Accessing HD files without booting into Mac OS X

[jasonbogd]

Hi,

I am having a problem with my MacBook Pro that I bought in Early 2009. Two days ago, I was using my computer when all of a sudden the whole system froze. I force shut it down by holding the power button down. When I tried to start it up again, it wouldn't get past the gray Apple logo with the spinning progress gear. I then booted up from the Snow Leopard CD and used disk utility to repair the disk, but it still wouldn't boot up. I then tried to reinstall Snow Leopard, but the installer hangs with 10 minutes left to go.*

Before I erase the disk and install the OS again from scratch, is there a way to recover the files of my HD without going to some third party servicer (e.g. geek squad)? I know the files still exist, since I can browse my Macintosh HD using Disk Utility; however, I cannot find a way to copy the files to an external Hd from Disk utility. Is there some special software that can do this for me?

Thanks!

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Have you tried Target Disk Mode yet?
If the partition on the MBP's HDD is still intact (has not been erased by you during installation), you could use that TDM to retrieve your files with another Mac and a Firewire port or a Windows PC with a Firewire port and the help of the MacDrive trial.

Or you could remove the HDD and put it into an external HDD enclosure (USB or Firewire or eSATA) and retrieve data that way, again with a Mac or Windows PC (with the help of MacDrive).

 

[danetello]

You can buy an external hard drive enclosure and put your macbook hard drive inside there. Then you can connect it to any other computer (Windows or Mac) and you'll be able to read and copy files on there.