Trixology

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Randall75 on October 18, 2019, 01:18:18 AM

Title: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Randall75 on October 18, 2019, 01:18:18 AM
Hi gang
 My hard drive went out on my iMac is there any way to retrieve my data from that drive?

thank in adavance

12 years of WeatherCat Data on it
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: xairbusdriver on October 18, 2019, 01:29:11 AM
It would probably be easier if you take it out. Assuming you let that work be ?contracted out?, you could buy an enclosure and try reviving the drive. Of course, that?s a lot of work when all you really need is access to one of the two backups you surely have.

You do have backups, right?! [rolleyes2] [banghead]
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Randall75 on October 18, 2019, 01:37:40 PM
Hi xair
 well I have the data on a DVD but it has turned it in to a uni file instead of a document file a can't get them to work, also had a a external drive but can't get it to work either that's why I was wondering if I could retrieve the data on the old drive.

thanks for looking

cheers
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Blicj11 on October 18, 2019, 05:12:17 PM
Randall, I lost a HD several years ago. There are lots of services that will recover data for you and put it on a DVD or thumb drive. 98% of the time what goes out is a mechanical piece that spins the drive. The data is still there. I sent my HD off to a service. Many of my files were hosed, but the most important data files were all recovered. I don't know anything about these companies but a quick Google search provided the following:

https://www.easeus.com/data-recovery/file-recovery-software/recover-files-from-a-corrupted-hard-drive.htm

https://www.securedatarecovery.com/services/hard-drive-recovery

https://www.salvagedata.com

You can find one that will work for you.

Good luck, and let us know how this turns out.
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Blicj11 on October 18, 2019, 05:27:58 PM
On a related topic, a HD is always going to die, eventually. That's why WeatherCatters need a reliable backup plan. Mine includes Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, and Drobo (thanks Steve) for redundancy. Backups and redundancy are not the same thing, but work together to keep you from having to recover data from a failed HD. I recently lost the HD in my 6-year-old iMac. I swapped it out with an SSD because failed HDs drive me crazy. Thanks to CCC, I was back up and running with all my software and data intact as soon as I could swap out the drives.

Here is a 3-year-old thread about backups and redundancy: http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=1986.0
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Randall75 on October 18, 2019, 08:12:22 PM
Hi Blic
 Thanks for all the info I really appreciate all the info I had a Toshiba external drive hooked up to it but I can't get it work now so I guess it has quit also has been hard just getting up web site back up and running on my macbook till I get another iMac

cheers
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: xairbusdriver on October 18, 2019, 08:13:08 PM
Quote
I have the data on a DVD but it has turned it in to a uni file instead of a document file
How are you trying to read the disk?

Do you perhaps mean "iso" instead of "uni"?

Did you burn the disk on the Mac that has the broken HD?

Do you have any other computers with optical readers or an external reader?

Blick is correct about those services, but you may find them rather expensive.
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: xairbusdriver on October 18, 2019, 08:18:30 PM
Quote
I had a Toshiba external drive hooked up to it but I can't get it work now
On the same Mac?! Very strange. Even if these were identical drives, it may be more than coincidence that neither work. It would seem more likely that the problem is more related to the Mac's buss. If you can use that external on another Mac, that would be very useful info. [rockon]
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Randall75 on October 18, 2019, 09:47:01 PM
Hi xair
 The external drive says it can't be read on my macbook.
The files on my disc now show they are a terminal file format they no longer a document file so WC is not reading them

cheers
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Blicj11 on October 18, 2019, 10:02:54 PM
Looks like much of your weather site is back up and running. Good patch work.
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Randall75 on October 18, 2019, 10:46:29 PM
Blic


 Thanks just finished the banner here


I have and old MacBook with a 250 gig drive that is out date I am also going to back up all my files on


iMac is ordered along with a 3 trig external drive is coming with it


Just hope I can retrieve my 12 years of data files for my stats


cheers
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: xairbusdriver on October 18, 2019, 11:30:07 PM
Quote
disc now show they are a terminal file format they no longer a document file so WC is not reading them
Now that you have your site running again maybe you can work on getting the WC data files recovered. I wouldn't worry about WC reading the files on that optical disk. But there are probably apps or even web sites that could read the bits, regardless of the suffix, and convert them to other formats.

If ".terminal" is file name suffix, things don't look too hopeful:
Quote
Settings file created by Apple Terminal;...  saves window appearance settings such as the font, text and background colors, window size, and shell startup commands
I don't think any of that would be particularly useful to WC.

Can you post the actual file name with the suffix showing? You may not have that enabled in:
Finder prefs->Advanced tab->"Show all filename extensions" Checkbox.
Title: Sorry to hear that. (Re: Hard Drive iMac)
Post by: elagache on October 19, 2019, 12:16:25 AM
Dear Randall and WeatherCat faithful,

So sorry to hear your hard drive went out.  You've gotten some really helpful advice and I really can't add to it other than my sympathy.

Best of luck with this!

Cheers, Edouard
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Weatheraardvark on October 20, 2019, 04:22:59 AM
Did you use an online backup, or the Time Machine app?
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Randall75 on October 22, 2019, 12:25:59 AM
Hi Weatheraardvark
 no but I will for now on

cheers
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Weatheraardvark on October 22, 2019, 12:59:27 AM
I use for online,  backblaze but there are others.  You have to look for one that will save it over time. Some  online will only do 30 days.    One other question?   Was your computer backing up to your icloud account.  you might want to log into https://www.icloud.com/ (https://www.icloud.com/)   using your log on for your computer and your password and see if it backed up any data to your icloud .   

I had to replace my G-Technology 6TB external thunderbolt drive .  I had noticed my computer was having the spinning beachball  alot and all that, but when it was rebooting, I knew something was wrong and figured it out when I could no longer see that drive.  I played musical ports, cables, even used the USB cable , swapped cables and came to the conclusion it was dead.  Of course I had backups with Backblaze and had my WeatherCat data in my documents folder so it was backed up.

Now I have a LaCie 4TB solid state backup and it is fine.  I might replace my 4TB down the road as it has my weather stats and stuff on it and it is beginning to chatter .    With weather data, back up is key  .  You might see if anyone can recover the data from your imac drive.   

I wish you the best, but having a good online backup for imac   and a local is paramount.
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: xairbusdriver on October 22, 2019, 02:58:14 AM
Tapes break. CDs get scratched. All hard drives will fail, it's only a matter of when not if. Even Solid State Drives can fail. Stuff happens. [computer]

The question is which data is critical to us and how many backup schemes/methods do we want or can afford. We all learn this if we live long enough, the main variable is how much pain we will experience. [banghead] :-\ :'( :)
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: xairbusdriver on October 22, 2019, 02:17:37 PM
Please accept my apologies for sounding so pious or smart alecky(spelling)!! [blush]
First, not stupid!! I?ve been in your shoes!! I just beat you to the pain part!! ThU32:-)
Second, see sentence two! [computer]
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Randall75 on October 25, 2019, 06:57:33 PM
Hi WeatherCaters
 Was able to get all the User Info back off of the hard drive that quit I think I now have everything back except the console report that Edouard had wrote using Growel but will need to work on it and get more info from Edouard to get it going again


Thanks for all the info really need it


Also need to apologize to Xair he was just trying to help as well


cheers


Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: xairbusdriver on October 25, 2019, 08:09:59 PM
A lot of people say I'm "trying"! [rolleyes2]

Please let us know what steps you took to recover your data! [tup] What do you mean by "User Info"? Does that also hopefully mean your WeatherCat data? [cheer]
Title: Which version of macOS? (Re: Hard Drive iMac)
Post by: elagache on October 26, 2019, 12:14:51 AM
Dear Randall, X-Air and WeatherCat faithful,

Was able to get all the User Info back off of the hard drive that quit I think I now have everything back
. . . .

Glad to hear that you got back most of your data!  ThU5:-)

except the console report that Edouard had wrote using Growel but will need to work on it and get more info from Edouard to get it going again

Which version of macOS are you now running?  If you had to upgrade to Mojave (macOS 10.14) then you probably won't be able to get my AppleScripts to run.  The security preferences have some sort of bug that prevents you from giving the AppleScripts permanent permission to run.  If you happen to be at the computer when they launch you can manually give them permission to run, but otherwise they fail most of the time.  My reason for suspecting that this is an OS bug is that rarely, but occasionally, they do work.  Whatever Apple's security scheme, it should be 100% one way or the other.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Randall75 on October 26, 2019, 12:38:45 AM
Hi Edouard
I am running 10.13.6 I am not planning on upgrading any higher till I have to Apple is screwing thing up by taking away certain thing that I have read about I have to much money tied up in apps that may not run if I up grade I was able to get everything off of the drive except the invisible folders just may need some help on what i need to do thats the problem it runs find for years then you don't remember what all you did to make it happen, thats what happens when you are in your middle 60's lol

cheers
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Randall75 on October 26, 2019, 12:50:23 AM
Hi Xair
 I tried to restart by hold down the command and R keys to get in to Recovery mode or what ever it's called
there it ask to reinstall the OS or running Disk Utility as it had started up in Techtool Pro's eDrive that I had installed on my computer, it said that I could copy files from my 10.13.6 Hard Drive but could not add anything to it. So I took my new external 3 trig drive and copied all the files from it. It let me copy all the files that were on it except the invisible files which I did not need any way then had the do so work to transfer those files I needed to get my 12 years of WEATHERCAT data back the trickius  one was where I had to add the 2 October data files 1 from the old drive and the files that I had collected on the new drive to get my October 2019 files back in one data file . Hope that explains it well enough.

cheers
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Blicj11 on October 26, 2019, 03:03:03 AM
Glad to see your website back up and looking good. Good news on the data recovery. Happy for you!
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: xairbusdriver on October 26, 2019, 03:03:41 AM
Thanks Randall!

I assume that your two backup drives (one for making a bootable backup and one for Time Machine) have already arrived and been put to use? [rockon] ThU5:-)

I'm also assuming the internal drive that failed has also been replaced. [cheer]
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Randall75 on October 26, 2019, 11:40:50 AM
Xair
 Yes on the 2 new external drives, new iMac arrived yesterday it is not set up yet maybe today if not Monday

cheers
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Blicj11 on October 26, 2019, 06:32:40 PM
Randall, what are the specs on your new iMac? I'm also looking to replace my 2010 iMac; it has served me well but is limited to not enough RAM in the maximum configuration.
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Weatheraardvark on October 28, 2019, 07:20:30 PM
Randall, what are the specs on your new iMac? I'm also looking to replace my 2010 iMac; it has served me well but is limited to not enough RAM in the maximum configuration.
   I ordered my imac with 32G Ram.  it works..
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Randall75 on October 28, 2019, 10:00:47 PM
Hi Blicj
 My came with 16 but you can order it with up to 32

cheers

ps this imac is last years model I got a great deal on it they were cleaning out there warehouse and found it brand new still in the box and wrapper
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Randall75 on October 29, 2019, 02:22:39 PM
Hi WeatherCatters
 Thanks for all your help.
I now have WC running on my new iMac
I hope I don't have to do this again


cheers
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Blicj11 on October 29, 2019, 03:25:28 PM
Great news, Randall. Generally, we all have to go through that once, and then we do something to minimize ever having to do it again.
Title: Glad to hear that! (Re: Hard Drive iMac)
Post by: elagache on October 29, 2019, 09:20:47 PM
Glad to hear Randall that you have WeatherCat running once more on your new iMac!

Cheers, Edouard
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: xairbusdriver on October 31, 2019, 06:32:01 PM
Never letting a dead-horse rest...
All data storage devices (https://www.tomshardware.com/news/flash-memory-wear-killing-older-teslas-due-to-excessive-data-logging-report?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-overflow-newsletter&utm_content=10-30-19) (Floppy disk/HD/Tape/Optical/SSD/etc.) will fail... it's simply a matter of when. :(
Quote
...Flash memory, just like hard drives (and any electronic device, for that matter), has a finite lifespan...
Title: Re: Hard Drive iMac
Post by: Weatheraardvark on October 31, 2019, 10:15:30 PM
Never letting a dead-horse rest...
All data storage devices (https://www.tomshardware.com/news/flash-memory-wear-killing-older-teslas-due-to-excessive-data-logging-report?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-overflow-newsletter&utm_content=10-30-19) (Floppy disk/HD/Tape/Optical/SSD/etc.) will fail... it's simply a matter of when. :(
Quote
...Flash memory, just like hard drives (and any electronic device, for that matter), has a finite lifespan...
I read that CD would last 100 years under ideal conditions if it is recorded on.     I had an odd thing happen, since it is that time of the year.   I had two G-Force 6TB external with one being  for the Time Machine.   A couple of weeks ago, I was noticing when I got up that  error message the computer rebooted due to an error. So I looked and nada.   Then one day it was very slow with nothing but the basics running and noticed my Time Machine drive had disappeared off the desktop.  The light was on, but no one home.    So   I played with the cables, (thunderbolt 3), switched them, tried it usb, rebooted.

Came to the conclusion it was a dead drive.  Fortunately I am also using BackBlaze and of course the icloud backup so I am covered.   I went out to Apple and tried a 6tb LeCie (it looked cool on the desk top)  but it wouldn't mount.  So it went back and I got a smaller version 4tb.

 The guy at Apple said it was SSD but it isn't . It is a regular drive in a small case.  Anyway,  it works.   The other G-technology is only as what I put there, alll my weather data is on the documents folder to back up to the cloud..   Any way it is starting to chatter like the other did which now has me a bit spooked as is it going to fail too?

So  I made sure I had a copy of everything there, elsewhere in the doc folder on imac.     Maybe I'll invest in a low sized external or not.   I used to have a website, but it got too costly and Wim seemed to be pissed at me when I wanted something else ,a tweak or help.   So  that being that, plus the cost of the drive, I gave up quickly.     Then I used the drives for data storage.

I have  decided that protection of data is important.  Hopefully everyone has a good UPS with surge protection for their computers,  their data backed up  regularly and I see  Wcat does have that provision.  Do save your data as when it is gone, bye bye.

On a side note,   it seems on most of the TV shows, schools and hospitals some have iMac's.  What is lacking i compatible software, especially in the weather area.   Some kid could make a bundle.

Time for some chicken soup. Good for me and no one I knew.   I make it myself (not the chicken) but the soup