Boot up the SSD drive from the working Mac. Remove the SSD drive from the dead Mac and install it on the working Mac. You have to get the same model or a compatible model Mac. If your Mac is completely dead, you can’t use the above method. The home folders should include the Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures. Copy the home folders of every account to your Mac or another external drive.Your working Mac will show an external hard drive on the desktop.You may need to enter the user name and password to get access to the target disk drive.

Connect the Thunderbolt cable to your Mac and a second Mac. Press the power button again and immediately press the “T” key and hold it until you see the thunderbolt symbol on the screen.Hold the power button for at least five seconds until your Mas is off.If your Mac has more than one user account, you need to back up the data from every user account.įollow these steps to retrieve files from your failed MacBook Pro: The photo below shows a typical Mac folder structure. For example, a Mac running on El Capitan will not recognise a hard drive with Caterina. A Mac running on an older macOS may not recognise the file system of a newer macOS. If you still can’t see the target hard drive on the desktop, you may need to upgrade the macOS of your working Mac.If you can’t see the hard drive, check the system preference to ensure the external drive option is enabled. macOS will display an external drive on the desktop by default.Navigate to the user folder and copy these folders to your Mac or another external drive: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures.Ĭongratulations! You have successfully retrieved your data from a failed Mac.Click on the drive to open the folders in it. The hard drive will show on your working Mac as an external drive.You may need to enter the user password depending on the macOS in the hard drive.Connect the adapter into a USB port of your working Mac.Install the hard drive to a “SATA to USB” adapter.Disconnect the SATA cable and remove the hard drive from your Mac.Use Phillip screwdriver to open the back case of your Mac.Follow these steps to recover data from Mac hard drive:

Backup macbook in recovery mode