iMac 27"

Apple Mac Data Recovery Services

CDR – Manchester Data Recovery Services – specialises in the recovery of data from Apple Mac systems.

Errors you may encounter include:

  • Flashing Question Mark at boot
  • The hard disk is making clicking noises
  • Unmountable boot volume
  • The HDD or SSD is not recognised
  • The disk you inserted is not readable by this computer, do you want to initialise?
  • Deleted documents, photographs, and music
  • Not responding icon (rainbow colour spiral)
  • Stuck on the Apple logo on boot
  • The constant movement of the cog or progress bar on start-up
  • Kernel panic message

Apple Hard Disk Drive Recovery

The hard disk drives found in Apple Mac computers, including the MacBook, iMac, and PowerMac are the same as those found in any Windows PC or Linux machine. As such they suffer from the same faults, with differences in recovery only relating to the hierarchical file system (HFS) that is used. At CDR we are used to recovering data from hard disk drives with failed printed circuit boards (PCBs), firmware, read/write heads and degraded media (bad sectors). For detailed information about hard disk drives please see our “How do HDDs work?” page.

Proprietary Apple SSD Recovery

Most modern Apple laptops (MacBook and Air) have a Solid State Disk (SSD) as the primary method of storage. In the Apple MacBook Pro / Air range these use a proprietary sized SATA connector, so even when the device is working fully most IT support companies do not have the equipment to interface with it correctly. More recent MacBook Pro / Air computers use a PCI Express (PCIe) based SSD. These SSDs fail in the same manner as other SSDs including NAND chip degradation and processor chip failure.

Apple HFS+ and APFS Filesystem

Mac systems use a different file system to PCs. We recover data from HFS, HFS+, HFSX. Moreover, in 2017 Apple introduced its first new filesystem in over 25 years – APFS. This is a ‘container’ filesystem and is extremely challenging to deal with. CDR is proficient in recovering data from APFS (including encrypted) disks.

It is not recommended that users attempt to rebuild the filesystem themselves as it can lead to further, and unrecoverable, data loss. Recovering data from HFS+/APFS volumes are typically more challenging than the equivalent work in Windows NTFS filesystem. CDR can usually achieve much better results than attempts made by PC Shops and IT Support companies.

Encrypted Apple MacBook Pro or Air

In many cases the storage device in an Apple computer (HDD or SSD) is encrypted. Many customers are not aware that the disk inside their computer has full disk encryption enabled. This is because during certain operating system updates Apple automatically encrypts the disk inside your computer. Encryption on a storage device increases the amount of work for a data recovery company, and frequently the recovery becomes more complex. Please note, that currently, CDR does not make any additional charges for disks which are encrypted.

We have successfully recovered data from encrypted Apple Mac disks which have been partially encrypted/decrypted, with failed CoreStorage, faulty Fusion Disks and even disks which have been formatted.

 

If you have any sort of data loss or hardware malfunction please contact CDR on 0161 408 4857.

All data recovery work undertaken by CDR is on a free diagnosis and a “No-recovery, “No-fee” policy.