iMac G5 screen smashed badly. Is it unsafe to boot into Firewire TDM?

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iMac G5 screen smashed badly. Is it unsafe to boot into Firewire TDM?

I'm advising a small business owner on the fastest and cheapest way to recover data from an iMac G5 that was vandalized. The screen was struck hard with an object of some sort. I'm not sure what other trauma the machine might have experienced.

Before taking it in for expensive data recovery work, I'd like to try booting into Firewire Target Disk Mode. Is this a risky thing to do with the screen smashed in? Is there a way to safely disconnect the display to reduce the risk of a short?

G4 533 DP

Posted on Nov 11, 2006 6:06 PM

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a brody

Level 10

82,841 points

Nov 11, 2006 6:17 PM in response to Aaron Cobb

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Depending on the iMac G5 model, it is probably safer to remove the hard drive and see if it will mount on another Mac with an external hard drive case that supports SATA and Firewire. If it won't mount, chances are the machine was struck so hard that the hard drive needle jammed into the drive, and only a data recovery firm can salvage data off of it.

This is why it is so important to backup your data as my FAQ says:

http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html

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