Trouble extracting photos from external hard drive

Rhm


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This is my first time, and I'm not a computer whiz!

My first iMac was about 8 years old when it started acting up. I wanted a new Mac desktop so bought the 27" new one. Unfortunately, the old Mac died and I took it to a data doctor to extract the hard drive which they declared intact. When I tried uploading data from the old hard drive to my new Mac, it failed. I took the hard drive and new Mac to Apple and they determined that the formating or sequencing (?) was incompatible with the new Mac. We found a free software called Disk Aid and some of the data came alive (desktop, some downloads, some music, and documents). Unfortunately, the photos are hidden somewhere on this hard drive and can't extract them. About 25% of my pics were in other folders and I loaded them into iPhoto. I need the other 75% or about 7500 pics, some of which are the only ones I have.

I tried everything intuitive to no avail. Can someone guide me?
 

chscag

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Too late now.... we always advise folks NOT to store valuable photos on a hard drive. Why? Because they fail. You might have to take your hard drive to somewhere that can extract the photos. However, data recovery can be very expensive.
 
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Rhm


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Not so fast, chscag! The Apple genius was able to extract the pics in 20 minutes thru a master file. I was able to retrieve all the photos. But, I learned my lesson and will never take the HD for granted. Thx for your help.
 

chscag

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You lucked out. Be thankful the Apple Genius had a program to be able to extract the photos from the old iMac. Advice still goes though.... don't store photos on a hard drive. I store mine on DVDs. Maybe not the best either but certainly more reliable than a hard drive. ;)
 
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If a hard drive isn't the best way to store photos, and DVDs aren't (that's my preferred way), then what IS the best way to store photos?
 

chscag

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I honestly don't know what's better than DVDs. Like I said above, maybe not the best, but until something better comes along...

I thought about using on line storage but that has its hazards also, plus it can be expensive.
 
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I would never use online storage other than as a means to just transfer files back and forth and work on stuff remotely in a pinch. You can forget any rules of privacy. And if your online host is gone, so are your files. (MegaUpload, anybody? Yeah, I know you probably first think "Arrrrrr, matey!" when you hear that, but believe it or not, people WERE using it for legal reasons -- and now they can't get to their stuff.)

In addition to using burnable optical media (CD or DVD -- and I'd recommend using something manufactured by Taiyo-Yuden's factory in Japan; right now, the only American distributor left who uses their discs is JVC -- everybody else uses cheapo lesser-quality stuff), I'd say make more than one copy of those CDs/DVDs of your pictures...maybe refresh them every five years.
 

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