Frozen iMac with Beachball

[Rod]

Re your question about Migration Assistant and a connection to one of your MBP's. You wont need Migration Assistant but it is possible, to my knowledge you need to setup your iMac into "Target Disk" mode which requires you to be at least able to access the Apple System Preferences Menu. You probably wont be able to do that but on some models just pressing and holding the T key at startup will work.
To connect them, both devices need to have either a FireWire or Thunderbolt port. You cannot connect a FireWire to a Thunderbolt port they must both be the same.
If the connection is successful you will be able to access the files of the iMac in the Finder on the MBP. At that point you could use Migration Assistant on your MBP but you may not have enough storage on your MBP so perhaps manually transferring what you need/want would be best.

 

[ferrarr]

How to Boot Your Mac in Target Disk Mode for Easy File Transfers

Macs can boot into a “Target Disk Mode” that causes them to function like an external hard drive. Connect one Mac to another Mac and you can access its files in the Finder.

www.howtogeek.com

 

[Computing Gran]

Thanks everyone for the ideas. While I was away I did some research and there seem to be a lot of recovery software products available, but instructions weren't always clear - well, to me at least. And I hate downloading something that may not work.

I did find
How to Recover Data from Dead Mac Hard Drive [5 Methods]

which seems a much easier way, as long as I can open my dying/dead computer in Target Disk Mode. My husband has an identical iMac , (he's 90 and only uses his computer for emails and 'googling') so there's lots of space available..

I don't have the Thunderbolt cord noted, but will be in a larger centre next week and can get one then.

Has anyone used this system? Did it work well? Glitches? What to look out for?

 

[Rod]

IF you can boot into Target Disk Mode then I would suggest you create another Admin user account on your husband's iMac for yourself. Use the same credentials that you use on your old imac, same Apple ID, user passwords etc.
Login to your husband's device as you would on your own, connect the two devices with the cable and boot the old iMac into Target Disk Mode. If all works as expected you should see your old iMac in the sidebar of a Finder window.
From there you can drag the contents of your old Documents folder into the empty one on your husband's iMac. You can do this for all of the folders on your old Mac. Don't try to do too much at the same time. Good luck. First step is Target Disk Mode.

 

[Computing Gran]

PS. From one computing Grandpa to one computing Gran i think youre doing pretty well.

Thanks, Rod. Everything has to be self-taught. It can be a struggle, but this forum has been a great help.
You all are so appreciated that you will share your knowledge.

 

[Computing Gran]

Re your question about Migration Assistant and a connection to one of your MBP's. You wont need Migration Assistant but it is possible, to my knowledge you need to setup your iMac into "Target Disk" mode which requires you to be at least able to access the Apple System Preferences Menu. You probably wont be able to do that but on some models just pressing and holding the T key at startup will work.
To connect them, both devices need to have either a FireWire or Thunderbolt port. You cannot connect a FireWire to a Thunderbolt port they must both be the same.
If the connection is successful you will be able to access the files of the iMac in the Finder on the MBP. At that point you could use Migration Assistant on your MBP but you may not have enough storage on your MBP so perhaps manually transferring what you need/want would be best.

I'll have to buy a cord next week. Does one work better than the other?

 

[Computing Gran]

Hi all, have recovered documents from dying iMac. Am wondering if there's a way/procedure to get saved music in iTunes?

 

[Rod]

Do you mean music you have added of your own, like CD's, downloads etc.? Music you have purchased from iTunes Store will download automatically when you login to the Apple Music app.

For music you added from other sources you will find that in Macintosh HD > Users > your name > Music > Music > Media > Music. There you should see a list of folders with Artist Name and Album/Tracks.

 

[Computing Gran]

Do you mean music you have added of your own, like CD's, downloads etc.? Music you have purchased from iTunes Store will download automatically when you login to the Apple Music app.

For music you added from other sources you will find that in Macintosh HD > Users > your name > Music > Music > Media > Music. There you should see a list of folders with Artist Name and Album/Tracks.

Thanks, Rod. Have recovered almost everything I need (thanks to you help), just trying to get a couple more things out.

In the meantime I've bought a 16" M1 MacBook Pro, so another learning curve! ;-) learning to drive it.

 

[Rod]

Wow! Congratulations, I'm sure you will come to love it. Well done recovering so much of your data. Any questions, don't hesitate to post.