Target mode for Macbook Air? Data recovery effort underway

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Level 1

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Target mode for Macbook Air? Data recovery effort underway

Hello,

I took my daughters' Macbook Air into the Apple Store for the hinge replacement, they shipped it off for repair, and some idiot at the Apple repair Depot did a clean OS X install for absolutely NO reason.

I want to access the hard drive as an external drive and run Data Rescue on it to try to recover some of her files.

Any ideas?

Is there a target disk mode like feature via USB, for the Macbook Air?

Message was edited by: cfmsp

Macbook Air, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Mar 31, 2010 8:44 PM

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Answer 1

Conal Ho

Level 3

503 points

Apr 1, 2010 7:29 AM in response to cfmsp

They did warn you, didn't they, that it was possible that they would erase the hard drive so back up before sending it in.

Every time I've used AppleCare, whether sent from my home or from an actual Apple Store, that's what they say.

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Answer 2

cfmsp Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 1, 2010 8:01 AM in response to Conal Ho

"They did warn you, didn't they, that it was possible that they would erase the hard drive so back up before sending it in."

I'm not quite sure what your intent is with a response like this - I can only say that it is of absolutely no help whatsoever.

Even Apple has admitted that there was NO reason to do a clean install, and are doing internal investigation to find out why it was done. Whether they 'warn' anyone or not, it is an unconscionable (i.e., indefensible) act to do a clean install and KNOWINGLY wipe out the entire hard drive's contents, esp. when it's not necessary.

It was not possible to back it up as the video display had also ceased functioning (the cable is routed through the hinge probably), neither can it be mounted as an external drive (that I'm aware of), thus my question posed here.

have a great day*

Message was edited by: cfmsp

Message was edited by: cfmsp

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Answer 3

Asatoran

Level 4

2,532 points

Apr 1, 2010 2:16 PM in response to cfmsp

AFAIK, there is no USB target disk mode. Only available on Firewire equipped Macs. Sorry, not the answer you wanted to hear, but the unfortunate reality is that what you've experienced is the reason why "everyone is always told" to backup, backup, and backup.

If you still want to try doing a low level recovery, you'll have to remove the hard drive and attach it with some adapter to another computer.

Going forward, you'll want to purchase an external hard drive for Time Machine backups. (Or purchase a Time Capsule or configure another Leopard or Snow Leopard Mac as a Time Machine destination.) I have a separate Mac as a Time Machine destination so Time Machine backs up automatically whenever I'm using my home Wi-Fi, which means backups are a no-brainer and has saved me several times in cases similar to what you've gone through. Every decent repair shop I've dealt with has a liability warning stating they are not responsible for data loss. So although it shouldn't have been necessary, sh...stuff happens. 😟

As I once read, "there are two kinds of computer users: those that have lost data, and those that will lose data."

(edit: Again, not what you want to hear, but the [warranty|http://images.apple.com/legal/warranty/docs/cpuwarranty.pdf] does state:

...Before you deliver your product for warranty service it is your responsibility to keep a separate backup copy of the contents, and disable any security passwords. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE CONTENTS OF YOUR HARD DRIVE WILL BE LOST OR REFORMATTED IN THE COURSE OF WARRANTY SERVICE, AND APPLE AND ITS AGENTS ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO OR LOSS OF PROGRAMS, DATA OR OTHER INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE MEDIA OR ANY PART OF THE PRODUCT SERVICED....

The [Applecare Terms and Conditions|http://images.apple.com/legal/applecare/docs/NA APP_Englishv5.2.pdf] have similar wording:

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Answer 4

Apr 4, 2010 5:23 AM in response to Asatoran

Did all that, Time Machine, etc. I think the iPad software update is the problem. Now I can't even access my Time Machine files from my iMac

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