Recovering data from a Mac HDD/SSD using a Windows PC

[Anthony Gnesotto]

I'm looking for the best and simplest solution to recovering data from a Mac hard drive or solid state drive, using a windows PC.

I've used HFSExplorer, but it seems that it doesn't read the SSD's (which tend to be more common in my experience) I didn't have a problem with the last hard drive I recovered data from using that program

Any other suggestions? Even if it's a paid program I'd be ok with that. Just looking for something that is simple to use and effective.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Markverhyden]

Personally I've used R-Studio for years. Also, as I understand it, that is a very popular program with data recovery people.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Paragon HFS+ for Windows gets great reviews from people doing data recovery. I use MacDrive, myself, but it's more expensive. Is the drive being detected by Windows okay? My impression is, most SSD problems are because of controller issues , which require chip-off recovery. SSDs with Sandforce controllers are generally unrecoverable, which is why I stick with Samsung SSDs.

 

[Anthony Gnesotto]

Personally I've used R-Studio for years. Also, as I understand it, that is a very popular program with data recovery people.

Thank you for the reply!

Will this program also pick up the file system and just let me pull the data? The drive is perfectly fine, the mobo had an issue. I was hoping to have the same result as if I were to put a Windows PC hard drive in an external bay and read the data that way. But being a windows PC it won't read the format of the Mac drive.

 

[P-List]

Yes, R-Studio would allow you to save files from an HFS+ formatted drive under Windows. I believe they have a demo version that you can try before you make the purchase to make sure it can see the files/folders you need.

 

[Markverhyden]

Yes, R-Studio would allow you to save files from an HFS+ formatted drive under Windows. I believe they have a demo version that you can try before you make the purchase to make sure it can see the files/folders you need.

Yes, that is a great feature of that program. You can download the app, install it in demo mode, run it against the target. If I remember correctly you can recover some files 64kb or less in size. If you like it you can just purchase it, plug in the key and recover files without having to rescan the target.

 

[NviGate Systems]

I can't recall if this App is Mac only but Boomerang Data Recovery is good especially when dealing with weird cases. I remember years ago it helped me recover a FileVault encrypted home folder when other apps couldn't see it.

 

[Larry Sabo]

One "problem" with R-Studio, is the need for a tech license ($899 USD) if you are using it for commercial purposes, according to the EULA.

 

[lcoughey]

If there are no issues with the drive, it isn't data recovery. So, you really just need another mac or install MacDrive to allow read/write to HFS+ within Windows.

 

[HFultzjr]

If you just need to "copy" the data, boot to Parted Magic live CD and copy to a thumbdrive. Should work with other live linux CD also.

 

[lcoughey]

@HFultzjr has a good point. Install HFSUtils within Linux and you should be able to read HFS+. However, one major hiccup with all of this is with Apple quietly moving newer installs to Apple FileVault encryption. In such cases, you'll need a working Mac with a current OS that supports FileVault.

 

[Anthony Gnesotto]

Yes, "copy" is the term I should have used. There is nothing wrong with the drive itself, I just need to be able to copy the files from it using a windows PC. I'll go through some of the options provided here and post back with what worked the best for me. Thank you all for the replies!

 

[Anthony Gnesotto]

Just an update. I attempted to boot from a live CD into parted magic and was unable to read the data from the drive. The drive showed up, but I kept getting an access error that I believe was due to the password on the SSD. Coincidentally, I had another customer drop off a Macbook for a Ram issue, so after repairing that, I hooked up the SSD I was attempting to get data off of and just copied it to an external drive at that point.

I will be looking into some of the softwares mentioned above and report back on what I found the most feasible.

 

[Markverhyden]

Just an update. I attempted to boot from a live CD into parted magic and was unable to read the data from the drive. The drive showed up, but I kept getting an access error that I believe was due to the password on the SSD. Coincidentally, I had another customer drop off a Macbook for a Ram issue, so after repairing that, I hooked up the SSD I was attempting to get data off of and just copied it to an external drive at that point.

I will be looking into some of the softwares mentioned above and report back on what I found the most feasible.

Which distro did you use? Not all live distro's have HFS file system drivers installed. Unless the drive had File Vault or some other encryption software setup there should be no password, especially if you just plugged it into an OS X box and saw the drive. If it did have FV enabled then you can only use an Apple box to unlock it.

On a separate but related matter, if you still have the Macbook, you should take the time to make yourself a bootable drive with OS X since it appears you do not have an OS X machine. Makes things much simpler when you have Apple boxes in for repair. Link below. Feel free to ask any questions.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202796

 

[Oscar Vega]

Testdisk is a great alternative..

Enviado desde mi SM-G355H mediante Tapatalk

 

[TurricanII]

I've had good success with FTK Imager - mount the drive and copy the files out: http://accessdata.com/product-download/digital-forensics

 

[Diggs]

MacDrive user here. I don't use often but works well.