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All replies
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Helpful answers
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Jan 28, 2016 2:06 AM in response to CJMRDTECHby chroot,Can you elaborate on non-bootable hard drive? If the OS isn't booting due to an OS issue you can reinstall OS X through recovery. If the computer isn't booting because of a hardware issue not related to the hard drive then you can use target disk mode with another Mac computer. If the hard drive has a hardware malfunction then any data recovery may not be possible but you can still try using target disk mode.
Share files between two computers with target disk mode - Apple Support
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Jan 28, 2016 4:00 AM in response to CJMRDTECHby Mike Sombrio,You should use Firewire Target Disk Mode Share files between two computers with target disk mode - Apple Support
You can also try a recovery utility like DiskWarrior or DataRescue.
If the disk has totally failed you may be out of luck unless you use professional data recovery services.
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Jan 28, 2016 5:41 AM in response to CJMRDTECHby rkaufmann87,Unless I am missing something, your iMac already has the software installed. That would be Time Machine, all it needs is an External Hard Disk and to be formatted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If you don't know about Time Machine then please click Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support
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Jan 28, 2016 8:50 AM in response to chrootby CJMRDTECH,The hard drive will not boot. I have confirmed I can still see the drive so I should be able to get data off of it. Can I use time machine if I can't boot? Target disk mode would be great if I had another Mac with a FireWire port. All I need is to find a utility I can create a boot CD with so I can backup the data.
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Jan 29, 2016 1:36 AM in response to CJMRDTECHby chroot,"The hard drive will not boot" is not very definitive.
Is the computer not booting because of a software issue? If yes, then this can be resolved through either booting into safe mode to troubleshoot the normal boot or reinstalling OS X. You can reinstall OS X without erasing your data.
Is the computer not booting because there is a physical malfunction with the hard drive? If yes, you may need professional data recovery as previously mentioned.
Is the computer not booting because there are bad sectors which cannot be repaired by Disk Utility and require a reformat of the volume? You can install OS X using recovery onto an external disk then boot from that. Data recovery is not guaranteed from the internal disk if this is the case but always worth an attempt.
Is the computer not booting because of hardware issue with the computer (not the hard drive)? If yes, you will need to use the hard disk through Target Disk Mode with another Mac or remove it entirely and connect to a different Mac to retrieve data.
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Jan 29, 2016 3:34 AM in response to CJMRDTECHby Mike Sombrio,Often times a failing hard disk that will not boot can be accessed through Target Disk Mode. In order for you to back up your data TDM is probably his best option. Do you have any other Mac? A thunderbolt equipped Mac is also an option using a firewire adapter.