MacBook Pro Graphics Card Failure Backup HD Questions

[coolant113]

My early 2011 MacBook Pro finally decided that it was time for the common graphics card failure. The computer gets stuck on the white screen when booting up and doesn't go any further. I called Apple and they set up a repair for me.

A few questions I have. Stupid me did not do regular backups of the HD. I need to get files off the HD before I send it in, because I don't want them to wipe the drive and be left with nothing when it comes back.

How should I go about cloning/backing up the drive before I send it out?

I am comfortable with taking out the HD and putting it into an external enclosure and hooking it up to my Mac Mini if I can then do something about preserving the files.

Also, has anybody sent there MacBook Pro in to get this problem fixed where they have wiped your hard drive?

Looking forward to hearing my options. Thank You in advance.

 

[Apples555]

That's no problem at all. Grab your 2.5" SATA enclosure, or pick one up for ~$5, connect it to another computer with the space to copy and backup away. If you only have access to Windows, drop Apple's HFS drivers in C:\windows\system32\drivers, reboot and copy.

If you simply want to clone everything on the drive then clone it back when you get a working computer, run clonezilla.

 

[stroked]

If you have another Mac, you can put your MBP in target disk mode (hold option T when starting). Then use firewire or thunderbolt to connect your MBP to the other Mac. Your MBP will show up on the other Mac as an external HDD.

 

[A1ik]

My early 2011 MacBook Pro finally decided that it was time for the common graphics card failure. The computer gets stuck on the white screen when booting up and doesn't go any further. I called Apple and they set up a repair for me.

Looks like I am having the same problem. My MBP boot gets stuck at about 25% of the startup progress bar on a grey screen. I still can login to that MBP from another computer using ssh. The Apple Hardware Tool doesn't find any problems though. I wonder how much Apple will charge you for the video card repair.

--Alik

 

[stroked]

Looks like I am having the same problem. My MBP boot gets stuck at about 25% of the startup progress bar on a grey screen. I still can login to that MBP from another computer using ssh. The Apple Hardware Tool doesn't find any problems though. I wonder how much Apple will charge you for the video card repair.

--Alik

It's free, if you have one of these MBPs.
https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

 

[A1ik]

It's free, if you have one of these MBPs.
https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

Yea, I've just learnt it too. BTW, this silly procedure disables GPU acceleration and makes your MBP somehow usable:

It worked for me. But my graphics is now painfully slow. I am going to book a service appointment with Apple now...

 

[coolant113]

I cloned the hard drive onto an external hard drive that is attached to my Mac Mini. That was a breeze. Thankfully my MacBook is one of the ones that were covered under the recall program. Dropped the computer off yesterday to fedex, it got there this morning and the repair is already complete and being shipped back to me via FedEx priority overnight. I must say I am extremely impressed with the turnaround time. Kudos to Apple.