MacBook Pro Spinning Wheel Recovery

May 12, 2022April 11, 2022 by Aaron Hook

MacBook Pro Seagate Drive that is not booting fully

I received a call from a client that needed a MacBook Pro spinning wheel recovery. Their MacBook Pro would get stuck on the spinning wheel at startup and would not boot fully. They had taken the computer to a computer repair shop hoping they would be able to get the machine to boot again, but the repair shop told them the issue was with the hard drive. This meant the client could get the hard drive replaced in the laptop and have a working machine again, but any of the data that was on the old laptop drive could not be transferred over to the new laptop drive. MacBook Pro Data Recovery This client had both work documents and family photos on their computer before it failed, so they needed data recovery services to get that important data back as safely as possible. The repair shop recommended us to help complete the spinning wheel recovery project and the client brought their drive in for recovery. Diagnosing the Seagate drive Some people are surprised to learn … Read more

Seagate ST31000528AS iMac Recovery

September 30, 2022April 8, 2022 by Aaron Hook

There are certain scenarios where bad sectors can really cause a lot of problems. In most bad sector cases, the data that is not stored in the failing sectors is easily retrieved by the owner of the drive, and many times they don’t even know they have an issue with their drive until they try to move files off of it that are stored in the area of the drive with the failing sectors. In this ST31000528AS iMac recovery case, the bad sectors on this Seagate hard drive caused the drive to not show up on the client’s computer, and even a computer repair shop couldn’t get any usable data from it. iMac stops responding The call came from a customer that had brought their Apple iMac into a computer repair shop when their drive had stopped responding out of the blue. Instead of booting the iMac was just showing a white screen. The Seagate ST31000528AS drive from inside the iMac would not mount on any of the repair shop’s equipment, even after they physically … Read more

iMac Hard Drive Not Showing Up Hitachi HDS722020ALA330

May 12, 2022December 29, 2021 by Aaron Hook

iMac desktop drive that just stopped working

This iMac hard drive not showing up was a Hitachi drive from a client who said the issue came up out of the blue. The client brought the computer to a computer repair shop when it started acting up and the shop found the issue with the computer was the HDS722020ALA330 hard drive itself. They pulled the hard drive from the Mac and tested it with another computer, but the drive would not mount or be recognized when plugged into a computer. 2011 iMac Drive Recovery There were photos and work documents on this drive that were important to the client, so the computer repair shop in Wichita, Kansas recommended their client bring the drive to us for an affordable clean room data recovery. Spoiler alert, this drive did not require a cleanroom recovery. A lot of shops think if they can’t get the data from the drive it must need to be opened up, but that is actually pretty rare unless the drive was dropped. We get a lot of drives sent to us … Read more

Mac Hard Drive Recovery with Bonus Time Machine Drive

May 12, 2022November 24, 2021 by Aaron Hook

Two Hitachi drives from Macs that stopped working

A lot of the recoveries I get locally are referrals from computer repair shops around Kansas. Many people don’t know what the problem is with their computer until a repair shop takes a look and lets them know it is the hard drive inside the computer and that they will need data recovery if they don’t have a backup of any important data. Mac Hard Drive Recovery These two drives came from a customer in McPherson that was recommended to me by a local computer repair shop. The repair shop had diagnosed their 2010 Mac mini as having a bad drive. It had stopped booting fully and instead would just get stuck on the spinning wheel during startup. The customer had used Time Machine to both back up their computer every once in a while, and also to archive old files that they no longer needed to store on the computer itself. Side note here, I don’t recommend using Time Machine as an archiving utility, it is strictly for back up as it prunes archived … Read more

Affordable Mac Pro Data Recovery ST3500641AS

May 13, 2022October 19, 2021 by Aaron Hook

Helping people get back their important data is one of the things I truly enjoy about Data Recovery. It is especially rewarding when you can help someone you know personally get back data that is important to their family. There is a local farm called Jako where my wife and I love to purchase items we don’t currently have the ability to produce ourselves (like raw cow’s milk). The family-run farm is a great example of what we love about our area here in Kansas. I handed a business card over just in case they needed data recovery in the future. About a month later I got a call that their Mac Pro went down with some important excel sheets and they needed help getting the data back. Mac Pro Data Recovery Diagnosis The Mac Pro was one of the huge models with 4 drive bays of which all had hard drives installed. These towers weigh about 70 pounds fully loaded so they are quite a beast. The first step was to figure out which … Read more

Recovering Failed Time Machine Backup – Crisis Averted

May 17, 2022September 14, 2021 by Aaron Hook

This failed Time Machine backup drive was mailed in from Burbank in Southern California for data recovery. The reported issue was a buzzing sound when you first plug it in for a split second, then another short buzz sound, then another, then silence. The drive would not spin up and would not be recognized by any machine. The client had been using the drive as an archive drive as well as a backup drive, so it was important that the data be recovered. Recovering A Failed Time Machine When you are recovering a failed Time Machine backup, it is best if you are able to get 100% of the sectors imaged and then work on getting the image to mount. A mounting Time Machine drive should work to continue using with Time Machine, whereas a drive that you have to recover with data recovery software will have the files present, but you will have to start your Time Machine backups fresh. Diagnosing the failed Time Machine Backup The first step is to open the drive … Read more

MacBook Pro Spinning Wheel Recovery

Seagate ST31000528AS iMac Recovery

iMac Hard Drive Not Showing Up Hitachi HDS722020ALA330

Mac Hard Drive Recovery with Bonus Time Machine Drive

Affordable Mac Pro Data Recovery ST3500641AS

Recovering Failed Time Machine Backup – Crisis Averted

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