How to back up an unhealthy hard drive

My MacBook pro will start up but it will not boot up, I've tried many different things and they have all failed. I took my MacBook to a computer store and they told me that my hard drive is unhealthy and needs to be repaired. Is there any way of getting  my data off of my hard drive ?

Get a properly formatted external drive and connect it to the computer. Then do this:
Clone Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
     1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
         button.
     2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
     3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
     4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
         to the Destination entry field.
     5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
         the Source entry field.
     6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
No guarantee this will work, but if the drive is accessible you may get luck and have a backup.

Similar Messages

  • How to back up my mac hard drive to my external hardrive?

    How to back up my mac hard drive to my external hard drive?  

    Backup Software Recommendations
    Carbon Copy Cloner
    Data Backup
    Deja Vu
    SuperDuper!
    Synk Pro
    Tri-Backup
    Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
    Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore.  Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
    And, OS X includes Time Machine. See Pondini's Time Machine FAQ and Mac 101- Time Machine

  • How to back up an external hard drive?!

    I have a 500GB external hard drive that I use to store a very large photo catalogue. I also have a 1TB external hard drive that I have set as my Time Machine volume.
    TM isn't backing up my 500GB drive, and I've verified that it's not on the exclusion list in TM preferences.
    Anyone know how to get this going? I need TM to back up that external hard drive as well as my computer's internal drive.

    Don't forget that repartitioning/reformatting will result in a blank HD; put the goodies in a safe place beforehand. If you have problems getting rid of the existing format, [check this writeup which I did for NTFS|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=7783365#7783365], but applies to FAT32 as well.

  • How to back up an external hard drive using Time Machine

    I have a Macbook. I have iTunes. I have my iTunes folder and contents stored on an external (Lacie) hard drive. I want to be able to back up that external (Lacie) hard drive and my mac using Time Machine to a separate external hard drive. At the moment it is only my mac that is backed up, and not the Lacie.  How can I also back up the Lacie so that only the recently added iTunes content is added? Cheers.

    You may consider reading the detail in what third-party clone utilities could
    do in regard to a backup clone and then use their utility to update that clone.
    Once the copy/clone is made (a bootable backup, btw) the same utility can
    be used to update the clone. Not certain how it works, and am a bit behind
    on making backup bootable clones of my several Macs as it is. I do a whole
    backup clone, though a partial or update supposedly is possible.
    SuperDuper or CarbonCopy, I don't remember if one of them or both, do this.
    Good luck in any event!

  • How to back up to external hard drive? and DVD?

    I am having a terrible time trying to back up my iPhoto Library. About 1,000 photos, using about 1.6 GB of space. I want to back up to both DVD-R (4.7GB,16x speed).
    When I go to iPhoto Help, it tells me I "can back up to DVD and/or external hard drive," but it doesn't tell me how.
    I've tried going to the DVD by "Selecting All" in iPhoto, and then dragging to the DVD icon. Nothing really happens when I do that to show me copying progress, or something like that. When I do double-click the DVD, it shows icons taking up no memory. It also did not pick up all the photos, about a half dozen short. When I tried to "Burn," it failed. (I do have the combo-drive capable of burning DVDs.
    Haven't tried to go to the external hard drive yet. What would be the correct process there?
    What I need, I think, is the step-by-step instructions on how to do this.
    Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Also, those blank icons that showed up on the DVD prior to my burn attempt seemed to indicate JPEG format. Is that the format I want? Is that the default in iPhoto?

    The best way to back up is to use a utility such as DejaVu or any of the many, many alternatives that you can find on MacUpdate.
    Essentially, to back up iPhoto you make a copy of the Library on the external Disk.
    The most basic way to do this is to drag the Library from the Pictures Folder to the External.
    You can back up to DVD in two ways: The Share -> Burn command will create a disk that is readable in iPhoto. Or you can simply drag the Library from the Pictures Folder to the DVD and burn it using the Finder.
    Regards
    TD

  • How to back up my external hard drive to another hard drive?

    So I dropped my external Iomega 1TB hard drive and now it wont allow me to back anything up however I can thankfully access everything in there.  Basically I read that I need to back THAT up and format it and start from scratch.  I sucked it up and finally bought a second External Hard drive a Seagate 1.5TB (great deal at costco BTW for $79).  So now I connected both to my MacBook and tried to copy everything in my iomega to paste it to the seagate and I got the error message "The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup."  What does that mean?  How do I do this efficiently? 
    I greatly appreciate any info!  Thanks in advance!!!

    I've not seen that error message but did you partition and format the new hard drive for use with Macs? It needs to be partitioned with the GUID scheme and formatted as Mac OS Extended Journaled. If you have a lot of data on the original drive it's best to not try to copy it all at one time, of there are separate folders copy them one or two at a time. If your original drive is a Time Machine drive it's more complicated than simply copying and pasting http://pondini.org/TM/18.html

  • How to back up to External Hard Drive b4 reinstalling OS?

    I have WXP Home version. ITunes v7. I have done a lot of work cleaning up my music file info on ITunes. Now my OS needs to be reinstalled. How can I back up the many hours of work I've done onto my external hard drive? ITunes looks for a cd drive as I do not desire to back up to. That's what I bought the XTRNL HD for.
    Any help would be appreciated.
    Dell   Windows XP  

    First, and perhaps most importantly, deauthorize your
    computer in iTunes. (Advanced..Deauthorize computer).
    You need to backup a few things:
    1) Your Library - this should be 2 files in "My
    Documents\My Music\iTunes\" - "iTunes Library.itl",
    and "iTunes Music Library.xml".
    2) Your Music - by default this is again in the
    iTunes folder, under "iTunes Music". Otherwise,
    backup the folder containing all your music. If
    you're not sure where this is, look in the
    Preferences in iTunes, under the Advanced tab,
    General tab. It will show you the path of the
    folder.
    3) Your downloaded Artwork, again in iTunes, in
    "Album Artwork"
    4) Optional - your iTunes preferences -- the folder
    "\Documents and Settings\username\Application
    Data\Apple Computer\iTunes". You won't see this
    folder by default -- you have to turn on the "view
    hidden files" option in Explorer (Tools...Folder
    Options..View tab) first.
    Also, after you reinstall, you probably want to use
    the same user name you had before. Copy all the
    stuff above back to their previous locations, install
    iTunes, and everything should be there.
    If for some reason you can't or don't want to use the
    same user name, you may have a problem with iTunes
    locating your Music. Try holding shift when you
    start, and select the "iTunes Library.itl" file when
    prompted.
    Thank you for your time spent on your reply. I will try your suggestion.
    Happy New Year

  • How to back up to external hard drive?

    OK, I got an external HD, so that I can take back this computer to Fry's for a refund, and buy one directly from an Apple store. I won't be able to do a transfer of settings and all that via firewire from computer to computer, as I've done before. So I bought this external HD,an acomadata firewire. I want to basically put everything I have on this computer on it, so when I buy the new one, I can transfer it over to it. Plus, I got it to save photos from Aperture in the future. Sounds like I'll have to partition the external HD? But I don't know the best way to even get a copy of my computer's HD to the external. Do I need to buy a program to do so? Or do I just plug in my firewire, and do it manually?
    Thanks!

    Here's the easiest solution:
    A. Open Disk Utility and select the external drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) in the left side window. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of partitions desired from the drop down menu. You need to select at least one (1). Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Format drop down menu. Click on the Options button and be sure your have the GUID partition scheme selected then click OK. Click on the Partition button.
    B. How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
    1. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
    2. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
    3. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
    4. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
    5. Upon completion select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked.

  • How to back up data on hard drive

    what is the best way to back up data to an external HD? I have no back up software. I have data in a "previous system" folder. I can not find original applications such as Office for Mac. When I try to install from disc I get error message "shared libray error"

    To backup, you can use CarbonCopy Cloner @ http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html , or SuperDuper @ http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html , or IBackup @ http://www.grapefruit.ch/iBackup/index.html , or the Restore function of Disk Utility included in OS X.
     Cheers, Tom

  • I need to replace my laptop Hard drive.  How do I get my iTunes off the old hard drive to an external so I can put it back on the new hard drive?

    I need to replace my laptop Hard drive.  How do I get my iTunes off the old hard drive to an external so I can put it back on the new hard drive?

    Type move itunes library into the google serach bar.
    It has always been very basic to always maintain  abackup copy of your computer.  Do you not have a backup copy?

  • I lost my iTunes library on my pc when the hard drive crashed. None of the data on the drive was recoverable and I did not have a backup. How can I get the music that resides on my ipod nano (4th generation back onto the new hard drive on my pc.

    I lost my iTunes library on my pc when the hard drive crashed. None of the data on the drive was recoverable and I did not have a backup either locally or on the cloud. Much of the music is from old vinyl and podcasts which are no longer available.
    How can I get the music that resides on my ipod nano (4th generation) back onto the new hard drive on my pc.
    I have been reluctant to install iTunes on the new hard drive out of fear that I will lose all the contents on the ipod if I try to synch to the new hard drive.
    Help!

    No backup is a huge mistake.
    You can redownload some itunes purchases in some countries:
    Downloading past purchases from the App Store ... - Apple - Support

  • How do I back up one External Hard Drive to another?

    I have two identical partitioned WD External Drives.  Drive 1, Partition 1 is a Macbook Pro Time Machine backup. Drive 1, Partition 2 is for photo & video storage uploaded directly from the camera or disk (so I don't overload my internal storage).  How do I backup Drive 1, Partition 1 & Partition 2 onto the partitioned External Drive 2? 

    I should back up my Internal Hard Drive directly to each of the 2 external Hard Drives, right?
    Yes.
    Since the External HD's are typically not plugged into the computer, should I not use Time Machine?
    When the drives are connected, the backups will take place. If you rarely connect the drives, then you should also back up over the network to a Time Capsule, a hard drive connected to a current-model AirPort base station, or another Mac via File Sharing.
    See also:
    Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac
    iPhoto: How to move the Library folder to a new location
    iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder

  • I went to Mac Store and had replaced hard drive because I encountered 4HDD ERROR(hard drive failure). I had backed up my old hard drive by TIME MACHINE regularly. Now how can I restore everything I had?

    I went to Mac Store and had replaced hard drive because I encountered 4HDD ERROR(hard drive failure). I had backed up my old hard drive by TIME MACHINE regularly. Now how can I restore everything I had?

    Thanks for your response.
    I had tried COMMAND+ALT+R which led me to directly to INTERNET RECOVERY via wifi. After 1 hour or so it dropped me at the same point.
    I've tried MIGRANT ASSISTANCE as well, it kept on LOOKING FOR OTHER COMPUTERS even though I clicked on TIME MACHINE BACK UP USING EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE
    so what to do now?
    P.S. Guys at MacStore were so careless to even listen to me when I asked them about retrieving back up :(
    Please help

  • How to transfer time machine back up to new hard drive

    How to transfer time machine back up to new hard drive?

    You may like to take a look at this thread... https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4207670?start=0&tstart=0

  • How do you back up an external hard drive with time capsule?

    how do you back up an external hard drive with time capsule?

    Will time capsule back up the machine and the hard drive that is plugged into the machine?
    Yes, if the hard drive with the video files is formatted correctly for Mac
    On the Mac with the hard drive connected....click on the Time Machine "clock" icon at the top of the screen
    Click Time Machine Preferences
    Click Options
    Here you will see a list of items that have been excluded from backups
    Click the name of the hard drive to highlight it
    Click the - (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the hard drive from the list of excluded items
    The hard drive will now be backed up with your Mac on the next pass that Time Machine makes

Maybe you are looking for

  • How can I determine which computer a share is connected to in /Volumes from terminal or a script?

    I run a set of virtual machines via Fusion on an iMac that we run automated tests on for our website.  There is a folder on each VM called /Automation that is shared.  I have a python script that runs on the host, that will find an open VM, start it

  • Transactional RFC Monitoring

    hi all,    Can anyone explain to me how transactional RFC works? As what i've understand it, the first transaction to get in is the first to be executed right?    Here's my scenario. I always monitors the transactional RFC,and from time to time, I ob

  • 20" ACD (Aluminum): Glare and harsh colours

    Compared to my 12" Powerbook G4 screen, I notice that the brightness of the 20" ACD is much higher. Also, the colours on the ACD are harsher (perhaps more saturated is the term?) and not "cool" to look at in comparison with the 12" PB screen. The res

  • New Maintenance Wizard released for Upgrades to R12!

    Maintenance Wizard Version 2.01 was released on 31-MAY-2007! <BR><BR> This new version includes the path to Upgrade to Release 12 and many new or enhanced features. It is a FREE tool for all customers with valid support contracts! <BR><BR> For more i

  • Selection part of Logical Database

    I read about logical database somewhere on the net but it was not so clear. Can anyone explain to me about the selection part of the logical database???