I need the data off of the harddrive

I need to get the data off of an imac G5 that totally crashed. I have a Dell computer and tried to use an external usb kit to see it but it does not show up. I want all of my docs and pictures on this drive. Is that possible or do I need to hook it up to another mac? Thanks

Since the drive out of the iMac G5 is formatted in a mac format, no stock PC will read it at all. You will need either another Mac or an application called MacDrive for your PC.

You say the drive is totally crashed. What were the symptoms?

no, the drive i think is fine, it is the logical board and the video ram that went bad. I was able to do a hardware test and could barely see the results. The screen was a mess and sometimes would not come up at all, just fade of dark gray and light gray.

I think you misunderstood Dennis. The drive has a Mac filesystem on it, which a Windows computer can not read without the help of a third party product called "MacDrive". Your options are to buy that program to access the drive on your Dell or to attach the drive to a Mac in order to read it.

i took the harddrive and tried to attach it to my sons imac laptop via ide to usb and could not figure out how to get the files off of it. Any help?

Does the drive mount (Show up) in finder?

Also, you sure it was an iMac G5? All the iMac G5's used a SATA hard drive that I have ever seen.

It might be related to the order in which you connected the adapter.

Start with the drive completely disconnected. First, attach the adapter to the drive. Next, connect the power cable. Finally, connect the USB cord to your son's iMac. The drive should pop right up.

i did try that

when i plug it into the usb a screen comes up and says disk not initalized or something like that....

i did try that and the disk utility comes up wanting to erase free data etc. i am not real smart at macs

That does not sound good at all.

Another question, you said IDE, iMac G5's all used SATA drives.

carolebrew said:

when i plug it into the usb a screen comes up and says disk not initalized or something like that....

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Unfortunately, if that is the case, the filesystem is damaged. Your best bet would be to either take it to a professional for recovery or purchase a program like Drive Genius to try to repair it.

well it does have a sata drive,and I am a tech for pc's and was trying to get my sisters pic and docs for her. i used a sata adapter to usb, sorry... that is what i ment...

i do this on pc's all the time.... so i assumed it would be an easy thing to do

guess it is toast....

carolebrew said:

well it does have a sata drive,and I am a tech for pc's and was trying to get my sisters pic and docs for her. i used a sata adapter to usb, sorry... that is what i ment...

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I figured it was a mistake but thought I would ask anyway out of curiosity. I am a PC Tech also so always curious when something seems wrong!


Sounds like whatever happened to that iMac G5 messed up the data on the hard drive also. Sorry.

Normally it's very easy to plug in a drive via USB and get the data.

carolebrew said:

guess it is toast....

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Not necessarily. If the drive is recognized on the bus, but the Mac thinks it hasn't been initialized, chances are it's just a damaged filesystem. A good tool like Disk Warrior or Paragon's Rescue Kit (free right now) might be able to recover it. And of course, if the data stored on it is priceless, it might be worthwhile to send it out to a recovery service like DriveSavers (although it won't be inexpensive).

I would do your friend a favor and recommend an external hard drive for backup purposes in the future. It's a heck of a lot cheaper to buy a backup drive than it is to recover from a hard drive failure.