Connecting old hard drive to Macbook Pro to extract files

[Holysmokes66]

So my computer recently crashed, so I sent it in for repair and it's now functioning perfectly with a new hard drive. I was told I could buy a External case to put my old hard drive in and extract all of my old files onto my new one.

I have put the old drive in the case and plugged it in but nothing is appearing. Does anyone have any ideas how to make it appear in finder or is there a few steps i have to take before it can be accessed?

I'm running OS X Yosemite on a Macbook Pro.

 

[honestone]

First of all, what exact MacBook Pro model do you have?

Next, are you using Firewire, USB, or Thunderbolt-to-Firewire for the connection? Whichever one you are using, make sure the connections on both the hard drive and your MacBook Pro are secure. Also, confirm that you installed the drive securely and correctly inside the external case.

Also, does the drive show up at all with Disk Utility?

 

[Holysmokes66]

First of all, what exact MacBook Pro model do you have?

Next, are you using Firewire, USB, or Thunderbolt-to-Firewire for the connection? Whichever one you are using, make sure the connections on both the hard drive and your MacBook Pro are secure. Also, confirm that you installed the drive securely and correctly inside the external case.

Also, does the drive show up at all with Disk Utility?

Thanks for your reply.

MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011)
2.2 GHz Intel Core i7

Connecting to the Mac via-USB. Drive is secured inside the casing, power is on and i can hear / feel the drive running inside. Cannot see the drive in Disk Utility at the moment.

 

[honestone]

That is sure perplexing! One would think that given the drive seems to be working (both with power on and it spinning) that the issue would possibly be with either the USB cable you are using, the USB port on the drive, or the particular USB port you are using on the MacBook Pro. From what I understand, your MacBook Pro has 3 USB 2.0 ports. So, maybe you could try using another one of the USB ports. Even if the USB port on the drive enclosure is USB 3.0 and/or you are using a USB 3.0 cable (if there is such a thing), USB 3.0 is supposed to be backwards compatible with USB 2.0.

Sorry I can't offer more definitive help.

 

[Cory Cooper]

So my computer recently crashed

-What did you mean by this? Hard drive failure?
-Is the hard drive the only component that was replaced during the repair?
-Who did the repair?
-Even though the hard drive spins up, is it clicking?

C

 

[honestone]

-What did you mean by this? Hard drive failure?
-Is the hard drive the only component that was replaced during the repair?
-Who did the repair?
-Even though the hard drive spins up, is it clicking?

C

Yeah, Cory, I missed that part about his machine crashing. You pose excellent questions.

 

[Holysmokes66]

-What did you mean by this? Hard drive failure?
-Is the hard drive the only component that was replaced during the repair?
-Who did the repair?
-Even though the hard drive spins up, is it clicking?

C

Thanks for your replies.

1) When powering on, it would reach a loading screen but then subsequently turn off not making it past the apple logo loading screen. I sent this is for diagnostics and was told the hard drive had been overloaded and failed, and needed to be replaced.
2) The hard drive is the only thing replaced during repair. It was thoroughly cleaned, and most software updated also.
3) A certified Mac specialist did the repairs
4) To be honest, i cannot hear a clicking in the hard drive. Is this supposed to be a continuous click or a series of clicks to indicate something. I can listen again and provide more info for you.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Thanks for the additional information.

If the hard drive failed, then you probably won't be able to recover any data from it, depending on what type of failure it experienced. They may have given you some bad information regarding the external enclosure and data recovery, although drives do sometimes mount long enough to copy data.

If you really wanted to try and recover the data, then a third-party data recovery company would be your best bet. This can be very expensive - hundreds/thousands of dollars. Since it is not mounting, then I would suggest not messing with it much further, as you can cause additional damage to the drive by continuing to try to get it to mount.

You would hear the clicking I mentioned - it would be loud enough to hear and repetitive in nature...like a click or clunk. The sound is caused by the read/write arm returning to its home position because the hard drive platter cannot be read.

Sorry,

C

 

[honestone]

Once again, Cory makes numerous, valuable comments. Also, we still don't if the repair shop did anything to the old drive. There are two excellent Disk Maintenance/Repair programs available, Disk Warrior and Tech Tool Pro. Either one can do much more than Disk Utility can. They can possibly help in this case, especially Disk Warrior. But, I of course do not know if either product can "see" the problematic drive.