leopard disk (10.6.6) but when trying to run an install received a message that it cannot be installed.
    How am I supposed to restore my backups and get to the corre?
    This is my current system:
    Model Name:          MacBook
      Model Identifier:          MacBook3,1
      Processor Name:          Intel Core 2 Duo
      Processor Speed:          2.2 GHz
      Number Of Processors:          1
      Total Number Of Cores:          2
      L2 Cache:          4 MB
      Memory:          2 GB
      Bus Speed:          800 MHz
      Boot ROM Version:          MB31.008E.B02

    If the drive fails to appear in Disk Utility then it's most likely died. You can try this:
    Repairing 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. Now restart normally.
    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.
    The flashing question mark means system files are damaged assuming the drive is OK. In this case just reinstall Snow Leopard. All your user accounts and data will be preserved.

  • My hard drive crashed on my Mac Book Pro and I just had it replaced yesterday.  After restoring my data, Safari will not open.  The error message I continue to receive is "Safari quit unexpectedly"  Should I just delete the application and download a new?

    My hard drive crashed on my Mac Book Pro and I just had it replaced yesterday.  After restoring my data, Safari will not open.  The error message I continue to receive is "Safari quit unexpectedly"  Should I just delete the application and download a new one?

    http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/37/23/041-5058/lr5tynbldi18zcrqo8a8uq88 rnjushqliu/Safari6Lion.pkg 
    Here you go.....

Maybe you are looking for

  • New iPod touch received today from Apple Store still running 2.2.1

    I received my 8GB iPod Touch 2G from Apple Store (Hong Kong) this morning (August 28, 2009). I order it earlier this week. After checking, it runs 2.2.1, not 3.0.x. Plugged in iTunes, it told me I need to pay USD9.95 to upgrade it to version 3. Calle

  • Weblogic threads locked

    We are noticing performance issue with our production environment. Production environment has a cluster of 6 weblogic instances and the server hangs very often and entire system go down. I have attached thread dump collected from one of the weblogic

  • Magic mouse wont track

    magic mouse will connect and click and scroll functions work but wont track. The senses are clean and the batteries are showing at 93%? It seems to have started when I tried to use it on a black glass table. Any ideas?

  • Changing the name of the tab created using enhancement MM06E005

    Hi, Is there anyone know how to change the name of item level tab from "customer data" to our own tab name in screen exit for trans ME21N/2N/3N? Enhancement used is MM06E005. And is it possible to show or hide the newly created tab using enhancement

  • XSQL Setup

    Hello, Can anyone please let me know how to do the setup of Apache/Tomcat server to run XSQL pages against Oracle 8i server? More specifically, I need to know if I need to download any software component from Oracle or elsewhere. I have Oracle 8i run