Query: Data recovery. Which is appropriate for this issue?

[stop.the.clocks]

Hi guys,

I have a corrupt harddrive (fails to initialize) on which I have an on Aperture library file as well as a music library made mostly of ALAC and FLAC files.

Obviously this is a time consuming process so I'd rather not make guesses, so -

Which data recovery software would be apt for such files?

Kind regards.

 

[Fishrrman]

Is this hard drive internal or external?
Is it a boot drive in your Mac, or something else?

By "fails to initialize", what are you trying to do?
Sounds to me like you're trying to ERASE it. (in my "computer vocabulary", "initialize"="erase".

If you're trying to recover data from an erased drive, you might try:
- Disk Drill
or
- Data Rescue

 

[stop.the.clocks]

Thank you @Fishrrman

I'm giving Disk Drill a go, unfortunately my Mac restarted and the process is unable to be resumed.

Looks like very good software otherwise.

Apart from Disk Drill and Data Rescue are there any other recommendations?

Perhaps an application that can be booted from a USB to do a rescue on the OS drive?

 

[chabig]

Apart from Disk Drill and Data Rescue are there any other recommendations?

Here are some software titles to consider.

Hard Drive Recovery Free Download [Newly Updated 2025]

This is a list of the best hard drive recovery software. Discover the best hard disk recovery software to restore data and files from hard drives. EaseUS hard drive recovery software outranks its equivalents. Download it and recover disks with ease.

www.easeus.com

You might have better luck with a professional data recovery service. Do you happen to live near a Best Buy?

Data Recovery Services & Hard Drive Recovery - Best Buy

Find data recovery services at a Best Buy near you. Discover how easy hard drive recovery can be with help from the tech experts at Geek Squad.

www.bestbuy.com

If it’s really important stuff, Drive Savers is the gold standard.

DriveSavers Recovers Lost Data From Any Storage Device

DriveSavers is a hard drive data recovery company & worldwide industry leader. Recover your data across 100's of devices. ✓ Recover your data today!

drivesaversdatarecovery.com

Don’t get your hopes up too much though. Be honest with yourself. The data is probably gone. Recovery is a crap shoot.

 

[stop.the.clocks]

Thank you @chabig

Having a look at EasUS now.

Agreed, its very hit and miss from previous efforts. Still worth a shot. But yes, this software is definitely an absolute last resort.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Where IS the problem drive?
Is it in a Mac?
If so, WHICH Mac? What year was the Mac made? (that can be important)
Or... is it an external drive?

 

[Big Bad D]

I am presuming you don’t have any backup…?

 

[stop.the.clocks]

OP:

Where IS the problem drive?
Is it in a Mac?
If so, WHICH Mac? What year was the Mac made? (that can be important)
Or... is it an external drive?

Its an old external drive that is being detected but not mounting. I was looking for a bootable application for future use in case my M1 mac has issues.

 

[stop.the.clocks]

I am presuming you don’t have any backup…?

No backup

 

[gilby101]

I was looking for a bootable application for future use in case my M1 mac has issues.

I don't think that will fly. There are hoops to go through to enable external booting and an Apple silicon bootable application is very unlikely.

 

[stop.the.clocks]

I don't think that will fly. There are hoops to go through to enable external booting and an Apple silicon bootable application is very unlikely.

UNetBootIn is the way to go.

 

[gilby101]

UNetBootIn is the way to go.

On a Apple silicon? Do you know it works?

 

[stop.the.clocks]

On a Apple silicon? Do you know it works?

It worked with a Mac with an Intel processor. Untested on silicon chip.