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Stolen Macbook Pro found!! - any way to recover my data?

C

catparade

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2009
10
0
So... my house got broken into about 3 months ago and my precious Macbook Pro, backup hard drives, boyfriend's macbook.. everything we owned of any value got stolen.

After a few upsetting weeks I had come to accept the fact that everything was gone (all our photos, work, music...) and sort of moved on. Insurance replaced our stuff with fancy new things and we got on with life...

Then yesterday I got a call from the police saying they have found my stolen Mac (what are the odds..during a drug bust I might add!).
My name was my login, and they tracked me down from that.

So it seems the idiots who stole my computer didn't even bother to re-format the drive since my user name was still the same. I'm assuming probably just trashed everything irrelevant to them...

Haven't got my laptop back from the police yet to properly search it, but I am wondering if there is there any way that I could recover the deleted data, without resorting to a data recovery/forensics place?
Do file recovery progammes work?
 
Glad to hear it.

catparade said:
Haven't got my laptop back from the police yet to properly search it, but I am wondering if there is there any way that I could recover the deleted data, without resorting to a data recovery/forensics place?
Click to expand...

Wait until you get it back. It could be that they didn't delete anything. Do you know if your hard drives were there as well?

catparade said:
Do file recovery progammes work?
Click to expand...

Yes they do, but they have limitations.
 
Depending on how much you value the data there are places where you can go who will try to recover as much as they can for you.

It's amazing that you got it back.
 
Its possible they never even logged in. Agree it is incredible, was it just yours or did they get the other stuff too? Nice one though ;)
 
Stellar Phoenix data recovery tool worked good for me.
But if your name was the login im sure some stuff is left. Maby they didn't know how to use macs lol.

That tool I listed is really good, It worked awesome for my stuff. At least you got your macbook back. Even if you do have to pay for recovery, you can just pay with the mac right?
 
i agree with previous posters. most people that steal computers don't know the first thing about them, they're just looking to turn around and sell it.

hopefully that's the case with you. as soon as you get it back, i suggest you buy an external HD and start using time machine regularly (back up at LEAST once a week) a little expensive, but very worth it
 
jdmccay said:
i agree with previous posters. most people that steal computers don't know the first thing about them, they're just looking to turn around and sell it.

hopefully that's the case with you. as soon as you get it back, i suggest you buy an external HD and start using time machine regularly (back up at LEAST once a week) a little expensive, but very worth it
Click to expand...

getting an external HD wouldn't have helped in her case since the thieves stole all drives in her house. backing up to a remote service is the most secure option if you have really important information.
 
jdmccay said:
hopefully that's the case with you. as soon as you get it back, i suggest you buy an external HD and start using time machine regularly (back up at LEAST once a week) a little expensive, but very worth it
Click to expand...

bigjnyc said:
getting an external HD wouldn't have helped in her case since the thieves stole all drives in her house. backing up to a remote service is the most secure option if you have really important information.
Click to expand...

As anyone who actually read the original post will know, she had backup drives which were also stolen. But yes, an off-site backup system would be a good idea.
 
Just an update to anyone who is interested - I bought Data Rescue 3 and scanned my stolen laptop - managed to recover about 60% of my photos (quite a few were a bit garbled but still ok). My music library was still completely intact. Also quite a few pdfs and photoshop documents were recovered. Unfortunately things like indesign and illustrator files (I'm a graphic designer) couldn't be recovered - maybe the way they are stored on the drive is more complex. Still, the fact that I managed to get anything is a bit of a miracle! And the fact that the cops even found my laptop is even more of a miracle!

Thanks for the help guys :)
 
catparade said:
Just an update to anyone who is interested - I bought Data Rescue 3 and scanned my stolen laptop - managed to recover about 60% of my photos (quite a few were a bit garbled but still ok). My music library was still completely intact. Also quite a few pdfs and photoshop documents were recovered. Unfortunately things like indesign and illustrator files (I'm a graphic designer) couldn't be recovered - maybe the way they are stored on the drive is more complex. Still, the fact that I managed to get anything is a bit of a miracle! And the fact that the cops even found my laptop is even more of a miracle!

Thanks for the help guys :)
Click to expand...

This is great news! I'm so glad to hear it worked out.

On that note, Apple really should add a "Find my Mac" option to MobileMe (e.g. Find my iPhone).
 
very happy for you - an uplifting story for anyone that has ever had their computer stolen... good for you! ;)
 

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