Macbook crashed!! please help :(

[LadyM]

Hello ,

I urgently need some guidance from someone who understands in hard drives and backing up. My mac is stuck at the starting up page, I've googled some soultions and followed all the steps needed but unfortunately it showed that my hard drive is crashed and i need to back up my files. I am starting to panic as I have precious pictures and last thing i want to happen is loose all those memories . I stongly would appreciate if someone would help me step by step backing up the files and fixing hard drive ?

 

[walkie]

In order to back up files, first thing you need to have it is an external USB hard drive or a USB memory stick with enough space to back up all your files,

You need to insert the Mac Install CD which has tools for test your disk and recover your data, you can follow these steps to make it work from the start-up screen.

http://www.ideyatech.com/2009/04/recovering-data-from-a-crashed-macbook/

This seems to be the same case as you :

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2220924?start=0&tstart=0


From now on I recommend you to have an external storage to make backups from time to time using "Time Machine".

Hope this helps, good luck.

 

[snaky69]

Hello ,

I urgently need some guidance from someone who understands in hard drives and backing up. My mac is stuck at the starting up page, I've googled some soultions and followed all the steps needed but unfortunately it showed that my hard drive is crashed and i need to back up my files. I am starting to panic as I have precious pictures and last thing i want to happen is loose all those memories . I stongly would appreciate if someone would help me step by step backing up the files and fixing hard drive ?

Get an external hard drive at least the same size as your MacBook Pro's hard drive first and foremost, go out and buy it now.

The golden rule with computers: if you have an important file, it should be in at least 3 different places, with 1 off site. A photo should be on your computer's hard drive, on an external device, and either on cloud storage or some place physically away from your home. Why? Because hard drives fail, all of them, eventually, they are a mechanical device and wear and tear, like all mechanical devices.

When you get back, tell us what version of OS X you were using, all is not lost.

If you've been frantically trying to turn on your MBP, stop doing it, if your hard drive is physically damaged, the less it runs, the better, so leave it alone until the moment you'll copy data over.

 

[blueroom]

You're supposed to backup before you experience data loss. Afterwards it's just a gamble.

 

[PinoyAko]

This is what I would do if you can't open up your computer anymore.

1) Buy a USB enclosure (10 bucks at MicroCenter or Amazon).
2) Remove the problematic HDD from your macbook and install it on the USB drive.
3) Use another mac computer and try to access your files.

 

[leman]

This is what I would do if you can't open up your computer anymore.

1) Buy a USB enclosure (10 bucks at MicroCenter or Amazon).
2) Remove the problematic HDD from your macbook and install it on the USB drive.
3) Use another mac computer and try to access your files.

I agree, this is probably the optimal course of action.

You can also try booting from an installation disk or similar and see whether it can access the hard drive. Chances are you can copy your stuff from there.

 

[PinoyAko]

I agree, this is probably the optimal course of action.

You can also try booting from an installation disk or similar and see whether it can access the hard drive. Chances are you can copy your stuff from there.

This will absolutely work as well. This is the most efficient way to do it especially if you don't have any other Mac's lying around.