zoebarry
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Retrieving notes from a hard drive (HELP)

The other week I smashed my MacBookPro screen and took it into the Apple Store where they managed to back everything up on an external hard drive. One of the important things I asked them to back up was my notes (because I put everything on there) and they did. I'm now using my family IMac user to put on everything from the hard drive. Everything is there fine, however, I've tried a million things and I don't know how to get my notes back. Here's what I see:

Screen Shot 2016-01-02 at 17.34.58.pngScreen Shot 2016-01-02 at 17.35.17.png

The Container.plist file is just millions of letters and numbers and definitely not my notes. By looking at other questions it seems that the notes are stored in this Data > Library > Notes folder. (That might be wrong though but I can't find anything else). These folders are exec files and they won't open. When clicked on them they say this:

Screen Shot 2016-01-02 at 17.38.27.png

So I choose the application Notes as that's where I want them to open. After trying that I clicked on the exec file and it redirected to notes but nothing comes up, just the one or two notes I have on this Mac. I'm pretty sure there is a way around this because they did in the Apple store and they wouldn't have told me they had backed them up if I couldn't retrieve them. I'm just not great with computers and I really need help asap, thank you.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), Notes

Posted on Jan 2, 2016 9:53 AM

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zoebarry

Q: Retrieving notes from a hard drive (HELP)

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  • by a brody,

    a brody a brody Jan 2, 2016 10:10 AM in response to zoebarry
    Level 9 (66,889 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    Jan 2, 2016 10:10 AM in response to zoebarry

    Unfortunately, it appears Apple's notes data may be a combination of files across the system, or at least the file itself is one that will only open from a prescribed location using Notes.    I think though if you found a way to refill the Data folder with the same hierarchy you had before you'd get your notes file back.  This is why clone backups really the only way to go.

  • by zoebarry,

    zoebarry zoebarry Jan 2, 2016 12:37 PM in response to a brody
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2016 12:37 PM in response to a brody

    Thanks for replying. Ok, how would I refill the data folder? Sorry i'm a little confused. Do you think it's worth ring apple support and also I will eventually get my laptop screen fixed, are you saying I should be able to get them back if its on that specific laptop? (assuming they got whipped bc I think they did)

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jan 2, 2016 12:42 PM in response to zoebarry
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Jan 2, 2016 12:42 PM in response to zoebarry

    If you synchronize Notes with iCloud or some other network service, you don't need to do this. Just enable the synchronization.

     

    Otherwise, the easiest way, if you have enough disk space, would be to use Migration Assistant to create a new user account with all the contents of the one that you backed up.

     

    Move your content to a new Mac - Apple Support