HELP! file recovery - broken ibook

kerrynw

Hello

Someone put a chair through my ibook over the weekend... now the screen is smashed to pieces and theres a big fat dent in the keyboard, which has squashed the cd/dvd drive... also, if i turn it on it makes some scarey clicking noises.
I desperately need to recover the files from it as it contains all my photographs and all my university work.
does anyone know how i can go about this? is it even possible? and who would do it?
im so clueless...

please help!

thank you

Vexel

The best thing to try in this case (I'm so sorry to hear about it) would be to take the HD out of it and put it in another computer or enclosure. Unfortunately if the drive is toast.. there isn't much you can do. Does the computer boot? Maybe hooking it up to another mac in Firewire Disk Mode will allow you to transfer your information. Just be careful.. and if it seems too risky, take the iBook apart and like I said try to get another computer or enclosure to put it in.

kerrynw

thanks so much for the advice. it does boot up and the screen turns on, but you cant see anything because its smashed in, but at least the lights are coming on.
the clicking noises worry me because i read that this could mean the files are damaged.
im trying to get through to apple but no luck so far, do you hink i could send it to them to get them to recover the files? im studying abroad at the moment and i dont really know anywhere here in norway that could help me out...! what a nightmare!

Vexel

Wow.. I'm so sorry to hear about the loss. Do you have an Apple Reseller there which you could bring it to? They would be able to help you pretty quickly.. and you will see a few tears probably because of the sight. You could all mourn together. On a more serious note.. I'm not sure where to find this in Norway.. but it would definitely be worth it to find some sort of External Enclosure or another Laptop to put the drive in. Maybe others could help you find some good enclosures..

http://fwdepot.com/thestore/product_...a012417b112219

That's a good one.. that would be ideal.. although a little pricey.

You can check out more at www.fwdepot.com

kerrynw

i have a friend with the same lap top.. so if i were to put my hard drive in his machine it should be possible to copy the information on to CD - is that right? i really have no idea about this sort of thing...
thanks so much for the advice... i initially took it to a shop which sells macs here... and the look on the mans face was just awful... i think i´ll take some tissues this time..!

kerrynw

www.easyrecovery.co.uk

ive found a load of websites like this - do you think they are worth trying out? they say they have a 96% success rate and can recovery the files for about 250 pounds (about $300 i think).

simon

Your best bet would be forget trying to turn this on anymore, you are only doing more damage than good. The computer obviously is not going to work as is and the best bet to protect your data would to be not to turn it on.

Now that being said, if you are technically inclinded remove the hard drive and put it in an external case (the option of putting it in a friend's machine is just way too much work and it's not guaranteed to be a success). This would be the best way to retrieve your data. You can pick a number of external case (USB and/or Firewire) that will fit this drive for less than $100. And after that you will have a convenient HDD to backup your computer too so this doesn't become such a major issue if it ever happens again (backup, backup, backup)

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Toca Loca Nation

I'm with simon. I wouldn't try to install your drive in someone else's ibook, especially since the good ibook could get damaged (drive installation isn't impossible, but it isn't easy). Much better to buy an enclosure. If the data on your drive is important, really I'd just take it to Gary or Macdoc and let them take care of it.

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Macified

Since your computer system as a whole is toast just put the drive in an external enclosure. Plug the enclosure into your friends system to access your data until you get a new system for yourself. Don't take apart a working system just to access data as it is absolutely unnecessary.

Good luck with it.

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HowEver

The orville post was a spam bump of a dead thread. Just saying, before people get carried away helping answer a three-year old question...

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