Mac Data Recovery
Recovering data from a Mac depends heavily on its age. Older Macs have a removable drive; recent ones have storage built into the logic board.
Mac models we recover
- Macs with removable drives: MacBook Pro to 2012, MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro to 2015 (removable SSD blade), iMac to 2019, Mac mini to 2014
- Macs with storage on the board: MacBook Pro from 2016, MacBook Air from 2018, every Apple silicon Mac (M1 and later), Macs with the T2 chip
- Fusion Drive: iMac and Mac mini models that pair a small SSD with a hard drive
- Time Capsule: A1254, A1302, A1355, A1409, A1470
- Formats: APFS, HFS+, FileVault-encrypted volumes, Time Machine backups
How these fail
- T2 and Apple silicon Macs. The storage is encrypted and tied to the logic board. If the Mac will not start, the board has to be repaired to reach the data; the chips cannot be read elsewhere.
- Fusion Drive. Files are spread across the SSD and the hard drive. Both are needed, and both must be imaged.
- FileVault. We need your password or recovery key. Encryption cannot be bypassed.
- Time Capsule. It holds an ordinary hard drive, which fails like any other. Your backups can usually be recovered from it.
Before you send it
- Switch the device off and leave it off.
- Do not format, initialize or run repair tools.
- For a NAS, RAID or server, send every drive, numbered by bay or slot.
- Tell us which files or folders matter most.
Questions
My MacBook is dead and the SSD is soldered. Can you get my files?
Often, by repairing the logic board enough to start the Mac. See Mac logic board repair.
I forgot my FileVault password. Can you recover the data?
No. Without the password or recovery key, the data cannot be decrypted by anyone.
Book a visit or a pickup
Call us or book online and tell us the make, the model and what is going wrong. For IT support a technician comes to your home or office. For a repair we pick the computer up from your door, fix it at our own workshop in Burbank and bring it back. We have no storefront, so there is nowhere to drop a machine off. Outside our area, you can mail it to us.