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Mac Data recovery.
Here at Dataquest, we love our Macs. The day to day running of our business is carried out on Macs, and also this website is designed entirely on a Mac, so we understand how important a Macintosh computer can be. Initially there is very little difference between a Mac recovery and a PC recovery. The hard disks are the same, the binary data is the same, the main difference lies in the file system.
Blinking question mark.
Often the first indication that your Mac hard disk has a problem is when you turn it on and get a flashing question mark on the screen, or when your drive fails to mount on your desktop or asks to initialise. This is telling you that your hard disk cannot be accessed. You may also hear a rhythmic ticking or clicking noise coming from the drive which is the sound of the hard disk making it's repeated attempts to read your data, and failing to do so.
The end of the road.
If you are having any of the above symptoms then don't panic. If you power the machine off and seek professional advice then there is a good chance of getting all of your data back. Switching the Mac on and off repeatedly to attempt to access your data can cause irreversible damage to your hard disk and your data.
What we do.
The first thing we need to do is remove the hard drive from the Mac. On MacBooks, new MacBook Pros, G5s and Mac Pro machines this is straightforward, however iBooks, Powerbooks, Mac-Minis, and original MacBook Pros require some degree of disassembly. See our "Quick Links" on the right for DIY removal instructions.
The real work begins.
Once we have removed the hard disk, it is booked into our process to diagnose and overcome any faults, and allow us to gain access to your important data.
Reunited with your data.
Once the data has been recovered, we have various options:
- We can supply the recovered data on DVDs or external hard disk.
- If the Mac is out of warranty, we can get you a cost for a new drive, and get the machine up and running with all of your old data.
- If the Mac is still under warranty we can put it back together so you can get the hard disk replaced by Apple.
