How to recover data from a ppc-based iMac?

zbluebirdz

Sometime ago, my iMac G5 (PPC based) stopped working due to a video fault. Was told that the cost of repairing it would be quite expensive.

In the meantime, I bought a wintel based computer and am happy with it.

There's data stored on the the iMac's hard-drive as well as two external backup-drives, which I need to retrieve.

What is the best way for me to get my hands on the data?
- I don't really want to buy another computer as I'm happy with what I have.

1) Take it to a apple/mac repair shop and ask them to copy the data over to a FAT formatted hard-drive?

2) Buy a 2nd hand mac? (either mac mini or imac).
- Would a intel based mac boot off a hd containing ppc binary files? (I think the intel binary files were deleted from the drive).

3) Other options? (Linux is not an option due to various reasons)


TIA.

john__long

Ah never mind my first reply.

I didn't see "wintel". :-s

Em...

Option 2 may be the easiest. You could also install some software that would let you read HFS+ formatted drives. I dunno what they're called though.

I haven't used Windows properly in a while!

spannerotoole

zbluebirdz wrote: »

Sometime ago, my iMac G5 (PPC based) stopped working due to a video fault. Was told that the cost of repairing it would be quite expensive.

In the meantime, I bought a wintel based computer and am happy with it.

There's data stored on the the iMac's hard-drive as well as two external backup-drives, which I need to retrieve.

What is the best way for me to get my hands on the data?
- I don't really want to buy another computer as I'm happy with what I have.

1) Take it to a apple/mac repair shop and ask them to copy the data over to a FAT formatted hard-drive?

2) Buy a 2nd hand mac? (either mac mini or imac).
- Would a intel based mac boot off a hd containing ppc binary files? (I think the intel binary files were deleted from the drive).

3) Other options? (Linux is not an option due to various reasons)


TIA.

The easiest solution is to use a ppc edition of a linux live cd (I believe knoppix has one) and use the testdisk utility on that.
Also knoppix can read the HFS+ Partitions on Apple Computers, so you may just be able to drag and drop.

If you are not comfortable doing this, drop me a PM and we can work something out. I do data retreival and I can get most if not all of your stuff back.

Dont be at yourself

If it's just a video problem, you should still be able to boot it in target disc mode, connect it to a working machine with a firewire cable and it will show up as an external drive.