SabrineOceana
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Is there a way to retrieve information from a damaged computer?

My 2009 MacBook Pro froze last night and when I went to restart it, was apparently damaged and now won't work. It is stuck on a grey loading screen with the Apple logo and turns off after about a minute of that. I have tried safe-rebooting, rebooting, everything I could find on it. I don't know whether it can actually be fixed or not, but my question is: if I bring it to a professional at Apple or someone along those lines, is there a way I can get the information with my files, photos, documents - stuff like that - onto my eventual new computer? Thanks in advance.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on May 3, 2014 3:56 PM

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SabrineOceana

Q: Is there a way to retrieve information from a damaged computer?

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  • by Melophage,

    Melophage Melophage May 3, 2014 4:00 PM in response to SabrineOceana
    Level 5 (7,161 points)
    May 3, 2014 4:00 PM in response to SabrineOceana

    SabrineOceana,

     

    you can try this yourself: boot your MacBook Pro into Recovery mode by holding down a Command key and the R key as it starts up. Once the Mac OS X Utilities menu appears, select Disk Utility. On the left-hand side of the Disk Utility window, select your internal disk’s boot partition (typically called “Macintosh HD”). On the right-hand side, press the Verify Disk button if it’s not greyed out; if it is greyed out, or if it reports that errors were found, press the Repair Disk button. Once the verification/repair is completed, exit Disk Utility and select Restart from the Apple menu to restart in normal mode. Does it get past the grey screen now?

  • by RRAJJ,

    RRAJJ RRAJJ May 3, 2014 4:04 PM in response to SabrineOceana
    Level 1 (65 points)
    May 3, 2014 4:04 PM in response to SabrineOceana

    yes its possible to retrive all your data for you need a mac os x disk. go to restore mode, select disk utlity

    create a new partition

    install Mac on your new Partition(Parllel intstallation)

    and you will be able to get your all data!!

  • by SabrineOceana,

    SabrineOceana SabrineOceana May 3, 2014 4:17 PM in response to Melophage
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 3, 2014 4:17 PM in response to Melophage

    I tried it again and it still doesn't work. It stays on the grey screen and then shuts off again.

     

    EDIT:

     

    I got it to that page, but now it's saying the disk needs to be repaired, but the 'repair disk' button is grey and I can't click it.

  • by SabrineOceana,

    SabrineOceana SabrineOceana May 3, 2014 4:09 PM in response to RRAJJ
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 3, 2014 4:09 PM in response to RRAJJ

    The thing is it won't let me, the computer seems to be totally done. Can they physically remove the harddrive or something to get the data?

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE May 3, 2014 4:24 PM in response to SabrineOceana
    Level 9 (52,793 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 3, 2014 4:24 PM in response to SabrineOceana

    You can take the HDD out of the MBP and install it in an enclosure.  Connect that to another Mac and you may be able to access all of your data.  That assumes the HDD is not dead.

     

    Ciao.

  • by Melophage,

    Melophage Melophage May 3, 2014 5:53 PM in response to SabrineOceana
    Level 5 (7,161 points)
    May 3, 2014 5:53 PM in response to SabrineOceana

    SabrineOceana,

     

    to supplement OGELTHORPE’s suggestion, another possibility (if you have access to a FireWire cable and a second Mac with a FireWire port) would be to boot your MacBook Pro into Target Disk mode, to have it be treated as an external disk by the second MacBook Pro. You could try copying your personal files from your MacBook Pro to the second Mac in that way. You might also be able to run Disk Utility on the second Mac against your MacBook Pro’s internal disk, to see if the Repair Disk button woudl be available that way.