One common issue that we help customers with everyday is recovering files from their Mac hard drive when it fails to boot into the operating system. If you have any files on your Mac hard drive that are not backed up then this can be devastating, but that's where Mac recovery software can help you recover your files to another drive.
Since the operating system on your Mac hard drive is no longer available, you will need another method of booting your computer so that Data Rescue 3 Mac recovery software can access the hard drive.
Methods for using Data Rescue 3 with your Non-Booting Mac:
A. Secondary Startup Drive: Install a version of OS X to an external drive. You can use this drive to boot your computer. Then install Data Rescue 3 (try the free demo) to this drive to begin running a scan.
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_choose_os.php
B. Target Disk Mode: If you have a secondary Mac available to you that is working, you can use this method to connect the two Macs. You can install Data Rescue 3 onto your working Mac and your non-booting Mac will show up as an external drive.
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_target_disk_mode.php
C. Data Rescue 3 Boot DVD (Older Mac's only): If you have an Early-2011 or older model Mac, you can use the Data Rescue 3 Boot DVD to start your Mac. The current DVD will not support any Macs released after June 2011.
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_boot_dvd.php
Next Step, Scanning or Cloning your Mac Hard Drive
Once you have Data Rescue 3 running using one of the boot methods above, you will need to scan your Mac hard drive to recover your files to another drive. When you start a new scan in Data Rescue 3, select your Mac hard drive as the source in step one, and then choose one of the following tasks:
1. Quick Scan - If the volume on your drive is still detected by Data Rescue 3, this is the first scan you will want to try and it will detect existing directory structures on your drive. You should only select a single volume for a Quick Scan. This scan usually takes only a few minutes to complete and will result with a Found Files folder containing your original folder hierarchy and file names.
*If the Quick Scan takes longer than an hour or is unable to find any files, try the Deep Scan.
2. Deep Scan - This will scan the entire drive for files. The first part of the scan will detect the existing directory structures on the drive like the Quick Scan but can work with multiple volumes. This will result in a Found Files folder like from the Quick Scan.
The next portion of the scan will search the entire drive, block by block, for files based on file patterns. This will provide the Reconstructed Files folder, which will not have the original directory structure or file names. The files will have generic file names and will be organized by categories and file types.
3. Clone - In more severe cases you will want to clone your Mac hard drive. Like if you suspect potential hardware problems with the drive, if you notice any drive failure warnings while scanning, or if scanning the drive provides unrealistic estimates for the time required for the scan.
In order to clone you will need a secondary drive that is the same size or larger than your Mac hard drive and does not contain data (cloning will erase and write to the destination). Cloning will attempt to make an exact copy of your drive to a known good drive, so that you can scan the good drive instead of further damaging the original drive. Once the clone is completed, then you will want to run a Deep Scan on the clone drive using Data Rescue 3.
Recovering Files
When you have finished scanning your Mac hard drive or the clone, the last step is to select files and recover them to another drive. Once the recovery completes you will have your files on another drive. We would recommend going through the files on this drive to verify that your important files are there and that they open properly.
If you have any questions about this process at all, contact our FREE California based support team via email at: support@prosofteng.com or phone: 925-426-6306. Support is available Mon-Fri, 7am-5pm Pacific.
Since the operating system on your Mac hard drive is no longer available, you will need another method of booting your computer so that Data Rescue 3 Mac recovery software can access the hard drive.
Methods for using Data Rescue 3 with your Non-Booting Mac:
A. Secondary Startup Drive: Install a version of OS X to an external drive. You can use this drive to boot your computer. Then install Data Rescue 3 (try the free demo) to this drive to begin running a scan.
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_choose_os.php
B. Target Disk Mode: If you have a secondary Mac available to you that is working, you can use this method to connect the two Macs. You can install Data Rescue 3 onto your working Mac and your non-booting Mac will show up as an external drive.
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_target_disk_mode.php
C. Data Rescue 3 Boot DVD (Older Mac's only): If you have an Early-2011 or older model Mac, you can use the Data Rescue 3 Boot DVD to start your Mac. The current DVD will not support any Macs released after June 2011.
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_boot_dvd.php
Next Step, Scanning or Cloning your Mac Hard Drive
1. Quick Scan - If the volume on your drive is still detected by Data Rescue 3, this is the first scan you will want to try and it will detect existing directory structures on your drive. You should only select a single volume for a Quick Scan. This scan usually takes only a few minutes to complete and will result with a Found Files folder containing your original folder hierarchy and file names.
*If the Quick Scan takes longer than an hour or is unable to find any files, try the Deep Scan.
2. Deep Scan - This will scan the entire drive for files. The first part of the scan will detect the existing directory structures on the drive like the Quick Scan but can work with multiple volumes. This will result in a Found Files folder like from the Quick Scan.
The next portion of the scan will search the entire drive, block by block, for files based on file patterns. This will provide the Reconstructed Files folder, which will not have the original directory structure or file names. The files will have generic file names and will be organized by categories and file types.
3. Clone - In more severe cases you will want to clone your Mac hard drive. Like if you suspect potential hardware problems with the drive, if you notice any drive failure warnings while scanning, or if scanning the drive provides unrealistic estimates for the time required for the scan.
In order to clone you will need a secondary drive that is the same size or larger than your Mac hard drive and does not contain data (cloning will erase and write to the destination). Cloning will attempt to make an exact copy of your drive to a known good drive, so that you can scan the good drive instead of further damaging the original drive. Once the clone is completed, then you will want to run a Deep Scan on the clone drive using Data Rescue 3.
Recovering Files
When you have finished scanning your Mac hard drive or the clone, the last step is to select files and recover them to another drive. Once the recovery completes you will have your files on another drive. We would recommend going through the files on this drive to verify that your important files are there and that they open properly.
If you have any questions about this process at all, contact our FREE California based support team via email at: support@prosofteng.com or phone: 925-426-6306. Support is available Mon-Fri, 7am-5pm Pacific.
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