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Mac hard drive issues
DIY Si - 21/7/07 at 04:49 PM

To all those who know PC's better than me (and that's probably quite a few of you!) I'm having a few issues following on from this thread. I now have a shiny new PC, and a shiny old Mac hard drive which I need to pull loads of info/files off. How do I actually go about doing this? I've tried plugging the Mac drive in place of the PC one, and it just asks a boot disc. 1, I don't have one, new PC came loaded up, 2, would this shag the Mac drive if I were to find a suitable boot disc?
Or 3, is there a hard drive to USB/firewire type adapter thingy thats available so I can plug it in as an external device?
Cheers in advance,
A computer numpty.

[Edited on 21/7/07 by DIY Si]

ecosse - 21/7/07 at 05:10 PM

The mac drive won't boot from a pc without seperate boot media, but there are utilities that will allow access to the mac drive if you add it as an additional drive to your windows install though.
Google transmac to see what I mean.

Do you still have the mac?
If so another option would be to network the mac and PC and then transfer the files that way, although this may not be the easiest option

Cheers

Alex

DIY Si - 21/7/07 at 05:16 PM

Yup, still got the Mac, but it refuses to start up, or I'd have a go at using it via the router.
I have the trial version of Macdrive, but how do I go about actually attach the drive to the PC?

bpgoa - 21/7/07 at 05:22 PM

usb - pc yes... maplin £20..

will it work... maybe.. depends how it's formatted ... you may have to find a driver to read the partition..

the mac uses either hfs or hfs + as a filesystem... window's can't nativley read this... you can try these they may work...

http://www.bestvistadownloads.com/software/k-hfs-file-system-t-free-ufs-explorer-standard-access-download-bxswrriw.html


http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk




good luck!


failing this, and this is a sledgehammer to crack a nut... Linux supports hfs and NTFS out of the box... but boy will you have a mission on your hands... try www.fedora.com


easiest way... get a firewire enclosure... find someone with a mac... plug it in and get them to copy to a standard iso cd/dvd..

tyhen go home and never buy a mac again!!!

ecosse - 21/7/07 at 05:31 PM

quote:
Originally posted by DIY Si
Yup, still got the Mac, but it refuses to start up, or I'd have a go at using it via the router.
I have the trial version of Macdrive, but how do I go about actually attach the drive to the PC?


Depends on what kind of drive it is, IDE, Sata or Scsi, and what you have in the pc (probably sata?) if the mac is ide and the PC is sata (most likely option) then you will need a converter (maplins £20ish).

Cheers
Alex
PS
Although as stated ^^^^ the easiest way would be to find someone with a MAC

DIY Si - 21/7/07 at 05:45 PM

I'm the only one I know (knew) with a Mac. Both drives are SATA, I think. So I can go to Maplins, buy the converter thingy, and plug the hard drive into a USB port, at which point, MacDrive should allow me to read the drive? Or have I got it all horribly wrong?!

caber - 21/7/07 at 06:10 PM

Junk the PC and go buy another mac! What kind of mac is it that won't boot? You should be able to find a boot CD to get it going then figure out why it won't boot, probably a system fault that you can fix by installing a new system, otherwise it could be the drive that has gone west in which case you are in deep sh1t unless you can get a sector editor to lift the files sector at a time!

Caber

DIY Si - 21/7/07 at 06:19 PM

The old Mac is beyond sensible repair. Needs a new G5 motherboard and new back light, which being a new(ish) Imac probably means a new screen. It was also overheating sometimes when frozen, and once made a funny burning smell! The hard drive, I think, is fine. And I can't afford the price of a Mac as easy to use for both me and SWMBO, where as I can with a PC.

ecosse - 21/7/07 at 06:44 PM

quote:
Originally posted by DIY Si
I'm the only one I know (knew) with a Mac. Both drives are SATA, I think. So I can go to Maplins, buy the converter thingy, and plug the hard drive into a USB port, at which point, MacDrive should allow me to read the drive? Or have I got it all horribly wrong?!


If both drives are sata you don't need the converter, connect it directly onto the mobo and the bios should see it even though the OS won't,

Cheers

Alex

DIY Si - 22/7/07 at 11:43 AM

Now, that's part of the problem I have. I understand what that means, but I have no idea how to actually do it! Especially on this new PC, as it has Vista which I'm still working my way round on.

ecosse - 23/7/07 at 03:05 PM

Open the case and look to see what the cable looks like that connects the vista hard drive to the mobo, is the cable plug compatible with your mac drive?
If so you will need another cable for the mac drive to connect onto the mobo beside the existing vista drive, boot the pc up and run whatever mac access software you have which should allow you to "see" the mac drive within windows.
Does that help any?

Cheers
Alex