Mac drive hfs partition imaging. Whats the best way in a pc?

[dick]

Hi,

I'm trying to perform a software recovery on a Mac drive with a HFS partition.
I have only got a pc so I am using a utility to allow me to mount mac drives in a pc.
The drive I need to recover from only shows as raw so the utility will not mount the drive.
A borrowed Mac backup drive mounts fine so no probs there.

I also think the drive has some bad sectors as when I try to recover using the Nucleus recovery tool the recovery will stop unless I skip files.

What would be the best way to image the Mac drive in a PC?
Will the usual tools do the job?

Regards!

[Odiferous]

A "proper" imager works at sector level, so it will work with practically any operating system on the planet.

Duncan
(Take note of the "practically" bit...)

[dick]

Hi Duncan,

Yes I see what you mean....the sector level imaging works but the result was not what I expected. In hindsight I should have seen it coming.

I was imaging from a 250gb mac hfs+ partition to a smaller 160gb drive. All mounted in the pc.

When I mounted the 160gb drive there was nothing more than the original volume name. Also the 160gb drive showed a 250gb partition???

I guess the imaging would have worked if the original and destination drives had been identical.

Would it have worked if the destination drive had at least been larger?

I've dropped the imaging idea on this one and now i'm getting the data using a different method.

Thanks!

[Nationwide DR]

Did anyone else laugh at this?

[dick]

Did anyone else laugh at this?

What's so funny about this topic?

If one dosn't have access to a mac system then how would you do it?

I'm waiting in great anticipation for your super powered input!

ps. my way is working just great as I type!

[thatdellguy]

pretty funny

[rchadwick]

Funny, unless if you just sent your drive to him.

[thatdellguy]

Even more funny!

[N.C.]

Hi Duncan,

Yes I see what you mean....the sector level imaging works but the result was not what I expected. In hindsight I should have seen it coming.

I was imaging from a 250gb mac hfs+ partition to a smaller 160gb drive. All mounted in the pc.

When I mounted the 160gb drive there was nothing more than the original volume name. Also the 160gb drive showed a 250gb partition???

I guess the imaging would have worked if the original and destination drives had been identical.

Would it have worked if the destination drive had at least been larger?

I've dropped the imaging idea on this one and now i'm getting the data using a different method.

Thanks!

Hi,

If you make sector level imaging, you will transfer the original volume informations too.
This way you can give mismatching information to the OS, and easily (definitely) make data corruption.
Additionally, some data will be lost if it stored on the last sectors on the original drive.

Regards,
Janos

[jono-ats]

Laugh? No. Cringe is more like it.

Granted, none of us was born knowing how to do recovery, and everyone must start somewhere.

A few days ago I had someone drop by my office who told me he knew all about data recovery. He brought by a WDC generic drive with bad heads or a crash. He told me he had already stuck it in the freezer and struck it with a screwdriver while it was running. That's the kind of "knowledge" that's available on the internet. The problem with this fellow is that he was completely sure of himself and had no clue about the downside risks of what he was doing.

Dick, you really need to know and understand some best practices before you take on other people's recovery jobs, or you are doing them a great disservice. For example, you can image to a drive that is the same size or bigger, but not smaller, for reasons that SHOULD be obvious. If it is not obvious, then you shouldn't even attempt it.

Secondly, get the right tools for the job. What you're doing is like trying to paint a house with a basting brush or a Q-Tip. A good imager (software or hardware) and a Mac would be good for starters, along with a Mac recovery program.

Jon

[Nationwide DR]

Did anyone else laugh at this?

What's so funny about this topic?

If one dosn't have access to a mac system then how would you do it?

I'm waiting in great anticipation for your super powered input!

ps. my way is working just great as I type!

whats so funny? You be telling us next that you don't understand why you can't park your monster truck in your wendy house.

[dick]

Unfortunately as often happens on this forum people are far too quick to flame or criticise without knowing the true picture. Judgements made without knowing the facts.

This is an external non bootable storage drive and I had already recovered the work files. What is left is gigabytes of itunes and downloaded films, rubbish etc. As the owner has already said he's not worried about the downloaded stuff it gives me a chance to experiment.
I think the original problem was caused by connecting the drive to a Windows pc. This action appears to have caused some kind of partition damage.

As I said I don't have a Mac system here but I can mount a mac volume to check files.
What I would like to be able to do is repair the Mac partition if that is at all possible though I know that operation would probably have to been carried out with the drive mounted in a Mac system. Any useful pointers would be appreciated.

[jono-ats]

Unfortunately as often happens on this forum people are far too quick to flame or criticise without knowing the true picture. Judgements made without knowing the facts.

Alternately: Unfortunately as often happens on this forum people are far too quick to take advice and suggestions personally; to hear what they want to hear and to ignore the rest.

Dick, buy a copy of Alsoft's Disk Warrior and borrow a Mac to fix the partition. Or else, let me know what worked better . . . the Q-Tip or the basting brush . . . .

Jon