Problem with Macintosh HD, just want to retrieve files

A couple of days ago my mac randomly crashed...I restarted it, however it never got past the apple logo. I tried safe mode and verbose mode, but only got err=19, and 'cannot mount drive'.

Using the original install disc I verified and repaired the drive using disk utility, they both come up green, no problems. However, my drive is greyed out and i can't install over it.

I tried Disk Warrior, but again it doesn't recognise the drive.

I've just tried Data Rescue, it couldn't Deep Scan the drive but it claimed it could clone it. So I cloned it onto an external hard drive....however, now the external hard drive can't be read on my Mac (the computer i'm using now).

Anything else i can do? I went to the Apple store but they didn't have any appointments until Thursday. All I want to do is rescue and back up my files, so i don't lose them forever.

Thanks, Luke.

Sounds like your HD may be fried, bro. Taking it to Apple sounds like the next logical step. Hope they can help you out. This is why should always, always, ALWAYS back up. Apple makes it SO easy, too, with Time Machine...

Not sure how it can just fry like that? Randomly, with no warning :s (sigh)

They can and they do, especially true HDDs (as opposed to a SSDD - solid state) with moving disks and readers...

At work I replaced more mechanical devices such hard drives and optical drives than any other part. One certainty is that they will fail, the only unknown is when. The fact that DW doesn't see it and Data Rescue won't deep scan doesn't bode well. If you need your data back regardless of cost, there's still a chance that a clean room data recovery may be able to recover your data.

Uddername said:

Not sure how it can just fry like that? Randomly, with no warning :s (sigh)

Click to expand...

Yes, they can go without warning. A data recovery service can get the information for you depending on how valuable the data is vs. how much you are willing to spend.