iMac Late 2013 - HDD apfs fail, attempting to recover files

[absente]

My late 2013 (A1419) finally gave up - question mark on boot, endless boot loops. Of course tried all possible solutions with PRAM/NVRAM. Disk-utility in repair mode wouldn't even recognize the disk as "Macintosh HD/Data" but just give me an unmounted Disk2s1/s2 which I could not verify/repair. All terminal solutions, fsck etc didn't help either.

I decided to open up the mac and get the disk out as it has to be replaced anyway. The amount of dust and dirt inside was a good indication on "why" my hard-drive was failing and at times that Mac sounded like a WW2 airplane.

Now, I connected the HDD via an SATA adapter to another mac, running HS. To my surprise it is being recognized as

/dev/disk4 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk4
   1:                 Apple_APFS Container disk5         1000.0 GB  disk4s1

after about 15 minutes this pops up:

/dev/disk5 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
    
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +1000.0 GB  disk5
                                 Physical Store disk4s1
   1:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD - Data     958.9 GB   disk5s1
   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 82.5 MB    disk5s2
   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                528.5 MB   disk5s3
   4:                APFS Volume VM                      12.9 GB    disk5s4
   5:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD            11.0 GB    disk5s5

Now, this is where the fun ends. I can use finder to browse the contents, however it takes long - long as in I have to wait 30 minutes for a folder content to be displayed and file copying is impossible - also most directories have the 'no permission' mark, e.g. are unreadable. I tried changing permissions with "some" success before either finder or the terminal crashes.

Trying to repair any of the volumes with disk utility - crash.
Trying even a simple verify within terminal brings us to:

Mac-Pro:~ georgi$ diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk5
Unmount of disk5 failed: at least one volume could not be unmounted
Mac-Pro:~ georgi$ diskutil verifyVolume /dev/disk5
Started file system verification on disk5
Verifying storage system
Using live mode
Performing fsck_apfs -n -x -l /dev/disk4s1
Checking volume
Checking the container superblock
Checking the EFI jumpstart record
Checking the space manager
Checking the object map
Checking the APFS volume superblock
warning: apfs_sb at apfs_fs_index (0): apfs_features has unrecognized features (10)
Checking the object map
[   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \ ]

i still keep that running, but i don't think it will solve anything.

I am running out of options. Any help would be appreciated.

George

PS: Be so kind not to mention the word "backup"

 

[absente]

Mac-Pro:~ georgi$ diskutil verifyDisk /dev/disk4
Started partition map verification on disk4
Checking prerequisites
Checking the partition list
Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting
Error: -69770: Partition map check failed because no slices were found

Seems like the apfs partition is toast. I like toast, but any chance in getting my files. I am sure there has to be a workaround. Btw, copying 50kb from the disk took 2 hours.

 

[DeltaMac]

A spinning hard drive is really not a good "fit" for an APFS partition - unfortunately.
The main problem is that there is no software (that I know of) that will repair an APFS partition/container.
You can attempt to recover the files, using something like Stellar data recovery, or (not ever tried it) Easeus data recovery wizard software.
I think most of the recovery apps offer a free trial, so you can discover if anything CAN be recovered, and may give you some data for free, but you have to purchase the software to get everything possible.

Whether or not you can get your files off that hard drive, your best next step would be replacing that hard drive with an SSD, not a fun job on your 2013 iMac.

 

[absente]

Appreciate your answer, however almost all major data recovery I tried has issues with the disk - i am almost sure it's a permission issue.

Anyone else? Something else I might try?

 

[DeltaMac]

Why would you think you have a permissions issue, and not a hardware problem -- such as a failing drive?
THAT (failing drive) would be much more likely to affect a file recovery, and not a permissions issue.
File recovery is not likely to be affected by file ownership/permissions, but certainly would by a hardware problem.

 

[Fishrrman]

You didn't tell us some things.

First, this a 1tb platter-based drive, correct? (that is, not part of a fusion drive)?
What OS were you running on it?

If it's Catalina, and if you try to examine the drive on another Mac that is using an earlier version of the OS, things are going to look different, because of the "read only" OS partition on the Catalina drive.

The Mac with the older version of the OS may not be able to "read" the files on the data partition.
I'm wondering what most (all?) current data-recovery apps for the Mac will make of it? You said you've tried some already (names, please)? And they couldn't do anything with it?

If the OS was Catalina,
and
if you put another drive into the 2013 iMac
and
if you get a fresh copy of Catalina up and running
then
you MIGHT be able to put the old drive into a USB3 enclosure or perhaps use a USB3/SATA dongle/adapter to connect it
and then
you MIGHT be able to "see" the files you want to recover and get them onto the good drive.

BUT...
I don't think you have a chance at recovering those files using any data recovery software, particularly if you attempt the recovery using an older version of the OS. Apple does not (to my knowledge) "share the secrets" of APFS with the firms that publish such software.

I'm wondering if even a professional data recovery outfit could "get at it" (and they charge BIG money for their services).

This is what backups are for...

 

[absente]

You didn't tell us some things.

@Fishrrman thanks a lot for your answer.

You are correct, it's one of those old Seagate 1TB platter drives - no fusion, no ssd no ftl ; )

I had Mojave running on the mac, and the Mac I am using to 'read' the disk is running HS - so 'theoretically' or at least based on Apple's own documentation I should be able to see the files. Which I do - however transferring them didn't lead to any usable results so far.

Thats why I do believe its a permission or a container issue. The hard-drive itself is still holding up and I get "consistent" reactions when i plug it in, browse it etc.

The software I've tried so far to fix the volume/recover files:

- Stellar Volume Optimizer (no joy, cannot see the disk)
- APFS Data Recovery (no joy, cannot see the disk)
- TechTool Pro (some tests ok, others fail due to inability to unmount the disk)
- Disk Warrior (no joy, cannot see the disk)