Question iMac 2009/10~ data recovery

[Vegard Kielland]

Hey!

I'm having a bit of trouble getting files from an old imac. The disk seemingly crashed, and it wont let me reinstall. Guessing I have to format it first.

• Target mode with firewire to another old macbook doesnt seem to work , nothing comes up on the working macbook.
• In the recovery menu I can open the disk and see its contents, but it wont let me copy it to another disk.
• Booting from linux gives me no access to the files, but I can see the folders.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Edit: First aid fails and cloning to a new disk from disk utility gives an I/O error

 

[xopet51582]

Disk Utility is one of the most resourceful utility tools in Mac that offers tons of features. First Aid is one of them. First Aid on Mac helps fix some disk problems when the disk is not working properly. However, it sometimes can fail to repair the disk.

Below are the solutions user can try to fix the issue:

1. Backup your disk’s content
2. Fix the error using FSCK command
3. Format the drive
4. Try using data recovery software

Hope it helps!

 

[TerryLaze]

• Booting from linux gives me no access to the files, but I can see the folders.

run testdisk, check out some guides first, if it can scan for the files it might be able to recover them, always write to a different disk from the one you are recovering from.
https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

Don't use any tools that will write to the faulty disk because that could finish off the drive or delete the data you are after.