Help ASAP

Can I still get something off my hard drive if when I run the utilities it won't let me repair and states I need to back up and reformat. I also tried to retore to an earlier time, but it says I have no restore...or time machine backup.


Help? Should I just reformat or can I get help to get this info still off my harddrive

Chances are that on your own you won't be able to. If you can get to an apple store they could try

You may or may not be able to get things off of the drive when that message appears. It sort of depends upon what exactly is causing the error and how bad it has gotten.I've had success copying stuff off of drives with this error sometimes and at other times not so much. Drive recovery services can be very expensive so unless the data is vital that may not be an option. Before using a recovery service you might try:

1. If the drive is appearing on the desktop try copying the data that you need of of the drive onto another drive. Sometimes this works if the drive is not too badly hosed.
2. Some users have had success with Data Rescue 3 - Digital Data Recovery Software for Mac | Prosofteng. Other than running the demo, or buying the full version, there's no way to know for sure if it would be helpful.

And when things are up and running buy an external HDD and backup with CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper. Vital in today's world a backup.

I have 3 external hdd. I always back up but I have been working two jobs and this is the first time I haven't. I expected so much more from my Mac. I can reformat, but I will lose everything. Right now I cannot even start it up. It's not reading my software for start up. The apple comes on then you see the spinning thing that tells you it is thinking then the bar showing it is starting and then boom it turns off. I can tear apart a pc and do just about anything on it. This is my first Mac so I want to be sure I weigh all my options before I do what I know how to do.

Your Mac uses the same hard drives that any PC uses. A hard drive, whether it's in a Windows PC or a Mac can develop problems and fail. And whether you're computing on a PC or a Mac, you should always have a backup that you can rely on. As has been suggested, cloning is one way, (SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner) and Time Machine is another.

Member Slydude gave you two good suggestions for trying to recover your data. Let us know if you need any further assistance.

just try an OS install without the format..

also hold down the v key during start up, that'll give you verbose start up..most of the stuff on the screen is plain text like Linux see where is hangs..

If you have 3 externals boot from one of those pull you data from the internal and move on..