Using another computer to read photos from a broken hard disk
Using advanced tools to read photos from a faulty disk
Oct. 15, 2020 - Willem L. Middelkoop
This week I received a message from someone with a iMac that crashed. It contained more than 50.000 photos, covering two decades of personal history. As there was no backup, it was up to me to attempt to safe as much as I could. Could I possibly recover the personal photos?
Continue reading![The hard disk inside the iMac - containing the personal photos](/blog/2020-10-15_rescuing-photos-from-a-crashed-imac/images/i_06_The-hard-disk-inside-the-iMac-containing-the-personal-photos_500px.jpg)
![Reading files from the salvaged disk - if you understand Dutch you’ll understand the personal nature of these photos (‘bevalling’ means birth)](/blog/2020-10-15_rescuing-photos-from-a-crashed-imac/images/i_10_Reading-files-from-the-salvaged-disk-if-you-understand-Dutch-you-ll-understand-the-personal-nature-o_500px.jpg)
![Some iMacs require a special cutting blade to cut through the adhesive tape holding the glass on to the Aluminium frame](/blog/2020-10-15_rescuing-photos-from-a-crashed-imac/images/i_01_Some-iMacs-require-a-special-cutting-blade-to-cut-through-the-adhesive-tape-holding-the-glass-on-to-_500px.jpg)
![Be careful when lifting the display as it has multiple cables attached to the main logic board](/blog/2020-10-15_rescuing-photos-from-a-crashed-imac/images/i_04_Be-careful-when-lifting-the-display-as-it-has-multiple-cables-attached-to-the-main-logic-board_500px.jpg)
![Connecting the salvaged disk to another Mac](/blog/2020-10-15_rescuing-photos-from-a-crashed-imac/images/i_09_Connecting-the-salvaged-disk-to-another-Mac_500px.jpg)
![This chip is was originally part of a external USB disk drive - you might have one around that you can use for this](/blog/2020-10-15_rescuing-photos-from-a-crashed-imac/images/i_08_This-chip-is-was-originally-part-of-a-external-USB-disk-drive-you-might-have-one-around-that-you-can_500px.jpg)