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Moving data from a macbook with a broken screen

L

lovingapples

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 25, 2014
4
0
Dear Mac users, friends, and helpers,

I'm facing a bit of a conundrum. I have an old Macbook with a broken screen, but which otherwise functions perfectly. I need to access its hard disk asap, but I am unable to connect the laptop to an external screen. Is there anyway to remove data or access its hard disk by connecting the laptop to another computer (to a macbook pro) via ethernet (or another type of) cable without enabling sharing properties on the broken macbook?

Any tips would be more than useful!

-M
 
Last edited:
Cant you connect an external monitor and still use the Macbook to retrieve the data?

If not, remove the hard drive and connect it to another computer via a USB connection. You can a USD dock, or USB enclosure, or the simplest...a USB-SATA cable that connects to the HD, You can get USB enclosures or cables for less than $20 on Amazon or other computer parts sources.
 
Thank you MCAsan for your prompt response. Unfortunately, I'm at the moment in a situation where I'm unable to use an external monitor, which indeed would be the most convenient solution to my problems. I am also unable to get hold of USD dock, or USB enclosure, or a USB-SATA cable within an appropriate time frame. Is there anyway to get the data out with an ethernet cable?
 
lovingapples said:
Thank you MCAsan for your prompt response. Unfortunately, I'm at the moment in a situation where I'm unable to use an external monitor, which indeed would be the most convenient solution to my problems. I am also unable to get hold of USD dock, or USB enclosure, or a USB-SATA cable within an appropriate time frame. Is there anyway to get the data out with an ethernet cable?
Click to expand...

Is this a Macbook which has firewire, by any chance? Unless file sharing is already on you're not going to be able to get access to the disk via ethernet.
 
If the Macbook already has File Sharing turned on System Preferences, then another Mac on the network could read the data. But if the screen is dead, trying to setup System Preferences on the Mac would indeed be very difficult.

I think you are back to removing the drive and reading it directly on another Mac.

BTW, any TM backups available from the broker Macbook that you can restore to a new drive on a different Mac long enough to retrieve the data?
 
Dear chrfr, the broken macbook does have a firewire. Does that make a difference? MCAsan, thank you for the tips, again!
 
lovingapples said:
Dear chrfr, the broken macbook does have a firewire. Does that make a difference? MCAsan, thank you for the tips, again!
Click to expand...

Yes, if you have a firewire cable and a second computer with firewire, hold down the T key on the broken computer, and connect the two computers with the firewire cable. That puts the broken computer into what's called Firewire Target Disk Mode and the broken computer's disk will show up as an external disk on the functional computer.
 
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