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Busted iMac - What options to retrieve files

Number-Six

Number-Six

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 25, 2013
416
1,206
Hi

My girlfriends iMac has stopped booting and I am trying to figure out what my options would be to retrieve her files.

It's a mid-2011 iMac that had the OS installed on an external SSD (in a FW case). The iMac still sees the internal hard drive (which contains her files to retrieve) but not the SSD. I tried putting the SSD in another case (USB) and the iMac doesn't see it either.

I tried connecting the SSD to my own computer (though it runs Windows) but my PC couldn't see it at all. I tried another drive in both cases but couldnt see it on the iMac either - i am not certain that this drive is functional however.

I tried partitioning the drive in the iMac and reinstalling the OS, with the option from the iMac by connecting Online, but that didn't work (says the files are missing).

I tried creating a bootable USB drive, using this guide I found online. Step 15 took hours (more than 5) and ultimately the iMac never successfully booted from the USB drive.

At this point, I can only think of 2 solutions:

1- buy another external hard drive to try and see if that one will work
2- open the iMac, remove the drive and plug it in my PC to get the files

She barely uses the iMac anymore, so I was hoping to find a solution without investing or possibly breaking it entirely (from opening it - i know the procedure is described as simple, but I am probably the clumsiest MF around).

So thanks for any suggestions
 
If you have access to another Mac, you can put the iMac into Target Disk Mode by holding "T" as soon as you get the power button. Connect to another Mac using Firewire or TB cable, and have access to the internal drive.
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Oh yeah, Target Disk Mode basically turns the iMac into an external drive.

I am unsure if it would work connected to a Windows machine, but I have used it a lot in the past with Macs.
 
vertical smile said:
If you have access to another Mac, you can put the iMac into Target Disk Mode by holding "T" as soon as you get the power button. Connect to another Mac using Firewire or TB cable, and have access to the internal drive.
[automerge]1578077642[/automerge]
Oh yeah, Target Disk Mode basically turns the iMac into an external drive.

I am unsure if it would work connected to a Windows machine, but I have used it a lot in the past with Macs.
Click to expand...
I will look into this, thank you !
 
A Windows computer will not read Apple File System formatted drives.

You could disassemble the iMac and take out the hard drive and recover the files. iMacs from that year are easy to disassemble. The glass front is held on by a magnet.
 
You can read Mac harddiks on a Winodws computer using the software transmac. But using a real Mac would be better. Don'T you know some near you owning a Mac?
 
OP:

I realize that as "a PC person", you're going to be at a disadvantage in trying to get a Mac going again.

Did you say that you have an EXTERNAL USB SSD that can be used, as well as the internal drive (in the iMac)?

If so, I have a suggestion.
Do this (PRINT THIS OUT and follow along):

1. Power down.
2. Connect the external SSD to the iMac
3. Press the power on button and hold down "Command-OPTION-R" to boot into "internet recovery mode" (you should see the spinning globe icon). You'll need a wifi password or an ethernet connection
4. When you get to the internet utilities, open Disk Utility.
5. Is there a "view" menu (may or may not be)? If so, go to it and choose "show all devices". If you do not see a view menu, don't worry about it, just proceed to step 6.
6. Now locate the "item line" on the left that represents the SSD.
7. Click on it to select it and hit the erase button. Choose "Mac OS extended with journaling enabled", GUID partition format.
9. Now erase the SSD. If the erase is successful, it should mount on the desktop (probably named "untitled" -- just click on the drive and rename it).
10. Quit Disk Utility and open the OS installer
11. Begin to "click through", BUT... when it asks WHERE to install, DO NOT install on the internal drive. Instead, choose to do an install on the external SSD.
12. The Mac may reboot one or more times, and the whole process will take a while. BE PATIENT.
13. If the install "goes through", you'll see the setup screen ("choose your language"). Do a "simple setup" on the SSD, you need a basic account so that you can get to the finder.

Are you able to get this far?
The point is -- if you can't boot from the internal drive, you can boot from an EXTERNAL drive, and "go to work" on the internal...
 
Last edited:
@Fishrrman makes a really good point, one that I missed.

I think most people on this thread, including myself, just answered the OP's question without asking if the iMac is really "busted", or is it just the case of the OP's SSD not working, and a simple reinstall of the OS on another external drive could not only get access to the files on the internal drive, but get the iMac working again.

To the OP: Follow the instructions given by @Fishrrman, but I will add that you could also use an external HDD or even most thumb drives would work if you didn't have another SSD laying around.
 
Thanks everyone for the help so far.

I've managed to find a high sierra installer at work and create a bootable USB key. I don't have a functioning external drive but the internal one is partitioned so i think i should be able to install there. Worst case, i will try on another spare USB key or an SD card
 
Good. Beware not to format the internal drive if there are files on there you want to keep. Also, High Sierra installers no longer work thanks to Apple and their signing certificate problems.

There’s an easy fix though – BEFORE you try to install macOS, go to the utilities menu at the top, open terminal, and type this:

date 080112002019

That will set the date to August 1 of 2019, before the certificate expired. If you don’t do this trick, it will say something like “no packages are eligible to install.”
 
ScreenSavers said:
Good. Beware not to format the internal drive if there are files on there you want to keep. Also, High Sierra installers no longer work thanks to Apple and their signing certificate problems.

There’s an easy fix though – BEFORE you try to install macOS, go to the utilities menu at the top, open terminal, and type this:

date 080112002019

That will set the date to August 1 of 2019, before the certificate expired. If you don’t do this trick, it will say something like “no packages are eligible to install.”
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I managed to install High Sierra without doing that trick. The iMac I was installing it on doesn't support any newer version, maybe that's why it worked.

I was able to retrieve the files and it looks like it was only the external drive that had a problem, the iMac runs fine now. I made sure to make 2 copies of the files, just in case :D

So thanks everyone!
 
Number-Six said:
I managed to install High Sierra without doing that trick. The iMac I was installing it on doesn't support any newer version, maybe that's why it worked.

I was able to retrieve the files and it looks like it was only the external drive that had a problem, the iMac runs fine now. I made sure to make 2 copies of the files, just in case :D

So thanks everyone!
Click to expand...

Great. Glad you got it working. You used one of the recently released “fixed” High Sierra installers so you had no issues.
 
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