Computer died.... don't be Dean!

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ruley74

ruley74

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My 2019 MBP shut down on me this morning and will not restart.... took it into Apple and the plausible repair (under warranty) wipes the data and they don't to data recovery there.

I have a network storage setup at home but I've been lazy with transferring the RAW files across that I wish to keep... I only said to my wife two days ago that I need to to sit down and get it up to date. Well, that bit me on the arse didn't it, 10 months of RAW files on the computer potentially gone. Data recover services here are anywhere between $350-750 AUD so not the cheapest.

So, don't be a Dean and keep your back-up's up to date... !
 
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That is a real nuisance. Might be worth the cost of recovery? I am lucky. My work isn’t worth worrying about! But 350 to 700 might just be worth it. Seriously bad luck though. A newish computer too.
i
 
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ruley74 said:
My 2019 MBP shut down on me this morning and will not restart.... took it into Apple and the plausible repair (under warranty) wipes the data and they don't to data recovery there.

I have a network storage setup at home but I've been lazy with transferring the RAW files across that I wish to keep... I only said to my wife two days ago that I need to to sit down and get it up to date. Well, that bit me on the arse didn't it, 10 months of RAW files on the computer potentially gone. Data recover services here are anywhere between $350-750 AUD so not the cheapest.

So, don't be a Dean and keep your back-up's up to date... !
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Did Apple say what the problem is? Were your files on an HD or an SSD. If it’s a HD and it is still functional you can remove it from the MacBook and place it in a $15 enclosure and copy your files. Is the MacBook completely dead , if so the HD may still be OK. If it’s an sSSD and removable you can probably do the same thing as you can do with the HD But I don’t think it is. I think it is soldered to the circuit board.
 
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Are you using an external hub with your Macbook? Some third party hubs have been killing certain MacBooks. Apple just came out with an emergency patch(Big Sur 11.2.2) to prevent it.
 
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Wow, Dean, sorry to hear this. I think more of us than care to admit it have been there.

At some point after the shock wears off and you get yourself back up and running, perhaps a discussion on the board about the various methods folks here use to run backups on their computers (Mac specifically in your case).

Jeff
 
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@ruley74 Dean I would certainly follow up getting your data recovered if you are not able to do so yourself.
Some of the suggestions above have merit and can be used to recover files.
Apologies for the length of this reply, if you feel it not appropriate I will of course delete it.

jeffnles1 said:
discussion on the board about the various methods folks here use to run backups
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No time like the present.
Backups have been mentioned many times in various topics here, it really does not matter what OS you use (I use Windows) but the regularity and reliability of doing backups certainly does matter.

Tomorrow will be too late, no saved data is saved forever.
Never make deletions on camera! I have heard too many horror stories of people doing that.

I have the following regimen to store my image files before I even look at them!
Copy image files from camera/s card/s to an internal designated image file HDD.
Change all image files to Read ONLY on image file HDD to provide at least some protection from deletion.
Use Robocopy to mirror image files (only copy changes) to a second internal image file HDD, a USB3 connected external HDD and a USB3 connected portable HDD.
The external HDD is one of 3 identical HDD's which are regularly rotated, with one connected to the computer, one in a fire proof safe and one kept off site.
Check each backup drive at least once in a 6 month (or sooner) period that some image files can be read from every backup HDD.
Yes, that is 5 backup HDD's! I have an IT background so have some idea how critical backups are to a smooth running company.
 
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soundbyte said:
@ruley74 Dean I would certainly follow up getting your data recovered if you are not able to do so yourself.
Some of the suggestions above have merit and can be used to recover files.
Apologies for the length of this reply, if you feel it not appropriate I will of course delete it.


No time like the present.
Backups have been mentioned many times in various topics here, it really does not matter what OS you use (I use Windows) but the regularity and reliability of doing backups certainly does matter.

Tomorrow will be too late, no saved data is saved forever.
Never make deletions on camera! I have heard too many horror stories of people doing that.

I have the following regimen to store my image files before I even look at them!
Copy image files from camera/s card/s to an internal designated image file HDD.
Change all image files to Read ONLY on image file HDD to provide at least some protection from deletion.
Use Robocopy to mirror image files (only copy changes) to a second internal image file HDD, a USB3 connected external HDD and a USB3 connected portable HDD.
The external HDD is one of 3 identical HDD's which are regularly rotated, with one connected to the computer, one in a fire proof safe and one kept off site.
Check each backup drive at least once in a 6 month (or sooner) period that some image files can be read from every backup HDD.
Yes, that is 5 backup HDD's! I have an IT background so have some idea how critical backups are to a smooth running company.
Click to expand...
Like you, I have an IT background. Spent 36 years in the industry everything from running a support desk to applications architect to project manager. I've seen some interesting computer problems,
My backup routine is not that dissimilar to yours. I use a Mac.
1) I have a 4tb HDD hooked up to the Mac and this is my Time Machine drive. Auto backups several times a day. It does full backup first time and incremental after that.
2) I have my photos and documents I want to protect also backed up to the cloud.
3) Once a week, I run a clone of my data drives to a SSD. (so far, 1TB is working well for that).
4) once a month, I backup my photos library to a different HDD.

The cloud serves as my off site storage on the stuff I really don't want to lose.

The key regardless of technology or methodology is 1) multiple copies of the important stuff, 2) at least one copy that can be stored off site. 3) do it with regularity (frequency of backup really depends on how much you're comfortable losing).
 
If it were me I wouldn't let them just wipe my hd clean all willy nilly like that. What died?
 
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Hut said:
If it were me I wouldn't let them just wipe my hd clean all willy nilly like that. What died?
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The problem with 2019 Macbooks are that they only come with SSD soldered to the circuitry. They don’t come with standard HD. There is no option to remove and place in external case. Access to the data is dependent on what the issue is with the computer. If it has power you could attempt to start it up using an external startup drive and then attempt to access the ssd. If the SSD is good, I’m not sure why they have to wipe it. But if it is the logic board, you may be screwed.
 
Ralph Bruno said:
The problem with 2019 Macbooks are that they only come with SSD soldered to the circuitry. They don’t come with standard HD. There is no option to remove and place in external case. Access to the data is dependent on what the issue is with the computer. If it has power you could attempt to start it up using an external startup drive and then attempt to access the ssd. If the SSD is good, I’m not sure why they have to wipe it. But if it is the logic board, you may be screwed.
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Yeah but what died? Sounds like someone might be going the easy route first trying to format the drive????
 
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If the built in SSD, or other vital components (CPU, GPU, T2 security chip) died a total replacement would be required, meaning the entire logic/motherboard. It would be a little more than a reformat. If the OS became totally corrupted, a reformat would be needed. I suspect the former not the latter.
 
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JANuser said:
If the built in SSD, or other vital components (CPU, GPU, T2 security chip) died a total replacement would be required, meaning the entire logic/motherboard. It would be a little more than a reformat. If the OS became totally corrupted, a reformat would be needed. I suspect the former not the latter.
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Yup If it’s the logic board I agree. But if the os is corrupted you should be able to startup with an external drive.
 
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FWIW..... there are two kinds of backups. One is backing up ones photos, documents, etc. For this I prefer to use external HD's and maintain complete control of my data. I use BART (free) software that is quick and easy to use. I make 2 backups and store one in a different location than the computer and the other backup.

The second kind of backup is an image of the operating system and all installed applications. I use a PC so I use Macrium Reflect to create this bootable image backup. If my main HD containing my OS and apps stops working, I can easily grab an empty HD and put my latest image on it, and be back up and running without having to install an OS and then separately install each application I had on my PC. I believe Time Machine on Macs does this...but I'm not a Mac user.

AND - this thread motivated me to make a current image of my OS and apps! LOL! A few months ago my machine "froze". I used my most recent image back up and was back in business within a few minutes. You never know WHEN a bad thing will happen....
 
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Thanks everyone, it'll be what it'll be. I've still got a couple of enquiry's out there for data recovery.

For further context, yes mine is a SSD that is contained within other components of the unit. When i was at the Apple centre they plugged it into their machine and it was able to recognise my machine. They suggested a possible logic board replacement which the SSD is part of... hence loosing data. Also, they said they could try from their machine a firmware reload which again, loading the way it does to a dead machine wipes the machine clean... so loose data. They weren't 100% sure that the firmware option would even work but didn't want to attempt until i looked into getting the data off the machine, because once they started the process there was no going back!

Trying to start the machine in the Mac recovery modes does not work.... it's completely dead!

Regards back up of data, i have the capability setup at home, i just got lazy, my fault 100% for not having backed up more recently. Hence... don't be a Dean!

After this i'll be changing how i download from the camera and were to keep the unprocessed RAW images!

Cheers,
 
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Ralph Bruno said:
Yup If it’s the logic board I agree. But if the os is corrupted you should be able to startup with an external drive.
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Depends on the boot settings. All Mac's with T2 chips will block external boot disks by default. You can change it, but I'm not sure if the internal boot drive has to be working to do it. Most likely not, since it is a firmware level setting.
 
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Ah, Apple is swapping out the logic board and drive as one FRU (field replaceable unit). It's a non-standard SSD, but in principle someone (not Apple) could unsolder the SSD, but it would have to be soldered in place somewhere else, since it doesn't have standard connectors. I don't know who might do that, it requires non-trivial technical skills.
 
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Patrick M said:
@ruley74 I sympathise totally. I’ve got a Synology disc station that (1) my Mac backs up to daily and (2) that backs my photo files whenever theres a change to the target folders, works brilliantly using a native Synology app. And a benefit of the Synology disc station is that it backs itself up and the discs are hot swappable. I’ve done this just once in ten years! No data loss. Ever. I’ve never used another NAS solution, I’m sure they’re very similar, but Synologywas my first, and has performed beautifully.
Good luck with recovering your images.
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Thanks Patrick, that's something I'll look at setting up with my NAS, auto regular backups. Need to grab a drive for the second NAS bay dedicated to backup I'm thinking.
 
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Don't forget that if your backups do not have an off site copy of some kind then your home based backups are pretty close to worthless.
Grab a portable hard drive or two as well and use that/those as off site copy/copies.
I suggest that you use the copying of your files from your camera/s to trigger a backup as well as any other automatic settings you might set up.
 
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Besides doing what everyone else has suggested, I also store my full original cards from the camera. Once my cards become filled I don’t reformat and erase, I remove and replace with a new card Keeping all the original images on the used card. I store the full memory cards from my camera like negatives.
 
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Was your NAS not able to support time machine backups?? right now I have 3 Lacie d2 drives one is a HD mirror for my iMac and my MacBook Pro (separate partitions) , 2nd is time machine backups for both machines, and the 3rd is archived files... plus I use online Backblaze for off site storage.

I'm researching a Synology 8 disk NAS now as a replacement for the Lacie drives.

Bottom line unfortunately it usually takes something like this to happen in order to be very diligent in keeping backups up to date... I've gotten into the habit of checking if my time machine backed every day when I first sign in to make sure it ran... and then I go right to the Backblaze to make sure that has run successfully.

It suck's I feel for you... @ruley74. It's a great lesson for everyone that reads this, that even if you have an SSD HD don't think you can't loose your data...no thing I hate about the new MacBook Pro's is the HD is not user replaceable.
 
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I run regular auto time machine backups to an apple time capsule for my iMac 27 and a seperate non auto back up to and ssd for my Macbook Pro. My images and Light Room Catalog are not on my iMac or macbook pro but on an external SSD (essntially a macbook pro ssd in an enclosure) I the use Carbon Copy Cloner to make clone backups to 3 other SSD's 1 kept in a drawer, one in a fireproof box and one in my safety deposit box at my credit union (it only gets swapped out about once a month).
 
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