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mtn6irl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 13, 2009
2
0
my MacBook harddrive stopped working last week. I took it to a Mac Certified guy, but he was unable to recover any of the applications or files on the drive. This is the second drive in two years. The first one I was able to find a guy who recovered everything and put it onto disks. I tried those on the new harddrive, and the iPhoto application and files are not opening. Is there any way to recover the stuff on the second hard drive?
 

BinfordsTool

macrumors member
Feb 24, 2009
58
0
I actually just posted about this down below you. Try running a live cd of Linux Mint (http://www.linuxmint.com). Insert the CD and when booting your mac, hold down the option key, then use the arrow keys to select the CD icon (it may say windows underneath the cd... dunno why it does that occasionally).

Try to mount it from there. To access files you will need to right click and select "open as root"

Select the files you need (if this is working of course) and use "copy to" to copy to a flash drive (which will appear under /media normally as "disk" or "disk1")

I hope this helps!
 

jampat

macrumors 6502a
Mar 17, 2008
682
0
Stopped working as in boot sector destroyed or not spinning? The reason for it's failure affects recovery. If things are really important, a data recovery company can normally get things back (I have used CBL Data Recovery before), but you are looking at $1K+ normally. Try linux as suggested above and maybe you will get lucky.

Backups are cheap, learn from this and invest in something that can help the next time.
 

Tumbleweed666

macrumors 68000
Mar 20, 2009
1,761
141
Near London, UK.
my MacBook harddrive stopped working last week. I took it to a Mac Certified guy, but he was unable to recover any of the applications or files on the drive. This is the second drive in two years. The first one I was able to find a guy who recovered everything and put it onto disks. I tried those on the new harddrive, and the iPhoto application and files are not opening. Is there any way to recover the stuff on the second hard drive?

Depends how bad its broken, no way to know from here.
Whats it worth to you, it can cost $$$$$ to recover data from a really badly broken HD?
 

mtn6irl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 13, 2009
2
0
ok, to give more specifics: I wasn't using the computer when it crashed. my friend tried to save me a headache by trying to get it fixed before I got home. I'd had no trouble up to that point. so I don't know what the details are--only that the drive is apparently known for being fragile and that they crash fairly often. apparently the screen simply went black and the computer wouldn't restart. I wasn't keeping anything crazy important, but there are some photos I hadn't yet backed up that I would really like to retrieve. There must be some way??
 

BinfordsTool

macrumors member
Feb 24, 2009
58
0
ok, to give more specifics: I wasn't using the computer when it crashed. my friend tried to save me a headache by trying to get it fixed before I got home. I'd had no trouble up to that point. so I don't know what the details are--only that the drive is apparently known for being fragile and that they crash fairly often. apparently the screen simply went black and the computer wouldn't restart. I wasn't keeping anything crazy important, but there are some photos I hadn't yet backed up that I would really like to retrieve. There must be some way??

Any success with linux?
 

Tumbleweed666

macrumors 68000
Mar 20, 2009
1,761
141
Near London, UK.
ok, to give more specifics: I wasn't using the computer when it crashed. my friend tried to save me a headache by trying to get it fixed before I got home. I'd had no trouble up to that point. so I don't know what the details are--only that the drive is apparently known for being fragile and that they crash fairly often. apparently the screen simply went black and the computer wouldn't restart. I wasn't keeping anything crazy important, but there are some photos I hadn't yet backed up that I would really like to retrieve. There must be some way??

If that's "specific", I'd really hate it if you were vague :)

Two failures in a couple of years is either bad luck, or you are mistreating the computer (do you carry it round whilst its running?) or leave it where it might overheat, perhaps on a bed or couch?

No way to know whats wrong from what you have posted, not good if Genius cant fix it, try a linux cd, if that doesn't work, backup more frequently and be more careful.
 

Edie Brickell

macrumors member
Apr 22, 2010
89
0
There is always a way to recover data but you have to find the best solution. You can attach your hard drive to a running Mac and recover your lost data from the attached hard drive using any data recovery tool and save the data to an external drive. You can also try any data recovery services for the your hard drive recovery.
Good luck!!
 
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