Macbook Pro hard drive failed, data recovery possible?

If the hard drive has actually failed, then no software solution will help. A failed hard drive will not be readable at all, and the only option would be to pay someone like Drive Savers to read what they can off the platters of the hard drive with specialized equipment... a service that you can expect to cost in the four figure range, or close to it.

However, I wouldn't be so sure that your drive is dead. It's definitely a likely possibility, but you've gotten some other bad advice from the techs at your Apple Store, so I can't be certain the diagnosis is correct. If it's readable, one bit of bad advice is that Disk Warrior can help. Disk Warrior is not data recovery software, though. It simply rebuilds the disk's directory, which is great if all that's wrong with the disk is a badly corrupt directory. But it sounds like you've got more than that going on. The second bit of bad advice is for EaseUS. I've been around the block quite a few times, having used and supported Macs since 1984, and have never heard of that one. Their web site does not inspire confidence... it has that quickly thrown-together look that some scam sites have. It may be perfectly legit, and may be quality software, but I would definitely refer you to a more well-known, established product. (You should not have any qualms about spending a little money on good recovery software, if it gets your data back!) Data Rescue is a good one that works very well, and if your machine is able to boot into firewire target mode, as was suggested, it should be able to recover at least some of the data. (I don't know anything about using a Thunderbolt cable for this.)

After you have recovered what you can, try erasing the hard drive and reinstalling the system. If it works fine, your hard drive is probably not failing, but was just badly corrupt. Still, be vigilant about maintaining up-to-date backups just in case.

By what you provided about your experience, your not a computer geek type or wannabe and feel more comfortable having more experienced people work on your machine, especially in the very dangerous area of data recovery which a newbie mistake on your part will lose all your precious files.

There is no problem with this, I'm not a car mechanic and therefore trust others more specialized in their fields to service my vehicles.

So what the Apple Store failed to tell you, is that local PC/Mac computer techs often specialize in data recovery efforts.

The reason Apple doesn't recommend them is because these local techs also sometimes do hardware repairs without being certified or authorized by Apple or go beyond what is allowed as a user replaceable part. (such as adding more RAM or a new storage drive in some models of Mac's is allowed by the user)

So the trick is these local techs will do whatever you need, but you should stick to software unless it's a machine your allowed to upgrade the RAM or storage or remove the fans to clean the cooling fins, which your model of Mac your allowed to do so.

So don't go authorizing any more hardware repairs beyoond that, like the battery, fan replacement, logicboard repairs, Superdrive replacement etc should be handled by Apple Authorized personal.

Apple doesn't do data recovery nor at most times do a whole lot with repairing software as it's so time consuming, but they do hardware replacement, which software problems are used as a excuse to replace the hard drive because they make money and it's faster.

So if you go to a local PC/Mac tech and have them:

1: Perform data recovery and evaluate the software problems if it can be easily repaired

2: Test the hard drive

3: Allow them to replace the hard drive (and RAM if needed) and reinstall your operating system etc., and try to get you back as close to what you had before your problems occured.

If your under AppleCare still then skip #3 and have Apple replace it, which OS X will also be replaced (10.6), take it home and install your free iLife from your 10.6 model specific disks, then log into AppStore and upgrade to whatever OS X version + apps you had on the machine originally, then bring your files over from the backup drive.

If you think you can handle your own repair. your welcome to check out my User Tips on the subject

Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive

My computer is not working, is my personal data lost?

Most commonly used backup methods

Gray, Blue or White screen at boot, w/spinner/progress bar

..Step by Step to fix your Mac

Folder with question mark issue

Why is my computer slow?

How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6

Erase, formatting, OS X installs on Mac's

How to reformat a used Mac

https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents#/?p er_page=50

I'm not so sure I would recommend trusting a tech with this sort of thing. Some techs will handle this very appropriately, but others may get lazy and decide it's easier to tell you they couldn't recover anything and that they had to reinstall the system for you. Data recovery using a tool like Data Rescue isn't that hard, if you can get your machine connected to another Mac via firewire target disk mode, and then you can be sure that you have done everything possible to get your data. You don't have to trust someone else to act in your best interests.

You can find Data Rescue 3 here:

http://www.prosofteng.com

It is not free, but will let you see what it can recover and will recover one test file without a purchase.

As for firewire target disk mode, the hard drive should show up as if it were an external hard drive on the other Mac, with or without any data recovery software. You may even be able to copy the files over directly, and not bother with the recover software.

carh11p5 wrote:

thanks for the advice guys, i really appreciate it. I think I will give data rescue a go and try connecting to my friends MBP using target disc mode.

https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1661

First off your drive isn't really failed in a mechanical sense as of yet, what likely happened is the file stucture got corrupted by damage that occurred to the platters either by the heads striking them, or a failed sector not retaining the data.

The solution to this is a complete Security Erase> Zero All Data type erase and install OS X, however it's also possible the hard drive itself is damaged and causing the data to be corrupted or not read in areas, which the drive will have to be replaced.

So there might be a chance to save the drive but you need to get your data off first of course.

You can choose to use the Firewire Target Disk Mode with another Mac or create a external boot drive

.Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive

You might not need software yet, the internal drive may just appear on the Desktop and you can open and copy the Users folder to another external drive.

However if the drive doesn't appear, then I would next check in Disk Utility to see if the drive is available and can be repaired and then do another Firewire Target Disk mode or a reboot to try to get the drive to mount on the Desktop.

If that fails, then you can install Data Rescue and have it run a pass on the problem drive, it's designed to read the 1's and 0's of the files themselves on non-Filevaulted/encryted hard drives and attempt to rebuild them into usuable files, you direct the output to another external drive with enough room for all the files it's going to recover.

Data Rescue is $100, which is the typical price for this type of software as a lot of effort goes into trying to analyze files to see exactly what they are to rebuild them.

I mentioned local PC/Mac data recovery because I've seen some advertise such services as low as $50 and you provide the blank recovery drive. Drop both off and come back in a couple of hours and it's done.

Well how is it broken? Does it not respond? Or does it give an error or something?
I had one fail once, but that was the USB interface, I sent it back to the company and they replaced the USB interface for me for free... So it really depends what the problem is. If it is the hard drive, you are out of luck, but if is a problem with the USB board or something, you could possibly get that fixed and the files may still exist.
It can help you work out about how to recover lost data from MacBook hard drive.