Salvaging a hard drive...

[preyingmantis]

Okay, so my 4-year-old G3 iMac suddenly decided it didn't want to boot up anymore. This is annoying, but I was planning on replacing it soon anyway. So I took it into the local Apple store to find out what was wrong and they thought it was a problem with the power supply: the computer begins to turn on, but halfway through the "bong" sound, it immediately shuts off.

SO... I was wondering if it were possible for me to access the iMac's hard drive and export the data onto an external hard drive? The Apple guys said they could do this for $80, but I'd prefer to save the money and do it myself if it isn't too difficult. Any suggestions people can give are very greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[CanadaRAM]

Okay, so my 4-year-old G3 iMac suddenly decided it didn't want to boot up anymore. This is annoying, but I was planning on replacing it soon anyway. So I took it into the local Apple store to find out what was wrong and they thought it was a problem with the power supply: the computer begins to turn on, but halfway through the "bong" sound, it immediately shuts off.

SO... I was wondering if it were possible for me to access the iMac's hard drive and export the data onto an external hard drive? The Apple guys said they could do this for $80, but I'd prefer to save the money and do it myself if it isn't too difficult. Any suggestions people can give are very greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Absolutely. You can remove the hard drive and put it into a Firewire or USB2 (preferably Firewire) case, then hook it up to another Mac and copy data to wherever. The drive will have to come out, because if the machine won't boot, you can't use Firewire Target Disk mode or networking to get at the data.

The iMac G3 analog board costs a couple of hundred to replace if I remember, probably not worth it. Keep in mind that you may be able to recover a few $dozen by parting out the machine, and or end up with a cool lexan fruit-coloured fishbowl.

 

[preyingmantis]

Ah, thanks for the advice

So where would I get one of these firewire cases (I assume this is different from a firewire external hard drive)? Would any old computer store sell them? And is it tough to take out a hard drive from a computer?

Sorry if these questions seem ignorant; I'm not much of a hardware person, so specific help is greatly appreciated

 

[ITASOR]

Ah, thanks for the advice

So where would I get one of these firewire cases (I assume this is different from a firewire external hard drive)? Would any old computer store sell them? And is it tough to take out a hard drive from a computer?

Sorry if these questions seem ignorant; I'm not much of a hardware person, so specific help is greatly appreciated

Look online, a small computer store is not likely to have external FW enclosures.

It's not hard to remove a HD when you don't have to worry about wreaking the computer.

 

[Gizmotoy]

If you're not going to use the drive permanently, I find these are pretty handy:
http://www.pcmicrostore.com/PartDetail.aspx?q=p:10502660&kbid=1237

It's just a IDE to USB2 cable with a little power adapter. I always end up needing to temporarily hook up a HD, so its been pretty useful. May not be what you're looking for though. Many cases can be found online, and NewEgg.com always gets my orders to me within 3 days maximum with the standard shipping, and most times within 2 days.

Hopefully you find something that will work for you.