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PonyTailPaul

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 6, 2014
6
0
Glasgow / UK
Hi everybody.
After Apple installed a new keyboard on my laptop it was acting really slow.
I decided to reboot the thing and when it did I saw that a good portion of my info was GONE ! I went back to Apple, but sadly they told me to ****** off and they can't do anything to help me. If anyone else has encountered this problem please feel free to shed some light on my situation. All help will be greatly appreciated . Thanks !
 
When getting hardware replacements, it is always suggested to do a backup of the machine's hard drives before sending it to repair.
What exactly do you mean by "info"?
 
Paul

Company files :

1) PDF
2) Word Documents
2) Excel Spreadsheets
4) Daily Photos
5) Powerpoint Presentations
6) Videos Showing Work in Progress
 
Did you have a backup?

Its always a good idea to run a backup before sending the machine in for repair.
 
Company files :

1) PDF
2) Word Documents
2) Excel Spreadsheets
4) Daily Photos
5) Powerpoint Presentations
6) Videos Showing Work in Progress

Are you absolutely certain that those documents were on your hard drive before the reboot, and after the machine was brought back from repair?

Either way, since the data is erased, you'll have to resort as soon as possible to applications that try to recover recently deleted files. I have used in the past http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php , but there may be freeware alternatives. It does offer a demo, too.
Note that if you want to recover lost data that way, the longer your computer remains active, the worse it is: that software relies on the retrieval of documents that haven't been properly, or completely erased from memory.
So you should shut the machine down as soon as possible, and wait for more responses, too. Else, your computer will end up overwriting whatever is left in memory.
 
Paul

Q: Are you absolutely certain that those documents were on your hard drive before the reboot, and after the machine was brought back from repair?

A: Yes !


Which program do you think could do the job ?
The cost doesn't bother me as long as it gets all the files back !
 
Q: Are you absolutely certain that those documents were on your hard drive before the reboot, and after the machine was brought back from repair?

A: Yes !


Which program do you think could do the job ?
The cost doesn't bother me as long as it gets all the files back !

Did you use spotlight to see if they are still on your hard drive?

Are you logged into the same account? I remember my kids clicking on guest account by mistake of course their stuff was MIA.

Log out and back in and see if things show up.
 
It is quite likely that they have replaced your disk with a new one. I don't know of a single computer service provider that assures you that you data will still be there. Actually, if I remember correctly, Apple clearly warns you that they might delete it. Next time, make a backup.
 
I bought 2 external hard drives, 2 Terabytes each. I will use the 1st disk to make a mirror image ( Apple Time Machine ) . The second one will be used in conjunction with a file restoration program. Wish me luck !
 
I just want to point out Time Machine does not produce a mirror image. If you want a mirror image of your drive use Carbon Copy Cloner.
 
I've used Data Rescue 3 last week. It worked well and I recovered all my files.
You can also use it to clone disk BIT-BY-BIT, which really matters.
 
Does it not ? Well i didn't know that . Thanks for the info on that ! ;)

I always suggest folks actually check out the "backup" files they think they are backing up. Sometimes it is trash. Sometimes it is only partial/incremental when they think it is total (and dumped older backups). Sometimes it requires certain software to recover and not just a copy. etc. etc. etc.
 
As long as:
- The data was there
- Its the same drive (physical)
- You haven't written any data on it (over write)

The data is easily recoverable (relatively speaking). How much of it depends on what has happened to your drive, if its just the filesystem its relatively straight forward for someone who knows what he is doing.
 
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