How do I recover files from a crashed hard drive?

When I turned on my laptop, a grey screen with a folder with a question mark was blinking on the screen.  My tech guys at my work said that it can't locate the hard drive.  They are looking at it for me right now (they are apple certified) but my main concern is recovering pictures that are on there.  I am a local photographer and I have some pictures I had JUST downloaded and hadn't had time to move over to my other storage before this happened.  Will I be able to recover those at all?!?!  I'm having a slight meltdown!!

You are probably going to have to send the disk drive out to data recovery service. This is going to be expensive like $$$$

Similar Messages

  • How to recover files from a crashed hard drive

    I believe my hard drive is in the early stages of crashing.  Last night I was using my Macbook Pro and was running safari and microsoft word when all the sudden the computer froze up and I got the spinning wheel.  I waited for about 5 minutes hoping the wheel would go away and after no avail decided to turn the computer off by holding the power button.  I waited a couple minutes to let it cool down and then I rebooted it and I was then given the jumping folder with a ? on it.  I did some research and found that this basically means your hard drive was crashing.  So I read a solution online that if you hit the Option button while the Mac is booting up it will allow you to select a hard drive.  I did this and luckily I was able to select my main hard drive and the computer booted up, but once I had logged in and was at the desktop screen the computer was very slow and when I tryed to open Finder I was once again given the spinning wheel.  The wheel continued to spin for a solid 10 minutes and the screen finally went black with just the spinning wheel.  So I once again decided to turn off the computer by holding the power button.  I have gone and talked to 2 different tech support stores and both are pretty sure that the hard drive is failing, which I pretty much already knew, and that it is going to be around 75$ to recover the lost information and another 125$ to install a brand new hard drive. 
    However, I have been using Time Machine to back up my computer but I have not backed it up since August 23rd which was about 2 weeks ago.  So I would lose all the files that I have made in the last 2 weeks basically and since I started school I have done quite a bit of work and so I do not want to lost the files. 
    What solutions can you come up with that I could use to possibly recover my files?
    Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

    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. Recovery software usually provide trial versions that enable you to determine if the software would help before actually paying for it. Beyond this or if the drive has completely failed, then you would need to send the drive to a recovery service which is very expensive.
    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.

  • How to import recovered files from an external hard drive

    My hard drive crashed. I got a new one and of course lost my itunes.  I had the recovered data put on an external hard drive.  How do I re import my data back into Itunes?

    Hello David,
    Thank you for using Apple Support Communities!
    If you have the entire iTunes library folder on that recovered drive, you can copy it to your new computer and use this article to choose that iTunes library that you just copied to the new computer.
    iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
    Otherwise, you would need to use the Add File to Library function.
    Adding music and other content to iTunes
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1473
    Regards,
    Sterling

  • How do I recover files from an internal hard drive that is no longer recognized?

    Hi there,
    Any help on this problem is greatly appreciated!  I have a MacBook Pro (late 2009) running Snow Leopard.  Over the last few years, after having brought the computer in to get checked, it seems that the RAM cards have gotten loose (or the bottom cover of the computer gets loose) and occasionally a grey curtain will come down from the top of the screen and everything stops working.  Restarting the computer is often fine but sometimes it can't be restarted and I have to take the cover off, reset the RAM cards in their slots, and retighten the cover.  The computer usually works fine after that, but verifying the disk using Disk Utility will sometimes indicate there is an error and the disk needs to be repaired.  Repairing it in Disk Utility is usually fine.
    Last year this happened but the disk could not be repaired. The operating system could still be run, and after making a backup of all my files I reinstalled the operating system from the installation DVD, which didn't delete any of my files on the hard drive anyway.
    A few days ago the same grey curtain issue happened, however upon resetting the RAM and back cover and restarting the computer, the apple logo appeared which was quickly replaced by a prohibitory sign, which stayed on the screen indefinitely.  After putting in the installation DVD and trying to reinstall the operating system, when the option comes up to choose which disk to install OS X on, the internal hard drive does not appear as an option.  Going to Disk Utility from the DVD, the internal hard drive appears on the left but the text is greyed out.  Attempting to repair the disk gives the following error message:
    Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
    Invalid key length
    Invalid record count
    Catalog file entry not found for extent
    The volume    could not be verified completely.
    Error: Disk Utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
    While I know I could completely erase and reformat the disk, I really don't want to lose any of my files (ideally).  If I erase the disk but select "Don't Erase Data" from the "Security Options..." in the "Erase" tab in Disk Utility, will this keep all my files in tact and will I be able to access them later?  Are there third party applications that can recover my files so I can make a back up before I delete and reformat the hard drive?  I am currently running the computer through an external hard drive connected by USB, but the internal hard drive still doesn't show up in Finder (only in Disk Utility as greyed out text).
    Can I recover my files?
    Thanks so much!

    Try using a data recovery product such as the ones listed here. Don't erase the drive or write anything else to it until the files are recovered or you choose not to recover them.
    (117246)

  • How do I recover files from an external Hard Drive?

    I have an external Hard Drive that has somehow lost communication with my Mac Mini. It won't mount. When I attempt to give it first aid it says first aid failed. This is what it says.
    Verifying volume “MicroNet 250GB External”
    Invalid Volume Header
    Checking HFS Plus volume.
    Checking Extents Overflow file.
    Checking Catalog file.
    Invalid node structure
    The volume MicroNet 250GB External needs to be repaired.
    Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
    1 HFS volume checked
    Volume needs repair
    Then when I click repair it shows this.
    Verify and Repair disk “MicroNet 250GB External”
    Invalid Volume Header
    Checking HFS Plus volume.
    Checking Extents Overflow file.
    Checking Catalog file.
    Invalid node structure
    Volume check failed.
    Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
    1 HFS volume checked
    1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
    I would be very grateful to hear that I can recover my files(I have tens of thousands of photos, and about 20Gb of music) without paying much(Free would be better).
    Thanks
    Message was edited by: dudebob

    Post over here -> < ahref="http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=758">Using Mac OS X Tiger
    since this has nothing to do with the iPod.
    Check out Disk Warrior and TechTools Pro.
    Might want to also update your OS to 10.4.11.

  • How do i recover data from an external hard drive that was accidentally deleted?  After I verified the drive, a message appeared that said my drive needed to be repaired.  When I tried to access the drive again, the 700 Gigs of music is gone!

    How do i recover data from an external hard drive that was accidentally deleted?  After I verified the drive, a message appeared that said my drive needed to be repaired.  When I tried to access the drive again, the 700 Gigs of music is gone!

    Stop using the drive immediately, un plug it.
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  • How do I recover data from my dead hard drive?

    How do I recover data from my dead hard drive?

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  • How do i transfer files from my external hard drive to my new macbook pro?

    how do i transfer files from my external hard drive to my new macbook pro?

    Hi niel, when I open my hard drive in my mac, I cannot find any files in there. I guess its not reading my hard drive.

  • How do I transfer files from an external hard drive to my mac book pro

    How do I transfer files from an external hard drive to my mac book pro?

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  • How do I copy files from a seperate hard drive to Bridge

    How do I copy files from a seperate hard drive and paste them to Bridge

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  • How do I retrieve files from a backup hard drive (was backed up using Time Machine) on a different computer

    how do I retrieve files from a backup hard drive (was backed up using Time Machine) on a different computer?

    Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

  • How do I delete files from a portable hard drive

    I've been backing up my MacBook Pro on an external portable hard drive. I need to delete some but not all the files from that portable hard drive permanently. When I highlight them and click to move them to Trash I get a message telling me this cannot be done because they are Read Only files? How do I go about it. I am required by work to delete them off this hard drive. Do I have to reformat the hard drive? If so how do I go about it?

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    When you find the item you want to delete, select it, and then open the Action menu (looks like a gear) and choose Delete All Backups for the item.

  • How do i transfer file from my external hard drive to my new mac

    How do I transfer my files from my external hard drive (all files coming from a PC) to my new macbook pro?

    What sort of files? Are you looking to transfer an entire user account or some data files?

  • HT1408 How do I transfer files from an external hard drive formerly connected to a PC to my new iMac computer?

    How do I transfer document and photo files from an external hard drive formerly connected to my old PC into my new iMac computer?

    There are several different ways to move data from your old PC to your iMac, including Manually Migrating at > Switch 101: Migrate your Windows files or system to your Mac
    If you just want to move file's from your External HD, simply plug it into your iMac and drag your doc's to your Documents Folder and Import your photos into iPhoto.
    To Share data cross-platform using an External HD, see > Sharing drives - Macworld

  • How to transfer big files from imac to hard drive

    haveing diffulty of copying file from Imac to Hard drives. is there any free app which i can download and help me with my problem.

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    go into FINDER at top then PREFERENCES  then GENERAL tab
    then check "hard disks" and "external disks"
    after that drag and drop files as you need to.  You dont need an application for same.

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