# data recovery



## Paintedeyes (Dec 3, 2006)

so, my hd died in my macbook pro. only had it for 10 months. pos. anyway, i was neve able to back up my data, time machine never worked, awesome. but this is very oddd. i have window running on bootcamp and it's fine but the osx partition is "corrupted and unreadable" so i was wondering if there is any software out there that i coudl recover data from a HFSJ using windows? if so, which ones?! thanks


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## nvr.bck.from.mac (Aug 15, 2008)

i would take it to an apple store or a mac store. they will definitely be able to help you out on that.

it actually just sounds like just the system files are corrupt. if you did an archive install with the mac os x disc it should be okay. can't guarantee that, but it's something to try.
make sure it's an archive install though. it's much much different from erase install. it'll protect all your personal files if they're still intact and reinstall the system files. whereas erase install just clears off the hard drive and installs it fresh.

give it a try, and if it doesn't work, i would take it to an apple or mac store. it's still under warranty, so you shouldn't have to pay much for it.


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## Paintedeyes (Dec 3, 2006)

i actually took it to the apple store and they told me it's a dying hd. and they wouldn't be able to get the information off for me


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## nvr.bck.from.mac (Aug 15, 2008)

okay... well there are places that will do data recovery professionally. if the files on your hd are really incredibly important you can go that route, but it's really expensive. like over a thousand dollars kind of expensive.

when you went to the apple store did you check it in and they tested it and everything? or did they just say "oh yeah, it's dead."?


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## Paintedeyes (Dec 3, 2006)

hah well they're not THAT important. well he booted up from an external hd and he was like hmm i'm not likign how it's only showing 1 partition when there are really 2 blah blah. and he said that it's looking like a bad hard drive. def iwth the extremely long boot up tim.es but what i dont get is how windows is perfectly fine on bootcamp. also now the computer just shuts when putting in osx. but not with windows


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## nvr.bck.from.mac (Aug 15, 2008)

haha... wow.
yeah, that guy at the apple store is stupid. if he really knew anything about hard drives, he would say "that's weird... let me try doing and archive install on your mac os partition to see what happens." (okay... maybe not that exact solution, but he wouldn't just give it back and say "sorry, looks like your partition is dying..."

partitions on hard drives only go bad when it's a software thing. if it was something wrong with the actual hard drive, like the reader arm or the actual disc, it wouldn't affect just the mac partition. you'd have trouble with programs, or you would lose files in your windows. or you just outright wouldn't be able to boot up.

so yeah, try doing an archive install. if it doesn't work and you won't die if you lose your files from your hard drive you can always have apple replace it.

i'm 85-95% sure that you just had a corrupt file in your os that won't allow it to boot. and windows will definitely not read hfsj.


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## nvr.bck.from.mac (Aug 15, 2008)

you may even want to call apple tech support. i think there's some way to check the partitions without booting. and i know there is a way to correct directory problems without booting up.
if anything i know a couple guys that will be able to help, that i can ask and get back to you. they'll both know more than the guy at the apple store.


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## Paintedeyes (Dec 3, 2006)

that would be great if you coudl ask them. the apple store already ordered me a new hd and it's in. i just have to bring my laptop in for them to bring it in. but if you could find out that info from your friends. that'd be great appreciated


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## nvr.bck.from.mac (Aug 15, 2008)

yeah, i will definitely. unfortunately i won't be able to ask them until monday morning, but i'll get back to you as soon as i do.

if you live near "the mac store" i would recommend going there.

you can find one near you by going to www.themacstore.com they aren't an official apple store, but they will definitely know more than the apple store people. and if you don't live near them, you can always call any of them any time they're open.

if you want to, you can call the eugene store and ask for Evan. i will be able to tell service what's going on and ask them what to do. they know much much more than me.

but try the archive install and we'll go from there.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

If you have a pc laying around, not to sell stuff, but this program might help you out. Its called spinrite and works very well, but you need a pc to run it on so if you have a pc laying around (this program even works on the most ancient of pcs so it doesnt have to be newer) you can just drop the hd in there and run the software on the mac drive which may recover the data: www.grc.com/spinrite


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## nvr.bck.from.mac (Aug 15, 2008)

k... PS ... he said windows is running fine on his other partition. he's got a windows computer already.

reading ALL the posts is usually a good thing to do.  

good call on the spinrite program though. it's definitely worth a shot.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

Doesnt mean anything with a partition. Spinrite needs a true pc, not a mac that can run windows, the problem with this lies in the BIOS.


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## Paintedeyes (Dec 3, 2006)

ah ok i just tried using the windows on my mac to attempt and didn't work out. and yes i have plenty of pc's laying around. i'm orginally a pc guy. so this would require me taking the hard drive out of my macbook pro and putting it in an enclosure or something? i know that will void my warranty. maybe i should ask the apple store to give me the old hard drive after they put the new one in?


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

You would need to install the mac hd into the pc as an internal hard disk. I would also bet that after that program runs, you could boot the system right up and pull data out as well .


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## nvr.bck.from.mac (Aug 15, 2008)

yeah... good luck installing two hard drives into a laptop. :/
if you had a 2.5 to 3.5 IDE adapter you could pull that off with a desktop.
(remember new tech guy, mac pro and macbook pro are two different machines. the "book" one is a laptop. and i did mention something about reading all of the posts.)

windows won't even read the disc format. it'll read the windows partition, but it will ask him to format it if he attempts to access the mac partition. macs will read ms-dos format, but windows won't read mac formatted discs. (vista may, but that i'm not sure about. i know xp, even sp3, won't.)

that program might even just ask you to format the partition because it won't be able to work with it (being a ms-dos based program).

the BOIS doesn't work the same way with mac computers as it does with pc's. they're more similar now with the intel processors rather than the power pc's, but this hard drive problem has nothing to do with bios.

paintedeyes, what happens when you start up your computer now?

something you can check really quick and easy. if you're getting the question-mark-folder at start up put your ear next to where the hard drive is in your macbook pro. if you hear it making sounds like it starting and then stopping and then starting again and possibly a clicking noise, your hard drive is bad. if you don't hear it at all when you turn your computer on it may have died altogether.


but at this point we'll need more details about everything going on with your hard drive. apparently you can't boot up at all..?


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

Spinrite runs in bootime, sorry about being hw general. But you download spinrite, make a boot disc and it runs in boot time. Does not run in windows. Im not trying to be a salesguy for it but this is just how it works. Doesnt run in windows and reads data on a drive regardless of format.


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## Paintedeyes (Dec 3, 2006)

ok, well i can't run the spinrite yet because the hd is still in the macbook pro. what i tried to do was put the macbook pro in target disk mode and attach it to my desktop pc and boot up with spinrite. it did not read the format the computer. but actually booted up my pc and it is seeing my macbook, of course only the windows partion, it doesn't understand the apple format. but.. I also do have pro tools, but not installed on my pc yet part of the program allows you to read apple formatted hard drives. thats how i can see the apple hd on my macbook pro's with xp on bootcamp. but, this still means have the "corrupted" unreadable hd. do you think if i installed pro tools on the comp and it allows me to read HTFS hd's that spinrite will work? Idk though.

the question about booting up. my macbook pro still boots up into windows xp fine with bootcamp. but when i leave it alone with leopard, it will shut down by itself because completing the boot up. this started occuring a few days ago.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

What is wrong with just removing the drive from the macbook and plugging it into a desktop pc? Im not a mac expert, but i know it works by installing the mac hd into a laptop pc in your case, as it is a laptop and then boot spinrite. It doesnt really care about format as it reads the raw data regardless of format.


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## Paintedeyes (Dec 3, 2006)

well the problem with removing it from my macbook is that it will void my warranty and i definitely do not want to do that at all. Here's what I did last night. i booted my macbook into target disk mode and i ran "Nucleus Kernel Macintosh Demo". it worked! it found all my files, but since it was a demo i ould not save the files. but this is some progress i must say! unfortunately I have class now and I have to wait until i try a full versoin.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

The apple store cannot remove the hard disk for you?


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## patwardo (Aug 30, 2006)

HI, I had a similar problem and it wasn't hard ware problem at all.
I had corrupted my OS X partition to the point that it would't start in safe mode, or with the OS X disk or anything. I was getting a "kernal error" every time.

I used an app called macdrive that allows you to access your HFSJ partition from windows.
With mac drive, I was able to copy all my files to an external disk before reformatting my hard drive and re installing OS X and Windows.
It costs $49 but you can recover your files before the trial runs out.

http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/
Hope this helps.


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## nvr.bck.from.mac (Aug 15, 2008)

serious. if your windows is booting up just fine on the windows partition, do an archive install, or an erase install with your mac OS X disc. it sounds like you just have corrupted system files that won't allow it to boot up.

there is nothing physically wrong with the hard drive. the information on it is messed up one way or the other. just reinstall the OS and you should be fine.

if the spinrite program is ms-dos based it won't detect the mac HTSF format. even if it runs in "boot time" if it's ms-dos based it will only work with ms-dos formatted discs. sounds like it is to me.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

Here is the page explaining the program, it works BELOW a filesystem so it does not care how its formatted, it looks at the RAW data of the hd, essentially the "bare metal" So it will just not recognize the partition but run anyway. People have run this thing on encrypted drives and saved bacon with it. It does not care what os made it and yes it boots up from freedos. http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm


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## nvr.bck.from.mac (Aug 15, 2008)

okay... first, you have to understand the program. it is essentially its own operating system that will boot off a cd. it does not run "under the file system". it can read HTFS and other mac formatted discs, but it WILL NOT fix files. it may fix the directories if there are problems, and it may organize the files, but it won't fix any system file errors.

trust me. if the windows side is functional, you need to do an archive install of your mac os. there is nothing physically wrong with the hard drive, unless you start having the same problem with the windows side.

i would strongly recommend using your mac os discs and doing an archive install.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

Gotcha, i thought the cause was physical disk failure.


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## nvr.bck.from.mac (Aug 15, 2008)

yeah... if it was physical damage to the disc, or the disc reader was dead, or the magnets in the disc were wearing off there would be no way to fix them there would be no hope. except that you might be able to get the information taken off the disc professionally. which costs a lot. like over 1000 dollars a lot.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

Yes physical damaged, you are SOL to say the least, sorry for language there. But if it is just a few sectors that is what spinrite is meant for as it over rides all of the normal SMART features of the drive to scrape the data off the bad sector then re writes it to a good one and flags the old as bad.


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