Recover Notes from previous (now broken) Macbook Pro?

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Level 1

9 points

Recover Notes from previous (now broken) Macbook Pro?

Hi there,

Recently my late 2011 Macbook Pro died and I had to buy a new one just a few weeks ago.

Because it was the logic board that died on my previous one, I was still able to boot it in Hard Drive mode and rescue all the files in my hard drive, and then transfer them to the Desktop in my new MacBook Pro.

my question is, how can I recover the Notes that I had in my previous macbook?

should they be somewhere in those folders I transfered to my new one?

and if yes, how can I restore them or import them into the Notes App of my new Macbook?

any help is much appreciated.

Thanks!

MacBook Pro with Retina display

Posted on Mar 14, 2018 6:46 AM

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Answer 1

romanibga Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 19, 2018 6:08 AM in response to aliyyahmad

Sure, here it goes:

rescued files from my old computer, note they say V6

files found in current notes folder, these ones say V6, but whenever I put the old ones here and delete the new ones, as soon as I start the Notes app, they just transform to V7 by themselves and Notes app shows nothing.

I even tried copying the old ones and then renaming them to match the V7 ones. didnt work either

notes app, when i open it, nothing on it.

Thanks!

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Answer 2

Mar 17, 2018 12:08 PM in response to romanibga

Hi, please know that the Operating System with all data are saved in the hard drive, none is saved to the logic board. So, if you transfered all files from the old hard drive then this is great.

Concerning notes, if you were using iCloud then they may be synced to your account, go to www.icloud.com and sign in then check if they are there. Else, try to remember which OS you were using before your laptop was damaged and search the folders depending on the OS version, different OS versions may save data in different locations.

Good Luck.

It would be my pleasure to help if you need any assistance.

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Answer 3

romanibga Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 18, 2018 4:22 AM in response to aliyyahmad

thanks!

nope, i dont use icloud, and yeah i recovered everyting i think from the hard drive. But i dont really rmemeber what OS I was using, it might have een Sierra or El Capitan.

Any hints of where the notes files might be? and what folder should I take them to in my new macbook?

thanks a lot!~

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Answer 4

Mar 18, 2018 5:54 AM in response to aliyyahmad

Let me make it simpler:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes

Please try to go to this directory ( Folder ), if you do see files inside it then I hope we found the needed files.

Then please note that the tilde symbol " ~ " means your home directory.

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Answer 5

romanibga Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 18, 2018 6:06 AM in response to aliyyahmad

thanks!

checking that Notes folder, in the files I recovered from my old computer, there are 3 files that I suppose are the ones Im looking for.

Now, how do I make them appear on my current Notes app?

My new computer is High Sierra, and my ~/Library folder is nowhere to be found, probably hidden?

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Answer 6

Mar 18, 2018 6:23 AM in response to romanibga

Please before proceeding make note that if you have any notes in your current New Macbook they may be deleted, then always keep a backup copy of your files ( talking about notes for now ).

If you already signed in to iCloud it may delete your notes again, so one of two options:

Either you can add " .html " extension to these three files and browse them using Safari or any of your favourite browsers then copy the notes one by one.

Or you can go to the same folder you copied the files from if it do exists on the current High Sierra FileSystem and replace the new files with yours

Make sure you quit the Notes application before proceeding.

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Answer 7

romanibga Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 18, 2018 6:37 AM in response to aliyyahmad

I copied them from the old folder to the new one but once I opened the app nothing happened, Notes app was still empty.

I tried opening them with the html extension but theyre messy, so if i cant find abetter solution i guess ill just have to decihper them from html.

thanks

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Answer 8

Mar 18, 2018 11:57 PM in response to romanibga

If you don't mind, could you post three shots of :

1. Shot of the files you copied ( Your Backup )

2. Shot of the files and the directory you are replacing ( The new Macbook folder location )

3. Shot of the Notes App, what is it showing

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Answer 9

Mar 19, 2018 8:48 AM in response to romanibga

Sorry for being late to reply, I have been repairing few iPhones 😝😝😝😝😝

Ok where were we.

Let us escalate to the Bash Terminal. I hope you would have some idea about it.

You can search for Terminal App ( The black console screen ). Then click and run the terminal.

All the data behind the scenes is stored in a .sqlite database, which does not make it easy to view the data, but there is a fix to retrieve it.

-Copy the old files to the desktop then navigate to the Desktop through the following command (Please accurate typing, don't change any letter, small letters keep them small and capital letters capital) :

cd ~/Desktop

-Then run the following:

sqlite3 NotesV6.storedata "select ZHTMLSTRING from ZNOTEBODY" > notes.html

-You will find a new file on desktop with the name notes.html

-Open said file in your web browser of choice, which will have the text all nicely formatted to have the notes re-created.

Please reply back

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