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shaunymac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 5, 2008
386
91
Ok, my mom's iBook was dropped a week or so back. I told her I would do what I could as far as getting the data off. Luckily, I had given her an external hd for christmas one year so all hope isn't lost. The bad thing with that is, she hasn't backed up recently.

The iBook will actually boot up, make the classic apple sound, but when the finder comes up, the dock never shows up. It never allows you to click anywhere.

I am connected via target mode to my mbp. I got mostly everything off. All of the documents but I am lacking some pictures in her iPhoto library. I have been able to get some but every now and then, I get to some dates/rolls and I get the beach ball/spinning wheel of death in the finder. Ahhh! I have to restart the iBook, hold down T, and start all over again. Oh, and then say a little prayer that I don't accidently click on that same folder that cause the beach ball.

So, my question, is there any better way to go about doing this? I am just copying it from the iBook to an external.

Thanks for the advice/help guys!
 

Sheeds

macrumors member
Sep 15, 2008
84
1
Ottawa
You could try freezing the Hard drive, or the whole laptop in the freezer and than trying to retrieve the files, because it sounds like the Hard Drive has been physically damaged. Preferably, keep it in the freezer in a waterproof bag and transfer files through a cable outside the freezer.
 

BlueRevolution

macrumors 603
Jul 26, 2004
6,054
2
Montreal, QC
Sounds like the hard drive was damaged by the fall.

I'd copy from the command line rather than in Finder. The cp command will continue copying even after encountering an unreadable file.
 

arjen92

macrumors 65816
Sep 9, 2008
1,066
0
Below sea level
You could try freezing the Hard drive, or the whole laptop in the freezer and than trying to retrieve the files, because it sounds like the Hard Drive has been physically damaged. Preferably, keep it in the freezer in a waterproof bag and transfer files through a cable outside the freezer.

does this really work? Never heard of it before.
 

Sheeds

macrumors member
Sep 15, 2008
84
1
Ottawa
I had it work for me, it would work after I took it out of the freezer but then stop after awhile, keeping it in the freezer made it work for much longer.
 

toolbox

macrumors 68020
Oct 6, 2007
2,304
3
Australia (WA)
But what would be the reason it works? I personally can't think of the reason why it would work,

I work in IT fixing peoples computers for a living, i an honestly say it does work. I can't explain how, maybe the hdd gets to hot or something and running it a cold environment works!.

I have had great success putting hdds in the freezer
 

shaunymac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 5, 2008
386
91
Sorry I have left the thread for a bit. I had family come stay with me in my studio and then I turn MY mac on and got the blue screen! Ahh! I spent the better part of the night getting that sorted out. Thanked God I just backed it up the day before. Cha Ching!

Anyways, the iBook is in the freezer! That was the kind of trick I was hoping to find. If that works, I will be forever indebted to you guys. I'll give it a bit and hook it up via target mode and see what happens.

Thanks guys.
 

shaunymac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 5, 2008
386
91
Ok guys, I'm pulling it out of the freezer. I'll keep you posted if this method works for me....
 

shaunymac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 5, 2008
386
91
Hmm, frosty keyboard sure does feel weird.

I think I am able to get into a few folders I wasn't able to before...I just went ahead and tried to copy a big folder. It is going extremely slow but it is going.

Will the condensation not hurt the hardrive/computer? I should have asked but at this point it was my last hope.
 

SpaceKitty

macrumors 68040
Nov 9, 2008
3,204
1
Fort Collins Colorado
Hmm, frosty keyboard sure does feel weird.

I think I am able to get into a few folders I wasn't able to before...I just went ahead and tried to copy a big folder. It is going extremely slow but it is going.

Will the condensation not hurt the hardrive/computer? I should have asked but at this point it was my last hope.

LOL you don't put the whole computer in the freezer, only the HD!!
 

shaunymac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 5, 2008
386
91
LOL you don't put the whole computer in the freezer, only the HD!!

That's what I thought while I was pulling it out. :eek: I read these posts at 6 or so in the morning and didn't read them all the way through. I definately wasn't going to take that iBook apart again. Thinking of all those screws again makes me feel sick.

I think I left it in for an hour or so. It fired up fine. I just wiped off the moisture for a minute or so. It just kinda makes me nervous as to what kind of moisture is inside the case. :confused: I hope it doesn't screw it up.

The freezer trick is working though. It is still chugging along. I have a little over 2 gigs out of 12. Hopefully it won't take to long.
 

Sheeds

macrumors member
Sep 15, 2008
84
1
Ottawa
Yeah all you need to do is stick the whole laptop in a tightly wrapped plastic bag or something like a big Ziploc bag.
 

shaunymac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 5, 2008
386
91
Yeah, looking back, I did a pretty dumb thing. Fortunately, I got everything I wanted off I may have damaged the iBook in the process.

She says she wants a newer mac with a isight so she can keep in touch with the family a little better. So, maybe I am won't be in terrible trouble if something happened to it. Afterall, it used to be my ibook.

Thanks for the freezer tips. I will definitely remember that one.
 

shaunymac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 5, 2008
386
91
I know I know....I feel horrible, like an idiot, all of the a above. But hey, it worked.
 
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