iMac (2017) Fusion Drive failure -- recovery options

[tyrenta]

Hi — my 2TB fusion drive on my 2017 iMac has failed. It is no longer bootable or mountable. I’m going to replace it, but wondering if there is any way to recover the data off the drive using an external SATA enclosure or similar? I keep most of my data on an external server but had several large video files stored locally.

I've found several threads that describe split drives or errors, but nothing with my particular issue/errors below.

I’ve booted into a USB drive for now. The old fusion drive shows as ‘APFS Physical Store’ but can’t be mounted (see attached screen shot). First aid returns:

Running First Aid on “” (disk0s2)

An internal error has occurred.

Operation failed…

If I try Erase, I can select a format to use, but have not tried reformatting as I don’t want to wipe the data if it is recoverable.

Any help help or advice would be appreciated.

 

[komatsu]

Fusion disks are a nightmare to recover data from.

This problem is compounded by issue of Apple using Seagate DM series disks which are another major headache.

Your best option is to download HDClone from Miray.de. Use this (bootable USB) tool to clone your the SSD component onto another disk. This will at least give you the option of recovery in the future.

As for the 2TB disk, this will have to be physically removed from your system. It is also likely to need repair at firmware level in order for it to be readable again. Very specialised and potentially costly operation. [this does not apply in every case but in a lot of iMacs with fusion drive failure, from my experience anyway]

So, keep clone of SSD + the old 2TB physical disk in a safe place and at least you will have the option of recovery.

Replace HDD with new disk (I recommend an SSD) and re-fuse two disks together and you should get your system back up and running. (A local repuatable Mac shop can do this for you with much less stress!)

 

[tyrenta]

OK thank you -- so am I understanding correctly that the above is indicative that the HDD failed and the SSD is still good? I have just searched all day and couldn't find anyone with the same issue; lots of split drives, etc. but nothing with the behavior I have above in Disk Util

 

[Fishrrman]

Unless you're willing to put considerable time, money and trouble into it, you're probably not getting that data back, especially if one of the drives in the fusion setup has suffered a physical hardware failure.

Recover what you can from your backups, and be glad that you had them.

I would not try to "reconstruct" (physically) a failed fusion drive.
Rather, I'd go to "standalone disks", either inside the iMac, or outside.
A "new" fusion setup may end up giving you the same problems that you have now.

I sense we're going to see many more posts like this one in the days to come, as a lot of installed fusion drives give up the ghost...

 

[Lankyman]

I sense we're going to see many more posts like this one in the days to come, as a lot of installed fusion drives give up the ghost...

What in the next 3 or 4 days, 30 days, 5000 days, be more specific and provide some cogent evidence as to why you "sense this".