Retrieving data from my dead macbook drive

salad17

So my macbook died some years ago and I've now taken the hardrive out and put it into a SATA case.

When connected, the led lights and I can hear/feel the drive spinning, but nothing is showing up on the laptop. I tried a different SATA case (that I know works as I took a working drive out of it) and same thing except at least with this one it makes the bububum sound when connected, but still nothing showing up!

I'm using a PC and have downloaded HFSExplorer to access the files, but even without that it should show up in my computer, right?

All help appreciated! Years of pics on there..

Yes I know, should have backed em up, thanks!

smuggler.ie

Is disk shown up in disk manager ?

salad17

Oh I thought not, but it is actually!

Shows me 5 partitions, 4 healthy and 1 unallocated... Not sure where to go from here though?

When I click detect on HSFExplorer it doesn't find anything

NeuralNetwork

Easiest way would be connect the case to another Mac.

Is the drive actually formatted in HFS+ ?

It's possible if the machine has been updated to MacOS High Sierra or a MacOS Beta, it maybe using the new Apple File System (APFS)

You might need something like MacDrive or UFS Explorer.

HFS Explorer cannot read APFS.

salad17

NeuralNetwork wrote: »

Easiest way would be connect the case to another Mac.

Is the drive actually formatted in HFS+ ?

It's possible if the machine has been updated to MacOS High Sierra or a MacOS Beta, it maybe using the new Apple File System (APFS)

You might need something like MacDrive or UFS Explorer.

HFS Explorer cannot read APFS.

Ah I see. It's quite old, the macbook actually died in 2015! So it wouldn't be very updated. Is there any way to access it without a macbook?

I'm not sure how it's formatted, I just googled how to access it on windows and the solution was HSFExplorer, but I don't really know much about file systems

NeuralNetwork

salad17 wrote: »

Ah I see. It's quite old, the macbook actually died in 2015! So it wouldn't be very updated. Is there any way to access it without a macbook?

I'm not sure how it's formatted, I just googled how to access it on windows and the solution was HSFExplorer, but I don't really know much about file systems

If it’s that old it’s HFS+

The volume may be encrypted though.

Try a different file viewer for HFS+ on windows, failing that borrow a Mac & connect say an external HD to one port and your drive case to the other and use MacOS to copy the files, or if you’ve a fast connection handy, upload them to Dropbox or similar.

If you’re planning to use it with a PC obviously don’t format the target HDD with an Apple file system.

smuggler.ie

salad17 wrote: »

Oh I thought not, but it is actually!

Shows me 5 partitions, 4 healthy and 1 unallocated... Not sure where to go from here though?

When I click detect on HSFExplorer it doesn't find anything

As Windows don't see it HSFExplorer wouldn't either, i guess.

Right click and select "Change drive letter and paths...">>> Add>>> set for available letter of your choice.

salad17

smuggler.ie wrote: »

As Windows don't see it HSFExplorer wouldn't either, i guess.

Right click and select "Change drive letter and paths...">>> Add>>> set for available letter of your choice.

Hmm doesn't give me that option (see attached image)

smuggler.ie

salad17 wrote: »

Hmm doesn't give me that option (see attached image)

on 31.56GB partition

salad17

smuggler.ie wrote: »

on 31.56GB partition

Option is there but greyed out

smuggler.ie

salad17 wrote: »

Option is there but greyed out

is there other big partition?

salad17

smuggler.ie wrote: »

is there other big partition?

Yes, option is also greyed out there

smuggler.ie

salad17 wrote: »

Yes, option is also greyed out there

well.... that is me out of options

advertsfox

You need MacDrive or HFS+ for Windows (Paragon) in order to read the partitions. It's a good sign you can see the partition structure, indicates it's will likely have recoverable data.

salad17

Ok just downloaded the paragon free trial, will see how this goes

salad17

"No supported volumes can be found..."

Ah well, I'll have to find someone with a Mac and really hope that does it!

Thanks for your help, I have more hope now anyways!

mumof2

Just wondering if you had luck getting the data off your old mac? I'm about to start the same process!:)

salad17

mumof2 wrote: »

Just wondering if you had luck getting the data off your old mac? I'm about to start the same process!:)

I did! I found someone with a macbook and that did it! None of the software I downloaded for windows would do it