How can I rescue data from bad hard drive

My imac stop working last night. The imac goes to the apple logo and then it shut itself. I had ubuntu on my other partition, so when there and I was able to see the Macintosh HD. I called Apple care and they asked me to do a repair disk from my installing DVD, but I was getting repair failed. After couple of time he told me that the only way to fix this is by installing from the beginning, like erasing everything. I had a back from last year and I had some picture that I hadn't backup. So, I decide to buy an hard drive. When I came back, I when to ubuntu and I was still able to see the Macintosh HD. I was having problem on ubuntu, so I decide to reboot and then I didn't have neither Mac partition nor Ubuntu. I insert the leopard dvd and when I check my hard drive on disk utility, I don't see any partition. I would like to know if there is a way to recover the data that I had on my mac partition. By the way everything happen after I upgraded Safary.

Hi
If you can't access the drive using the normal methods (DU) you might be struggling? You could have a go and use something like Data Rescue:
http://www.prosofteng.com/
As long as the drive is spinning you might stand a chance? If you can physically hear the drive whirring/clicking or making cricket/scratching like noises or a slight hum when its powered up you might be wasting your time?
If the drive sounds 'normal' you might want to try:
http://www.alsoft.com/
If you were so inclined and able you could set up your own highly controlled and engineered environment. Physically take the drive apart and try to read the platters themselves. You would need specialized software (expensive) or you could develop something suitable yourself.
Tony

Similar Messages

How to recover data from bad hard drive

Once a hard drive goes bad (cannot get into the computer), is there any hope of recovering any data from it? If so, how?

Do you mean the hard drive is mechanically broken for sure? It's not a data corruption issue that is causing a problem with starting up the Mac, but maybe not be a bad mechanism?
If the drive is definitely broken, there are businesses that specialize in recovering data from bad hard drives. For example
http://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com/ (I always saw their booth at MacWorld Expos...)
The cost of such services is usually high.
cannot get into the computer
So that probably means the hard drive in question is the internal drive? If you don't know for sure that the hard drive is physically broken, you can try starting up using your Mac OS X installation disc. Insert disc in optical drive and start up with the C key held down. When you get to Installer's screen, go up to the menu bar and run Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. Does the internal drive appear in the Disk Utility sidebar?
Alternately, if you have another Mac (that has FireWire), you can try starting the Mac with the problem in FireWire Target Disk Mode,
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Connect the "target" Mac to the other Mac (running normally) using a FireWire cable. Run Disk Utility on that Mac. Does the hard drive of the Mac in FireWire Target Disk Mode appear in the sidebar?
If you can get the internal drive to appear in Disk Utility, you may be able to run Repair Disk on the First Aid tab. There are also third-party utilities, such as TechTool Pro (Micromat), Drive Genius (Prosoft), and Disk Warrior (Alsoft), that may be able to fix (or at least recover data from) the hard drive.

I have deleted my private folder and do not have enough space to reinstall my operating system. How can i transfer files from my hard drive to an USB drive to free up space when the operating system isn't working. or do i need to erase disk?

i have deleted my private folder and do not have enough space to reinstall my operating system. How can i transfer files from my hard drive to an USB drive to free up space when the operating system isn't working. or do i need to erase disk through disk utilities without erasing data (but will it delete my programs such as photoshop, office, creative suite?

Connect the computer to another Mac and put it in FireWire Target Disk mode, or use the Disk Utility to clone the drive or image specific folders with the USB drive as the target. After you've copied off everything you want, you'll likely need to erase the drive and reinstall the applications.
(69695)

I can not transfer date from one hard drive to another, I keep getting an error because I have two of the same file names and one file name is in caps and I cant change the file name

can not transfer date from one hard drive to another, I keep getting an error because I have two of the same file names and one file name is in caps and I cant change the file name. My original external has an error and needs to be reformatted but I dont want to lose this informations its my entire Itunes library.

Sounds like the source drive is formatted as case sensitive and the destination drive is not. The preferred format for OS X is case insensitive unless there is a compelling reason to go case sensitive.
Why can't you change the filename? Is it because the source drive is having problems? If so is this happening with only one or two or a few files? If so the best thing would be to copy those over individually and then rename them on the destination drive.
If it is more then you can do manually and you can't change the name on the source you will have to reformat the destination as case sensitive.
Btw this group is for discussion of the Support Communities itself, you;d do better posting to Lion group. I'll see if a host will move it.

How can I move music from a hard drive to iphone

How can I move music from a hard drive to iphone?

Import it into an iTunes library and then sync the iPhone with that library. If desired, launch iTunes with the Shift key held down and create or choose an iTunes library on that drive.
(106987)

How can i restore info from my hard drive to my new mac

I have an "old" black macbook, that I have backed up on an external hard drive using time machine. I recently got a new (aluminum) macbook and i want to transfer my data from my hard drive to my new computer (itunes library, photos, etc...). I do NOT have ilife or iwork on my new computer, but i have it on my old macbook which (in theory) should be backed up on my external HD. Is it possible to transfer applications like that to my new computer if I "disable" it from my old computer? I also just got a new iphone 5 and would like to be able to sync it to my new computer but my itunes library is empty (until i take stuff from my hard drive and put it on my new computer). Obviously my old macbook will not support the software needed to hook up my new iphone to itunes, but my new computer will. So I beg the answer to my question...how do i get my stuff from one computer to the new one and can i transfer applications such at iphoto, pages, (ilife, iwork)...legally by disabling from my old computer?????
PLEASE HELP!

Have a read here How do I set up a new Mac from an old one, its backups, or a PC?
Stefan

How do I restore data from recovered hard drive?

In a nutshell-
Hard drive failed. We had it replaced, and recovered data from old hard drive, put it on an external hard drive. Now we want to put that data onto the new hard drive.
Is it as simple as dragging it over?
We're missing most of the software that came with our computer when we first bought it. We can't find the software installation disk, but we do see application icons from the recovered data. We do have the Software disk from a Mac mini. Can we use this disk? It seems like there has to be a way to get the software we had before the crash without paying to have it done.
I thank you, in advance.

You cannot use the discs from a Mac Mini--you have to have the exact discs for your iBook G4. These discs are very machine specific.
That said, you can try bringing over the various applications from your external drive. The only potential problem is that because the old drive failed, there could be some software corruption.
If you can locate your original discs and install the software from them, that would be ideal. If you can't, you can get replacement discs from Apple for a fee.
As for the data, you should be able to just drag it over.
Good luck!

How do I retrieve data from external hard drive

How do I retrieve data from external hard drive

What problem are you encountering?
Normally you would connect it to your Mac and just drag and drop.

How do I import data from external hard drive onto new iMac?

How do I import data from an external hard drive onto my new iMac?

If you think about it logically if you want to move something from one place to another well do just exactly that
Drag & Drop its as simple as that click on the file/folder keep it pressed down & move the file/folder to where you want it on your Mac
If its photo's drag them onto the iPhoto icon on the dock if its music drag it onto the iTunes icon documents into guess what documents
Hope this helps

How do I transfer data from external hard drive to new computer

We had been using a PC with XP that had four different users and ITune libraries. It was attacked by viruses that got deep in op system and could not be fixed. We purchased a new PC with Windows 8. I had transfered the itune files by copying them from the hard drive to a external hard drive. Is there a way to transfer the files from the external hard drive to the iTunes that I just downloaded onto the new computer. I thought that it would be as easy as copying the files from the external hard drive to the iTunes file on the new computer but this did not work. If I go into iTunes and select copy file from library it will import the file just file but I really don't want to copy thousands of files one by one. However, when I try to open those files I get an error message. We have two iPads and four iPod Touches. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I found a posted answer from someone else who asked the same question and it worked. It said to copy the entire file that was saved on the external hard drive to the my music folder before ever opening ITunes that was newly installed and it worked.

How to properly recover data from "broken" hard drive?

Hello Mac users,
I have a mid 2012 Mountain Lion MacBook Pro. My hard drive recently failed. As I have been working in Thailand, I decided to bring my laptop an Authorized Service Provider (Macintosh Center Co., Ltd.) in Bangkok. Their diagnostic was that my hard drive wasnt working anymore, and I had to change it. The problem is, since I had no backup, I asked them to recover my data and transfer to the new hard drive. But, this Apple Authorized Service Provider told me I had to go somewherelse because they have no software to recover my data! So, I went to the local Joe's repair computer store who retrieved my data from the problematic hard drive to the new one. Now, the problem is that all my "old" data is located in "orphan folders". In other words, counteless files were retrieved without folders and settings.
So, I would like to know if it is possible to recover my data with all the settings I had and then transfer it to my new hard drive. If it's possible, what software should I use to properly recover my data? If it's not possible, how should I deal with the "orphan folders" and my current settings?
Thanks in advance for your help.

First stop using your system, then get a copy of a program that will recover files like Data Rescue 3. If you have a time machine backup you may be able to restore them.

How can I transfer Itunes from external hard drive to a new computer?

Hello,
I had a Dell laptop with Windows XP on it recently crash, but I have everything saved to a Seamagine external 1 terabyte hard drive. I have about 250 gigabytes of media on it, mostly CD's and audiobooks. The setup I had on the XP computer was my Itunes folder saved on the C drive, but I kept all the actual music and audiobooks on the external hard drive, which was labeled the F drive.
After the crash, a relative sold me their three year old Compaq laptop, with Windows 7 instead of XP as the OS. My relative already had Itunes downloaded on it, but when I opened the Itunes on the new (new to me) laptop, Itunes only recognized their (my relative's) account. So, I uninstalled their Itunes and then I re-downloaded Itunes for 64-bit Windows 7. I then opened the Windows Explorer folder so to drag and drop my backed up Itunes folder and library information from the old C drive to the new Itunes folder in the new C drive. But, it wouldn't do anything. It still wanted the password info from my relative's account. It wouldn't recognize my account, even though I had uninstalled and then reinstalled a newer version of Itunes. Dragging and dropping my backed-up Itunes folder from my external hard drive to the new C drive didn't work because it said it didn't have certain permissions or something like that. I think I might have downloaded a newer version of Itunes, different from what I had saved a couple of days ago, which might be one of the problems here, not to mention that I switched OS's from XP to Windows 7.
When I plugged the external hard drive USB into the new laptop no Seamagine manager came up for user-friendly accessibility. I didn't know what to do, so I installed Seagate Dashboard onto the new computer. It didn't do anything for me either. No problem, I thought, I'll just use Windows Explorer to move the Itunes library, and then once I transfer (i.e., drag and drop) the old Itunes folder to the one, all will be as it was. I could then direct my Itunes account to use my external hard drive as the media source folder. I was wrong. It won't let me do that either. It says I don't have permission to do it.
How c an I get my old Itunes library info onto the C drive of this new computer, but keep the 250GB of media files on the external hard drive, just like the setup I had on the old laptop before it crashed? If you can help me, then you will be my hero. I'm scared to death that I've lost my library info and afraid to mess with it too much more for fear of erasing it or, worse, losing the 250 GB of media that is on the external hard drive, which has taken me a tremendous amount of time and money to compile. It is, in effect, irreplaceable. I'm very worried and frustrated. I've been working on this for days, to no avail. You're my last hope. Thank you.

Hmm, I think we should start over...
Here are the typical layouts for the iTunes folders:
In the image above the red outline denotes the "media folder", that is the folder listed under Edit > Preferences > Advanced. In the standard layout where the "media folder" is inside the "library folder" the iTunes library has the advantage of being self-contained and portable. Since you've lost the "library folder" from your old computer you're going to have to start over so you might as well get organized properly.
If the folder curently holding your media files is called G:\iTunes then rename it as G:\Media.
The support doc How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one explains how to create a new iTunes library where you want it. In short click the icon to start iTunes and immediately press and hold down the shift key. Keep holding until asked to choose or create a library, click Create and browse to G:\, make sure the folder is going to be called iTunes and click save.
Move the folder that actually holds the media inside the folder G:\iTunes\iTunes Media. We're going to let iTunes reorganize everything (unless you have a collection of .wav files in which case stop and tell me because they require a different approach).
Use File > Add folder to library and select the folder G:\iTunes\iTunes Media. iTunes will search through the whole series of subfolders adding all media files into the library and reorganizing them into the correct artist & album folders.
Again, for data security, you really ought to obtain a second external drive at some point and backup your library to it. Only having one copy, as you have found, leaves you vulnerable to failure. External drives are no less prone to it.
A) Windows uses \ as a folder separator in path descriptions, Mac uses /.
B) Do you have a backup of the iTunes folder that was on drive C:\ or are you simply referring to the location of your media as a "backup" when it really the only copy? If you have a backup copy of your "original" iTunes library you could move/copy that to G:\iTunes shift-start-iTunes to open it, and then I can offer tools or techniques for fixing the links that will be broken becuase the drive letter has changed.
C) Use Store > Sign out and then Store > Sign in to sign into your iTunes account. You will also need to use Store > Authorize the computer to allow playback and transfer of any protected content. If your new library contains protected content from any other accounts then you will have to authorize the computer for those too.
tt2

How do I move data from old hard drive to the time capsule?

Hi ,
I got the Time Capsule a couple days ago and have been backing up my Macbook pro's data. I have an old Lacie 160G external hard drive with data I'd like to put into the time capsule. The only way it can do that now seems like I have to transfer the data from the Lacie to my mac ...then backs it up automatically to the Time Capsule.
However, my 256G of space on my mac is about to be full !
The time machine automatically puts my Lacie hard drive as excluded from being backed up and the button - (to remove it) doesn't work when an external hard drive is connected to the Macbook. Right now, my trust in the time capsule is not superb. I've tried intentionally to delete a video file on my Macbook and then see if I could retrieve it . I've had one fail/error and one success. Since one failed I have not dared to delete anything.
So..the plan is to delete files on my Macbook and then import data from my Lacie to my Macbook...and pray the time capsule will save everything?
Can anyone with experience tell me how to use the time capsule correctly?
Thanks in advance!
Kai

The TM should be able to include the LaCie if it is formatted HFS+. If it isn't then no .. TM cannot backup.
On Yosemite the simple fact is TM is working poorly.. we are awaiting a patch or 6 to fix some of the issues.. but it is being extra flakey.
This is just a very personal opinion but I purchased Carbon Copy Cloner a couple of years ago.. very good purchase.. Easy to use.. reliable.. can backup network drives and disks that are not HFS+ formatted.. plus it can make a bootable clone.. It can backup separately your internal drive and your external drive to different sparsebundles on the TC.. I reckon for $40.. it is well worth it.
Otherwise you are stuck with the Yosemite / TM bugs.. good luck with those..
And more so the fact that TM is simply limited in its ability.
At least create a disk image on the TC and copy manually the files from the external drive into it. You do not need to copy the files to the Mac to do this..
But I think I would be buying another decent sized external drive.. 160GB drives.. sounds ancient..
How to use data and backups properly on a TC.
Q3 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html

How do I transfer data from one hard drive to another

I just bought a bigger external hard drive and I want to transfer all my data from the old smaller external hard drive? How do I accomplish this? I see the all the data and can highlight the files but I can not drag them on to the new external drive. How is this done?

https://discussions.apple.com/message/17323813?searchText=How%20to%20Transfer%20 Data%20to%20New%20Hard%20Drive?#17323813
Check out this answer, hopefully you have figured it out by now if not oh well

How do I restore data from my hard drive from time before time machine tried to back up on it

I used to have a WIndows PC, than I finally joined Apple Family and Iam pretty happy.
But today I tried to get some data from an old WD Passport Hard Drive and Time Machine immidately tried to backup itself on it.
Before I understood time machine startet to backup on my hard drive and everything I had on it before was gone.
What to do?
How can I get my data back?
Thanks

In order for Time Machine to back up to a HDD, it must be formatted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in Disk Utility. Formatting will erase all user data on that HDD. Time Machine will only delete TM data on a HDD that may have other data on it (non TM data).
If you formatted that WD HDD for use with Time Machine, all data that was on it is gone. If you put data on the WD HDD after formatting, it still should be there.
Ciao.

How can I rescue data from bad hard drive

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