Data recovery for mac OS9?

[slinkp]

Anybody have any idea what's involved in un-deleting files from a very
old (2003?) Mac laptop running OS9?

The machine in question belongs to a guitarist I play with, who by his
own description is not at all tech-savvy. He's been using the same rig
for home recording for the past 8 years or so: mac, OS9, some ancient
version of Cubase, Metric Halo mobile I/O. Well, he just called me in
a panic because he was trying to free up space and didn't realize that
all these mysterious AIF files are actually part of his recordings.
(See, I said not tech-savvy.) There are no backups - his backup drive
died recently and he hasn't got around to replacing it.

I'm not a Mac guy (I'm actually a Linux guy, and not an audio pro at
all, I mostly just lurk here), nor have I ever needed to have data
recovery done. What are the odds of getting any / all of those files
back? He claims to have not done anything else with the computer
since then, and has never put it on the internet or used it for
anything except recording (at least he did that much right.) I
advised him to leave it shut off until finding out what the next move
should be.

Any recommendations on who he should call? What's the ballpark cost
for data recovery like this?

[Neill Massello]

Post by slinkp
Anybody have any idea what's involved in un-deleting files from a very
old (2003?) Mac laptop running OS9?
[snip]
Any recommendations on who he should call? What's the ballpark cost
for data recovery like this?

Before shelling out for professional data recovery, he should try Data
Rescue for Macintosh -- and get a new external drive for the recovered
files. A 2003 Mac laptop ought to be able to run from the bootable
optical disc, although he might want to call or email Prosoft to confirm
this.

<http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php>

[hank alrich]

Post by Neill Massello

Post by slinkp
Anybody have any idea what's involved in un-deleting files from a very
old (2003?) Mac laptop running OS9?
[snip]
Any recommendations on who he should call? What's the ballpark cost
for data recovery like this?

Before shelling out for professional data recovery, he should try Data
Rescue for Macintosh -- and get a new external drive for the recovered
files. A 2003 Mac laptop ought to be able to run from the bootable
optical disc, although he might want to call or email Prosoft to confirm
this.
<http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php>

What Neil said, and furthermore, don't write anything to the HD until
you get a shot at it all with Data Rescue. I wouldn't even use the
machine until I was able to boot it from the new external drive.

Serious HD data recovery is often expensive. As in thousands of dollars.

[William Sommerwerck]

First and most important -- tell him to stop using the computer!

Why? Because, in most operating systems, file erasure simply removes the
files' index entries. The files are still there -- so writing new files to
the disk might very well overwrite the ones he's looking for.

There should be an undelete utility which displays "deleted" files and might
be able to recover them. Such utilities are generally free or cheap -- you
don't need to send the drive to a recovery lab.

This is the sort of problem that reminds one that drives should be
periodically defragmented. The defragmentation "reassembles" the scattered
file chunks, and greatly increases the chance of recovering inadvertently
deleted files.

[Adrian Tuddenham]

Post by slinkp
Anybody have any idea what's involved in un-deleting files from a very
old (2003?) Mac laptop running OS9?

Ask on uk.comp.sys.mac they are very knowlegeable and helpful.

[John Albert]

"The machine in question belongs to a guitarist I play with,
who by his
own description is not at all tech-savvy. He's been using
the same rig
for home recording for the past 8 years or so: mac, OS9,
some ancient
version of Cubase, Metric Halo mobile I/O. Well, he just
called me in
a panic because he was trying to free up space and didn't
realize that
all these mysterious AIF files are actually part of his
recordings.
(See, I said not tech-savvy.) There are no backups"

First off, don't use the Mac in question until you've had a
shot at it using recovery software.

I don't believe Data Rescue (or any of the other crop of
file-recovery utilities) will run under OS 9.

IMPORTANT QUESTION:
What kind of Mac is he using?
Does it happen to have firewire?
If so, does it have "firewire target disk mode"?

This will allow you to start up the Mac in "firewire target
mode" (Mac doesn't actually boot itself, but instead turns
on in such a way that its internal drive can be connected
through firewire and accessed from an external drive).

If the above is possible, you _might_ be able to "get at"
the disk on a modern (OS X) Mac using modern file-recovery
software.

IMPORTANT:
You _will_ need an external drive of some sort to act as a
"scratch drive" regardless of what recovery software you use.

I suggest your friend get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
They are cheap (starting around $20 or so), they all work
about the same, so just pick one that's cheap.

Then, get a "bare hard drive" from whatever vendor he wishes
(I use newegg.com).

The combination of the dock and the drive will become a
useful "scratch drive". He can also use it as a backup drive
later on.

First order of business -- does his Mac have firewire target
disk mode?
He can test it by pressing the start button, and holding
down the "T" key as soon as the startup sound is heard, and
KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN.
If he has a computer that is capable of it, he should see a
"floating T" icon and nothing else on the screen.
To get out of it, just press and hold the power on button
until the computer shuts back off.

- John

[Michael Dines]

Post by slinkp
Anybody have any idea what's involved in un-deleting files from a very
old (2003?) Mac laptop running OS9?
The machine in question belongs to a guitarist I play with, who by his
own description is not at all tech-savvy. He's been using the same rig
for home recording for the past 8 years or so: mac, OS9, some ancient
version of Cubase, Metric Halo mobile I/O. Well, he just called me in
a panic because he was trying to free up space and didn't realize that
all these mysterious AIF files are actually part of his recordings.
(See, I said not tech-savvy.) There are no backups - his backup drive
died recently and he hasn't got around to replacing it.
I'm not a Mac guy (I'm actually a Linux guy, and not an audio pro at
all, I mostly just lurk here), nor have I ever needed to have data
recovery done. What are the odds of getting any / all of those files
back? He claims to have not done anything else with the computer
since then, and has never put it on the internet or used it for
anything except recording (at least he did that much right.) I
advised him to leave it shut off until finding out what the next move
should be.
Any recommendations on who he should call? What's the ballpark cost
for data recovery like this?

First thing, you say he's not very tech savvy. I assume he tried to free
up space by deleting files that is, putting them in the trash. Is he
tech savvy enough to empty the trash?

If he didn't then just double click on the trash icon and drag the files
back out.

If he has emptied the trash, but hasn't done anything since, not even
turned the machine on, then the files still exist but they've been
flagged to be over written - so he shouldn't use the machine.

If you ask this question at comp.sys.mac.apps there's a lot of
knowledgeable people there.

Googling mac "os 9" data rescue found (amongst 1.5m results):

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/10031/virtuallab-data-recovery
(have an os 9 file recovery programme)

http://www.macdiskrecovery.net/

http://www.theosquest.com/2007/05/05/data-rescue-ii-file-recovery-for-th
e-mac/
(Data rescue, they have an os 9 version)

A lot will depend on the mac laptop, whether it has a scsi drive or
something more recent, whether it runs os 9 natively or in Classic - and
he may well need another Mac to run the rescue from.

[EmmaW]

You are right about the process of recovering the data but i wil
suggest you to use "Kernel for Macintosh" data recovery software for th
same purpose, it is an efficient software, supports HFS & HFS+ fil
system and preview your lost data and files in red color in scannin
process


--
EmmaW

[Scott Dorsey]

Post by slinkp
Any recommendations on who he should call? What's the ballpark cost
for data recovery like this?

The good news is that the old OS9 filesystem actually does very little
in the background, so the files are less apt to be lost than with a more
modern system.

http://www.dtidata.com/recover_it_all_mac.htm may be worth trying
for deleted file recovery. There used to be a bunch of utilities out
there.

The experts at this are Ontrack Data Recovery. They are very expensive but
do excellent work.
--scott

[Richard Kuschel]

Post by slinkp
Anybody have any idea what's involved in un-deleting files from a very
old (2003?) Mac laptop running OS9?
The machine in question belongs to a guitarist I play with, who by his
own description is not at all tech-savvy. He's been using the same rig
for home recording for the past 8 years or so: mac, OS9, some ancient
version of Cubase, Metric Halo mobile I/O.  Well, he just called me in
a panic because he was trying to free up space and didn't realize that
all these mysterious AIF files are actually part of his recordings.
(See, I said not tech-savvy.)  There are no backups - his backup drive
died recently and he hasn't got around to replacing it.
I'm not a Mac guy (I'm actually a Linux guy, and not an audio pro at
all, I mostly just lurk here), nor have I ever needed to have data
recovery done. What are the odds of getting any / all of those files
back?  He claims to have not done anything else with the computer
since then, and has never put it on the internet or used it for
anything except recording (at least he did that much right.)   I
advised him to leave it shut off until finding out what the next move
should be.
Any recommendations on who he should call?  What's the ballpark cost
for data recovery like this?

Norton Utilities was the standard for data recovery on Mac 9. DO NOT
INSTALL IT ON YOUR HARD DRIVE. Use an external drive or CD for
opening the program and store the recovered files on another drive or
you will overwrite them. The directions with Norton Utilities are very
explicit. Read all of them before doing anything.

[Michael Dines]

Post by Richard Kuschel

Post by slinkp
Anybody have any idea what's involved in un-deleting files from a very
old (2003?) Mac laptop running OS9?
The machine in question belongs to a guitarist I play with, who by his
own description is not at all tech-savvy. He's been using the same rig
for home recording for the past 8 years or so: mac, OS9, some ancient
version of Cubase, Metric Halo mobile I/O. Well, he just called me in
a panic because he was trying to free up space and didn't realize that
all these mysterious AIF files are actually part of his recordings.
(See, I said not tech-savvy.) There are no backups - his backup drive
died recently and he hasn't got around to replacing it.
I'm not a Mac guy (I'm actually a Linux guy, and not an audio pro at
all, I mostly just lurk here), nor have I ever needed to have data
recovery done. What are the odds of getting any / all of those files
back? He claims to have not done anything else with the computer
since then, and has never put it on the internet or used it for
anything except recording (at least he did that much right.) I
advised him to leave it shut off until finding out what the next move
should be.
Any recommendations on who he should call? What's the ballpark cost
for data recovery like this?

Norton Utilities was the standard for data recovery on Mac 9. DO NOT
INSTALL IT ON YOUR HARD DRIVE. Use an external drive or CD for
opening the program and store the recovered files on another drive or
you will overwrite them. The directions with Norton Utilities are very
explicit. Read all of them before doing anything.

As I recall Norton was also buggy as hell and as likely to do severe
damage as save anything. It completely screwed an external disk of mine
once. I'd go for Data Rescue or similar rather than risk Norton.

[Ty Ford]

Post by Michael Dines

Post by Richard Kuschel
Norton Utilities was the standard for data recovery on Mac 9. DO NOT
INSTALL IT ON YOUR HARD DRIVE. Use an external drive or CD for
opening the program and store the recovered files on another drive or
you will overwrite them. The directions with Norton Utilities are very
explicit. Read all of them before doing anything.

As I recall Norton was also buggy as hell and as likely to do severe
damage as save anything. It completely screwed an external disk of mine
once. I'd go for Data Rescue or similar rather than risk Norton.

that's what I'm remembering. Somewhere in System 9, Norton caused probs. I
switched to Disk Warrior, which has saved my butt on a number of occasions.

I also have Data Rescue here.

Regards,

Ty Ford


--Audio Equipment Reviews Audio Production Services
Acting and Voiceover Demos http://www.tyford.com
Guitar

[John Williamson]

Post by Ty Ford

Post by Michael Dines

Post by Richard Kuschel
Norton Utilities was the standard for data recovery on Mac 9. DO NOT
INSTALL IT ON YOUR HARD DRIVE. Use an external drive or CD for
opening the program and store the recovered files on another drive or
you will overwrite them. The directions with Norton Utilities are very
explicit. Read all of them before doing anything.

As I recall Norton was also buggy as hell and as likely to do severe
damage as save anything. It completely screwed an external disk of mine
once. I'd go for Data Rescue or similar rather than risk Norton.

that's what I'm remembering. Somewhere in System 9, Norton caused probs. I
switched to Disk Warrior, which has saved my butt on a number of occasions.

On Windows up to ME, I don't remember Norton Utilities as being buggy so
much as having *lots* of power and absolutely no safeguards to stop the
user doing something really, really, stupid, like copying the bad copy
of the FAT over the good one.

Everthing it did on MS systems can now be done by the OS or free
programs anyway.

[david gourley]

Post by Richard Kuschel

Post by slinkp
Anybody have any idea what's involved in un-deleting files from a very
old (2003?) Mac laptop running OS9?
The machine in question belongs to a guitarist I play with, who by his
own description is not at all tech-savvy. He's been using the same rig
for home recording for the past 8 years or so: mac, OS9, some ancient
version of Cubase, Metric Halo mobile I/O.  Well, he just called me in
a panic because he was trying to free up space and didn't realize that
all these mysterious AIF files are actually part of his recordings.
(See, I said not tech-savvy.)  There are no backups - his backup drive
died recently and he hasn't got around to replacing it.
I'm not a Mac guy (I'm actually a Linux guy, and not an audio pro at
all, I mostly just lurk here), nor have I ever needed to have data
recovery done. What are the odds of getting any / all of those files
back?  He claims to have not done anything else with the computer
since then, and has never put it on the internet or used it for
anything except recording (at least he did that much right.)   I
advised him to leave it shut off until finding out what the next move
should be.
Any recommendations on who he should call?  What's the ballpark cost
for data recovery like this?

Norton Utilities was the standard for data recovery on Mac 9. DO NOT
INSTALL IT ON YOUR HARD DRIVE. Use an external drive or CD for
opening the program and store the recovered files on another drive or
you will overwrite them. The directions with Norton Utilities are very
explicit. Read all of them before doing anything.

I had good results with Norton for OS9. IIRC, the CD was bootable so you
didn't have to mount the system drive.

david

[Tom patrick]

Post by slinkp
Anybody have any idea what's involved in un-deleting files from a very
old (2003?) Mac laptop running OS9?
The machine in question belongs to a guitarist I play with, who by his
own description is not at all tech-savvy. He's been using the same rig
for home recording for the past 8 years or so: mac, OS9, some ancient
version of Cubase, Metric Halo mobile I/O.  Well, he just called me in
a panic because he was trying to free up space and didn't realize that
all these mysterious AIF files are actually part of his recordings.
(See, I said not tech-savvy.)  There are no backups - his backup drive
died recently and he hasn't got around to replacing it.
I'm not a Mac guy (I'm actually a Linux guy, and not an audio pro at
all, I mostly just lurk here), nor have I ever needed to have data
recovery done. What are the odds of getting any / all of those files
back?  He claims to have not done anything else with the computer
since then, and has never put it on the internet or used it for
anything except recording (at least he did that much right.)   I
advised him to leave it shut off until finding out what the next move
should be.
Any recommendations on who he should call?  What's the ballpark cost
for data recovery like this?

It is not a big deal as most of the Mac users face this sort of
problems.
As you told that the Mac OSX version is an older one as per my
knowledge the data on the drive can be recovered and to do that you
need a Mac data recovery software the most prominent name in data
recovery is stellar which has data recovery software to deal with such
situations, but the case is different here as the OSX is of older
version.

What you can do is you can use try to use the demo Mac data recovery
software on to the same system and try to recover the data from that
system, if in case the OS X doesn't support the software in that case
you need to connect the hard drive to another system with the somewhat
latest Mac OS which support the data recovery software and try to
recover the data from that PC.

for more information you can visit http://www.stellarinfo.com/mac-data-recovery.htm

[sannyfairy]

When going for data recovery from mac os x, the best one is to go for mac data recovery tool which gives you the option to entirely recover data items from mac hard drive in an easy way by involving only a few steps.

http://www.freemacrecovery.com

[Adrian Tuddenham]

Post by sannyfairy
When going for data recovery from mac os x, the best one is to go for mac data

recovery tool which gives you the option to entirely recover data items
from mac hard drive in an easy way by involving only a few steps.

Post by sannyfairy
http://www.freemacrecovery.com

Try asking on uk.comp.sys.mac
they are very friendly and helpful.

[e***@gmail.com]

Kernel for mac data recovery software is the perfect tool to recover lost and deleted data from mac. You can try third party http://www.macdiskrecovery.net for perfect solution. software is very user-friendly with intuitive GUI.

[m***@yahoo.com]

Post by e***@gmail.com
Kernel for mac data recovery software is the perfect tool to recover lost and deleted data from mac. You can try third party http://www.macdiskrecovery.net for perfect solution. software is very user-friendly with intuitive GUI.

whatever interface you are using, try to take note the date of the posts you reply to

Mark

[Scott Dorsey]

Post by m***@yahoo.com

Post by e***@gmail.com
Kernel for mac data recovery software is the perfect tool to recover lost and deleted data from mac. You can try third party http://www.macdiskrecovery.net for perfect solution. software is very user-friendly with intuitive GUI.

whatever interface you are using, try to take note the date of the posts you reply to

On top of which, if I had an HFS or HFS+ filesystem that I wanted to deal
with today, I would mount it under FUSE on a Linux machine.
--scott

[Les Cargill]

Post by Scott Dorsey

Post by m***@yahoo.com

Post by e***@gmail.com
Kernel for mac data recovery software is the perfect tool to recover lost and deleted data from mac. You can try third party http://www.macdiskrecovery.net for perfect solution. software is very user-friendly with intuitive GUI.

whatever interface you are using, try to take note the date of the posts you reply to

On top of which, if I had an HFS or HFS+ filesystem that I wanted to deal
with today, I would mount it under FUSE on a Linux machine.
--scott

Is hfsprogs FUSE?

"The HFS+ file system used by Apple Computer for their Mac OS is
supported by the Linux kernel"

Looks like native kernel support to me - although I understand not
wanting to patch a kernel on controlled systems.

http://packages.debian.org/sid/hfsprogs

--
Les Cargill