Recover Data From a Mac External Hard Drive

Bad stuff happens, even to good people. And it seems there is nothing worse (or more inconvenient, frustrating and annoying) then having a hard drive crash. But fear not: There often are ways to recover the data you thought was lost forever. Here, we’ll go through the steps, from the simplest (and cheapest) options to the most complex (and expensive).

- Let's say your external hard drive doesn’t mount. Maybe it’s noisier (or more quiet) than usual, the power light doesn’t come on, the drive is hot to the touch, or you get the "spinning beach ball of death” when you connect the drive to your Mac. What to do?

- Check the obvious: Make sure all cables are securely connected and that the hard drive is powered on. If the unit doesn’t appear to power up (no lights are on), the problem might be a faulty power supply inside. (But swap out the A/C cable, just to make sure that isn’t the problem.) If that’s the case, chances are, the data on the drive is fine. Simply prying open the case will allow you to remove the hard drive, which can be placed in another case.

- However, if the lights do come on, then connect the drive and reboot your Mac to see if the drive mounts. If not, exchange the cable that connects the hard drive to your Mac. If the hard drive has both FireWire and USB ports, try both (but not at the same time). If the hard drive has two FireWire ports, try both of them.

- Still nothing? Connect the external drive to a different computer. Sometimes (for whatever reason) this mounts the hard drive on the desktop. But if you hear nothing when the drive is on (or if you hear grinding or smell something burning, or if the drive is hot), chances are it’s a damaged drive.

- Now it’s time to start with software solutions. Open DISK UTILITY (included with Mac OS X, and located in your Utilities folder, inside your Applications folder) to try to mount the drive. It may be visible in the list on the left-hand side of the window, but not mounted on desktop. The First Aid function of Disk Utility is the one to use--select the external drive in the window, and click on REPAIR DISK.

- Next, it’s time for the big guns. There are a number of commercial data-recovery utilities available for the Macintosh. Each has its own pluses and minuses, so a recommendation from a tech-savvy friend or co-worker, is worth seeking out.

- Finally, if all else fails, call in the pros. Many local computer shops offer advanced data-recovery services, and there are several places where you can send your drive for recovery. None of these are inexpensive, and requesting a fast turnaround time means a higher cost to you.

Have a second hard drive ready (or room on your internal drive) in case you are able to mount your hard drive using one of these methods.

If you are able to mount the drive, copy the most vital files first, in case the drive decides to stop working during the process.

If you are successful in recovering your data, don’t plan on using that external hard drive again.

Every user has his own cutoff point as to how much blood, sweat and tears (not to mention money) he's willing to put into recovering the files. Once you’ve hit that point, just throw in the towel and get on with life.

Never let this happen again! Let this be a lesson to you, and commit to backing up your data on a regular basis.

Be careful not to erase the data when attempting to recover the files.

Sometimes the recovery process takes many hours. So if you’re using your laptop to recover the files, remember you’re tethered to the external hard drive (and the hard drive is plugged in), so plan accordingly.

Opening an external hard drive case usually voids the warranty.

Speaking of warranties, if the hard drive is faulty, the manufacturer is only responsible for replacing or repairing the drive, NOT the data on it.

Be careful if you choose the local-computer-shop route, as some shops merely send your hard drive to one of the big-data recovery houses and jack up the price for their “trouble.”