I have a Mac Pro and can’t open it. How can I backup this Mac to my iPhone 12 Pro Max before sending it to repair? Thanks

No, even if the Mac were working, you cannot back up Mac OS onto an iOS device.

So, hopefully you have an earlier backup of your mac on an external drive?

Or, do you have a bootable clone on an external? You can boot into that and then maybe access your hard drive to copy things from it.

If not, see if you can beg Apple to try to preserve your data - they normally do not do this since you are responsible for the software on your computer, but since you cannot get to it, see if you can talk them into it.

here are all the MBP specs, earlier models allow access to hard drive, newer ones do not. Without the year we cannot tell.

And, as I said, I do not believe Apple will take it for service without a drive. You need to check with them.

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/index-macbookpro.html

Hello sazaat,

We understand you need to service the Mac.

Let's Get your Mac ready for service using the simple steps here.

We hope this helps.

Cheers.

What "insurance" did you buy? Is it an Apple authorized service provider? if not, I would not allow them anywhere near my Mac.

It does not matter when you bought it. What matters is what year this was made. But, here are install instructions for the last 15" models where the disk could be accessed - they are 2013 - 2015:

https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbook_pro_retina_15_inch_2013_2014_2015/

Pay close attention to the listed model ID numbers and find yours. If you have one of those, you can take it out. If not, then you cannot.

But, again, I will assume that a repair cannot be done if the disk is missing. You need to get in touch with them, not one of us.

If you can remove the hard drive, you can put it in an enclosure.

Two problems:

Do not know if Apple will accept a device without a hard drive since they won't be able to test anything. You best check with them.

And, you did not share what model/year you have so we have no idea if the drive would be removable. Newer ones are not - they are sautered or glued to the logic board.

Without getting the year the computer is, it's impossible to be able to tell you for sure if you'll be able to remove the hard drive. As stated above, the newer models are not removable as they solder them to the board and are not removable without replacing the main logic board.

That being said, if it is removable and you can get it removed, you can put it in an external enclosure and with another computer get the information off the drive and back that information up. After backing up that information you could then put the drive back in the computer before sending it to Apple to have them look at it and repair it. If you send it to Apple with no hard drive installed, you are most likely going to get it back not repaired as they will have no way of testing things or determining if the drive had something to do with the failure as well.

If you can post the model number that you have, it can help determine what model you have which can determine what kind of drive the computer is using and if it is even removable. If the drive is not removable, then there is nothing you can do to get any information off the computer before sending it in if you can't get it to power up. Hopefully, you have a backup made that isn't too old so it will have a lot more of the recent data on it. If it's older, you're only going to have the data that was on the drive at the time of the backup. This is why regular backups are recommended and should be done as often as possible. A good rule of thumb is not to think of it as "if" it's going to happen, but more "when". Assume that it is going to happen and always be prepared. If it never happens, then at least you were prepared if it did. If it does happen, then you'll be prepared and things will be a lot smoother when they do.