MacBook Pro 2009 starting in Recovery mode (after stop sign) - how to back up data?

Hello,

I have an old Macbook pro from 2009 and it's survived till now, which is unbelievable. However it's time I guess for the hard drive to show its age, and when I was using the browser the MBP froze and when I forced the restart I initially saw the stop sign and then I was taken to the recovery mode.

I haven't backed up my data since a couple of years ago and would like to try whatever I can to get the data back, but not sure what to do to minimize the chances of risking losing the data.

I have tried creating a disk image both from the internal disk or from a folder. Both operations failed with status 5.

While selecting the folder to create the image from, I could see all the folder structure when asked to select the folder, so I am thinking the data is still recoverable?

Could you please help me suggest what to do first to try save the data? I have bought a new MBP so my focus is on the data.

From this question I read I could be able to back up data using command line. Could someone walk me through how to do that?

Thank you to whoever can help!

Arya

Posted on Oct 29, 2022 7:24 PM

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

68,732 points

Posted on Oct 31, 2022 4:37 PM

If you create and boot from a Knoppix USB stick, then you can easily check the health of the drive. Download the Knoppix Linux DVD .iso file with "EN" in the name for ENglish. Use the Knoppix .iso file as a source for Etcher (Mac/Windows/Linux) which will push the image onto a USB stick to create a bootable Knoppix USB stick. Option Boot the Mac and select the orange icon labeled "EFI" to boot from the Knoppix USB stick. While Knoppix is booting the laptop may appear frozen on the Apple boot picker menu so make sure to give Knoppix lots of time to finish booting.

Once Knoppix boots to the desktop, click the "Start" menu icon on the lower left of the Taskbar and navigate the menus to "System Tools --> GSmartControl". Within the GSmartControl app, double-click on the drive icon to access the drive's health information. Post the complete report here. You should also check the "Error" tab within GSmartControl and post any errors listed there in case the main health report doesn't indicate any issues.

Until the drive's health report is analyzed I suggest not using this laptop & drive in order to keep any potential drive failure from getting worse. If the drive is healthy, then you have several things to try to access the data.

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MacBook Pro 2009 starting in Recovery mode (after stop sign) - how to back up data?

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