My iMac Desktop has "died"

[dannyboy22]

Your ‘missing’ files should be in ~/Library/Safari and ~/Library/Mail - can you see those folders?.

Thanks for the suggestion which I've been trying for a couple of hours. In Library I haven't found a Mail or Safari folder, however, in the User folder and under my name there was another Library folder. In this I could find both Mail and Safari folders.
Navigating to the Mail one I could open various folders with files shown in date order but no subject listed so you need to open each in turn to see what the email was. Each folder contained files belonging to just one calendar year, but so far I've only found 2013 and 2022 and no years in between. However of the emails I opened none were ones I would have normally saved (none of the folders I opened showed deleted).
In the second Safari folder on the area under Users and my name the files appeared to be relating to the OS with extensions such as plist, shm and wal so I was unable to open these.

I think I had naively assumed that in connecting my iMac HD to the Mac laptop I would be able to read the file structure in the same way as if I was viewing them on the iMac! Clearly this is not the case but I'll persevere to find what information I can to upload to the laptop.

 

[dannyboy22]

@Patrick, I think @MacBiter has pointed to why the Finder cannot search those files. For the last few years Apple has pretty much walled off those user files to reduce the number of issues. Very helpful if you're trying to prevent problems but not so good if someone needs to access the files and doesn't know how to do so.

Since you have access to the original drive I think it would be possible to access it from Migration Assistant but I won't be able to check till later today.

If that does not work we should still be able to make sure those files are checked. I won't be able to confirm this till later today.

Thanks and I would appreciate any further guidance you can provide.

 

[ferrarr]

Can you change the permissions on the hard drive to gain access?

 

[MacInWin]

Your unique mail and maybe even your bookmarks will be in your own user folder on that old drive. The path to your own user area is "/Users/<<your login name>>/" on that drive. If you have created a new account on your new machine and the folder is blocked, it's because of the macOS security saying that your new account is NOT the same as the account that created the old folder. That's fixable, if that is the issue.
In post #18, MacBiter said this:

Your ‘missing’ files should be in ~/Library/Safari and ~/Library/Mail - can you see those folders?.

That "~" is an abbreviation for "/Users/<<your user account>>". So, mail is stored at
"/User/<<your user account/Library/Mail' and is NOT blocked by system security uniquely. So, if you can get to "/User/<<your user account>>," then you should be able to get to your Mail files. The same applies for Safari data.

 

[MacBiter]

Thanks for the suggestion which I've been trying for a couple of hours. In Library I haven't found a Mail or Safari folder, however, in the User folder and under my name there was another Library folder. In this I could find both Mail and Safari folders.
Navigating to the Mail one I could open various folders with files shown in date order but no subject listed so you need to open each in turn to see what the email was. Each folder contained files belonging to just one calendar year, but so far I've only found 2013 and 2022 and no years in between. However of the emails I opened none were ones I would have normally saved (none of the folders I opened showed deleted).
In the second Safari folder on the area under Users and my name the files appeared to be relating to the OS with extensions such as plist, shm and wal so I was unable to open these.

I think I had naively assumed that in connecting my iMac HD to the Mac laptop I would be able to read the file structure in the same way as if I was viewing them on the iMac! Clearly this is not the case but I'll persevere to find what information I can to upload to the laptop.

Yes, as explained you won't find those folders in the main Library but they will be under your User name Library as you've found. I can't explain Mail as I haven't used that app for years. However the Safari items you can't read are used by Safari and opened / translated when you open the browser; so you should copy that entire folder and when you have a running system somewhere, move that copy to your User Library. Then when you open Safari - assuming it’s the same version - you should see your Safari settings, bookmarks, previous session, etc.

 

[Slydude]

Perhaps I missed it earlier but did you have a backup of your old system?

 

[techiesteve]

Thanks everyone for the valuable advice and guidelines.
Comment for Ashwin - the plug from the desktop was connected via a surge protector to the main power - maybe that failed in this instance?
It appears the consensus is that a repair is not an economical route to go and I think I was already arriving at that conclusion but had't yet checked the price for repair.
Rod's view for a 14/16" Mac Book is interesting so I'll check that out.
RazOrEdge's suggestion on M series Macs is interesting too, I don't about these so will need to research.
Thanks once again for everyone's comments and your valuable insight.
Ken

I was still working on older iMacs until last October when I had a moderate stroke (left hand recovered within a month) and am now retired. Retirement was overdue as I'm almost 74. The most likely reason for failure would have been the power supply. Replacing the power supply would have been reasonably economical with a used part, but not viable on a 12 year old iMac. As you have the HD out and access to your data all is well.

 

[Slydude]

@techiesteve Hope you are well on your way to a full and quick recovery.

@dannyboy22 Do you know anyone with a similar Mac? If so, and you have an external drive carrier, you might be able to use your drive to boot that machine then run Migration Assistant to pull off the relevant files. and move them to the mew Mac in a way that can be used.

 

[IWT]

I had a moderate stroke (left hand recovered within a month) and am now retired. Retirement was overdue as I'm almost 74.

Sorry to read about that, Steve. These days, 74 is not that old and for you to have this happen; well, I just hope you recover completely and look forward to a more gentle life.

Ian

 

[dannyboy22]

Perhaps I missed it earlier but did you have a backup of your old system?

Thanks for the points to check, unfortunately I'm away from home all day Monday so will check on the various suggestions from recent posts on Tuesday.
To answer your specific question I ran an external HD to save back ups from Time Machine until the iMac died on me. I've not tried to check if any files that I'm missing could be recovered on that, basically since I have no experience of restoring data.
I also used iCloud for some items but not the ones I'm looking for.
I've always assumed restoring files from the cloud or any other external back up would be a relatively simple task, but clearly that is not so (for me at least).
For info I'm currently using my wife's MacBook Pro so at least I have the ability to check the old iMac HD as well as the external HD mentioned above that I have always used since purchasing the iMac.
Hopefully I can advise further on progress on Tuesday.

 

[dannyboy22]

Perhaps I missed it earlier but did you have a backup of your old system?

Thanks again for all the advice but I have come up with a blank still. I have the my removed hard drive connected to my wife's MacBook and have copied the Mail and Safari files from my User Account/Library/Mail and ditto Safari to Documents. I then managed with the help of Google to locate the hidden User Folder on my wife's computer and copied and pasted the Mail and Safari folders there (this User Folder is obviously in my wife's name and not mine). However, on checking the Mail content there I was getting the same result as before with many Mail messages the majority of them I would not have saved, mainly 2013 and 2022 mails without ones in between as previously described from earlier checks. I had a similar result with the Safari files and got very little information from any of the listed files.

I think despite everyones effort to assist we must have reached the end of the road with this issue of trying to get useful information from the old HD. I still have to buy a replacement Mac and in doing so will be able to transfer files backed up on iCloud and hopefully from my Time Machine material on my external back up HD.

I appreciate everyone's support in trying to work through this.

 

[Slydude]

I still have to buy a replacement Mac and in doing so will be able to transfer files backed up on iCloud and hopefully from my Time Machine material on my external back up HD.

I appreciate everyone's support in trying to work through this.

When you get the new Mac and run Migration Assistant it normally asks if you want to transfer information from another Mac. Assuming that you have the drive from your old Mac in a carrier and attached to your wife's computer I don't remember if Migration Assistant would "see" to as another computer. I'll try to figure that out.

BTW, what Mac does your wife have and what OS is it running? I have a sneaky idea that might trick Migration Assistant into seeing your old drive as a different computer snd thus letting you transfer all of that information to the new computer but it hinges on what you have available.

Here's the basic idea:
1. Attach the old drive to your wife's computer using an appropriate drive Cady.
2. Attempt to reboot your wife's computer from your old drive.
3. If this works running Migration Assistant from the new machine should cause the new Mac to think that there is another working machine from which it can transfer data. If you're going to try this do not create a user account on the new machine first. Run Migration Assistant first.

Step 3 is important. If you create the new user account first it will have the user account number that your original account had. When it attempts to use your "old" user account as the so9urce of information it will create an account with a different ID and all the file permissions will be different. That's a PITA to fix when it can be avoided.

Both computers will need to be on the same network/directly connected to each other via ethernet.

 

[Slydude]

To answer your specific question I ran an external HD to save back ups from Time Machine until the iMac died on me. I've not tried to check if any files that I'm missing could be recovered on that, basically since I have no experience of restoring data.

I missed this tidbit the first time I read through this thread.

When you get the new machine try running Migration Assistant first thing. It should be able to use the Time Machine backup as the starting point and grab all files needed to make the new Mac as close to the old one as possible. As I mentioned earlier do this instead of creating a new user account.

IIRC you will get to select the things you want to restore.

 

[dannyboy22]

I missed this tidbit the first time I read through this thread.

When you get the new machine try running Migration Assistant first thing. It should be able to use the Time Machine backup as the starting point and grab all files needed to make the new Mac as close to the old one as possible. As I mentioned earlier do this instead of creating a new user account.

IIRC you will get to select the things you want to restore.

You certainly deserve full marks for dedication and perseverance in trying to follow up with suggested solutions, I was on the point of thinking I may have to accept I've recovered all files possible from the old iMac HD.
You asked what my wife's Mac & OS was that I'm using in the meantime, it is a MacBook Pro running Ventura 13.7.6 - we haven't yet updated to the latest OS - Sequoia, although prompted regularly by Mac.
Once I decide on a new machine I'll explore the Migration assistant you have suggested and report back.
Thanks for all the recommendations.

 

[Slydude]

Thanks for the kind words.

I don't run Migration Assistant often but probably will attempt to use it this weekend to correct a problem I created yesterday. I'll let ypu0 know if I notice anything potentially useful.