iMac died. Now I want to access its HDD from another computer - a Windows computer!

[Atlasland]

After over 5 years service, my iMac G5 Rev B finally died in the last days of 2010.

I decided to build my next computer, and as Mac's weren't an option here, I have since built myself a Windows 7 machine . Anyway, it's working fine - so that's great .

But my question is this - can I remove the hard drive from my old iMac and access it from my Windows machine?

I have no reason to believe that the HDD was anything to do with the failure of the iMac, so it should be working ok. I don't want to use it as a second hard drive or anything - I just want to access some of the data that was on there.

If this is possible - how can I go about doing it. If it isn't possible, is there another way of accessing that data?

Thanks

 

[Hellhammer]

Yes, you can but you need e.g. MacDrive (there is free trial, maybe it will be enough)

 

[gullySn0wCat]

You could just install the Boot Camp HFS+ driver.

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=183351

 

[aarond12]

gullySn0wCat's idea seems good, but with some potential problems (reading the forum posts). Ideally, put it in an external case and read it on another Mac. This way any files you copy will have the correct attributes, etc. -- useful when copying applications off the drive.

Heck, even the Apple store would probably allow you to use one of their Macs on the floor to transfer information. Just go when they're not busy. Sob stories go a long way.

Another option is to make a "live CD" of Ubuntu Linux. It will mount and read (and write!) the HFS+ partition just fine. The live CD will work on any standard PC.

http://www.ubuntu.com/