MBP 2008 HDD crash

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Hi

I've attempted to use firewire to transfer files to my new MB but it doesn't work. Old MBP showed firewire target icon, but HDD icon didn't show on new MBP.

I removed the HDD (250GB) and had a technician try to recover - nothing.

Is there software I can use to recover my files from the HDD?

And if so how do I do it? Put the HDD back into the old MBP?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
(and yes I now know the ultimate price to pay if I don't backup everything :-(

Thank you
Jerry
 

pigoo3

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I removed the HDD (250GB) and had a technician try to recover - nothing.

Is there software I can use to recover my files from the HDD?

There is a program called "DiskWarrior" that may help recover files. But it's not cheap...and it may not be able to do anything. If the HD has truely crashed...no one but a professional file recovery operation will be able to do anything. And these guys can cost upwards of $1000 for their services.

(and yes I now know the ultimate price to pay if I don't backup everything :-(

Yes unfortunately...many of us know what the right thing to do is...we just don't always do it!;)

- Nick

Edit: Here's the link for DiskWarrior ($99.95):

http://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/
 
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It is bad when stuff like this happens. I recently had an old PowerMac G5 suddenly refuse to boot, rendering the (not recently backed up) contents of its hard disks inaccessible, but was able to recover them. Based on that experience (and a few others!) if you think that your disk might still be viable, there are two things you can do:

1/ If you have an old desktop Mac lying around (I did, and this was the approach I took), you should be able to slip the 250GB drive, which will be a SATA drive, into the older machine and read it from there. Most of the machines will have at least one spare disk slot that you can use. In my case, I was lucky enough to have a second older PowerMac G5, and was able to use it to read off the contents of the "failed" hard drive.

2/ If you do not have an old desktop Mac lying around, you can buy an external hard disk enclosure for less than $40, and turn your 250GB internal SATA drive into a 250GB external Firewire or USB drive, which you can then read from. I have done this recently, for another oddball hard drive recovery situation. There are pages and pages of possible SATA to USB disk enclosure product choices at Newegg.com - just Google "SATA to USB enclosure" and follow the link.

Neither of these guarantees you will get your disk contents back. Disks do fail from time to time, but I have had luck more times than not with this sort of recovery. Good Luck!
 

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