how to load external recovered data to new macbook

[cgregor]

the shop recovered the hard drive data from my old drowned notebook to a WD external drive. How do I get all that loaded into my new notebook?

 

[chscag]

You put the external WD hard drive in a SATA to USB carrier, attach it to your new Mac via USB and copy the data from the WD to your new MacBook. You can buy a SATA to USB carrier at most retailers who sell computer products or from an on line retailer like Amazon.com.

 

[cgregor]

so it's not enough just to plug the external drive into my new laptop?

 

[chscag]

That depends.... you didn't tell us if it was a bare drive or that it already was an external USB drive. Of course if it is an external USB WD drive, then all you have to do is attach it to your new MacBook Pro and copy what data you need from it.

 

[cgregor]

That depends.... you didn't tell us if it was a bare drive or that it already was an external USB drive. Of course if it is an external USB WD drive, then all you have to do is attach it to your new MacBook Pro and copy what data you need from it.

the external drive was attached to the old one and used as the Time Machine backup. The shop put the recovered data on it, and the recovered data in Finder is listed with titles like, "l3636007." If I open one up, it might be an old e-mail. Showing the list of data in the picture configuration shows almost nothing but blue folders and blank documents. I still haven't found one recognizable document, but I have found one photo and one five-second iMovie.

Plus, how do I get all the applications onto the new laptop? Thanks for your help so far.

 

[chscag]

I'm not sure I understand what's on that drive now. If it was used as a Time Machine drive and had a full backup of your old machine that was current, all you had to do was attach the drive to the new Mac and let the automatic Migration Assistant move the data over for you. Thats the correct way. But now you tell us that the shop (assuming a repair shop) put recovered data on the drive along with the Time Machine backup. Did they overwrite the Time Machine backup?

They (the repair shop) must have used recovery software to extract data from your old Mac and then put it on the Time Machine drive in its recovered format. The problem with that is most recovery software will recover data and label it like you stated. It can be a load of work trying to figure out what is what. Your best bet is to try to use the Time Machine backup to recover from if it's still intact. And if the Time Machine backup is current.