Mac OS won't boot but WinXp will?!

Question

I have a Mid-2009 17" uMBP which my HDD just failed on me. I was iChatting my a family member and tried watching a file on VLC and it started giving me the spinning beach ball. So I hard resetted the uMBP and now when I try and turn on the uMBP it'll just stay on the Apple load screen with the spinning cursor. But if I load WinXP from Boot Camp, it'll load. I failed in backing up my files using Time Machine since I've had it. Is it too late to recover my files using a DIY method? If it is, is it possible to recover my files through WinXP? Please help. I need my files!!!
The picture above has been like that for the past hour. Any other suggestions?!

Answer 1

If you are getting CRC errors on the drive then your options (at least your "inexpensive" options) are extremely limited.
It's likely that while the drive motor works and spins up the disk, the access arms are no longer accurately positioning the read/write heads above the tracks to read your data. The data is still there -- you just can't get to it reliably.
The cheapest and easiest fix is to buy a new drive and re-install the OS on it and forget about getting your data off the old drive. Regardless of which option you choose you will still need to buy a replacement drive. Even IF you can recover your current drive, the drive itself can no longer be trusted.
If you really want your data, you have two paths. One involves a lot of work for you, the other involves very little work but does involve a lot of expense.
The "easy" path involves hiring a data recovery firm and writing a check while someone else does the work. This is very expensive (e.g. you could buy a new computer for what it will cost to just get your data back). They will open the drive (in a dust-free clean room) and remove the platters, which will be installed in one of their drives. They'll perform a head alignment so their reader can accurately read your data. Then they'll copy all the data off the drive for you. They will then either burn a considerable stack of DVDs or they'll write the data to a replacement hard drive (which you'll buy) and return it to you. The price tag will likely cost the better part of $1000 or more (no kidding!)
The "inexpensive" path involves you have some technical know-how and access to the right gear. A program called SpinRite can usually recover the drive well enough to let you make a copy of it. SpinRite costs about $100. SpinRite boots off it's own media and has it's own OS (FreeDOS) and is completely written in assembly. It controls the drive at very low levels and employs numerous clever techniques to recover the drive. It is usually either completely successful or mostly successful. It can take anywhere from over-night to a few days to recover the drive. But there's a catch... SpinRite needs to be running on a computer that has BIOS. Macs don't have BIOS -- they have Intel EFI. This means you'd have to find an old PC (anything with BIOS will work) that also supports SATA disks. You'd then have to install the failing drive in the PC chassis and boot the PC using the SpinRite media. SpinRite can then get to work attempting to recover your drive. It's $100 IF you happen to have an old machine laying around that can run it. Assuming SpinRite recovers your drive, you should immediately copy off all your data to a new disk. Don't trust using the old drive as it'll probably just be a matter of time before it reverts back to it's corrupted state.
Given the headache involved regardless of which option you choose, an appropriately sized backup disk is the MUCH easier and CHEAPER way to avoid all of this in the future. All my computers run Time Machine throughout the day as well as run "SuperDuper!" to create a bootable clone of my drives once per week. It's cheap. It's easy. You don't even have to think about it -- the backups happen all by themselves if you provide the disk drives.