Recovering files from a dead iBook...

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Chris Cole - 18 Apr 2008 02:58 GMT

Hi guys,

I was hoping someone may be able to offer some pearls of wisdom
regarding the following circumstances:

- Trust G3 iBook died on a recent overseas trip.
- Diagnostic & repair costs not worth it for an outdated machine.
- I'd like to salvage the hard drive.
- I'm awaiting delivery of an external USB 2.0 2.5" SATA HD case.
- I want to copy the contents of the old HD to my newer iMac.

Questions!!

1. Is the HDD in my poor old iBook a 2.5" ATA drive? (I've yet to rip it
apart and actually look, but playing the odds here).

2. Assuming the thing works with the HD controller/case I've bought, and
it happily talks to my iMac, will the files be readily read-accessible?
Will file permissions cause a problem?

3. Pursuant to question 2... can I / do I need to boot from the external
HDD and log in as myself (on the "old"/iBook OS (10.3.9)) to then copy
the files across to my newer iMac (running 10.5)?

I cannot simply connect them with a firewire cable and boot the iBook in
target mode as it just isn't managing to boot up. :(

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
Chris Cole

telemark@tpg.com.au

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Matthew Kirkcaldie - 18 Apr 2008 22:04 GMT

> 1. Is the HDD in my poor old iBook a 2.5" ATA drive?

Yes.

> 2. Assuming the thing works with the HD controller/case I've bought, and
> it happily talks to my iMac, will the files be readily read-accessible?
> Will file permissions cause a problem?

Yes, and no respectively. However you said you've ordered a "USB SATA"
case. That sounds like it will expect a SATA connection on the drive you
install, which is not the same as an ATA connection. An ATA/IDE drive
would need a further ATA-SATA adapter to connect to an SATA interface.

> 3. Pursuant to question 2... can I / do I need to boot from the external
> HDD and log in as myself (on the "old"/iBook OS (10.3.9)) to then copy
> the files across to my newer iMac (running 10.5)?

No, if you can see the drive you can read the files.

> I cannot simply connect them with a firewire cable and boot the iBook in
> target mode as it just isn't managing to boot up. :(

That may be due to a failure to spin up the drive, in which case you
won't get it to mount in an external case either. Does the iBook show a
startup screen or is it totally dead?
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

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Chris Cole - 21 Apr 2008 16:47 GMT

>> 1. Is the HDD in my poor old iBook a 2.5" ATA drive?
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
> won't get it to mount in an external case either. Does the iBook show a
> startup screen or is it totally dead?

Hiya,

Andrew Beavis replied and noted the drive is not a SATA drive, so I'm
going to have a nice sexy looking external HD case with no HD. I will
probably buy a 2.5" SATA drive and toss it in there and use it for
backing things up anyway.

The iBook is having interestingly intermittent problems. It actually
managed to boot a couple of days ago, and I have since copied across the
vast majority of the material I wished to salvage. I don't believe the
drive itself has any problems.

Thanks for your input... I was curious as to how OS X handles file
permissions on an alien / external drive. :)

Kind regards,
Chris Cole

telemark@tpg.com.au

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Matthew Kirkcaldie - 22 Apr 2008 09:32 GMT

> Thanks for your input... I was curious as to how OS X handles file
> permissions on an alien / external drive. :)

Yep, it's a grey area and not one I know much about except for my own
experiments. One tip - if you want the files to be accessible from a
particular user account, make sure you are logged in as that user when
you copy them across. You can't just copy files into another user's
directory - they will copy fine but the other user can't touch them.
Unless you put that drive in an external case.

I suspect it's a bit lax in the security department, but if a thief has
physical access to the machine all bets are off anyway.
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

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Mac Forum / Country Specific / Australian Mac Group / April 2008

Recovering files from a dead iBook...