Perhaps you recall Chris who had the “unrecoverable” hard drive that Apple wouldn’t let him keep? Chris was concerned that Apple was incorrect, and that the disk might in fact be recoverable by someone, and so he wanted it back. He asked nicely. He offered money. Sadly, nothing worked. Apple’s policy was to keep the disc. Chris could either get his new hard drive or his old one, but not both.

Chris finally had to put a hold on his repair so that he could retrieve the disc from Apple before they installed the new one. Guess what he found.

Chris writes:

Well, I got it back from them and took it to my IT friend. He hooked it up to his MacBook Pro, ran Data Rescue II (a typical consumer recovery app), and was able to not only read the drive, but also to copy virtually all of the files from the drive
(there were a few bad sectors). It even mounted to the desktop like a regular drive.

I’m doubly glad that I asked for it back before getting turning it over for the new drive. Now I both have the 2 weeks of data, and am ensuring my comfort by running a DoD-level wipe on the old drive as I write this. At least the new MacBooks have user-replaceable drives, so someday I’ll be able do this sort of thing without turning it over to them just to open the case and run the diagnostic.

Good job, Chris. Because you insisted on protecting your privacy, not only did you save your data—you kept the bad guys from getting at it.

Once again the “IT friend” saves the day. Please remember to follow proper Consumerist behavior by compensating your IT friend for providing services beyond the capability of mere “professionals.” —MEGHANN MARCO

(Photo: JohnKit)
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