DIY Mac Pro data recovery

@HWTech:

Bypassing the local guy was because of his blunt style, not his expertise, given his first assumption that it's a lost cause. I've known him a long time, and know the terrain. I chose to start with a more professional shop to see what they can do with getting the drive to mount. I'll decide then what course to follow.

Re: Drive Savers: yes I did call them. They offer free evaluation, and free shipping to get the drive to them for that eval. $700 was the quoted minimum IF they can recover anything, otherwise, it's no charge IIRC. I was impressed with the quality of the agent, he was very professional without pushing the service. If my loss was critical data, I wouldn't hesitate. I'm just being realistic with the nature of the data in question.

I'll be glad to report back, since you mentioned the value to the community.

April 18 Update (finally!).

I've basically put this project on hold temporarily, after a unexpectedly useless encounter with the "more professional" shop I wrote about previously.

First, the front counter employee tried to run a standard Mac "diagnostic" without connecting a monitor to the machine. Not sure what she was hoping to be able to accomplish, but whatever it was, she failed.

Then, the unkempt and slovenly attired technician who shuffled out from a cave in "the back" couldn't even get the machine to appear on a monitor, even after trying multiple cables and multiple monitors. I did mention to him that the machine takes a long time to boot up, and he clearly wasn't giving it enough time before shutting down and trying again. I mentioned that I had used the Mac in question without issue that very morning, but he stuck to his methods nevertheless....with zero success.

At that point, I was worried that additional damage had been done to my computer by one or both of these people.

The technician then assured me that whatever was wrong, he could fix it, no matter how long it took him, based on his "2 years of experience" working on Macs. I considered that an admission of being a beginner.

So when he started to explain the procedure for leaving the machine there, I gracefully declined in order to get out of there before any further harm could occur. So I explained I needed to use the Mac for some work for one of my clients (true) and might return another day when I could easily get by without the computer for a week or so (total lie).

Of course I had no intention of returning....ever.

Back at home, I reconnected the cables and used the machine just as easily as I had that morning. I was hugely relieved when I saw the login screen appear!

I've since learned that the actual OWC brand SSD (mounted on a PCIe card and surrounded by a heat sink of sorts for radiating heat) can be fairly easily removed and attached with a jumper cable, available from OWC, in order to use this style SSD externally. That means it can also be connected directly to another machine to see what data might be accessible.

I've since removed the OWC SSD PCIe card, and am now likely to take that to the local Mac guy (LMG) to see what he can do. He specifically said he'd rather have the SSD, not the whole machine. I'll go with that, but not this week.

I've just had other pressing demands on my time: specifically, recovery from widespread storm damage from the overwhelming California storms from January to March. That included the most snow I've seen in 35 years living here at 2500 foot elevation in the Sierra foothills: 26 inches of rain, followed by 30 inches of snow, then wind, then 10 inches of rain soaking into the snow, resulting in uncountable numbers of fallen trees, buildings crushed by trees, or just collapsed under the weight of water saturated snow. I've had some of each. It's been a trial...

Thanks once again for the advice provided previously.

--Tyto

Thank you MartinR.

To put a finer point on my question, part of what I need to know is how technical it is to use software like the one you mentioned, or the other app I named in my post. While I'm well experienced and comfortable using Macs and various software (particularly Photoshop and Lightroom), and not afraid to open the box and upgrade plug-in parts like the SSD, I'm no computer geek and don't want to get in over my head.

For example, the SSD in question is installed in the MacPro, but does not show up in Finder. It does appear using Disk Utilities. I have no clue about how the app would access this SSD. Since the SSD is not accessible in the finder, does the app have some other way to get to it?

Looking at it another way, if I took the machine (or the SSD itself) to a pro, would they have a better chance of getting more data than I might get?

I'll look at the website for the Prosoft app and maybe that will answer my question.

Again, I appreciate your reply. Thank you.

Mounting the drive is part of what I was concerned about, if attempting to do it myself. I have heard of Target Disk Mode, but that's above my pay grade. I'm waiting for a reply from the local Mac specialist....he prefers emails and has not yet replied.

Thanks MartinR, your answer is "helpful" but the page won't let me click the button to indicate that, even though it did work previously on this discussion. I'll try again after posting this.

@HWTech,

I appreciate your response. Again, I'm not able to click the "helpful" button, no idea why, but what you offered is indeed helpful, even though it's not encouraging.

Got a reply back from the local technician who was not encouraging, pretty well reinforced all comments here. Haven't decided yet if it's useful to bring the machine to him for diagnostic work.

I'll definitely investigate Drive Savers, I do appreciate that referral.

Thanks to all responders for your help. I am grateful.

After further input from OWC, and some testy notes from the local Mac guy (LMG), I am beginning to understand that the key question is whether or not this drive will "mount".

I have only a vague understanding of what "mount" means, other than that the SSD is visible in Finder, and is accessible to open documents, applications, and save new documents, etc.

So the fact that it won't show in my Finder window where it previously always appeared, must mean that there's some communication failure between this specific SSD and MY computer.

The OWC agent vaguely implied that possibly something failed in the OS, which is the reason why it won't mount. LMG mentioned two other possibilities: "failed bridge board or SSD."

Question 1:

Do places like OWC, or LMG, or some Mac-obsessed geek (MOG), have other ways to "mount" the drive beyond what I am able to do by simply leaving it plugged into the PCI slot in my MacPro?

Question 2:

If I instead installed it in the ordinary drive sled (I guess there's some kind of adaptor??) would that make any difference?

Question 3:

If it WILL mount for OWC or LMG or MOG, does that mean that something can be "fixed" to allow it to mount when back in my MacPro?....or at least simply copy the data to a separate volume of suitable capacity?

Losing the data from this drive will be a complication for me, but fortunately, it's not a catastrophe. The data that is missing is just not so critical that it warrants paying for recovery by Drive Savers. At least I'm not ready at this point.

But I might spend for the diagnosis by LMG if there is a more sophisticated way to get the drive to mount for someone with skills and tools to do that.

And if it won't mount, then it's over and I send it back to OWC to test to see if the drive itself failed which would trigger a warranty replacement.

Quick reply now, more later.

First: THANK YOU @HWTech!

Most of what you said is a bit over my head, but still useful for helping me begin to understand the technical details.

As I wrote, the drive contents are not so crucial or irreplaceable that I would easily justify a big expense for recovery. During the time span since installing the SSD in question, there was little that I did that I really NEED, and a lot of that I can essentially re-create. Most of the rest I can live without, though having that would have been preferable.

I'll let your very helpful response "sink in" for a while before I take further steps.

I sincerely appreciate the assistance.

--Tyto

Update; Wednesday; 3/22

• I decided to pass on taking the machine to "local Mac guy" in favor of another Mac speciality shop some distance away, probably early next week.

• Also, as mentioned before, I've concluded that the data on the drive is just not so critical that it's worth even the minimum fee ($700) that Drive Savers would charge. I just had not done that much on the machine in the time period involved. It will just be inconvenient and unfortunate, but not something that will matter a lot. If there was more at stake, my calculation would be different.

• I'll see what that shop can do for me next week. It will cost some to assess, and more to recover if they are able, but far less than Drive Savers' minimum. I've decided that the other shop's price is justifiable for what's on the drive....if they can get it. If not, I'm ok with that.

• I've already ordered a new Samsung SSD to use as the future boot drive, and a new conventional hard drive for additional backups, including for data recovered from the failed SSD if that proves feasible.

• As LMG mentioned, it may be that the issue is not the drive at all, but rather a "failed bridge board" whatever that is. The new shop would likely be able to assess that and repair if that's a possibility. Or as discussed above, the shop may have techniques to mount the SSD, having figured out what the issue was. I'll hope for that, but not expect it.

Again, I'm grateful for the effort spent by each of you to help me better understand this problem.

@HWTech, your extended, detailed response was extremely helpful even though I was bumping into my limits of understanding. So once again I will say sincerely that I appreciate the time you spent replying, generously sharing your knowledge and expertise. Thank you!

I'll likely post again when the dust has settled, however it ends.

--Tyto